State Senate candidates chided for alleged campaigning at Pueblo Veterans Day Parade

The Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce Veterans Day Parade on Saturday was used for what some perceived as last-minute campaigning by candidates running for election, a move that drew ire on social media.

The flap occurred in connection to Colorado Senate District 3 Democratic incumbent Nick Hinrichsen’s use of a truck with what appeared to be large campaign signs on it, along with Republican challenger Stephen Varela’s wearing of a campaign button on his shirt.

Hinrichsen, who was appointed to the seat in February after Leroy Garcia left for a position at the Pentagon, and Varela are both U.S. Army veterans.

Pueblo Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Duane Nava posted on Facebook Saturday that he was “extremely disappointed that one of our local candidates chose to use the 21st Annual Veterans Day Parade for their political campaign. They were told that the parade was for honoring veterans and not for politics and that any political entries would not be allowed.”

“I want to apologize to all other candidates who our (sic) veterans that followed the rules for this happening,” Nava wrote in the post.

Although Nava did not name Hinrichsen specifically, several commenters did.

"As a sitting senator and veteran, Sen. Hinrichsen registered for the parade as such," said Tiffany Pettigrew, Hinrichsen’s communications manager. “We received pretty broad, verbal guidance from the chamber about float regulations."

“We were careful to cover the 'for’ in his signage, register correctly and truthfully as the senator's float and not hand out or wear electioneering material, unlike others including his opponent,” Pettigrew said.

“I never heard anything about that,” Nava told the Chieftain in regard to any parade entrants handing out electioneering material.

“He (Varela) and other candidates from both political parties were wearing a (campaign) button which was allowed. He didn’t campaign, he just had the button,” said Varela’s spokesperson Alan Philp.

Valera marched in the parade with the American GI Forum and wore a shirt that had the membership logo on one side with a campaign button on the other side, Philp said.

“It's unfortunate that there was clearly some miscommunication within the chamber, but we followed the guidance we received,” Pettigrew said on Hinrichsen’s entry.

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Parade application did not spell out anti-campaign rules

In reviewing the application for the Veterans Day Parade available on the chamber’s website, the Chieftain could not find anything in the rules that specifically prohibited political campaigns. The rules indicate, “With all due respect, all entries should show association with the military, either past or present.”

Since both candidates have served in the military, they both seemingly qualify as having past associations with the military.

“I think that multiple people tried to use that parade as a political campaigning opportunity, which is not what it was intended for," Nava said. "The great thing is that we have candidates who have served our country, but it just wasn’t the right place to campaign."

The chamber parade application rules also indicated, “Absolutely nothing may be thrown or handed out to spectators along the parade route (candy, pins, pamphlets, etc.) and violators will be removed from the parade."

Nava said that none of the entries were removed from the parade.

“I don’t think anyone even noticed (the violations) until the parade was already up and going," he said. "Shedding any more light onto this issue, this political battle that is going on, takes away from the reason we had the parade and that is to honor the men and women who have served this country."

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Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Senate candidates chided for alleged actions at Pueblo Veterans Day Parade