An attempt by a group of Republicans in the Colorado House of Representatives to impeach Secretary of State Jena Griswold isn’t expected to go anywhere because the House is controlled by Democrats. But is it also a waste of time and money? In this week’s Left, Right, Center, two of CBS Colorado’s political analysts got together on Friday with CBS Colorado Political Specialist Shaun Boyd to provide perspective on the effort.
Shaun Boyd: House Republicans sent a letter to Democrat House Speaker Julie McCluskie calling for her to bring a resolution to impeach Secretary of State Jena Griswold. The letter says the secretary of state has used her position as a platform for her partisan political ideology and has proven herself unfit for this position. Griswold responded that the Colorado Republican Party “continues to focus on conspiracies and political games.” “I will not be intimidated by this baseless proceeding,” she wrote. We know this resolution isn’t going anywhere in this Democratically controlled House, even if the speaker does bring it to the floor for a vote. But there’s no question that Griswold is quite possibly the most partisan secretary of state we’ve seen — certainly in recent memory — at a time of just hyper partisanship in the country. So, given that she is the state’s chief election official, should she be so partisan? Is this criticism of her fair?
Sheila MacDonald, Democratic political analyst: I don’t think the resolution is fair. I think it’s ridiculous and silly, frankly, and a waste of the people’s time. That being said, Jena is very outspoken and she weighs in on a lot of issues. I’ll also say this, I’ve worked with her office a lot. And it runs very well. She runs fair and free elections that are non-biased. And her office is very good at what they do. They call you back, they get you the information you need. What else are we asking her to do? That’s what she’s elected to do. She was elected as a Democrat. It’s a partisan office. So I disagree with this resolution.
Sheila MacDonald: The irony of it is that they’re talking about the (Trump v. Anderson) court case, and Norma Anderson… the Republican who was the first Majority Leader in the state senate, she was one of the people driving this and her daughter-in-law ran against Jena. So it’s sort of as though the folks pushing this forward don’t understand how this all works. So I just think it’s silly and a waste of time.
Shaun Boyd: Dick, what are your thoughts on this given that this resolution isn’t going anywhere?
Dick Wadhams, Republican political analyst: She’s incompetent and she is a political hack, and she’s that’s what she’s always been. She’s running for governor in four years because the seat is open in 2026. … And the fact of the matter is that … she doesn’t run elections, 64 county clerks do. And I will tell you, those 64 county clerks? … They are competent, and they run the elections. She rides on their work. But she is incompetent. She has staff run through her office constantly. They stay there for a while then they leave because they can’t stand her. And I think she’s the worst secretary of state we’ve ever had. And she defines a nonpartisan tradition. Yes, secretaries of state are elected by partisan elections. But I’ll tell you, if you look back at the people who have held that office, Republicans and Democrats, and they conducted themselves in a nonpartisan way. This is crazy the way she behaves.
Dick Wadhams: But I think (the impeachment effort) is a waste of time. And I wish our Republicans would not be doing this.
Shaun Boyd: There has been a fair amount of friction between her and the county clerks, too.
Dick Wadhams: Yes, Democrat and Republican, by the way. And the other thing is, the state Republican Party is trying to raise money off this stupid impeachment thing. Are they going to give the money back when they don’t do that? It’s another example of the malfeasance going on in the Colorado Republican Party right now.
Shaun Boyd: And the hyper partisanship, just in general.
Sheila MacDonald: I agree with that.
Dick Wadhams: And she’s a big part of it.
