Bloomberg Wasted $350,000 on Colorado Recall

From the moment the recall effort in Colorado began, money started flowing in from out-of-state gun control proponents and influence flowed in from Chicago. It was all part of an effort to protect state senators Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) and John Morse (D-Colo. Springs) from being recalled. 

And by extension, it was about protecting Colorado’s new gun control laws as well. 

When the gun control measures were passed, and then signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper (D) on March 20, Coloradans in Giron and Morse’s districts felt hoodwinked. El Paso County Sherrif Terry Maketa said, “The two senators dismissed [their constituents’] opinions, literally said they did not want to hear from them,” thus setting the recall effort in motion. 

And even though more Coloradans from Morse’s district signed the recall petition than had voted for him in the last election, he continued to dismiss their opinions. He went on television not only to admit he had ignored them in order to pass gun control but that he was actually “proud” he had done so. 

Giron was not sorry for supporting gun control either, and stood by her claims that the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 justified the passage of draconian gun control in 2013: gun control which included “high capacity” magazine bans, universal background checks, and a new tax on all gun sales under the guise of a service fee put in place to pay for all the new background checks. 

Yet Giron was honest about the situation she and Morse found themselves in as the recall elections drew closer: “For Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), even if they lose one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that.”

Voters understood that her reference to MAIG was a not-so-veiled reference to Mayor Bloomberg’s gun grabbing agenda, and it did not go over well. 

But Bloomberg kept giving money–giving $350,000 as the recall effort hit its home stretch–all in hopes of keeping Giron and Morse in a place where they could support an anti-gun agenda with which he agreed. And Obama’s Organizing For Action (OFA) operatives began showing up in Pueblo to help Giron run her senate office and to help get out the vote. 

But it was not enough. And in the end, the raw, grassroots passion of Coloradans trumped the cumulative millions of dollars from people like Bloomberg, as well as the influence of the Democrat machine, and the presence of OFA.

Morse lost his recall election 51 to 49 percent, Giron lost hers by a whopping 56 to 44 percent, and Bloomberg lost too–although he never will admit it. 

Yet the best news is that Coloradans won. And perhaps this victory will reverberate loud enough to put other gun grabbers around the country in check. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins