Anne Landman

Hyper-conservative “ReaganGirl” Marjorie Haun backs tax increase

Local far right winger and gun nut Marjorie Haun takes a liberal stand in support of an increase in the local sales tax

The worm turns.

However uncharacteristic, prominent local conservative Marjorie Haun, who bills herself as “ReaganGirl,” has found a tax she likes, and she’s urging others to like it, too — and vote for it.

Haun backs a proposed sales tax increase on the next local ballot that will help support the Mesa County District Attorney’s office and the Mesa County Sheriff Department.

More Social Media Insight Into CO State Senator Ray Scott’s Attitude Toward Constituents

Colorado State Senator Ray Scott

Mesa County resident Claudette Konola ran against Ray Scott for the State Senate District 7 seat in 2014, to keep him from running unopposed. We’ve already seen some of Scott’s contemptuous Facebook and email responses to citizens who disagree with his views. Following are tweets Claudette Konola received from Ray Scott between 2014 and 2016, starting around the time she announced she would be running against him, and ending just after the 2016 election. The tweets are all verbatim. All spelling and grammatical errors are in the originals.

Mesa County citizens submit formal ethics complaint against State Sen. Ray Scott

A federal court ruled July 25, 2017 that an elected official’s Facebook page is a forum for speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that blocking participants based on their viewpoints violates their right to free speech.

Three Grand Junction residents submitted a formal ethics complaint (pdf) to the state legislature August 15 about Colorado State Senator Ray Scott (R-District 7) for blocking them from his official social media accounts after they criticized his views.

Local Public Discussion Tonight about Charlottesville, Racism and the Difficulties Local Minorities Face, Hosted by Black Lives Matter GJ

Local KKK flier

Are you disgusted and distressed with Donald Trump putting neo-Nazi hate groups on the same moral footing as the people opposing them? Disgusted with the outright bigotry being manifested in our country?

Many local residents are.

As more fliers promoting the KKK turn up around the Grand Valley, racist supremacists cause violence and death in Charlottesville and hate is increasingly manifested more freely even right here in Mesa County, Black Lives Matter-Grand Junction is opening up its monthly meeting to everyone tonight so citizens can air their thoughts on the recent acts of hatred being displayed in Charlottesville and even in our own town.

Donald Trump’s Tweet from Early This Morning (which he quickly deleted)

Early this morning, just days after a white supremacist drove a car into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a woman, President Trump retweeted an image of a Trump train running over a CNN reporter. The image was originally posted by an “alt-right” conspiracy theorist and Trump fan. Trump quickly deleted the post after it sparked criticism as being highly inappropriate just days after the Charlottesville violence.

Here is the tweet Trump sent to his nearly 36 million followers:

Screencaps of Senator Ray Scott’s Rude Responses on Facebook

Ray Scott

Ray Scott

Not only has Colorado State Senator Ray Scott shocked participants on his social media accounts with consistent grammatical and spelling errors and frighteningly superficial knowledge of environmental issues, but he is particularly nasty toward constituents with whom he disagrees politically. That is, before he blocks them from his social media completely, which, according to a federal court, is against the law.

Scott also often deletes his rudest comments, perhaps realizing too late he’s gone beyond the pale. But this, too, is impermissible because all entries on Senator Scott’s social media — whether they are his own or from citizens — are part of his official public record and as such must be preserved.

Grand Junction’s Satanic Invocation a Success, More Diversity Likely Coming Soon

Grand Junction, Colorado’s first Satanic invocation went off without a hitch yesterday evening, with an audience of about 50 interested onlookers and five out of seven city council members present.

The audience and was quiet and respectful as the speaker made the following statement to Council:

Grand Junction City Council to Host Satanic Invocation Wed., August 2 at 6:00 p.m.

Grand Junction, Colorado will host the state’s first Satanic invocation at their regular City Council meeting on Wednesday, August 2 at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is at City Hall Auditorium, 250 N. 5th Street. It will be only the second Satanic invocation ever to occur in the continental United States.

Grand Junction became a national trailblazer in alternative invocations after the city crafted an invocation policy in 2008 that welcomes all comers. City Council agreed to open up the invocation opportunity to anyone who wants to say it (rather than just religious groups), refused to censor what is said at the invocation or place a time limit on speakers. The policy led to the City hosting the state’s first-ever atheist invocation (video) on January 5, 2011.

Now’s Our Chance to Help School District 51 — Finally!

