Judge Allows Primary Challenge Of Lauren Boebert To Proceed

0
910

A Colorado judge has upheld the candidacy of Republican state Sen. Don Coram in the ongoing GOP primary race for the U.S. House seat currently held by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Residents of Boebert’s district including David “Dee” Laird, Dale Ruggles, Mandy Roberts, and Bryon Roberts had alleged that enough of the signatures Coram submitted to get on the ballot were faulty to warrant his removal from the ballot, but Denver District Court Judge Alex C. Myers disagreed. Plaintiffs alleged that 390 of the 1,568 signatures turned in by Coram’s team shouldn’t have been accepted by state authorities — and 1,500 signatures were needed, meaning that accepting the arguments would have put Coram below the required threshold. Myers concluded that just 19 of the signatures ought to have been rejected.

A couple of the plaintiffs in this matter have expressed either support for Boebert or opposition to Coram, who himself has already been targeted by the Boebert camp — although it’s unclear what formal connections, if any, that this legal effort may have had to the Colorado Congresswoman’s campaign. Ruggles, for instance, gave $250 to Boebert’s campaign in February of last year, and Laird wrote letters criticizing Coram to Colorado news outlets. In both of the published missives, Laird wrote that “Before being cajoled into signing his petition, voters should take a few moments to educate themselves and do their own background check on Coram. Check out corruptcoram.com.” The website he referenced was put together by Boebert’s campaign. It alleges that Coram engaged in self-dealing because of pushing hemp policy changes in Colorado while having previously been involved in growing the product.

According to The Colorado Sun, “Neither the plaintiffs nor their attorneys would say who funded the lawsuit. Boebert’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.” Boebert, meanwhile, was one of the subjects of recently revealed conversations among top Republicans in the wake of last year’s Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol. On a call involving GOP leaders including McCarthy, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) singled out Boebert, characterizing the Congresswoman as a “security risk” in reference to her mid-riot social media comments about measures to protect members of Congress, as The New York Times summarized. Early in the afternoon on the day when the Capitol violence unfolded, Boebert posted on Twitter that House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had “been removed from the chambers” — potentially giving rioters, some of whom were evidently looking for Pelosi, a clue. These days, Boebert remains among the House members who seem more interested in social media attention than doing work. Recently, she mocked those who worry about threats to “democracy” because, as she put it, the U.S. is actually a constitutional republic… although the concepts basically seem like synonyms.