Aide to Three Presidents Urges
“Country Above Party”
I am one of nine electors for Colorado and one of 538 electors
nation-wide. We are the Electoral College we all hear so much about
every four years. We meet to vote for the President and Vice President
on December 19. Until we vote, there is no such thing as a
president-elect. In modern U.S. history, the Electoral College has
never chosen someone for President other than the person who seemed to
have “won” on election night. This year, we, the Electoral College,
must invoke our extraordinary constitutional power and vote for someone
other than Trump/Pence.
I have worked for three Presidents of the United States and have
known numerous candidates for President and Vice President. I have had
many disagreements with politicians of all stripes, but I have never
found any of them to be so radically disqualified, unprepared, and
irresponsible as Mr. Trump. That is why I hope that on December 19,
2016, my fellow electors are free to exercise their good judgment and
vote for someone who is responsible, qualified, and puts country above
party. That person can be a Republican, a Democrat, or anyone that we
all agree is qualified.
It seems odd that our Constitution, the foundation of our democracy,
has a system so seemingly undemocratic as the Electoral College. But
the Founders designed the Electoral College for exactly a moment such
as this: to stop someone like Mr. Trump.
Alexander Hamilton explained the Electoral College in Federalist
Paper No. 68. The electors are to be “detached” from the “heats and
ferments” that can sometimes influence public opinion. “The process of
election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will
never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree
endowed with the requisite qualifications.” When Alexander Hamilton
spoke of preventing those with “talents for low intrigue, and the
little arts of popularity” from becoming President, he was talking
about people like Trump. We take our job as elector very, very
seriously and we will not let this country be upended by this person.
If we can unify behind a qualified person on December 19, 2016, a
person that everyone will pray and cheer for their success, no matter
if you’re on team blue, red, or none of the above, we can at least
begin to heal our country and begin to work in the interests of the
people of our country. If you know someone who is an elector, in any
state, reach out to them and urge them to vote against the unqualified
Mr. Trump.
About Polly Baca:
Polly Baca served in the Colorado House of
Representatives (1975- 1978) and the Colorado Senate (1979-1986), the
first Latina to serve in both chambers in her state. She is the first
woman elected to chair the Democratic Caucus of the Colorado House
(1977), the first minority woman and first Hispanic woman elected to
the Colorado State Senate (1978-1986), the first Hispanic woman to be
nominated by a major political party for the United States Congress
(1980), and the first Hispanic woman to co-chair two National
Democratic Conventions (1980 and 1984).
Sen. Baca served as Vice Chair of the National Democratic Party
from
1981 to 1989. She has served three US Presidents: as Public Information
Officer for a White House Agency during the Lyndon B. Johnson
Administration; as Rocky Mountain States Coordinator for President
Jimmy Carter’s 1980 Presidential campaign; and as Special Assistant to
President Bill Clinton for Consumer Affairs and Director of the United
States Office of Consumer Affairs. In 2012, Sen. Baca served as a
National Co-Chair of Catholics for Obama.
She is an inductee of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, the
National Hispanic Hall of Fame, the World Who’s Who of Women, Who’s Who
in American Politics, and Who’s Who in the West. Sen. Baca received a
B.A. degree in political science from Colorado State University, an
honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Northern
Colorado and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wartburg College,
Waverly, Iowa. In April 2012, the Denver Post listed Sen. Baca as one
of the 75 Most Influential Women of Colorado.
About Hamilton Defenders:
Hamilton Defenders is a 501(c)(4) organization that
coordinates pro bono legal services and other volunteer services to aid
Presidential Electors in the research and exercise of their rights and
responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States. www.hamiltondefenders.org