Crumbling ceiling tiles and exposed pipes at Orchard Mesa Elementary School

First the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce and downtown business owners like Doug Simons of Enstrom Candies told city residents they needed to pay an extra sales tax to fund an event center downtown. People panned the idea and voted it down by a huge margin. A common criticism was, “A tax to build an event center? But what about our crumbling schools?” Then the chamber, Simons and CMU proposed waving a magic wand and changing the names of North Avenue to “University Boulevard,” and 12th Street to “Maverick Way,” saying this will be really great. People again panned the idea for the cost and inconvenience. A widely-expressed sentiment about the proposed name change has been ”Change the name of North Avenue? But what about our crumbling schools?”

Tipton Votes to Block Consumers’ Right to Sue Big Banks

House Rep. Scott Tipton (R) sided with big banks in a vote that ends Americans’ right to sue big banks that defraud or abuse them.

Pay attention! One of your elected officials voted to take away your  right to access the court system.

Your House Representative, Scott Tipton (R-CO), voted today to block Americans from suing big banks that defraud or abuse them. Tipton voted to  repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that keeps banks from forcing customers to give up their right to access the courts whenever they sign a contract to open a bank account. The banks seek to force customers into arbitration as the only way to deal with disputes. Arbitration typically results in fewer decisions in customers’ favor and in lower payouts. Rep. Tipton’s vote sided with the big banks.

Rep. Scott Tipton: A One-Man Wrecking Ball for Coloradans

House Rep. Scott Tipton votes against financial transparency in government, against protecting citizens’ health and against American workers

Think House Representative Scott Tipton is on your side? Think again.

In the last couple of weeks, Rep. Tipton has voted against cleaner air, against creating more American jobs, and in favor of keeping financial information secret that would allow Congress to tell if changes President Trump proposes in the U.S. tax code would benefit his family’s income.

Grand Junction City Council to Host Satanic Invocation August 2

Look out! The Devil is coming to Grand Junction.

Hold onto your hats.

On August 2, 2017, Grand Junction City Council will become the first city in Colorado, and one of the first in the nation, to host a Satanic invocation at a council meeting.

Cidney Fisk’s First Year at University: An Update

Cidney Fisk, speaking at California Freethought Day last fall

Cidney Fisk, the former 4.0 GPA Delta High School student who risked everything in 2016 to publicly expose the pervasive Christian proselytizing and other injustices going on in Delta County’s public schools, has completed her first year at University of Denver and will soon start her second year.

Cidney paid dearly for speaking out about her public school district. She lost grants for college tuition from local funders after the Daily Sentinel published a front page article about the proselytizing which bore her photo and contained extensive quotes about what she had experienced at school. Cidney’s teachers and counselors suddenly turned their backs on her and refused to write letters of support for her applications for scholarships, effectively tanking her chances of getting those scholarships. After speaking out, Cidney struggled to cobble together enough money to attend university. Cidney is from a low income family and completely dependent on grants, loans and scholarships to fund her tuition.

One Day Left to Keep Trump from Getting Your Voting Information

The Trump administration has made a breathtaking and invasive demand to all 50 states demanding they turn over personal information on every individual registered voter in the country. The administration wants names, addresses, birth dates, political party affiliations, records of elections in which people have voted and the last four digits of people’s social security numbers.

Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, plans to turn the information right over on July 16 without any argument.

But there is one thing you can do to stop the Trump administration from getting your personal information: ask the Mesa County Clerk to make your voter information confidential.

Mesa County Democrats Cheered at 4th of July Parade in Grand Junction


It’s a new thing for people on Grand Junction’s Main Street to cheer the Mesa County Democrats as they pass by in the Independence Day Parade. Years ago, the Democrats’ parade entry consisted four or five people and a donkey, and the crowd was stone-faced when we walked by.

But times are changing in Mesa County.

People are starting to see that the Democratic Party (pdf) isn’t just the party that goes to bat for working people on issues like a living wage, sick pay, parental leave and a diversified economy in Mesa County. It isn’t just the party that believes everyone should be able to get the health care they need. It isn’t just the party that recognizes the value of science and technology to humanity’s future. People now seeing that the Democratic Party is the party grown-up candidates who understand and respect America’s system of government and who show respect towards all people regardless of race, religion or non-religion, sexual orientation or ethnicity.

Yes, Mesa County. That recognition is worth cheering about.

Number of Mesa County Children in Extreme Poverty has Skyrocketed under Republican County Commissioners

The number of children in extreme poverty in Mesa County has skyrocketed under a Republican-dominated Board of Mesa County Commissioners. (FPL= Federal Poverty Level. A family of four is at the federal poverty level if they make an income of $24,600 in 2017. Under 50% of the FPL would be about $12,600/year. (https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines) Chart available (without red annotations) at Colorado Children’s Campaign.

When was the last time a Mesa County Commissioner or a state-level elected official from Mesa County gave a public statement about the skyrocketing number of families and children suffering from extreme poverty in our county, or proposed possible solutions to the problem?

That’s right. Never.