Jane Norton names Josh Penry campaign manager, Rich Beeson general consultant

Why has Jane Norton replaced an experienced campaign manager from Ohio, Norm Cummings, with State Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry?

We’ll probably never hear the real story, but anyone who’s ever run for or run anything knows that top lieutenants come and go for a lot of reasons and that such changes hardly are rare in big league politics.

I haven’t discussed the changes with anybody. So all of what follows is pure speculation.

 

Maybe Norton and her husband, Mike, decided that Cummings has done what they hired him to do and that it’s time to put a young hard-charging leader like Penry  in a position to use his experience as a gubernatorial candidate to work for her campaign?

Or Norton may have decided that she needs Penry on her team to act as her lead surrogate. He certainly has credibility and appeal as a campaigner. He seemed to have built a strong campaign organization last fall before he dropped out of his race for governor.

Josh Penry has been recognized by numerous local and national media—including the Washington Post, Fox News and the National Leader—as a new generation of leader in the Republican Party. In the Colorado legislature, Penry quickly moved through the ranks of leadership, becoming the Senate Republican Leader in his first term at age 34.

This may be why Beeson has joined the campaign.

“A native Coloradan, Rich Beeson has been involved with local, national, and international conservative politics for two decades. In 2009, Rich was instrumental in the voter turnout effort for U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s winning campaign. He has worked on a number of Congressional, gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns in Colorado and around the country since 1989.

Beeson’s priority will be to grow the campaign’s grassroots infrastructure as part of the Norton campaign’s petition collection effort.”

In 2008, President Obama’s campaign built a huge organization in Colorado and showed the importance of grass roots organization. As a co-chair of John McCain’s under-funded and much smaller Colorado organization, Norton obviously saw the Obama ground organization up close and is trying to replicate it as much as possible. Appointed senator Michael Bennet, the presumptive Democrat nominee, is backed by Obama and what’s left of his organization. He also has plenty of money to rebuild the Obama organization. Both Norton and Bennet showed in the caucuses that their ground troops weren’t performing as well as they hoped, and both are going the petition route. Norton is forced by Republican Party rules to totally forego the GOP’s state assembly. Under the Democrats’ rules, Bennet is petitioning on the ballot as well as running at the party’s state assembly next month.

Although Cummings has resigned as campaign manager, he’ll continue as a senior political consultant. This could be a meaningless face-saving appointment, or it could mean that Norton values Cummings’ advice and that he’s had enough of the day-to-day campaign management fracas. 

Are these changes a sign of weakness in the Norton campaign? Her opponents will say so.

But Scott McInnis recently found a new campaign manager, and President Ronald Reagan stunned the political world in 1980 when he appointed a new campaign team. Democrat Andrew Romanoff makes changes in his campaign staff weekly.

Norton’s run a lot of organizations in government and in the private sector. A friend of hers recently told me that Norton’s a “woman of steel.” Obviously, she isn’t afraid to make hard decisions. She has decided that she needed to make some adjustments in her staff and she won’t be the last candidate to do that this year.

Norton’s press release follows:

Centennial, CO – Today, Jane Norton, candidate for U.S. Senate, announced aggressive new changes to her campaign team. Josh Penry will join the team as Campaign Manager, and Rich Beeson will come aboard as General Consultant.

“This is the most important Colorado Senate race in a generation, and these staff moves should send a clear message: the Norton campaign will be on offense between now and Election Day,” said Norton.  “These changes will allow us to take our fight directly to the people of Colorado.”

“We know this is not a ‘business as usual’ year, and we simply can’t run a ‘business as usual’ campaign; that’s why I’ve implemented these changes today,” continued Norton.  “When I made the decision to pursue the Republican nomination via the petition process, my goal was to reach out to as broad an audience as possible, and I believe Josh and Rich will be critical to not only the success of achieving that goal but to victory in November.”

Josh Penry has been recognized by numerous local and national media—including the Washington Post, Fox News and the National Leader—as a new generation of leader in the Republican Party. In the Colorado legislature, Penry quickly moved through the ranks of leadership, becoming the Senate Republican Leader in his first term at age 34.

A native Coloradan, Rich Beeson has been involved with local, national, and international conservative politics for two decades.  In 2009, Rich was instrumental in the voter turnout effort for U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s winning campaign.  He has worked on a number of Congressional, Gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns in Colorado and around the country since 1989.

Beeson’s priority will be to grow the campaign’s grassroots infrastructure as part of the Norton campaign’s petition collection effort.

“Winning this Senate seat is absolutely critical to the future of our state and our nation.  I’m in this to win, and I’m in this to take Colorado conservative values back to the United States Senate.  I will be a force for limited government and fiscal responsibility.  I will be Harry Reid’s worst nightmare,” continued Norton. “I am pleased to welcome two very experienced Coloradans to the campaign.”

Norm Cummings has resigned as campaign manager and will continue to be a part of the campaign as a Senior Political Advisor.  “I owe Norm a debt of gratitude for his commitment and able efforts, and I know that he will continue to make critical contributions to the cause,” said Norton.

Jane Norton for Colorado campaign co-chairs are former Governor Bill Owens, former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong, former U.S. Senator Hank Brown, and former Congressman Bob Beauprez.  Norton has also garnered endorsements from a long list of Colorado conservatives including Attorney General John Suthers, Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland, former State Treasurer Mark Hillman, and thousands of Colorado grassroots activists.

 

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