Category: politics

Andrea Haitz, Education, Elections, Ethics, politics

Darren Cook gives his take on the D-51 Board majority’s recent decision to send only lawyers to represent the District in negotiations with D-51 teachers

by Anne Landman • May 1, 2023 • 14 Comments

Darren Cook (Photo: CO Education Association via Twitter, 2015)

Note: This is a guest post by Darren Cook, a former longtime District 51 middle School teacher and former President of the Mesa Valley Education Association, which represents public school teachers. Darren started a website and blog to give the public his take on decisions being made by the current District 51 School Board majority. Darren is running to replace controversial current school board member Andrea Haitz in the upcoming recall election.

On Friday, the Mesa Valley Education Association shocked the teachers of District 51 by announcing that for the first time in forty years, the Board of Education will not directly negotiate with teachers. Instead, they will be represented by two lawyers, David Price and Tammy Eret.

In my twenty-three-year career with D51, I was part of the teachers’ negotiation team for seventeen of those. We brought eight to ten teachers, paying attention to having representation from each instructional level, content, and area of expertise. D51 administration brought a similarly representative team, with administrators from each level, the Chief Financial Officer, Executive Director of Human Resources, and Superintendent as key parts of their team. And, of course, all five Board members were there. Always.

City of Grand Junction election results, 2023

by Anne Landman • April 5, 2023 • 7 Comments

Below are the results of the April 4, 2023 City of Grand Junction election. These are marked on the City’s website as the final election results. There will be a ballot curing period of 8 days following which the official final results will be viewable by going to this link on the City’s website.

Referred Measure 1A is the Community Recreation Center and 1B was to lengthen the lease on a parcel of City-owned land.

Winners of seats on City Council are Cody Kennedy, Jason Nguyen and Scott Beilfuss, and incumbent Anna Stout skated to re-election running unopposed.

The Community Recreation Center measure passed by almost 4,000 votes. Voters also passed the measure to lengthen the lease on City-owned property.

Local Business owner weighs in on rec center, affordable housing, the workforce, development

by Anne Landman • March 23, 2023 • 18 Comments

Octopus Coffee on Horizon Drive

Alexis Bauer owns Octopus Coffee on Horizon Drive. Last week she emailed me to talk about the proposed community recreation center on the upcoming April ballot. (We differed on what we think about it. I am for it). As we got into a longer conversation, Alexis sent a follow-up email in which she offered a variety of insights from her standpoint as a western slope resident and local business owner. She talked not only about the Rec Center, but also other issues facing Grand Junction, like the housing shortage, the cost of doing business, her experience with the local workforce, City Council’s recent approval of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and what it portends for the City, the buzz she hears from customers, and more.

I found Alexis’s insights interesting and felt they deserved a wider forum, so with her permission I am sharing her email to me below, edited slightly for clarity, in hopes others find it enlightening as well.

Grand Junction City Council candidate rundown 2023

by Anne Landman • March 10, 2023 • 12 Comments

For this article, I drew from publicly available sources, including the candidates’ own websites and social media accounts, newspaper articles, the candidates’ financial disclosure statements filed with the City of Grand Junction, background-checks done on TruthFinder.com, and public records requests to the Grand Junction Police Department (GJPD) for records of any contact the candidates had with local law enforcement agencies. I felt the law enforcement piece was necessary after seeing Mesa County voters elect people to public office who were later involved in theft, falsifying time cards, embezzlement, assault, plagiarism, DUI, double-dipping, election tampering and other offenses.

These City Council candidates are asking voters to hire them for a job. City taxpayers pay their salaries. The candidates should be background-checked.

State Sen. Janice Rich (R) introduces bill to require CPR training in High Schools

by Anne Landman • February 8, 2023 • 1 Comment

Sen. Rich, shown here in 2022 when she was a House Representative, has a track record of introducing beneficial, bipartisan legislation and getting it passed. Here she is seen at the signing on April 12, 2022 of HB22-1040, “Homeowners’ Reasonable Access to Common Areas,” which limited homeowner associations’ (HOAs) ability to restrict homeowners’ access to their own common open space and amenities. (Left to right: House Rep. Edie Hooton, Rep. Janice Rich, Gov. Polis, Sen. Tammy Story)

State Senator Janice Rich (R) is doing something we haven’t seen in years from our elected state Senator: Introducing thoughtful, beneficial, bipartisan legislation that can benefit everyone.

Sen. Rich recently introduced SB23-023, a bill that requires high schools that teach the state’s comprehensive health education program to instruct students in how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

The bill has the potential to save many lives.

Boebert draws ridicule of western Colorado on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert

by Anne Landman • February 3, 2023 • 8 Comments

Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert’s joke portraying her district as a redneck hillbilly paradise drew embarrassment to western Colorado nationally on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in Colbert’s monologue on February 2, 2023. The Late Show is broadcast nationally.

What’s the deal with Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel’s book?

by Anne Landman • October 25, 2022 • 5 Comments

Bobbie Daniel’s May, 2016 self-published book, is 273 pages and is now out of print.

