Bennett Rutledge's Positions and Responses to
Frequently Raised Questions, Issues, and Screams of Outrage

This page continuously under development

What got you up on YOUR high horse, dude?

In 2021, my ballot had two “races.” Each offered the voter the choice of voting for the anointed “candidate” or having no say whatever in that “race.”
No blank, text box, or other way to cast a write-in vote was provided. Any mark or other attempt to express a write-in choice could not be counted as a vote.
The “election” was 100% foreordained before the first ballot got into the hands of a single voter. You can not rig an “election” more thoroughly!
And it was not a fluke, you need only remember the Primaries in June, where there were candidates who skated in exactly the same way!
On one side, the Primary was run by Democrats, on the other side, Republicans...NO DIFFERENCE!

Such “elections” make a cruel joke
of government by consent of the governed.

To count the “elections” county-by-county, with only one person, getting 100% of the vote, for yourself, go to
the official Colorado Election Results,

and click on

2022 Primary Election: See the results
(apologies to any of you with an older edition of my handout … the URL above changed.)

Have you reached out to the County or City Clerks?
Yes, indeed. Both the Clerk of Centennial, Barbara Setterlind, and the Arapahoe Clerk and Recorder, Joan Lopez, said they had to do it that way by law.

The day before the polls closed, I reached out to the Arapahoe County Courts and filed a Protest of Election, designated 2021CV268. There was some backing and forthing, and
the final result was Judge Peter Michaelson “dismisses this case with prejudice.” … which is a fancy way of saying “I don't wanna hear it, and don't you ever bring it up again!”

I was wondering if the lack of write-in spaces was codified in statute, or was it up to the whims of the clerk?

I'm nCRS 1-5-407. Form of ballots, §(3) reads “No such blank spaces shall be provided if no eligible elector properly filed an affidavit of intent of write-in candidate.“
My impression from talking to people is that cost and labor are factors, but the main law preventing it is the ones pertaining to write-in affidavits.

No way that I will support an election denier!!!

I expect you are responding to the promo where my Democratic rival Jena Griswold and her Republican predecessor as Secretary of State for Colorado, Wayne Williams, announce that elections in Colorado are "safe and secure" and then warn about election deniers challenging that certain elections are not. I point out that the kind of election that I am protesting above, that I am making the centerpiece of my campaign, is the kind where the outcome of such an "election" is 100% determined before the first ballot gets into the hands of a single voter.Unbelievable, I know ... so don't believe me. Go to Jena Griswold's own website, given above, and see for yourself. Keeping in mind that both Griswold and Williams are attorneys at law, who have spent their careers seeking that their clients win, and all others lose, I concede that such an "election" is indeed "safe and secure" for purposes of those already in power.

This is made virtually certain by laws such as Colorado Revised Statutes 1-4-1101 and 1-4-1102 where one can only become a write-in candidate by filing months ahead, and anyone wishing to use such a write-in opportunity must vote for such a preregistered candidate or their vote shall not be counted. I, too, can't believe it ... so check it out in whatever reference source for Colorado Laws you have and see for yourself.

As a student of history I say the right of suffrage, the right of a person to vote for whom they please, is under attack, and a lot of ground has been lost already. As a Libertarian I say you are entitled to your own opinion. You are entitled to do as much or as little fact-checking as you wish. And finally ... Freedom ain't free.

You should cast YOUR vote YOUR way.

The ballots are coming, the Ballots are coming!!!

The various County Clerks have dropped the ballots with the USPS the week of October 17th. If you have not received yours by Monday, October 24, you should get in touch with your County Clerk and Recorder, find out about canceling the ballot which has gotten lost, and getting a replacement. One thing you should not go to your Clerk and Recorder for is the list of “certified” write-in candidates. For that information you need to go to:

The incumbent Colorado Secretary of State's Candidates website

then click on

2022 General Election Candidates: Candidates who filed write-in affidavits

and see the SoS incumbent's official list of write-in candidates. If you write in anyone else's name in a Write-In box your vote will NOT be counted! And notice that the incumbent is still interfering with your suffrage by restricting your vote to a list of choices which fit the requirements of those in power.
( BTW, the fourth write-in candidate for US Senator is my brother. He first swore his oath to the Constitution a few years after I did, in the family tradition. He served as a government employee in the National Park Service, not the USDOT as I did. No other warranties expressed or implied, your mileage may vary, etc. etc. )

Again, you should cast YOUR vote YOUR way.

OK, I take it back. “You should cast YOUR vote YOUR way” is still too authoritarian in tone.

