Ali Hasan: A Republican Leader
By Seeme Gull Hasan
Left Ali Hasan, Right Ali Hasan with Newt Gingrich
Ali has achieved great successes since his early years when he was teaming with his mother for Republican causes. Ali spent five years of high school at a boarding school under discipline that was like that of a military academy – Groton School, the boarding school of President Roosevelt, located in the cold fields of rural Massachusetts. Ali says his academic record can be divided into two parts – he would absolutely agree that his writing, reading and main tools of learning greatly came from his Groton schooling. However, Ali would be the first to agree that he did not receive a lot of A’s at Groton, but he boasted an A in Calculus.
Ali eventually chose Occidental for his college studies, a Liberal Arts College in California that would allow him to get away from the cold and wet weather of New England. And as usual, Ali showed his ambitious side by writing his own major, an Independent Pattern of Study, a major offered to only exceptional students of Occidental. The Study was based on a variety of subjects, including Filmmaking, Education and Environmental Science, for which Ali would later graduate with Honors from the major he created.
Ali was recruited into Chapman University to be the first graduating class of The Dodge School Of Film. Ali studied a three-year course to become a film director and screenwriter, ultimately receiving a Masters in Film Directing. With this degree, Ali emerged as a small businessman, owning a Colorado-based film company named Rabia LLC. The first film produced at Rabia LLC won 36 awards and has been picked up for worldwide distribution.
Politically, Ali always leaned Conservative, but when he had to pay payroll taxes, he truly became a Conservative. Ali has a firm belief that the only way to prosperity is to have low taxes -especially on small businesses – to support our country.
Ali was born in the steel city town of Pueblo, Colorado, and later grew up on the Western Slope of Colorado in the Rocky Mountains, where he cultivated his own Western Roots. After attaining his Masters, Ali returned to Eagle County of the Western Slope, where he started writing a weekly column for the Vail Daily and on the side, learned about ranching with plans to buy a working ranch of his own; he happily talks about feeding salt licks to cows, as his favorite ranching activity. However, at the same time, Ali got involved in various community initiatives.
In turn, Ali's dedication to the Eagle County Republican Party and activities in the community ended up in Colorado Minority Leader Mike May recruiting him to run for Colorado’s House District 56, as a Republican. Ali received support and advice for his election from a number of important people, but the advice he cherished most was from his fellow Occidental alum and brother, Secretary Jack Kemp. Kemp’s advice led Ali to knock on twenty thousand doors in the three counties he would hope to represent – Eagle, Summit and Lake.
As September of 2008 came, the polling was pointing to a big win for Ali, but the bailout agreement by John McCain left Republicans upset, causing many to boycott the election. Ali won his own home county of Eagle, but narrowly lost Lake and Summit. However, Ali received the endorsement of important Republicans throughout Colorado and the nation, including Speaker Newt Gingrich and the head of Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist.
During the Fall of 2009, Ali felt that the Colorado Republicans needed to adopt certain techniques and ideas to compete with Democrats in this new age of information. In turn, Ali voluntarily started driving to meet Republican groups all over Colorado, as well as meeting candidates who were planning on running for various offices. During these months of meeting grassroots groups, Ali realized that Republicans were not sold on the two candidates who were running for State Treasurer, an important fiscal position in Colorado.
Thus, in reviewing the State Treasury, Ali discovered that the current Democratic State Treasurer was investing half of Colorado's six billion dollars of State Investments in bailout companies. To make matters worse, some of the investment money was indirectly being given to companies that directly competed against Colorado companies. With a strong belief that this system of investing was going to lead to disaster, Ali decided to run for State Treasurer on the platform of divesting out of Washington Losers and investing in Colorado Winners – companies that provided jobs in Colorado, but could also provide a great return on one’s investment money – a plan to keep Colorado money in Colorado, and also create jobs. Ali would write a 70-page plan on fixing the Treasury, making it available for download on his campaign website, Hasan2010.com.
Thus, after consulting with Republican friends and leadership, Ali decided to run for the office of State Treasurer. And on the day of announcing his run, Minority Leader Mike May introduced Ali with his own endorsement saying, “What this young man is made of is determination, courage and principles.”
