The troubled Colorado Republican Party announced February 20th that Steve Bannon, a convicted felon who also pled guilty to fraud charges in New York state, was going to give the keynote speech at the party’s annual Centennial Fundraising Dinner, was set to be held at Denver Tech Center (DTC):
On February 21 though, Bannon threw a Nazi salute at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and all hell broke loose. Coloradans organized a public campaign aimed at shaming the DTC Marriott out of hosting the event:
That campaign worked. Soon the Colorado Republican Party changed the event venue to the Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, but kept the venue under wraps, only saying in its revised invitation that the event location was “in Colorado Springs:”
But on March 14, the CO GOP announced the new location would be in Colorado Springs at the Antlers Hotel, and the campaign to push the event out ramped up again as Coloradans started pressuring the Antlers Hotel not to host it:
At one point, opponents of fascism created fliers portraying the event as a “white supremacy dinner.”
That campaign worked as well.
The Antlers Hotel management cancelled the event as a result of the political pushback. (video)
The GOP ended up holding their fundraising event at the old Boot Barn, which had been turned into a music venue that seats about 300 and is now known as the Phil Long Music Hall. There was a loud protest outside that venue while it was going on. See a video of the protest in this short.
