McInnis shifts his tone

Now that Scott McInnis has made his candidacy for governor official, is he learning to play nice?

As we have previously noted, McInnis recently sent out two pieces of mail, and after close analysis there was a clear and dramatic shift in tone.

In April, McInnis sent out a letter to fellow Republicans soliciting “feedback and suggestions on how we can rebuild our Party on local, state, and national levels.” He outlined what he called five “fundamental practices” that Republicans have been neglecting: candidate recruitment, voter registration, reelection support for incumbent candidates, grassroots outreach beyond party ranks and fundraising.

McInnis said that by sending the letter he was doing his part “communicating and helping figure out how [Republicans] can more of an effective voice.” But memories are still fresh of all the times McInnis criticized party leaders and did the exact opposite of helping Republicans have an “effective voice.”

In 2006, McInnis criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez’s campaign, saying it was "like putting a high school quarterback on the Denver Broncos and having him start the game.” That same year, McInnis meddled in a local race for state Senate. He backed his brother-in-law Matt Smith over his former staffer Josh Penry, who ultimately won the race and now serves as Senate Minority Leader. Now it is likely Penry will challenge McInnis for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Then in 2008, McInnis attacked U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer just weeks before the election. He also accused Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams of focusing too much on running Schaffer’s Senate race, without raising money or deploying resources to help candidates win back seats in the state legislature, which the Democrats have controlled since 2004.

"Dick can carry a heavy backpack, but you can't put two heavy backpacks on him," McInnis told The Denver Post at the time. "Our state party is going to need some leadership and some direction changes — or the party is going to be a very minority player in the future," he said.

Based on McInnis’s track record, we couldn’t help but wonder if this first mailer was an attempt to step on the toes of the Republican state party, and in particular, Wadhams.

Then we received the second letter. This month, McInnis followed up with another mailer saying he received a “tremendous outpouring of response” from the first. In it, he touted his party's 2008 successes and praised Wadhams for retiring the $600,000 in debt from the 2004 and 2006 election cycles.

Maybe now that he’s running for governor, McInnis realizes it is not wise to offend those willing to put their necks on the line, including the Schaffers and Wadhams of the political world. While they may not have prevailed in the general election, they had the guts to run in one of the toughest years on record for Republicans.