In the last four months, Ali has run a campaign that, according to Glenn Merrick, a Colorado Attorney, has been exhaustive. Ali’s schedule included visiting two to three different Republican groups a day, with his day normally starting at 6 AM in a county like Weld County, the northern part of the State, and ending in the evening in El Paso County, the southern part of the State. As he travels the State he has been picking up endorsements from leadership people in the Party, as well as elected officials.
The author of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Douglas Bruce, a popular Colorado politician, has endorsed Ali by agreeing that Ali's plan to fix the State Treasury is the best for Colorado. Bob Shirilla, a former GOP Vice Chair of El Paso County, Colorado’s biggest Republican county, endorsed Ali because, as a retired corporate leader, he believes Ali’s plan to invest State Treasury funds in Colorado helps cities in growth, providing shovel ready jobs. And of all the candidates in the race, Ali’s endorsement list is the only one that includes Colorado Reverends, Sheriffs, Mayors, School Board Members, and Tea Parties, including Reverend Al Loma and Sheriff Fred Wegener.
Always energetic, Ali has decided to personally call each delegate to the Colorado Republican Party Convention at the end of May. Every precinct in Colorado assigns one or two Republican delegates to attend a Convention, where candidates for office will be nominated. Even though Ali is sure, in traveling up and down the State for almost a year he has met most grassroots activists, he still wants to make sure he introduces himself to every delegate. In turn, every day for the last two weeks, Ali has sat on the phone for around eight hours a day, personally dialing each number and talking to any delegate who picks up. For the people who are not home, he leaves a message with his personal cell phone asking them to call back if they have any questions.
Ali has made over two thousand calls to Colorado’s Republican delegates, but will not stop until he has made at least one phone call to every delegate.
In talking about Ali, Minority Leader Mike May said,"[Ali] is straightforward. He's refreshingly honest and sometimes his honesty gets him in trouble.” The media often takes Ali’s honest comments and twist them around, formulating their negative attacks against him. Unlike other politicians, Ali still believes in discussing his plans and ideas instead of staying quiet and being afraid of getting critiqued. Minority Leader Mike May is right – this is a very refreshing aspect of Ali's personality, an aspect that has already made him a leader amongst Republicans on the Western Slope.
Certainly, electability is an issue during the primary, as well as the November election. Of the three Republicans running for State Treasurer, Ali is the only one who has run in an election before – and not only did Ali run before, he ran in an election where the Democrat 527 's heavily targeted him, spending around $500,000 against him.
Ali has displayed tremendous energy and vision, and has already emerged as the frontrunner for State Treasurer. His campaign has shown proven ability by its active presence in all parts of the State. After all, Ali receives help from every member of his family as well as friends. Callie Carey, for example, is a good friend on the Western Slope, who takes her husband and children out to make campaign appearances on Ali's behalf throughout Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, because she believes in his plan. Ali’s sister, Dr Aliya Hasan, has committed much time to representing Ali on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, the farming area of Colorado. And Ali’s mother Seeme, his sister Asma, and brother-in-law Rehan, travel wherever they are needed, statewide.
Drew Dougherty, Ali’s campaign manager, is a veteran of many successful Republican campaigns, including work on Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell’s campaign to Senator John McCain’s Presidential campaign. Drew has worked on a variety of campaigns and brings great experience to Ali’s campaign.
Ali loves Colorado and wants to serve his fellow Coloradans by bringing prosperity to their small and big communities, by way of providing investment funding to their local projects. This innovative plan, if put in action, will be copied by other State Treasuries all over the country – a unique idea, introduced by a young man, who can give Colorado the advantage of getting their projects financed in the least amount of time.
In the last twenty some years, Ali has remained loyal to the Denver Nuggets and Denver Broncos, and he will remain loyal to his Party and his elected job. Above all, Ali never gives up, as he strives to fill his ambitious agenda at all times. To me, Ali is an example that Muslims and Pakistanis in America should never be afraid to get involved, get active, and work to prove that their place in America is just as guaranteed as anyone else’s.
