Ted Halaby, chair of the Colorado Republican party, has decided against seeking another term at the party’s helm. His departure was not unexpected after loss of both a Senate and House seat in November’s election to the Democrats. Even worse to some, is that for the first time in 42 years, both houses of the State Legislature are in Democratic control.

Halaby’s letter to doesn’t say the losses incurred on his watch are responsible for his decision. Instead, he blames campaign finance law restrictions.

Halaby said Democrats did a better job of exploiting new finance laws that allow donors to give unlimited amounts to groups that focus on specific issues, as long as the groups don’t name a candidate in their advertising.