Colorado redistricting commission removes chairman over Facebook posts

Members of Colorado’s independent redistricting commission voted on Monday to remove the group’s chairman after Facebook posts surfaced in which he challenged the authenticity of the 2020 election results and downplayed the danger presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Danny Moore was removed by a committee vote after repeatedly refusing to resign, according to The Denver Post. Moore will remain on the commission and Carly Hare, the former vice chair, will succeed him as chair, the newspaper reported.

“My hope and prayer today is that no other commissioner experiences what I have experienced,” he reportedly said after the vote. “My comments were intended to create a broader discussion around political correctness and the problems that are impacting our society. I meant no harm or malice against any group or any person.”

Among the posts that led to Moore’s removal were claims that Democrats stole the 2020 election from former President Trump as well as charges that the media was overselling the danger of COVID-19, which so far has killed more than half a million people in the U.S.

The 12-member panel is charged with redrawing the state’s congressional districts following the 2020 census.

Moore, a Republican member of the commission which is made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents, saw his leadership questioned by even other Republican members of the panel including commissioner Bill Leone, who said that many of Moore’s claims on Facebook were “devoid of evidence.”

“We should get a chair of this commission that can reflect in every way the nonpartisan nature of what this commission is supposed to be,” said Leone.