Dan responds to Fisk's CCM resignation

The CCM-CS has agreed to the tenants under which the national organization was established. It is good that Kyle is passionate about putting together a head-to-head discussion between candidates. One question I would pose is why it was only the 5th CD race. We have a number of contentious races here in El Paso County that would be eligible for such a forum. None of these have been recommended.

I also know that Kyle is a very strong Jeff Crank supporter and I applaud him for that loyalty. However, I feel that it was inappropriate to use the proposed tactic and forum to promote Mr. Crank. As we have seen in previous “candidate forums,” they served to provide a platform for two candidates to levy unanswered questions and accusations as well as promote falsehoods against the candidate who was not in attendance. As we all know, just the utterance of a statement in a political campaign is to imply accuracy.

As the chairman of the Planning Committee for the Falcon Republican Club, we discussed having a series of candidate forums for the 5th CD, State House 15, and the District Attorney. In each of these races at least one of the candidates made it known that, for whatever reason, they would not be able to accept such an invitation. The Falcon Republican Club has the same obligation as the CCM-CS in that we cannot endorse or imply endorsement of any candidate before the primary.

After the primary, we will endorse and work for the primary winner. Of course, the CCM-CS cannot endorse any candidate at any time. As stated above, providing a platform for one or two candidates to levy charges, lies, or accusations against a non-participating candidate would imply that the organization is proffering a negative endorsement on one candidate. For this reason, the Falcon Republican Club has rejected the idea of holding any candidate forums before the primary. We are still considering holding candidate forums before the general election between primary winners of both parties.

I support CCM National in their decision concerning the proposed candidate forum for the 5th CD. I also believe that it would be appropriate for CCM-CS to host candidate forums for all races between the party candidates leading up to the general election.

Daniel C. Lanotte