{"id":35752,"date":"2023-02-15T09:41:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kent-thirys-next-political-focus-big-changes-to-colorados-primary-election-process\/"},"modified":"2023-02-15T16:41:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:41:33","slug":"kent-thirys-next-political-focus-big-changes-to-colorados-primary-election-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/kent-thirys-next-political-focus-big-changes-to-colorados-primary-election-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent Thiry\u2019s next political focus: Big changes to Colorado\u2019s primary election process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kent
Kent Thiry, former CEO of the dialysis giant DaVita, has given at least $5.9 million to Colorado ballot measures since 2011, according to a Kaiser Health News review of Colorado campaign finance data. (Rachel Woolf for KHN)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kent Thiry, who has poured millions of dollars into democracy-related initiatives<\/a> in Colorado intended to boost the power of moderate voters and make political contests more competitive, is advocating for major changes to the state\u2019s primary election process to address what he calls gaps and inequities.<\/p>\n

The former CEO of the dialysis giant DaVita\u2019s next political act is backing an effort to do away with Colorado\u2019s caucus and assembly process<\/a> through which candidates can make the primary ballot<\/a>. He also wants the legislature to find a way to prevent Coloradans from throwing away their votes by casting primary ballots for presidential candidates who later drop out of the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If successful, the changes could be Thiry\u2019s most transformative work yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m passionate about democracy,\u201d he told The Colorado Sun in a recent interview. \u201cAnd it takes work to keep a democracy working.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiry, who is registered as an unaffiliated voter, was acquitted<\/a> in April of federal criminal charges alleging that he worked with business competitors<\/a> to prevent the hiring of each other\u2019s employees. He is pushing the legislature to alter Colorado\u2019s primary processes, but indicated he\u2019s willing to pursue ballot measures if the General Assembly doesn\u2019t act.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look every cycle at where we can add the most value,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Thiry has personally bankrolled efforts to let unaffiliated voters participate in Colorado\u2019s primaries and re-imagine the state\u2019s once-in-a-decade redistricting proces<\/a>s. Kaiser Health News reporte<\/a>d that Thiry has give<\/a>n at least $5.9 million to Colorado ballot measures since 2011, and all of the initiatives he has supported have passed.<\/p>\n

Right now, Thiry is \u201cextremely supportive\u201d of Senate Bill 101<\/a>, which would end Colorado\u2019s caucus and assembly process<\/a> of selecting primary candidates and make signature gathering the only way to make the ballot. The legislation would also let unaffiliated voters sign partisan candidate petitions.<\/p>\n

Thiry called the caucus-assembly nominating system \u201cblatantly unfair and blatantly inequitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfair because a small group of party insiders control all the management around it, and it\u2019s inequitable because there\u2019s lots of voters who can\u2019t, on a weeknight or a weekend, leave work or leave their kids or leave their military base to go participate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, and Rep. Mary Bradfield, R-Colorado Springs, is up for its first hearing Thursday in the Senate State, Military and Veterans Committee. And it\u2019s likely to be quickly rejected despite recent polling<\/a> commissioned by a group associated with Thiry showing that the proposed changes are popular with Coloradans.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the measure argue it would make it hard for anyone but those who can afford to collect signatures to run for office.<\/p>\n

Candidates for U.S. Senate and governor in Colorado must collect 1,500 voter signatures in each of the state\u2019s eight congressional districts. They can\u2019t reasonably collect all of those on their own, so campaigns pay firms tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars<\/a> to collect signatures on their behalf.<\/p>\n

Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who sits on the Senate State, Military and Veterans Committee, said she will vote \u201cno\u201d on the measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of these processes reward the people who do the work,\u201d Gonzales said, noting that she went through both the caucus and assembly as well as the signature gathering process to make the ballot in her first legislative election.<\/p>\n

Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, said Senate Bill 101 would mean \u201cyou have to pay to get on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not comfortable with a process that says the way to get on the ballot essentially is by paying to get there,\u201d he said. \u201cCaucus has its flaws, for sure. But I think it\u2019s an important option to have. I don\u2019t know why we would remove options. Instead, we should talk about expanding options for voters and candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Delegates
Delegates yell toward the stage during the GOP Assembly at the World Arena on Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Colorado Springs. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Colorado Democratic Party and America Votes, a liberal national nonprofit, both oppose the bill. Grassroots Republicans and the Colorado Libertarian Party are also encouraging supporters to voice opposition to the legislation.<\/p>\n

Voters First Colorado, part of the national, nonpartisan group Unite America, supports Senate Bill 101. Unite America was a proponent of Alaska\u2019s switch to an open primary where both Democratic and Republican candidates are on the same ballot and voters\u2019 top four choices advance to the general election. Voters then use ranked choice voting<\/a> \u2013 in which they order their preferred candidates \u2013 to select the winner. Nevada voters approved a similar system last year.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer said she\u2019s open to amending her bill to lower the signature requirements for candidates to make the ballot, but she thinks her bill is a reasonable way to make ballot access more equitable.<\/p>\n

Right now, she argues, it\u2019s too easy for third-party candidates to get on the ballot. Kirkmeyer lost a 2022 congressional bid<\/a> by less than 1 percentage point in a race where the Libertarian candidate picked up 4% of the vote<\/a>. And she said it\u2019s unfair that unaffiliated voters, who make up the largest voting bloc in Colorado, aren\u2019t allowed to sign partisan candidates\u2019 ballot-access petitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those people who say, \u2018now you\u2019re making people pay-to-play,\u2019 my response to that is if a 63-year-old woman can get volunteers and go get her signatures \u2013 me \u2013 without having to pay for them, I think anyone can do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer had to collect 1,500 signatures to make the ballot in the 8th Congressional District last year.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican running to represent the 8th Congressional District, speaks to a voter at an event Saturday at her campaign\u2019s headquarters in Thornton. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kirkmeyer\u2019s position is notable because some in the Colorado GOP want to ban candidates from gathering petition signatures<\/a> to make the primary ballot. A right-wing contingent in the party is pushing for a rules change because they view candidates who make the ballot by gathering signatures as less ideologically pure than those who go through the caucus and assembly process.<\/p>\n

Thiry is also pushing for alterations to Colorado\u2019s presidential primary elections<\/a> after votes cast for Democratic candidates such as Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who dropped out of the contest between when ballots were mailed to voters and Election Day, ended up being meaningless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secretary of State and the legislature should fix this problem, and we think there are a number of ways to do that,\u201d Thiry told The Sun. \u201cWe\u2019re very much hoping that they will pick one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thiry declined to endorse a specific solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we suddenly started advocating for one, that would distract attention from the fact that what needs to be solved is the problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s interest in, at a minimum, requiring the disclosure of how many votes are cast in presidential primary elections for candidates who are no longer in the race. That information wasn\u2019t shared in 2020. Another idea that has been discussed among lawmakers is moving Colorado toward Alaska\u2019s election model<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, is leading the push on the presidential primary front.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working on a way to make sure that Coloradans\u2019 voices are heard in the presidential primary,\u201d he said. \u201cLast election, more than 150,000 votes were just thrown away. That\u2019s unacceptable and we\u2019ve got to fix it.\u201d He said specific policy proposals were still in the works.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, speaks at the Colorado Capitol on March 5, 2019. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Finally, Thiry is interested in campaign finance changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Colorado\u2019s contribution limits are too low and actually hurt our democracy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Candidates for four state-level, statewide offices in 2022 could raise up to $1,250 from individual donors and state lawmakers were allowed to collect up to $400. Those limits are set to rise for the next two election cycles to reflect inflation.<\/p>\n

Thiry said he\u2019s also concerned about undisclosed political spending by political nonprofits, which don\u2019t have to disclose their donors. The Sun refers to those organizations as dark-money groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think anybody who\u2019s spending money on a campaign ought to have to disclose what they\u2019re doing with their money,\u201d Thiry said.<\/p>\n

The legislative session runs through early May. The earliest a measure changing Colorado\u2019s primary process could go before voters is November 2024.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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