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At the Douglas County Republicans’ annual Lincoln Day dinner last month, many of the Colorado Republican Party’s current political A-listers and up-and-comers mingled in the large atrium of the Wildlife Experience in Parker making small talk.
Cleve Tidwell was making conversation, too. But interspersed with the usual banter about current events, family, and future political plans, Tidwell casually mentioned activities you wouldn’t expect of a novice U.S. Senate candidate–such as his recent meeting with the vice president of Honduras, where up until two years ago he was managing director of a coffee plantation.
Cleve (his given name; not an abbreviation) is one of the most interesting candidates for U.S. Senate in Colorado, even if he’s not one of the most likely to win.
With a Lyndon Johnson-esque drawl and swagger, and a passing resemblance to Joe Biden (in looks if not in politics), the 62-year-old Georgia native has already been crisscrossing the state, introducing himself to Republicans and planning his campaign.
Even though the Republican race for U.S. Senate is still wide open, Tidwell–who plans to formally jump in the race later this year–faces an uphill battle.
Tidwell takes a libertarian stance on social issues. He personally opposes gay marriage and abortion, but he says they should be left up to individual states to decide.
As a business consultant for Fortune 500 company Textron, Tidwell has visited (by his count) at least 15-20 countries, talking with business and political leaders.
He is reluctant to talk about his relationship with the Honduran vice-president, Elvin Ernesto Santos, but he says he “was in and out with a lot of places with a lot of key people, and made a lot of wonderful friends and good relationships [that] I think will allow me to step into a Senate position.”
Tidwell’s own life story has a bit of the American dream in it. He grew up poor in rural Georgia, southwest of Atlanta. His first job, at age 15, was in the local cotton mill. After spending time in Japan (where he was president of Money Café USA, Inc., an international financial planning firm), Tidwell moved to Colorado in 2003 with the intention of focusing on fishing and his golf game. Instead, he’s now planning to tour Colorado, listening to voters and picking up support.
Ask Tidwell why he wants to enter politics, and he becomes quite earnest. In particular, he presses his opposition to President Obama’s bailout plan–especially the part involving the federal government dictating to banks and the auto industry about how to operate.
“What really got me off the couch is when I realized that the government thought that they could run a business or businesses much better than we could,” Tidwell says. “And that didn’t sit right with me.”
Posted 4/16/2009 at 1:30 pm by Jeremy Pelzer
Politics :: Permalink :: Comments (14)
Isn’t this the guy who used to work for AIG? He would be the perfect candidate for the Republicans, he tanked the economy in the private sector at AIG and now he wants to tank the economy in the Senate.
His involvement with AIG, as he stated while talking to people at the Douglas Lincoln Day Dinner, was as a consultant. He never worked for them. He was simply contracted by them to manage one of their subsidiaries.
Oh, so he worked for them but was “contracting” so it doesn’t count. LOL, maybe he should go back to playing golf like he moved here to do (a bonafide country club Republican!)
Great article! Here is a guy whose business leadership can help turn around the economy and our country. We don’t need any more lawyers and politicians in D.C. who are all “business as usual.” We need someone who has business experience and financial sensibility. Cleve Tidwell has both.
As far as AIG goes, the subsidiary companies of AIG that Mr. Tidwell performed a year consulting contract? They were much better for it. Mr. Tidwell was responsible for incredible growth in Japan. He had absolutely nothing to do with their poor management here in the states. Other companies he has consulted for: Ford, Canon, Kodak. These are all big companies that were made better because of his leadership.
Republicans, independents, and yes even some Democrats are getting on board with Tidwell because they understand that he really can turn things around.
actually, Cleve Tidwell did make some headlines yesterday. He gave a great speech at the Ft. Collins tea party and went to the Loveland tea party as well. Here is some of the coverage:
http://retiredintherockies.blogspot.com/2009/04/todays-tax-day-tea-party-in-loveland.html
It’s about time that we put a new face to the Colorado political scene. Once people start seeing Tidwell as the leader that he really is, party lines won’t even matter. This is the candidate that any Coloradoan is looking for, regardless if you’re Republican, Democrat, or Independent. Isn’t time people start looking at candidates for what they plan on doing for your state rather than by the R or D next to their name?
We have tried over and over with the same recipe for disaster. Let’s get a fresh face in their but more importantly a face that has the brains to generate revenue instead of wasteful spending. The A-Listers might be a tight group and an uphill battle for Cleve but we need jobs to get out of these troubled times.
Bryan
Cleve has more international and business experience than most sitting in the Senate including Udall and Bennett. We need a voice of reason, common sense, and one that will actually listen to their constituents instead of vot8ing lockstep along party lines. Cleve can champion the cause for fiscal responsibility in a Senate gone wild, he will lead by established respect and example in foreign relations, and best of all he is not an established politician looking to further his career. He wants to serve America and effect real change that benefits all Americans.
Hahaha. Wow, someone has too much time on their hands. At least be a little creative with your fake names if you’re going to post over and over and over about Tidwell.
I re-read the article and noticed that this particular article really under-plays Mr. Tidwell’s strong pro-life stance. Everyone who knows Cleve knows that he is a good Christian advocate for life. There’s nothing libertarian about it. He may agree with the libertarians on smaller government and less taxes, but not on life.
Hey Sean, you’re not posting more pro-Cleve BS from state computers again, are you?
Big Brother and AIG man, you need to realize that Tidwell is a name that is getting around.
I heard him brought up at the Colorado Springs Tea Party, and frankly, I look forward to learning more about him.
I saw this man at the fort collins tea party and I was really suprised at the attention he was getting from the crowd. love that he’s served our country. I’ll be watching for him!
I thing it might be a great contract between those peoples…….