In May of 2016, Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel self-published a book, “Solutions from a Nobody: Using Founding Principles to Solve Modern Problems.” She wrote the book to present “clear and important ideas to fix what ails America.” She spent ten years as a hairdresser listening to her customers and put a lot of time into thinking about the problems they talked about. Daniel wrote this book to provide solutions to their problems.

First of all, kudos to Daniel for bothering to think about societal problems at all, let alone try to come up with solutions. Most people never bother, so that’s worth something.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, now more televangelist than House Representative, is working to turn politics into a holy war

by Anne Landman • October 22, 2022 • 8 Comments

First 5 minutes of a 55 minute talk Lauren Boebert gave on September 9, where she was introduced as a Member of Congress

At a September 9, 2022 speech at the Truth and Liberty Coalition conference in Woodland Park — the same appearance where she confused the word “wanton” as in “wanton killing” with the word for the Chinese dumpling, the announcer introduced Lauren Boebert in her official capacity as a Member of Congress. But during her talk, Boebert talked less about policy and government and acted and spoke exactly like a televangelist preacher, strutting back and forth across the stage, invoking the apocalypse with lines like “we are in the last of the last days.” She urged her audience to “rise up and take our place in Christ and influence this nation as we were called to do,” adding, “you get to have a role in the second coming of Jesus! How cool is that?”

Country singer John Rich hosting fundraiser for Boebert; tickets are $2,000 – $12,900

by Anne Landman • October 19, 2022 • 17 Comments

Notice for John Rich fundraiser for Boebert published in the Tennessee Journal

Country singer John Rich is hosting a high-dollar fundraiser tomorrow evening, October 20, for CD-3 Rep. Lauren Boebert at his 17,000+ sq. ft. mansion in Nashville, Tennessee. The fundraiser also features former NRA spokesperson and writer for Breitbart News, Dana Loesch.

Tickets start at $2,000 and go up to $12,900 for “gold sponsors,” who for that price get admission to a cocktail reception and a chance to take a photo with Boebert.

Bobbie Daniel, Conspiracy theories, Cronyism, Dangerous Republicans, Election deniers, Ethics, Janet Rowland, politics, Tina Peters, Trump Insanity

Mesa County Commissioners give Republican commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel a huge advantage using taxpayer-funded resources

by Anne Landman • October 12, 2022 • 11 Comments

Election denier Bobbie Daniel (R), Republican running for County Commissioner, with her friend Tina Peters in 2018, before Tina was elected Clerk and was indicted on multiple felonies related to election tampering.

On Wednesday, October 12, 2022, in its opinion section the Daily Sentinel endorsed Republican election denier Bobbie Daniel for County Commissioner, saying she was “prepared to step in ready to work on day one.” But the Sentinel failed to ask the big question of how it happened that Daniel had become so prepped for the position.

It happened because Daniel has been groomed for months, maybe years, for the job by sitting Republican Mesa County commissioners, who have been using taxpayer-funded resources and taxpayer-funded County time to make sure Daniel gets a huge leg-up over her opponent in the race.

AnneLandmanBlog Voter Guide, 2022 Mid-term Election, Grand Junction & Mesa County

by Anne Landman • October 6, 2022 • 24 Comments

Are you wondering how to vote in the Tuesday, November 8, 2022 mid-term General Election? Are you sweating over where you’re going to find all the time you need to research all the candidates and ballot measures?

Relax.

AnneLandmanBlog has done all the work for you.

Trump makes the crazy claim that he can declassify documents “even by thinking about it.” Republican Mesa County commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel continues to support Trump.

by Anne Landman • September 23, 2022 • 3 Comments

Republican commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel speaking at a Trump rally in Grand Junction on 10/18/2016. She remains a Trump supporter despite his insurrection, his crazy claims about being able to declassify documents with his mind, his alleged theft of highly sensitive, top secret government documents, his ripping off of charities, fleecing his supporters for money, and many other alleged crimes.

In a TV interview this week with Fox News host Sean Hannity, former president Donald Trump claimed he can declassify any top secret government document he wants at will, “even by thinking about it.”

It is, of course a completely loony claim, and most Americans can recognize it as such.

Trump was referring to the hundreds of classified and top-secret, government documents he had hidden in his Florida home, that the FBI seized on August 8 while executing a duly authorized search warrant aimed at retrieving them. Unauthorized possession of government documents is a crime.

Bobbie Daniel recently retweeted this photo claiming Biden is not the legitimate U.S. President. Daniel remains a strong Trump supporter despite his attempted coup against the U.S. government on January 6, 2021, and his continuous lies about elections aimed at undermining American democracy

On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump willfully encouraged insurrection, incited violence against the United States and lied to the American public by claiming the November, 2020 election was “rigged.”

He’s been able to convince many Mesa County citizens to believe this lie. Among them are Bobbie Daniel’s friend, crazy Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who now stands accused of committing serious election tampering crimes while trying to prove Trumps false claims about elections are true.

