Five-time U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, who staged a powerful challenge to an established Democrat while running as a third-party candidate in 2010, has announced he will bid for the governor's office in Colorado in the next election.
Tancredo, a columnist for WND who has written opposing amnesty, about the problems within the GOP and the threat of terrorism, made the announcement on radio talk-show host Peter Boyles' KHOW-AM program in Denver.
"I'm going to run for governor of the state of Colorado. And I'm going to do it this time as a Republican."
He pursued the office under the banner of the American Constitution Party in 2010 following a series of missteps by the state GOP that left it with a shaky candidate in Dan Maes.
The established Democrat, John Hickenlooper, ultimately squeaked out a victory with 51 percent of the vote. Tancredo took 36 percent in his third-party role. Maes got 11 percent.
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With a Democrat in the governor's office, and majority Democrats in both the state House and Senate, this year's state legislature unleashed a torrent of ultra-liberal issues – including one that may be targeted should Tancredo win – a decision to give in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens.
Critics charge the Democrats in the statehouse essentially are taking funds from taxpayer residents and allocating them to those who are breaking the law under the plan.
Tancredo long has been an advocate for secure borders and ways to manage immigration into the United States.
In fact, he's written "In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security," pointing out that for years after the terror attacks on 9/11 the U.S. government had done nothing to secure its borders.
He warns it's a multilevel problem. Not only is there the threat of terrorists coming into the U.S. through uncontrolled borders, but the flood of advocates for "multiculturalism" actually are "sapping out strength from within."
He writes that the nation is in an identity crisis and as a nation, the U.S. no longer knows who it is or what it believes.
"Instead of 'one nation under God,' we are divided, confused and angry. We need to understand how this has happened and the underlying causes that have us to this divided point," a book review explains.
Get Tancredo's book right now.
He charges that unless the direction changes, catastrophe is coming.
Tancredo explained that the tipping point was Hickenlooper's decision to "reprieve" a mass murderer. The governor's decision means that the death penalty for Nathan Dunlap, who in 1993 shot and killed four workers at a pizza shop because he wanted the estimated $1,500 in the cash register, is on hold indefinitely.
Dunlap's execution has been upheld at every court level over the 17 years since it was determined, and it had been scheduled for August, until Hickenlooper stepped in and took a position, polls reveal, nearly 90 percent of Coloradans dislike.
Other possible GOP candidates include Secretary of State Scott Gessler and state Sen. Greg Brophy of Wray.
Tancredo also said that allowing Democrats to have control of the legislature and governor's office is bad for the state.
"There has got to be a change here. You can’t have one-party rule,” said Mr. Tancredo. “It becomes a nightmare.”
Among the left-wing results from the Democrats was a flood of anti-gun legislation as well as the subsidies for illegal alien students.
The legislature's actions already have resulted in a lawsuit by the state's sheriffs.
The suit, which was filed in federal district court, lists 54 out of the state's 64 sheriffs as plaintiffs in the case.
The lawsuit isn't just limited to law enforcement officials, but lists a variety of organizations including the Colorado Farm Bureau, which has expressed concerns about rural farmers and ranchers having to deal with predators, Women for Concealed Carry, and the Colorado Outfitters Association.
It was during debate over the gun control measures when the vast majority of citizens testifying before the legislature were opposed to any new gun control laws. However, frequently their testimony was dismissed and treated with disdain by Democratic lawmakers who seemed to have already made up their minds about passing the laws.
The process allowed for some revelations regarding the attitudes of state lawmakers.
State Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, scolded a witness opposing one of the gun restrictions.
Amanda Collins, 27, of Reno, Nev., was telling her story of being assaulted and explained that had she been carrying a concealed weapon, the incident might have ended differently.
"I just want to say that, actually statistics are not on your side even if you had a gun," Hudak scolded. "And, chances are that if you would have had a gun, then he would have been able to get that from you and possibly use it against you."
Hudak continued, speaking over the committee witness, "The Colorado Coalition Against Gun Violence says that every one woman who used a handgun in self-defense, 83 here are killed by them."
Finally able to resume her testimony, Collins said, "Senator, you weren't there. I know without a doubt [the outcome would have been different with a gun].
"He already had a weapon," she told the meeting of the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. "He didn’t need mine."
A similar attitude was displayed by state Rep. Joe Salazar.
He said that a woman who feels threatened by rape on a college campus doesn't need to be armed because she can use a call box to get help.
Salazar's statement came in a debate over a proposal to ban citizens possessing a concealed-carry permit from being armed on university campuses.
"It's why we have call boxes," said Salazar, "It's why we have safe zones, it's why we have the whistles. Because you just don't know who you're gonna be shooting at.
"And you don’t know if you feel like you're gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone's been following you around, or if you feel like you're in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop a round at somebody."
Perhaps the most surprising statement came from U.S. Rep. Diane DeGette, a Denver Democrat who displayed her perspective on gun magazines.
"I will tell you these are ammunition, they're bullets, so the people who have those now they're going to shoot them; so if you ban them in the future, the number of these high capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot, and there won't be any more available," she said.
The Denver Post said DeGette didn't appear to understand that a firearm magazine can be reloaded with more bullets.
State officials admitted they were doing the bidding of the White House. In February, Vice President Joe Biden flew to the state to strong-arm Democratic lawmakers who were feeling pressure from their constituents to vote against the bills.
"He (Biden) said it would send a strong message to the rest of the country that a Western state had passed gun-control bills," Tony Exhum, a Democratic lawmaker from Colorado Springs, told the Denver Post.
House Majority Leader Mark Ferrandino, an open homosexual who also pursued a "civil unions" agenda this year, admitted the gun-control bills introduced by fellow Democrats had national implications.
"I was shocked that he called. He said he thought the bills could help them on a national level," Ferrandino said.