Local Republicans are sounding the alarm over the state of ground operations in Colorado following the exodus of more than half the paid field organizers working for the state party in the last month, although state and national GOP officials say the party has a heavier presence than ever before in Colorado and that they’re happy with where the operation stands just four months before the November election.

While staffing levels have lagged expectations significantly in recent months – earlier this year, the Republican National Committee told the Colorado party to expect by mid June more than three times as many paid organizers as ever materialized, operatives say – it wasn’t until last month that the statewide field operation came crashing down, current and former employees of the state GOP and the RNC tell The Colorado Statesman.

“We were supposed to have 70 field organizers on the ground at this point,” a former organizer told The Statesman. “But the staff on the ground is a mere fraction of that. The funding that was supposed to come through from the RNC never materialized. We’re really understaffed.”

Field organizers are an integral part of a campaign, conducting everything from voter registration to supporter identification, voter persuasion and get-out-the-vote efforts. While veteran GOP operatives say there’s nothing unusual about turnover among field staff and “churn” can be expected, particularly early in the election season, some warn that the state party’s current contingent of just six field organizers operating out of state party headquarters – Democrats have more than 10 times as many equivalent positions on the ground in Colorado – could mean trouble for Republican candidates in the fall.

The former RNC-funded organizer said there wasn’t a precipitating event that led to so many staffers leaving in June but suggested that once a few had resigned the others “saw the writing on the wall” and joined them.

“When it came time to hire additional field staff,” the former organizer said, “dates that were supposed to come either would be ignored or would get pushed back. This led to a general sense of unease. As goals were ramping up, the expectations were raised to an unrealistic extent. It was to the point of not being realistic to get out the vote and run persuasion with the staff we had as the (Republican National Convention) and (state) primary were approaching.”

Several Republican organizers and operatives are expressing concern about the situation with the party’s field operation but say they can’t come forward publicly because they fear retribution or aren’t authorized to discuss staffing or funding levels. Some signed strict nondisclosure agreements when they worked for the state party.

According to campaign finance reports, the Colorado Republican Party in May employed 20 positions funded by the RNC – including a state director, his three deputies, a data specialist, a Hispanic outreach coordinator, five regional field directors and nine field organizers. According to operatives familiar with the staffing structure, the latter three positions directly qualify as field staff, making for 15 employees “on the ground.”

(The Federal Election Commission filing covering the month of May reported one more RNC-funded position than the state party had listed a month earlier. By comparison, a year earlier the state party reported five RNC-funded positions, including two Hispanic outreach organizers but no regional field directors or field organizers.)

The state party, in addition, had four employees in May, including an executive director, a chief of staff and a communications director.

According to former employees with direct knowledge of the situation, however, during the month of June the ranks of RNC-funded field staffers dwindled, as the Hispanic outreach organizer, four of the five regional field directors and five of the nine field organizers all quit, leaving just five operatives “on the ground.” One of the state director’s RNC-funded deputy positions was reassigned to cover Hispanic outreach, while another deputy was reclassified into a state GOP-funded position. (The campaign finance report covering activity during June isn’t due to the FEC until late July.)

“The regional field directors were overworked because they never got the help they were promised,” a veteran Republican campaign operative said. “The RNC is a mobile operation. They can send ground troops overnight, but they are already behind the Democrats, and that gap is ever widening.”

The operative argued that a weak field operation in July would cause problems in coming months.

“The lack of RNC staff, offices and resources in Colorado could spell disaster for down-ticket Republican candidates,” the operative said. “The lack of organization here will inhibit the ability to turn out Republican ballots. The Democrats, by contrast, have a considerable operation in Colorado.”

Democrats had more than 70 field operatives working in Colorado at the beginning of May and have increased their ranks since, a party spokesman said. He declined to be more specific.

There’s nothing unusual and nothing to worry about, Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House and a spokeswoman for the RNC told The Statesman.

“The RNC has made an historic and unprecedented early investment of staff and resources in Colorado,” RNC spokeswoman Ali Pardo told The Statesman this week. “Our team has been working with Coloradans to identify and register voters since 2013 to ensure our success in November.”

Republican operatives fanned out at events across the state on a recent Saturday, mobilizing what Pardo said were 500 volunteers in an unprecedented display of organizational strength.

“We expect to knock on more doors today than we knocked in all of June 2012,” she told The Statesman on June 11, when Republican organizers nationwide took to the streets.

The RNC, she said, has made the “longest field operation commitment in its history” for the 2016 election and has hired the “largest staff on the ground in Colorado than ever before.”

House disputed the notion that Colorado Republicans were falling short on the ground.

“Not sure why our staffing levels are news to anyone, and they are certainly not public information given that we are a private membership organization,” House said this week in an email responding to an inquiry about the state party’s field organization.

House noted in a separate email that a field organization is made up of “a mix of paid (staff) and volunteers,” which can vary widely “depending on your strategy and recruiting.” For that reason, particularly when considering presidential and non-presidential election cycles, comparisons with prior years can be deceptive, he said, “and, frankly, FEC reports will be misleading.”

“I am very comfortable with our staffing levels,” he added.

The campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, a Cortez Republican seeking his fourth term against a well funded challenger, former state Sen. Gail Schwartz, agreed with Pardo and House.

“I’m very comfortable with the RNC and state party where they are right now,” Michael Fortney told The Statesman. “Those guys are going to run a good, professional, sound ground operation in the state. The two operatives leading the effort, (state GOP executive director) Shana (Kohn Banberger) and (the RNC’s state director) Ian (Lindemann), are more than capable of putting together the ground game for the state.”

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com