Thread by @Conrad_Swanson

I rolled over Wednesday at 6:30 a.m. and saw a text message.

"Can I call you this morning?"

The rest has been a whirlwind, all surrounding U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, who also serves as chair of the Colorado Republican Party. A quick thread. denverpost.com/2020/05/06/col… #copolitics

First at hand was a recording leaked to me that morning. By the end of the day three others sent it too. On there was a conversation between Buck and Eli Bremer, a local Senate district chair, who didn't want to file paperwork with the state.

At hand was a local election for Republicans vying for a soon-to-be-open Senate seat. To qualify for the primary ballot, candidates must earn 30% of the vote at assembly. David Stiver, local GOP activist, only hit 24% but complained that the race was unfair all the same.

Indeed there were issues at play and the pandemic had made the election difficult so two state GOP committees voted to put Stiver on the ballot anyway. On an April 17 conference call, Buck asked Bremer if he understood the directive. Listen to the audio: denverpost.com/2020/05/06/col…

“Do you understand the order of the executive committee and the central committee that you will submit the paperwork to include Mr. Stiver and Mr. Liston on the ballot, with Mr. Liston receiving the top-line vote?” Buck said on the call.

“Uh, yes, sir, I understand the central committee has adopted a resolution that requires me to sign a false affidavit to the state,” Bremer replied.

“And will you do so?” Buck said.

The conversation goes on but clearly leaves Bremer with a sour taste in his mouth. They take the issue to court where the Denver District Court chief judge rules filing that paperwork when Stiver hadn't received 30% would have been illegal.

GOP appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court which declines to take the case, effectively cementing the lower court's decision. That's that, as they say.

But Buck pressuring Bremer to file incorrect election results doesn't sit well with party officials. denverpost.com/2020/05/07/col…

“We’re touching on something here that’s not quite clean, and it’s not quite the image I have of what the party ought to be," one state GOP exec said. “I think it’s worth questioning whether him in that role is going to have a negative effect on the rest of this cycle.”

The day after my first story published, Buck cancelled an executive committee meeting for the state party saying they had no pending business. But it turns out others had no clue this disagreement happened, let alone went to court. And now the state party faces hefty legal bills.

At the end of the day Republicans want President Trump and Sen. Gardner re-elected and this is noise they don't need.

“You are in the middle of an uproar and there’s a target on your back,” one said of Buck, “which means there is a target on our back.” denverpost.com/2020/05/07/col…

Already Buck's spot as state chair was in question but today we learned that one of his aides in Weld County is accused (alongside three others) of election fraud and corruption in a related scheme. denverpost.com/2020/05/08/ken…

An internal audit in the Weld County GOP uncovered that three people, including the aide, were placed as county delegates (which set local ballots), even though they had not been elected.

“This is clearly a fraudulent, dishonest and corrupt act amongst four long-term Weld County Republicans who knew better. Their action, had it not been caught, would have disenfranchised elected delegates,” the county chair wrote in one of the complaints.

Okay, but why? Well, it's a good question. We can't speak to motive. But we can say that Buck's ex-wife Perry Buck is currently running for a seat on the Weld County Commission. And we can say that Buck's called multiple local officials about that seat. denverpost.com/2020/05/08/ken…

It's been tough getting folks to talk and man have I been working at it. One commissioner told me “the congressman has been supportive of me in the past, and I have appreciated his support. I would also appreciate it if he let races be run fairly.”

To be clear, nobody has accused Buck of anything illegal. It's all just more thread to the story.

“He’s walking a fine line, I have to admit, because it’s his (ex-)wife and he’s a party chair,” another official told me.

The complaints in Weld County went to the district attorney and the Secretary of State's Office, which is reviewing. Timelines are unclear as are the possibilities of what could happen, so stay tuned. But then we get to the Democratic response...

So far we've just covered GOP infighting but today @ProgressNowCO filed a complaint with the state office of attorney regulation asking that they investigate and see if Buck (an attorney and former DA) should be disbarred. Stay tuned on that as well.

Other media outlets have started to pick up the story and others have been there since the beginning. Once I started reporting on the recording I realized that @eluning has been on the story for days. Not only on the call... coloradopolitics.com/news/colorado-…

But also the court case: coloradopolitics.com/news/judge-col…

And this morning @ByJohnFrank had the Weld County scoop: coloradosun.com/2020/05/08/wel…

Clearly this is a hot button issue and there are many more questions out there now than answers. State party officials have buttoned up and the congressman isn't returning my call (a sentence I never thought I'd write).

There's a lot of noise out there on this from partisan folks but at the heart of the issue is a bunch of Colorado Republicans who feel uncomfortable that local votes, ones some might consider innocuous, aren't as legit as they might have thought or should expect.

Anyway, the story is far from over. I know we'll all stay on it because that's how it goes and that's how it should be. The more eyes on this stuff the better. Stay tuned for more.

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