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Colorado GOP names Daniel Cole, Adam Johnson to state party posts

By Ernest Luning 05/23/2017 | updated 8 years ago

The Colorado Republican Party has named Daniel Cole as its new communications director and Adam Johnson as political director, Cole announced Monday in a chatty, informal letter he said reflects his approach to the job.

The two mark the first hires at the party since former El Paso County Republican Party Chairman Jeff Hays took over operations at the state GOP after winning election as chairman on April 1.

Cole worked under Hays as the El Paso County GOP’s executive director for three years before starting his own firm, Cole Communications, in 2016. He said he’ll continue to provide services for other clients while he works on a contract basis for the state party.

Two state party staffers who worked for Hays’s predecessor, former Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve House – chief of staff Tyler Hart and executive director Shana Kohn Banberger – will continue in their positions for the time being, although there could be more staff changes and additions before long, a GOP official said.

In addition to managing local issue and candidate campaigns over the years, Cole taught high school English and taught journalism at Colorado Springs Early Colleges. He also reviewed French books for Colorado Springs-based Catholic publisher Zaccheus Press and translated from the Italian “The Spiritual Experience of Itala Mela, a Life Incandescently Immersed in the Trinity,” a biography of a woman declared venerable by the Vatican.

Johnson got his start working for GOP candidates in 2002 on Gov. Bill Owens’s reelection campaign and has worked on numerous issue and candidate campaigns since. He’s most recently been involved with Citizens for Elected Mayor, the group behind an initiative asking Castle Rock voters whether to elect the town’s mayor as opposed to the town council appointing the mayor, as it’s currently done.

Johnson recently contributed an opinion article to The Colorado Statesman that raises concerns about Proposition 108, the voter-approved measure to allow unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in party primaries.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com

Ernest Luning

Reporter

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