Le Lait looks back on her time at head of El Paso County political party
After five years in the abject minority, Christy Le Lait isn’t bitter about her time as head of the El Paso County Democratic Party, she’s just a little cynical.
Le Lait is moving to Florida.
A nationwide search is underway to replace her.
“Obviously, I love a challenge,” said Le Lait who is executive director of a political party that is outnumbered two to one in the most conservative part of Colorado. “The worst thing you can say to me is no, or it can’t be done.”
That challenge for her was not only trying to put Democrats in office (something she helped do with some success). But it was also about trying to “change the world.”
She said the anti-government, anti-tax sentiment has hurt the county. She points to failures to fund basic things like roads and stormwater improvements.
“I think Colorado Springs is a better place than we allow ourselves to be,” Le Lait said, who has lived here for 35 years.
There’s real irony in the fact, she said, that a community that relies on the federal government for about half of its economy, is yelling at the top of its lungs that government is bad.
But she tried to approach the job with humor, too, noting Democrats have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
With the implementation of all mail ballots she pushed a “vote naked” campaign. She’s not afraid to run her mouth off at times too about “right-wing wackos.”
But in her time leading local party efforts, Le Lait has had serious moments, too.
She ran the unsuccessful campaign in 2013 to keep former Senate President John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, in office.
That campaign embodied more than just who Morse was as a politician but became a referendum on the state’s new gun laws that restricted high capacity magazines and required background checks on private sales. Money poured into both sides of the campaign from out of state, and Le Lait said people drove by party headquarters waiving guns.
“Something was let loose with that recall that I don’t think anyone had control over,” Le Lait said, adding at times it was scary.
The night Morse was ousted from office by 319 votes there was a room full of volunteers from across the state at the Mining Exchange. Tears were shed.
“We had a lot of victims of gun violence who were helping us, and preparing them for the possibility we would lose after they had taken these horrible tragedies in their lives and tried to turn it into something good was really hard,” Le Lait said.
For her that election was not a mandate for gun rights or the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners. It was about a very low voter turnout.
But the party has bounced back, she said.
A year later, she helped Sen. Michael Merrifield win back the District 11 seat for the Democrats. Merrifield also stood for more than himself during the election. He at one time led New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Colorado and was unapologetically supportive of the new gun restrictions. About 36,000 voters participated in the Merrifield election, compared to almost 18,000 during the recall.
She loves the community and the city – but she has family in Florida and is more of a beach comber than a mountain climber.)
Yet at the same time, Le Lait thinks the Republican Party loyalty has done real damage to the region.
“The question is who are we as a community?” she asked. “When does the good of the community trump party loyalty?”
For her that question came to a head during the 2014 election, when state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, an evangelical Christian minister who is known for his anti-gay sentiment and controversial statements.
She said the national publicity given to Klingenschmitt’s comments about the gay community have furthered the stereotype that Colorado Springs is a haven for right-wing extremists.
Klingenschmitt won the House District 15 Republican primary by 5 percentage points and the general election with nearly 70 percent of the vote.
“I find it ironic that the Democrats throw a tantrum when they can’t win an election in a socially conservative city,” Klingenschmitt said when told of Le Lait’s comments. “Because just yesterday one of my best volunteers, who is a social conservative, told me she’s quitting the Republican Party after 40 years because not enough Republicans will stand up for Gordon Klingenschmitt and defend traditional marriage.”
Klingenschmitt, who is running for a state Senate seat in 2016, said his election proves voters want an outspoken leader, not a compromiser.
“It’s the same phenomenon we’re seeing with Donald Trump,” Klingenschmitt said. “He’s too outspoken. He’s not politically correct, and so is Gordon Klingenschmitt, and that’s what people want.”
Le Lait said her replacement will not only need experience with campaigns, fundraising and organizing volunteers, but the same belief in change that has driven her. But believing in change and changing the local political landscape will be difficult. No Democrat has been elected to a county office since the 1970s, and Merrifield’s Senate win last year was offset when Tony Exum lost the House District 17 seat to Republican Kit Roupe.
“The greatest thing the party can do aside from holding the seats we have now and re-electing Tony Exum, is really get the community to talk about who we are,” Le Lait said.
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Contact Megan Schrader: 286-0644
Twitter @CapitolSchrader
Chairman Christy Le Lait poses with a cutout of Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., at the local Democratic Party headquarters Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Le Lait is leaving the El Paso County Democratic Party after five years as the leader and moving to Florida. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Chairman Christy Le Lait watches the Republican presidential debate with other Democrats Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, at the local Democratic Party headquarters. Le Lait is leaving the El Paso County Democratic Party after five years as the leader and moving to Florida. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)