In what amounts to a subtle but seismic shift in local politics, former Colorado Mesa University (CMU) President Tim Foster publicly endorsed Janet Rowland’s opponent, J.J. Fletcher, for Mesa County commissioner, formally ending his years-long support for Rowland.
Tag: Politics
Charter schools, Cody Davis, Democrats, Elections, Good things about Mesa County, Grassroots advocacy, Housing, Human rights, Immigration, Local concerns, politics, Poverty, Worker advocacy
Former CMU Professor Tom Acker to run against Cody Davis for County Commissioner
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• •A Democrat has joined the race against Cody Davis for Mesa County Commissioner. Tom Acker is currently the only Democrat running for local office in Mesa County.
Acker was a professor of Spanish language at CMU for two decades. He is now a retired professor emeritus, an honorary title conferred upon him for his distinguished service to the academic community. He is a founding member of the award-winning Hispanic Affairs Project.
Originally from the east coast, in the 1980s Acker worked with refugees from the Mariel Boatlift, after over 125,000 Cubans piled into boats and headed for Florida after the Cuban government announced that anyone who wanted to leave the country was free to do so.
While he lived in Pennsylvania, Acker worked with a federally-funded agency to help farmers interact with agriculture workers.
Elections, politics
CD-3 candidate Adam Frisch holding meet and greet Wed., 2/28@Kannah Creek Brewery 5:30-6:30 p.m.
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• •Grab your chance to meet Adam Frisch, the leading candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat, and the one who single-handedly chased Lauren Boebert out of our District for good.
Adam is hosting a Meet-and-Greet Wednesday, 2/28 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Kannah Creek Brewing Company, 1960 N. 12th St., Grand Junction. Adam advocates a climb-down from the “angertainment” politics we’ve had to endure in CD-3 for the last few years
and seeks instead to represent CD-3 in Congress in a more normal way, meaning he would actually represent and promote the needs of our district in the House instead of seeking fame and notoriety by constantly engaging in outrageous behavior. He also seeks to restore dignity to CD-3’s representation in Congress, while actually making progress towards solving problems in our District.
Conspiracy theories, Cringeworthy, Dangerous Republicans, Election deniers, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Immigration, Intolerance, politics, Trump Insanity, Weird western slope stuff
Civil War & Feeding Migrants to Wolves: Western CO Congressional Forum Gets Extreme
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• •Article by Sharon Sullivan, Feb. 14, 2024
This article is republished with permission from the Colorado Times Recorder. You can see the original article here.
Immigration policy dominated the discussion among five of the Republican candidates vying to win Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District primary election in June, and it included some eyebrow-raising statements.
The candidate forum, which took place Monday night at Appleton Christian Church in Grand Junction, included all but one of the Republicans hoping to become their party’s nominee following Congresswoman’s Boebert decision to abandon her hometown district for redder pastures on the Eastern Plains.
While their positions on immigration varied, the candidates found more consensus around their doubts about Colorado’s election system. Four of the five participants spoke in favor of banning the mail ballots used by nearly all Coloradans, based on the debunked conspiracy that they have been used to rig elections. All but one of the candidates advocated for a return to hand-counting paper ballots, a process which has been proven to be less accurate and far more expensive than Colorado’s current system. Hanks, Andrews and Varela all promoted elements of another debunked conspiracy theory: that the Dominion Voting machines used by nearly all counties to tabulate their elections could be manipulated to rig the results.
Anti-vaccine, Conspiracy theories, Extremism, Health, Janet Rowland, Local concerns, politics, Public health, Stephen D. Daniels
KREX TV explores how the County seized control over all of Mesa County Public Health Department’s contracts when it only contributes 4.2% of the agency’s budget
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• •KREX reporter Michael Loggerwell’s story about Mesa County’s new Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Health Department- Part 1
KREX-TV News recently did a two-part series about the Mesa County Commissioners’ new, post-Jeff Kuhr Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that more tightly regulates the County’s relationship with the Public Health Department (MCPHD), and how it differs from the old 2012 agreement in important ways that could negatively affect public health and safety in the county.
