Abraham Lincoln would have been proud of his Arapahoe County cohorts Saturday, June 3, as his political party celebrated the president who freed the slaves at the historic Lincoln Day Dinner. The event was held in Greenwood Village at the DoubleTree Hotel to a sold- out crowd of over 200 Republicans.
The Arapahoe County GOP didn’t have much to celebrate losing every political race in both county and state contests. New leadership was displayed by county chairman Anne Rowland, the Grand Old Party had an evening of fun, vigor, and lively festivities, raising considerable funds from spirited events. While the past election was bleak for the GOP awaiting the “Red Wave,” that never arrived, the future appears to be brighter moving rapidly towards the presidential election in 2024. Can the party unite on a candidate?
The evening began with an invocation by Jono Scott, seeking election to the Aurora City council November 7, 2023. He joins Mayor Mike Coffman who is also running for re-election. George Lantz is running for re-election as mayor of Greenwood Village.
Highlight of the evening fundraising was the auction of a dinner with four Aurora city council members at Legends Sports Bar in Aurora. A large number of Centennial City Council members, led by Mayor Stephanie Piko, joined the lively bidding conducted by Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky. The small dinner party blossomed into a major event with brisk bidding from Centennial Council members and the enthusiasm of auctioneer Jurinsky, assisted by dinner Master of Ceremonies Jimmy Sengenberger.
In more fundraising activities, iconic realtor Edie Marks, for a second year in a row, won the “Heads and Tails” competition for a gift certificate from Jake Jab’s American Furniture.
Highlight of the memorable evening were newly elected County Chair Anne Rowland, swinging a guitar, and daughter Dani Rowland singing the National Anthem. Later in the evening they performed “God Bless America” accompanied by Aurora star performer Stephanie Hancock with Sengenberger playing his harmonica.
However, the best was still to come with the evening program by the keynote speaker Thomas J. Baker, now a Colorado resident residing in Basalt, a career FBI agent, who spoke about his FBI career, especially about his experiences with President Ronald Reagan. He was on the scene as lead agent minutes after the assassination attempt on the president at the Washington Hilton hotel. He spoke very highly of President Reagan and his great personality and leadership.
Baker has just authored a book entitled, “The Fall of the FBI,” and detailed highlights of his book to an intrigued audience. He spoke about the recent 300-page Durham report he read, not revealing a single justification of evidence connecting President Trump to any Russian conspiracy. He also detailed the challenges in the FBI after the September ll, 2011 attack on the Wolrd Trade Center. He related that President Bush asked the FBI at that time to protect America against any future attacks. This, according to Baker, changed the FBI culture from a law enforcement agency to an investigative organization with major increases in American surveillance, contrary in Baker’s mind, to the Constitutional freedoms of American citizens that he had been trained to protect during his lengthy successful career. He relates, “it is a hard road back.”
Baker was very impressive and his book can be purchased online from Amazon/ThomasJBakerBook.com. The lead entry into the book describes “How the Mueller-Comey cabal turned the FBI from a “swear to tell the truth law-enforcement agency to a politicized intelligence organization.”
The Greenwood Village DoubleTree Hotel did a yeoman’s job of presenting a warm venue for the event with ample parking and good service. An extensive silent auction was full of treasures including a Ronald Reagan tie. The usual volunteer GOP ladies did the heavy lifting chaired by Lynne Cottrell, assisted in many details by Andi Allott, Karen Blilie, Evie Ashmore, Caroline Cornell, Jewell Hargrave, Jimmy Sengenberger, and Carol Waller.
Missing in action were a number of Arapahoe County and state-wide candidates who lost in the past election. Kudos to those who lost and still attended the dinner putting political beliefs before personal gain.
It appears that the new GOP County Chair Anne Rowland is a strong leader and put on a very successful annual Lincoln Day Dinner. It was a blast.