Effort to recall Rep. Sullivan exposes the worst of the Colorado GOP
How do we, as Coloradans, honor the memory of Alex Sullivan, a young man whose life was cut short on his 27th birthday when he was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting? What do we do to help our grief-stricken neighbors deal with the loss of a beloved son who died because someone who had absolutely no business anywhere near a gun bought an assault rifle, loaded a 100 round drum, walked into an Aurora movie theater, and opened fire?
If you’re the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners or the Colorado Republican Party, you attempt to get Alex’s father, Tom, fired.
Tom Sullivan decided to honor his son by fighting for stricter gun safety laws at the national and state level. In 2018, he ran for state representative walking door to door in his conservative Arapahoe County district wearing his slain son’s shoes, telling voters why Colorado needed laws like the “red-flag” bill that Republicans killed that year in the state Senate. Sullivan won — on both fronts.
After Douglas County Sheriff Deputy Zackari Parrish was gunned down in 2017 by an assailant with a history of violent threats, Democrats and Republicans came together on a common-sense plan to give law enforcement the tools to temporarily remove guns from people in the midst of a mental health crisis. But Republican support came at a price.
The 2018 bill was backed by the Republican district attorney from Arapahoe County George Brauchler and Republican Congressman Mike Coff
man. It was even supported by Sullivan’s 2018 Republican opponent, former state Rep. Cole Wist. Brauchler, who ran unsuccessfully to be Colorado’s attorney general, later dropped his support under pressure from RMGO who attacked him in digital ads; Coffman went quiet; Wist lost his seat to Sullivan with RMGO working to defeat him.
The 2018 extreme risk protection order bill was killed in a Republican Senate committee. Sullivan followed through and sponsored it in 2019.
I will never forget the powerful moment in February when Sullivan, wearing Alex’s leather jacket, hammered home why the law is needed: “I’m not doing this for Alex and my family, I’m doing it for yours. Because this is as bad as you think it is. Watching your child’s body drop into the ground is as bad as it gets, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that none of you have to do that.”
This is the hero that the RMGO is targeting for its fundraising operation disguised as a recall campaign. There is no possibility this recall will be successful unless success means lining the pockets of RMGO head Dudley Brown and the other grifters who will take a cut of every dollar that comes into this group’s coffers. Who else could benefit from this recall campaign? Patrick Neville, currently the House minority leader is helping to organize these recalls against his colleagues. He and dozens of other current and former GOP lawmakers owe their political careers to Brown, who cemented his reputation by decapitating moderate Republicans in primaries. Neville’s brother Joe Neville was RMGO’S lobbyist and runs his brother’s political operation.
RMGO had a reputation as an isolated group of extremists who claim the NRA is a sellout. That’s unfortunately no longer the case. This week, Wist posted on Twitter, “I was in denial. Until yesterday. Last year, state GOP leadership failed to speak up to defend me when RMGO carpet bombed my house district with negative fliers. Now, these same leaders pledge to work with RMGO to take out my successor in a recall. I do not support this effort. It is unfortunate but crystal clear. RMGO owns the Colorado Republican Party.”
He’s right. This week the Colorado Republican Party announced it is 100 percent behind this effort. The registered leader of the recall campaign is none other than Kristi Burton Brown, the current vice chair of the state party, who unsuccessfully tried to ban all abortions in Colorado via ballot initiative three times.
So, how am I going to honor the memory of Alex Sullivan? By showing his family that we won’t let them be bullied. We should do everything in our power to make sure that this anti-democracy recall is defeated.
Tom Sullivan is a hero. RMGO picked on the wrong guy this time. In this battle, the sides are crystal clear: the worst people in Colorado politics are on one side, everyone else is on the other.