The following is a letter sent to Senator Brandon Shaffer from Chairman Ryan Call of the Colorado Republican Committee regarding Senator Shaffer's ongoing silence on whether or not he will run for Congress in 2012:Dear Senator Shaffer,
The Colorado Republican Party is writing to ask you to declare whether or not you intend to run for the United States Congress in the upcoming 2012 election.
During the recent legislative session, Republicans expressed concerns that your intentions to run for Congress were affecting the fairness of the district maps you and your Democratic colleagues proposed during the redistricting debate. Republicans claimed that the primary reason for your unwillingness to allow a reasonable compromise was because you were more interested in drawing a map that could allow you to win, rather than drawing a map that protected and preserved Colorado ’s unique geographic regions and communities of interest. At the time, you called those accusations “ridiculous and offensive.”
You and your Democrat colleagues in the Senate filibustered your own Congressional redistricting bill in the closing days of the legislative session, and refused to even allow the compromise map proposed by Republicans and approved by the Colorado House of Representatives to come to the floor of the State Senate for a vote. A Congressional redistricting map now must be drawn by a district court judge.
However, as we discovered last Friday, there are strong indications that you have been planning to run for Congress all along. This newly revealed information calls into question your honesty and motivations during the redistricting process, and taints the maps drawn by you and your Senate colleagues as motivated much more by self-interest than by an interest in ensuring fair and effective representation in Congress.
Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer stated that, “We do two, three, four visits to recruit” prospective Congressional candidates. “None of yours have to be convinced,” he said. When questioned by reporters about your meeting with Congressman Hoyer, you missed yet another chance to level with your fellow Coloradans, would not even return phone calls from the press. Since the story was first reported on May 19th, you still haven’t come clean to the citizens of our State.
You were not elected to the State Senate by the voters of Longmont , Louisville , Lafayette and Boulder County to simply advance your personal political ambitions ahead of the duties you owe to the people of Colorado .
The people of Colorado deserve an honest and straight answer, Senator Shaffer. Do you or do you not plan to run for Congress in 2012?
Sincerely,
Chairman Ryan Call
