Case Name: Whipple, Secretary of State, v. Hartzell
Court: Colorado Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Colorado
Decision Date: 1898-09
Citations: 25 Colo. 481
Docket Number: No. 3975
Parties: Whipple, Secretary of State, v. Hartzell.
Judges: 
Reporter: Colorado Reports
Volume: 25
Pages: 481–486

Head Matter:
[No. 3975.]
Whipple, Secretary of State, v. Hartzell.
Elections—Political Conventions—Pabty Policy.
In a contest between opposing factions of a political party over the name and emblem of the party, the question of party policy is not a matter to be considered by the court. The only question to be considered is, which of the rival factions represents the regular and legally organized convention of the party. Where a convention of a political party for a congressional district of the state was regularly called by the legally chosen chairman of the district committee for the purpose of nominating a candidate for congress, and in response to said call the convention assembled composed of delegates from ten out of thirteen of the counties of the district, the nominee of the convention was entitled to be placed upon the official ballot under the name and emblem of the party, notwithstanding the delegates composing the convention disagreed in a matter of party policy with that faction of the state party that had been awarded the name and emblem of the party.
Review from the District Court of Arapahoe County.
This case was submitted upon an agreed statement of facts, • from which it appears that one Charles H. Brierly was, in. 1896, elected by the regular convention of the Silver Republican party, chairman of the district central committee of the-first congressional district of Colorado, and as such chairman, by authority of the district central committee, issued, and published a call for a convention of the Silver Republican party of that district, to meet at Coliseum hall in Denver,, at 10 A. M., September 13, 1898, to nominate a candidate for congress.
In pursuance of this call, delegates from ten, out of .the thirteen counties which compose the district, assembled at the time and place specified, organized a convention, nominated Honorable John F. Shafroth for representative to the 56th. congress, from the first congressional district of Colorado, and adopted the name and emblem of the Silver Republican party, and on the same day filed in the office of the secre tary of state a certificate of such nomination. To this certificate no protest was filed within the time prescribed by statute. Among the delegates constituting this convention were 105 from Arapahoe county who were selected by the Silver Republican county convention presided over by Boothe M. Malone, and known as the “Eddy convention,” and four of the delegates elected from Jefferson county. About 10 o’clock in the forenoon of the same day, sixteen delegates from Weld county, ten from Jefferson county, and 105 from Arapahoe county elected by the county convention presided over by John R. Smith, and known as the “Fleming convention,” met at Windsor hall in the city of Denver, organized a convention and appointed a committee to nominate a candidate for congress from the first congressional district. Afterwards, and on the 8th day of October, 1898, a majority of the committee so appointed nominated Charles Hartzell as such candidate, and adopted the name and emblem of the Silver Republican party, and filed a certificate of such nomination in the office of the secretary of state. A protest was filed against this certificate, which was sustained by the secretary of state. Upon application to the district court of Arapahoe county this ruling was reversed, and respondent awarded the right to use the name and emblem. The secretary of state brings the case here to obtain a review of this judgment.
Mr. Victor A. Elliott, Mr. Harry C. Davts, Mr. John F. Shaeroth and Mr. J. H. Blood, for petitioner.
Messrs. Ward & Ward and Mr. John R. Smith, for respondent.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Goddard
delivered the opinion of the court.
From the foregoing statement it clearly appears that the convention held at Coliseum hall was the regular and lawful convention of the Silver Republican party of the first con gressional district, and that the assemblage at Windsor hall was entirely without authority to represent that party. Yet the court below, while recognizing this, held that because the delegates composing this convention were not in favor of the fusion policy adopted by what is known as the " Broad faction " of the Silver Republican party in the state convention (and to which this court, in the recent case of Whipple v. Broad, ante, p. 407, awarded the emblem nowin controversy) its nominee was not entitled to be classed thereunder. Under the doctrine of that case, the policy that the convention adopted was not a matter to be considered by the court below in determining the merits of this case; it was there held that the only question for its consideration in an inquiry of this kind is, which of the rival conventions was in fact the regular and legally organized convention of the party, and when that fact is determined there is an end of the controversy; in other words, that a convention composed of a majority of the regularly and lawfully elected delegates under the call, is a law unto itself,- and may adopt whatever policy it deems best, and its action in this regard is purely a political question, and is not a subject of judicial inquiry or control.
The contention of the respondent Broad in that case is thus stated by the learned chief justice, who delivered the majority opinion.
li That the decision of a convention of the delegates of a political party with respect to party policy is final and controlling ; that the same is purely a political question, over which the courts have no control, their inquiry being limited to a determination of the question as to the regularity of the proceedings of the convention in accordance with the party customs and usages."
And in supporting this contention, he uses the following language:
" In our judgment the courts have no control over questions of parly policy, but those must be determined by the party itself in its regularly called and organized convention. With the wisdom of the policy we have nothing whatever to do; and even though the court may he satisfied that the action complained of is unwise and destructive of the party organization, that is a question solely for the party itself, in its proper convention, and not for the court."
Applying this rule to the undisputed facts in this case, the right of the Coliseum hall convention to certify the nomination of Honorable John F. Shafroth as the representative for congress, from the first congressional district, under the name and emblem of the Silver Republican party, is unquestionably established. The judgment of the district court is therefore reversed, and the cause remanded, with direction to sustain the ruling of the secretary of state.
Reversed and remanded.