Photo Credit (cropped): Centennial Institute
If you check the about page for Jon Caldara on the Independence Institute website, it begins with, “Jon Caldara hates bullies.”
Well, as it turns out, Caldara, President of the Independence Institute, is a bully. According to the Recall Jared Polis Page on Facebook, the Independence Institute had a volunteer petition circulator removed from the Kiowa Gun Club while he was hosting a fundraiser. See for yourself below:
Now, most “conservatives” hosting a fundraiser at a Colorado gun club would probably allow this volunteer to go about their business. Some might even go as far as introducing the volunteer and their cause (recalling liberal Governor Jared Polis) to the attendees.
Instead, Caldara had the volunteer kicked out.
We can only assume Caldara (who is feuding with this Recall Polis group) wanted to flex his power and protect his own fundraising effort. You can see one of the comments from the post referencing this point below.
Kyle Clark of 9News even covered the grift awhile back.
To be more accurate, the Independence Institute only takes 3% of the cut, while the processing company takes 2.9%. Still, the Independence Institute (Caldara) appears to be directly benefitting from the effort to recall Governor Jared Polis. Yet, they will not allow a volunteer to circulate the petition anywhere near their fundraiser.
There is a double standard here, and Caldara is on the wrong side of it and the people of Colorado.
Of course, Caldara’s think tank has a history of being on the wrong side of conservatives. They employ Democrat Dave Kopel, who went on record in Congress in support of Red Flag laws.
Caldara employing a Democrat is a bad look. Employing one that advocates for Red Flag laws, is worse.
Even if the signature-gathering effort is an uphill battle, kicking out a volunteer who is attempting to save their state from socialist policies that will lead to an economic downturn is just petty.
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now I gotta remove the independence institute sticker from the van. Thx. John for being a hose bag.
Because of his bullying, I will no longer watch his show Devils advocate ANYMORE. Maybe Polis is paying him to be Demos puppet. Burn in Hell, Jon.