Christian nationalism, Dangerous Republicans, Education, Elections, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Local concerns, politics, Religion, Separation of Church and State
D-51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson wants to teach creationism alongside science in public schools
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• •“I feel like we need to be teaching both ends of the spectrum when we’re teaching things in school as well….What I mean by that is if we’re teaching the Big Bang Theory then we need to teach creationism as well.” — Barbara Evanson
On October 31, the Colorado Times Recorder highlighted a locally-made video interview with District 51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson in which Evanson says that if schools teach what is scientifically known about the origins of the universe, then they should also have to teach creationism alongside that information so kids can decide on their own what’s true.
Creationism is the religious belief that God created the universe. It is a wholly religious construct with no scientific proof behind it,
The idea of mandating creationism be taught in public schools alongside scientific information has been declared by U.S. courts to be illegal.
Bad behavior, Embarrassing Republicans, Extremism, Insurrection, Lauren Boebert, Separation of Church and State
Adam Frisch, the Democratic challenger for CD-3 seat, raises quadruple what Boebert raises in 3rd quarter
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• •It seems Lauren Boebert’s bad behavior and poor representation of Colorado in the House of Representatives is catching up to her.
In an article published this morning, Colorado Politics wrote that “Colorado has never seen a campaign finance report like the one filed last week by Democrat Adam Frisch.” Its headline reads, “Boebert challenger Adam Frisch rewrites record books, vies for national fundraising title,” and the article says “The magnitude of Frisch’s fundraising is hard to express.”
Children, Conservatives, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy, Education, Elections, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Local concerns, politics, Weird western slope stuff
D-51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson says she wants to ban “a ton” of material from school libraries
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• •In this excerpt from an interview with “Ruth” and “Lisa” (who do not provide their last names) posted on a YouTube account named “MesaCountyCompass” on October 8, 2023, “District 51 School Board candidate Barbara Evanson says she would ban “a ton of material” from school libraries that she feels is inappropriate.
Activism, Children, Christian nationalism, Conservatives, Education, Elections, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Homophobia, Intolerance, LGBT issues, Mesa County, politics, Propaganda, Separation of Church and State
Woodland Park-based Christian nationalist group working to influence Mesa County District 51 School Board election
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• •High-quality, multi-colored, bilingual fliers created by the front range Christian dominionist group Truth & Liberty Coalition are showing up at businesses around town. The fliers use right wing culture war rhetoric targeting gay and transgender students in an attempt to influence the outcome of the November 7 District 51 School Board election. The fliers appear to endorse CynDee Skalla, Jessica Hearns and Barbara Evanson.
The fliers were found at La Milpa Tortilla Factory in Grand Junction and are bilingual in English and Spanish.
Dangerous Republicans, Education, Elections, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Local concerns, Mesa County Republican Party, politics, Propaganda, Republican incompetence
“Stand for the Constitution,” which still supports Tina Peters, is working to get Evanson & Skalla elected to D-51 School Board
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• •It seems like Mesa County never seems to learn from its past mistakes.
Stand for The Constitution (SFTC), the local extremist group that pushed to get Tina Peters elected County Clerk in 2018, that continued to support Peters even after her loss of 574 of ballots in 2019 and even after her indictments on multiple felony criminal charges related to election tampering, is now working to get Barbara Evanson and CynDee Skalla elected to the District 51 School Board in the November 7, 2023 election.
Stand for the Constitution also backed the three conservative school board members Haitz, Lema and Jones who have brought rancor, questionable ethics, uncertainty, disruption and hatred to the school board.
Democracy, Education, Elections, politics
AnneLandmanBlog Voter guide, November 7, 2023 election
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• •Are you wondering how to vote in the Tuesday, November 7, 2023 Coordinated Election? Are you sweating about where you’re going to find the time to research all the candidates and ballot measures?
Relax.
AnneLandmanBlog has done all the work for you.
Election deniers, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Mesa County Republican Party, politics, Scams, Tina Peters
9News reports Tina Peters fined $15,400 for campaign finance violation while running for Mesa County Clerk
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• •Marshall Zelinger of 9News’ Next with Kyle Clark reported on Friday, October 6, 2023 that an administrative law judge has fined Republican former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters $15,400 for soliciting donations to run for re-election as Mesa County Clerk without having first filed the necessary paperwork with the state that requires she report all the money she raised and spent on her campaign. The $15.4k fine pertains to Tina’s campaign for Clerk that she dropped out of in 2022 to run for Colorado Secretary of State instead.
