Rebecca Lavrenz of Colorado Springs was arrested yesterday in connection with her participation at the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Lavrenz is facing four charges, according to a September arrest warrant: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Conservative activist groups — who oppose equity efforts and LGBTQ inclusion and advocate for the expansion of school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers — are increasingly gaining influence over school board members and district administrators. Both the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) and FEC United, which share a pool of members with other local activist groups like the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) and Advocates for D20 Kids, to name a few, have successfully lobbied school district leaders across the front range.
The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) is the latest addition to a group of conservative, anti-LGBTQ, pro-charter school activist groups in Colorado that include the Independence Institute, FAIR [Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism], and FEC United.
This Saturday, the last weekend before midterm elections, the El Paso County Republican Party held a special central committee meeting to censure 33 party members, many of whom are current elected officials and candidates for Tuesday’s election. Many of those censured Saturday have also opposed or otherwise run afoul of El Paso County GOP Chair Vickie Tonkins or her slate of FEC United-backed, extremist candidates. Once the flagship county party of the Colorado GOP, the El Paso County Republican Party is a house divided, engaged in what Rep. Dave Williams (R-Co Springs) calls a “civil war,” testing whether that party, or any party so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. The Colorado Times Recorder has compiled nearly two years’ worth of Republican trials, tribulations, goofs, and gaffes to provide much-needed context for Saturday’s censure vote.
Records obtained by the Colorado Times Recorder show that the Pueblo Police Department was called to the home of Republican Senate Candidate Stephen Varela for an alleged domestic disturbance on the morning of Dec. 11, 2017.
UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, a day after this story was published, 9News reporter Kyle Clark tweeted that Moore had pulled out of this event.
At a press conference earlier this week the entire Colorado Republican slate, from statewide candidates Heidi Ganahl and Joe O’Dea to Statehouse and school board hopefuls, joined together to talk only about “kitchen table” policy issues. The subtext was clear: With the primaries over, the party doesn’t want to talk about stolen elections or other far-right conspiracies.
In late May, Republican Secretary of State candidate Tina Peters’ campaign made a $50,000 payment to PIN Business Network, a marketing company with ties to election conspiracist and podcast host Joe Oltmann. The payment was marked in the state’s campaign finance database as being for “internet advertising,” and amounts to nearly one-third of Peters’ total campaign expenditures to date.
Joe Oltmann, founder of conservative activist group FEC United, recently announced the group’s latest offering: The People’s Chamber of Commerce. In addition to paying the annual FEC United membership fee, members can sign up for The People’s Chamber of Commerce and have access to a network of like-minded, patriot businesses, in theory bypassing “big tech” platforms like Amazon or Google, frequent targets of Oltmann’s ire on his podcast, Conservative Daily.
In a move rarely advised by campaign consultants, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate may have confessed to a serious crime.