It does not leave room for answers of “Don’t vote—it only encourages them”, “Democracy is mob rule,” “The very act of voting is an act of tyranny,” and other answers out to “I'll mark up this ballot by blackening every bubble to express my outrage at you for forgetting the very first Section in the Colorado Bill of Rights, that

All political power is vested in and derived from the people, that ALL government, of right, originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.

So go ahead and throw my ballot out, you oathbroken control-freak renegades, you aint' gonna freaking listen to me anyway.”
I humbly apologize for committing the fallacy of the false dilemma(multilemma?) by ignoring other choices you have and not encouraging you to think like a starfish (beyond the usual habit of humans: only going as far as “on the one hand … and on the other hand … ”, stopping there) . Then I added insult to injury, “shoulding” all over you.

As a token of my repentance, I have taken a deeper dive into the 2022 Official General Election Candidate List, itself an example of how those currently in power are limiting your Section 5 right of suffrage, and bring you, from among the races for State Senate, two more examples of what I have been ranting about. If you live in Pueblo, in State Senate District 3, you will see the names of Nick Hinrichsen(D) and Stephen A. Varela(R) on the ballot, plus a write-in blank. What you won't see is that writing in Alex Mugatu is your only shot at creating a “spoiler” situation as a protest, thus “stealing” a vote (something we Libertarians love to do, stealing votes for the LP the way Rickey Henderson stole bases for Oakland, in that memorable July 29, 1989 game against the Mariners) from either the Demopublican or the Republicrat. But to find out about Alex, you have to know there IS a 2022 Official General Election Candidate List and have the link above, or go to a Voter Service and Polling Center to ask an election judge (they aren't allowed to post Mr. Mugatu's name, and arguably can get in trouble for even speaking it … It is OK for them to spell it out for you as an act of “voter assistance” … ).

On the sixth hand we see, for those in Denver, State Senate District 34, that Julie C. Gonzales has a lock on her State Senate seat. In a textbook choiceless “election” you must either vote for Julie, or have no say in who speaks for you in the Colorado State Senate. The outcome was predetermined before the ballots ever dropped. Such an election cannot be more, to quote my incumbent rival “safe and secure,” for the Chair of the Majority Caucus. My suggestion for you folks is to go to a Voter Service and Polling Center and ask for an “Elections Complaint Form,” then fill it out, putting “I was not provided any choice but Gonzales for SD34. My right of suffrage was interfered with, contrary to Article II, Section 5, of the Colorado Constitution.” in the Other box. Again thinking like a starfish, you can then hand it to the judge, mail, fax, hand-deliver, or e-mail it as instructed, or you can lawyer up and sue The Colorado Secretary of State. By the time it gets to court, that will be me!

What is your position on abortion?

The Secretary of State for Colorado has little say over that issue. I can say that I will not issue, nor fail to issue, nor revoke any business license, including health care services of any sort, for reasons contrary to Section 4 of Colorado's Bill of Rights:

"... no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege, or capacity, on account of his opinions concerning religion, ... Nor shall any preference be given by law to any religious denomination or mode of worship."
And in all other duties of the Secretary of State for Colorado, I'll take Section 25: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” as thrice binding.

On November 3d, I was asked for more detail:

Dear Candidate, 
We are a practicing Roman Catholic family and have lived in Colorado since 1959.We would like your views on the following and how would you approach and handle them in public office. 
1. The sanctity of human life from conception until natural death (current issues including abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia/assisted suicide, cloning, etc. and their funding). 
2. Marriage and family (current issue of codifying same-sex unions/marriage in law). 
3. Health care (protection of the conscience rights of medical providers, transgenderism, particularly in regards to children, and vaccine mandates). 
Thank you very much, ... 

I replied … since you specifically ask about handling them in public office, where I may not thump Bible as I might wish, and as a public servant I must support the Constitution of the United States, and of Colorado, both of which have specific things to say about government not establishing religious doctrine, I will confine myself to saying that my policy will be [laying out the whole of Section 4 of Colorado's Bill of Rights]

Applying that to your family, that means you should live your lives your way, with the adults bearing ultimate responsibility for all underage members of the family, with the absolute minimum intervention by government officials and forces.  That would also apply to any of you who become independent adults and enter the Health Care professions.  If your employer or patient demands you do something against your conscience, whether stem-cell research or compulsory vaccinations or anything else, you can and should say "No way! I quit!" and walk right out. Conversely, no employer should be forced to employ someone who does things against the employer's conscience.

May God guide your p

Are you a Republican or a Democrat?

No. Not at all. Not a bit. I do not even fall on the nineteenth century style political spectrum.
For a better understanding of "Libertarian" please visit https://www.theadvocates.org/

For how Libertarian ideas relate to Democratic and Republican policies, please visit https://www.lpcolorado.org/