Colorado Dems, Fresh Off Successes, Switch Things Up

By Matt Singer, 3-07-05

Nothing succeeds like success. Yet for Chris Gates, Chair of Colorado’s Democratic Party, heading the most successful Democratic Party in the country, meant little on Saturday, as his state central committee voted 187-184 to replace him with Pat Waak, a little-known non-profit director from Erie.

Already, the opinions are running fast and furious. Charles Greenwood, a Boulder student active with the College Democrats, could barely contain himself once we finally connected on the phone, “I was very surprised… It seems like Colorado was an oasis of success for the party last fall. For us to throw that back in the face of one of the men responsible seems vindictive for a small minority of the party.�

Greenwood isn’t the only one throwing around terms like “vindictive.� This morning, on 5280.com’s blog, Jeralyn Merritt “Was it new energy and direction…or a vendetta?� In the comments at , the perceived vendetta becomes clear. Gates supporters see Waak’s entire campaign as little more than attempted retribution for Gates’s perceived preference of then-Attorney General Ken Salazar in Colorado’s 2004 Senate race. While Waak supporters declare unity, Gates supporters appear to feel poised to lose everything they have just gained.

One thing is clear: the division is real and the wounds are deep. In some corners, this change of hands is being hailed as a reform campaign akin to Howard Dean’s successful campaign for chair of the national party. Raf Noboa, a young Democrat in Colorado, couldn’t disagree more. Howard Dean, he says, ran campaigns on inclusiveness and building a party. “That’s not what these guys are about. They’re not about contesting the votes of veterans. They’re making a reflexive anti-war argument. They’re mocking people who believe in gun rights as having penis envy.�

Noboa sees Waak’s strongest support as coming from Colorado’s Kucinich delegates to the DNC. Noboa grew up in Ohio and says, “I like Dennis Kucinich, but he’s not someone I would vote for for President. If we embrace him as a standard-bearer, we’re going to be in for a long walk in the Wilderness.�

Waak thinks that people like Noboa are blowing things out of proportion. Talking to her, you can tell that she’s exhausted from a day of press calls. But she makes it clear that while some of her support came from “Dean supporters, Kucinich supporters, and Miles supporters� that she also drew support from the rural counties on the Eastern plains and the Western slope, where local parties felt ignored by Gates.

She says that the Democratic Party is an “umbrella…big enough to hold everyone� and that while she campaigned on “traditional Democratic values,� it wasn’t an attempt to apply litmus tests: “I come from generations of farmers and cowboys who were Democrats because the party looked out for them – on education and health care. When you get sick, it’s the Democrats who have been worried about health care. That’s what I’m talking about when it comes to traditional Democratic values – people who care about others in their community. There are issues where we disagree, but that doesn’t mean we’re not all Democrats.�

Noboa, for his part, thinks that Gates should concede the race and drop his challenge regarding seven proxy votes. “If Chris gets the election overturned, we’ll have an even more divided party.� Noboa places himself firmly in the camp of Dan Slater, who served as Party Secretary with Chris Gates and is now the First Vice Chair under Pat Waak. Slater, the only statewide Democratic officer who blogs, seems to have captured the respect of the “netroots� – both Charles Greenwood and Raf Noboa speak highly of him.

Following the vote, Slater, originally a Gates supporter, posted on that “The razor-thin closeness of the Chair's race is a clear indication that we aren't as united as we should be.� Slater still calls for everyone in the party to rally together and move on – upward and onward – for the good of the party. Noboa echoes the sentiment, feeling that it is the only possibility the Democrats have to maintain success.

But Greenwood isn’t so easily swayed. Asked about the pending challenge, Greenwood argues that it is a simple matter of counting all the votes and says when it comes to “getting over it� that people like Slater are pointing fingers at the wrong camp: “I would encourage the Mike Miles and Pat Waak supporters to get over their past problems.�

All of the concerns and complaints raised might indicate that Waak is doing nothing, yet she seems quite adamant in our conversations that quick reform is being taken when it comes to grassroots county organizing and that she’s being measured elsewhere (like in personnel issues). She says she has already hit the ground running, “started the strategic planning process� and planning to “work county-by-county so they can turn out the votes in the Governor’s race.�

On the phone, she outlines a system whereby county central committees around the state are identifying their own weaknesses and working with the state party or well-organized metropolitan county parties to arrange trainings or additional help in planning. The hope is to set up regional clusters of parties that assist one another, shoring up the strengths of one another, and creating a well-coordinated machine for the 2006 election.

The Colorado Democratic Party has some work to do to become unified. That work, however, is probably not as grave as Greenwood makes it appear. While there is clearly some consternation, many in Gates’s camp, people like Slater and Noboa, are already saying they are ready to work together. And Waak already sees support coming from new corners: “I have found that even the county chairs who didn’t vote for me were rallying to my side as were the elected officials. So I think we are moving fast and it is exciting.� [End of article]