Red flags indicate Daniel is a Tina Peters-linked choice for Mesa County Commissioner

by Anne Landman • September 13, 2022 • 0 Comments

Left to right: activist Sherronna Bishop, “No-Work-Clerk” Tina Peters and Bobbie Daniel, from a 2018 YouTube video Daniel made to endorse Tina Peters for County Clerk. Daniel said Tina had “a wealth of knowledge” and assured us we’d be “in really good hands ” if Tina became our Clerk and Recorder. We know how that turned out, and Daniel hasn’t yet apologized to Mesa County citizens for her disastrous endorsement.

Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel is showing all the signs that she’ll be yet another potentially disastrous elected official in the vein of Tina Peters if she gets elected as county commissioner.

There are a number of reasons why. The first is her remarkably poor judgment:

Bobbie Daniel endorsed Tina Peters for Clerk.

Keep the momentum going! Help elect sane candidates in Mesa County! Dems plan two more literature drops, seek volunteers to help

by Anne Landman • September 13, 2022 • 0 Comments

Mesa County voters have had enough of Tina Peters’ pillow talk

Mesa County Democrats had about 50 people turn out for their last literature drop event last weekend, a tremendous success.

The literature drops are aimed at educating voters in Mesa County about alternatives to voting for Republicans, who have racked up a remarkably long record of failure as elected officials, and caused Mesa County taxpayers much grief and expense.

Dems plan two more literature drops, seek volunteers to help.

What does “freedom” really mean to Rep. Lauren Boebert?

by Anne Landman • September 7, 2022 • 1 Comment

Lauren Boebert

The following letter is reprinted with permission from The Daily Sentinel. It appeared on their editorial page on 9/6/2022:

There are a several billboards around town that have a photo of Representative Boebert highlighting the word FREEDOM. Exactly what does she mean? Does she mean President Roosevelt’s four freedoms – – freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear? Does she mean that we are free to worship or not worship as we see fit, without the government using our tax dollars to support a church or forcing us to believe a specific religious doctrine? Does she mean that we are free to speak in the public square without threats of violence? Does she want Americans to earn a living wage? Does she want her fellow citizens to be able to afford healthcare, housing, clean water, and healthy food? Does she believe that medications should be affordable, and that Big Pharma should not gouge diabetics for insulin? Finally, does she believe school kids should not live in fear of a mass murderer entering their school?

Want to help defeat extremist Republican candidates in Mesa County? Pitch in Saturday, 9/10, to help elect rational candidates in November

by Anne Landman • September 3, 2022 • 1 Comment

This political map shows how the Grand Valley vote has changed since the 2016 election. Every single area on the valley floor has trended towards being more Democratic. If we can keep the trend going, we can finally stop electing embarrassing, unethical, unqualified, costly and irrational candidates who lie and commit crimes while in office, like Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

Mesa County Democrats will gather for a big canvassing event September 10th and are asking everyone’s help to get the word out about which state and local candidates belong to the only remaining political party that deals in reality.

Boebert: Banning assault weapons will make people eat dogs

by Anne Landman • August 1, 2022 • 9 Comments

Lauren Boebert, Republican House Representative for western Colorado, appeared on “The Gorka Reality Check” on Newsmax yesterday evening and said that if an assault weapons ban is enacted in the U.S., people will start eating their dogs, because that’s what happened in Venezuela.

Boebert is currently running for a second term in the House. She dropped out of high school in 2004 to have a baby and got her G.E.D. in 2020, one month before the primary election. She’s running against Democrat Adam Frisch in the November, 2022 general election.

The show is broadcast on Newsmax on Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Conspiracy theories, Crazy Republicans, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy under threat, Election deniers, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Extremism, Generic idiocy, politics, Tina Peters, Trump Insanity

Tina Peters fails to meet deadline to pay for recount

by Anne Landman • July 19, 2022 • 4 Comments

Tina Peters waves around a letter to the Colorado Secretary of State at the July 12 Las Vegas conference she attended, demanding a recount of her race in the primary. She failed to meet the deadline last Friday to pay over $236,000 for a state-wide recount. She lost by over 88,000 votes or a margin of over 14% between her and the winner.

For all the bluster Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters made over demanding a recount in her June 28 primary loss, she failed to get the necessary funds in to the Secretary of State by the deadline last Friday to commence the recount, so it won’t happen.

For the state pay for a recount, the difference between the leading candidate’s total votes and the next highest candidate’s total votes must be less than or equal to one-half of one percent (0.5%). Peters lost to her opponent, Pam Anderson, by 88,000 votes, a margin of more than 14% between her and the front runner.

At a speech she gave at a conference of election-denier sheriffs in Las Vegas on July 12 (video), Peters waved around a notarized letter (pdf) to the Colorado Secretary of State that she told the crowd she was sending to demand a recount, claiming without any evidence that she lost because of “extensive malfeasance” in the June 28 primary. She failed to mention ore recognize how her being indicted on 7 felonies related to election tampering might have affected the vote.

There was no fraud or malfeasance in the June 28 primary, and Peters’ loss has been accepted as legitimate.

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