Colorado Public Radio has published additonal information on Tina Peters’ campaign finance fine here: Former Mesa Clerk Tina Peters fined for failing to register reelection campaign, by Bente Berkeland, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2023
Dangerous Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Freedom under threat, Janet Rowland, politics, Public health
County Commissioners set to exert control over what Public Health Board members can discuss at their own meetings
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• •At the meeting of the new Mesa County Board of Public Health (BOH) scheduled for tomorrow, Monday, September 11, 2023, the County Commissioners hope to impose a new Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) (pdf, page 10) on the Board of Health that will tie the BOH tightly to most County policies and procedures eliminate the BOH’s ability to control their own meeting agendas, and allow the Commissioners block discussion of any subject the commissioners don’t like.
Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Fake patriotism, Lies, politics, Republican lies
Rep. Boebert lies to constituents about missed debt ceiling vote
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• •Despite railing against the debt limit deal for weeks, tweeting against it 23 times and calling the bill “D.C. self-created garbage,” on May 31, 2023 Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert missed her chance to vote on the bill.
A CNN reporter caught video of Boebert running up the Capitol steps too late to vote on the bill. As Boebert is dashing up the steps the reporter tells Boebert “It’s closed.” Boebert stops, turns around and says, “It’s closed?” then turns keeps running up the steps.
Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Harassment, Health care, Janet Rowland, Public health, Scams
The Mesa County employee behind the effort to fire Public Health Department Director Jeff Kuhr
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• •Lisa Mills is a behavioral health strategies manager for Mesa County’s Department of Health and Human Services and by all indications seems to be a key figure in the County’s recent ongoing, unhinged efforts to take down Dr. Jeff Kuhr as longtime Director of the Mesa County Public Health Department (MCPHD).
Embarrassing Republicans, Inept Republicans, Lauren Boebert, politics
Rep. Lauren Boebert misses vote on debt ceiling bill
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• •For all her railing against the debt ceiling bill, Colorado’s 3rd District House Representative Lauren Boebert missed voting on the bill entirely on Wednesday night. The vote passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin of 314-117. The Senate passed the bill this morning by a vote of 63-36. The bill had to pass before Monday to avoid a potentially catastrophic, historic federal government default on paying debts the nation has already incurred.
Boebert had vowed to vote “no” on the bill, saying “Our base didn’t volunteer, door knock and fight so hard to get us the majority for this kind of compromise deal with Joe Biden. Our voters deserve better than this. We work for them. You can count me as a NO on this deal. We can do better.”
Conspiracy theories, Dangerous Republicans, Economics, Extremism, Health, Janet Rowland, Pandemic, Public health, Safety, Scams
Mesa County Commissioners working to seize control of Mesa County Board of Public Health
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• •Mesa County Public Health Department (MCPHD) Director Dr. Jeff Kuhr has been under attack by the Mesa County Commissioners, who for some reason have been working for months to generate credible reasons to fire him. Commissioner Janet Rowland in particular has targeted Kuhr, accusing him of financial impropriety and grievous errors in MCPHD’s procurement processes. The Commissioners have ordered the Mesa County Board of Public Health to fire Kuhr, but they refused, saying there is no actual evidence that he’s intentionally done anything wrong. Not only that, but the State of Colorado rates MCPHD as having the lowest possible financial risk (pdf) in its compliance with federal and state contracts, making it clear that the state trusts MCPHD, but our right wing commissioners don’t. (This financial risk rating is done every three years, but the state skipped it during the pandemic. The MCPHD is currently undergoing this analysis again.)
politics
Unaffiliated Black Nigerian immigrant elected Mayor of Colorado Springs, defeating Republican Wayne Williams
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• •In a seismic political shift for Colorado Springs, Yemi Mobolade, a Nigerian immigrant with no political experience, defeated Republican Wayne Williams in the city’s mayoral race.
Mobolade describes himself as a “progressive political newcomer,” according to Axios,
Mobolade won by a wide margin.
The unofficial results reported as of 9:40 p.m. last night show Mobolade ahead with 57.47% of the vote to Wayne Williams’ 42.53%. Wayne Williams has conceded the race to Mobolade.
Wayne Williams was a veteran Republican political figure on the front range and state wide.