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(Promoted by Colorado Pols)
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Jon Caldara, the infamous head of the Independence Institute, had an editorial printed in Colorado's paper of record yesterday telling the people of the state that they can now legally voter anywhere in the state that they want, and that the winner of elections going forward will be the campaign with the most buses. His evidence: "How do we know this? Well, because I'm not going to jail."
As this site has covered on multiple occasions, the law passed last year to expand voter access does not, in any way, allow voters to vote wherever they please, and numerous Republican elected officials have said as much, too. But that means nothing to Caldara, who has continued his "neener, neener" parade across newspapers and talk radio since the Colorado attorney general's office decided not to file charges against him.
In the editorial, Caldara goes even farther, announcing an accelerated campaign to teach all Colorado voters how to legally vote in districts where they do not live.
The question remains about how the 2014 legislature intends to deal with this issue, if at all.
I support People, not Parties. I support Ideas, not Ideologies. I am an independent voter. 
I know it SEEMS like vote fraud, and I would know…Denver fixture columnist Mike Littwin, now writing for the Colorado Independent, caught up with Secretary of State Scott Gessler at yesterday's event announcing Gessler's gubernatorial campaign. Doing what apparently none of the fancy-pants mainstream media outlets could not, Littwin asked Gessler the same question we would have: what do you think of Boulder resident Jon Caldara's vote fraud scandal in Colorado Springs?
Gessler, who is Colorado’s top elections official and who was, in a previous life, an election lawyer, said he was not offended by Caldara’s stunt. He was all in.
“I think Caldara did a really good job of bringing attention to this,” he said. “I think he really did.
“I think he handled it in the right way in the sense of not casting a vote. I mean, he cast a ballot, but it was blank, so nobody could accuse him of doing something wrong. And it sounds like he’s staying in El Paso.” [Pols emphasis]
Apparently, Gessler hadn't heard the news that Caldara had crassly invoked the recent flooding as an excuse to "keep Boulder as a permanent home." The legal analysis we've heard strongly suggests that Caldara did not "handle it in the right way" at all, and the "blank ballot" won't protect him–as reported yesterday, the Attorney General is now investigating. Presumably, Gessler didn't know that either.
After watching Gessler turn over hundreds of names to local law enforcement to investigate on dubious suspicion of "noncitizen voting," and seeing those investigations time and time again turn up nothing, it's of course reasonable to question Gessler's judgment. At the very least, why would this front-to-back documented case of vote fraud not be worthy of the same scrutiny Gessler expected DAs to give all the perfectly legal voters he turned over to them? Despite all the willful ignorance he's shown over the years, we do believe Gessler is smarter than this, and knows perfectly well that breaking the law as a "stunt" is still breaking the law.
Especially coming from the state's chief elections official, Gessler's lack of concern about Caldara's actions is preposterous–and God help the Gessler for Governor campaign if Caldara does get indicted, after Gessler praised this felonious little "stunt."
Jon Caldara.The Colorado Independent's Tessa Cheek breaks news on the developing controversy over Independence Institute director Jon Caldara's alleged vote fraud, committed during the recent recall special election in Colorado Springs:
Last week, Senate President John Morse’s campaign manager Christy Le Lait filed a complaint with Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May, calling for an investigation of political stunt man Jon Caldara, the Independence Institute director and Boulder County resident who made a show of committing “gypsy” voter fraud and casting a ballot in the El Paso County election…
Caldara has since announced that the flooding in Boulder had made it clear to him he shouldn’t move away from his children, who live there. He said, upon reflection, he won’t be moving to Colorado Springs after all.
May seems to be at least taking the complaint seriously. His office told the Colorado Independent that he was passing the case to the Attorney General’s office.
“I can confirm that this matter was referred to our office by District Attorney May,” wrote Carolyn Tyler, a spokesperson for the Attorney General. “However, we do not comment on investigations, except in certain instances involving public safety, which do not apply here.”
It seems likely that Caldara's "decision" this weekend to "keep Boulder as a permanent home" had more to do with this now-confirmed criminal investigation than anything else. Uninformed editorials from chummy newspaper editors notwithstanding, we have yet to see any defense for Caldara's actions other than "civil disobedience." As we've explored in detail since the incident, that's not likely to cut it in this case. What Caldara did, voting in a district that he does not live in after falsely affirming a "sole residence" there, is a felony under Colorado law. Every sane interpretation we've heard suggests there was absolutely no grounds, moral, legal or otherwise, for doing so.
This also settles the question of whether or not Republican El Paso County Clerk Wayne Williams, or District Attorney Dan May, would attempt to impede or prevent the prosecution of Caldara. It's a relief to see, whether DA May did it voluntarily or in response to a request from the Attorney General's office, that they are doing their jobs and investigating the case. Gov. John Hickenlooper requested the AG's involvement in part out of concerns that Caldara might skate in this highly conservative jurisdiction.
We said before that we hope Caldara consulted with a good lawyer before he pulled this ill-advised stunt. Now it looks like may get to see how well that as-yet unnamed lawyer does keeping Caldara out of prison.
