Tag: Politics

CO House Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) uses bigoted joke to disparage Democratic colleague

While speaking at a campaign event in Pueblo on Saturday, November 20, during Congress’ Thanksgiving break, Republican CO House Rep. Lauren Boebert made a bigoted, anti-Muslim joke at the expense of her Muslim colleague, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), intimating Omar could be a suicide bomber if she was wearing a backpack.

Boebert told the crowd she had just entered an elevator at the Capitol when a Capitol Police security guard came running just up as the doors were closing. Boebert said she turned and saw Omar and said to the guard, “Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine.”

According to Rep. Omar, Boebert lied about the scenario, because the incident never happened. Omar condemned “hateful and dangerous Muslim tropes,” saying they don’t belong in Congress.

CO House Rep. Lauren Boebert challenges wheelchair-bound House colleague to a sprint

In a light-hearted competition among the most extreme right wing Republican members of Congress to see who could glorify killer Kyle Rittenhouse the most after his acquittal this week, Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert (Republican-CO) turned down an arm-wrestling challenge and instead challenged her colleague, House Rep. Madison Cawthorn, to a sprint.

Rep. Cawthorn is in a wheelchair due to injuries sustained in a 2014 vehicle accident.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC). Photo: Campaign web page

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters takes charges of election fraud conspiracy further in new video

Embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters doubled down on her wild, unfounded claims of election fraud in a “Thursday Night Patriot” Zoom call held November 18 that featured both her and Sherronna Bishop, just days after law enforcement executed legal searches on both their homes pursuant to ongoing criminal investigations into Mesa County’s compromised election equipment.

Bishop posted a recording of the hour-plus long Zoom call on her Facebook page. Over 100 attendees joined the call, and the video has had over 5,800 views. The video excerpt above is the roughly four minutes in which Tina Peters spoke.

Tina Peters and Lauren Boebert discussed on Denver 9News show “Next with Kyle Clark” — and not in a good way


Denver news anchor Kyle Clark, host of “Next with Kyle Clark,” voiced strong opinions about Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and western slope House Rep. Lauren Boebert on his November 17 show.

Clark criticized Peters for going on “My Pillow Guy” Mike Lindell’s online TV show and claiming she was “terrorized” while law enforcement searched  her home on November 16th, while the Colorado State Attorney General issued a statement saying no force was used during the search, and in fact Peters remained home making breakfast while the search was ongoing.

Tina Peters scandal gets 9 minute segment on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show


The antics of crazy Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and her loony-tune election conspiracy scandal earned a 9 minute-long segment on MSNBC’s nationally-broadcast cable TV program The Rachel Maddow Show yesterday, November  17, 2021.

The Rachel Maddow Show is the most-watched cable news show in the country.

Maddow discusses Peters’ relationship with Mike Lindell, the “My Pillow Guy,” House Rep. Lauren Boebert’s former campaign manager, the FBI raid of her and others’ homes on 11/16, and more.

Maddow said the story of the Mesa County Clerk, which began as a very small and awkward story, has “metastasized and become very serious” and even “riveting” in how it has unfolded.

House District 55 Candidate Cindy Ficklin ignored her first campaign finance filing deadline, incurring a $200 fine

Cindy Ficklin is already blowing off deadlines for filing campaign finance information and incurring hundreds in fines.

Republican conspiracy theorist Cindy Ficklin has already been delinquent in filing her first campaign finance disclosure, incurring a $200 fine.

Ficklin announced October 18 that she was running for Colorado House District 55 in retribution against the “leftist progressive liberals” at the school district who dared not appoint her to the open School Board seat left by Paul Pitton’s retirement.

Colorado law gives candidates 10 days after filing notice they are running for office to submit a Personal Financial Disclosure to the state.

Cindy Ficklin in now-deleted video where she announced she was running for House District 55 to get back at the School District for spurning her

On October 27, the day before it was due, the state sent Ficklin a courtesy reminder about the deadline to file the disclosure.

But the October 28 deadline to file it came and went without Ficklin filing anything.

Jimmy Kimmel convinces people videos posted by CO House Rep. Lauren Boebert are Saturday Night Live skits

On his late night TV show November 12, Jimmy Kimmel showed passers-by clips of actual videos posted by Colorado Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert, like Boebert’s “Fauci eats puppies alive” video, told them the videos were shown on Saturday Night Live last weekend and asked people if they thought SNL had too mean in lampooning her.

All said they thought SNL had gone too far.

Then Kimmel revealed the truth, that all the videos were actual videos of Boebert.

HD 55 candidate Cindy Ficklin spreads false, dangerous misinformation about vaccines & Covid on her “Cindy Says” blog

Republican HD-55 candidate Cindy Ficklin has a track record of spreading harmful lies and conspiracy theories about Covid-19, Covid vaccines and other topics on social media. Facebook has tried to rein her in.

After Republican House District 55 candidate Cindy Ficklin was banned from Facebook for 30 days on May 27, 2021 for spreading the lie that Covid-19 was man-made in a lab in China, she started a personal blog on the website of Coldwell Banker, the real estate office with which she is affiliated.

Ficklin has been banned from Facebook several times, including another 30 day stint in July of 2021. Facebook usually applies the 30 day ban — the longest ban they use before taking an account down completely — after a user willfully violates the platform’s “community standards” multiple times and after they give at least five prior warnings and multiple bans of increasing length before reaching the 30-day threshold.

Deprived of her main social media conduit, Ficklin was in need of an outlet where she could spread conspiracy theories and misinformation about Covid-19 and other topics without restriction.

CO SOS Elections Division files another lawsuit against Tina Peters, this time over campaign finance violations

Tina Peters is soliciting donations for her “Legal Defense Fund” in violation of Colorado law, according to new lawsuit

The Elections Division of Colorado’s Secretary of State’s office filed a lawsuit (pdf) November 5 against Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters for Peters’ ongoing efforts to raise funds for a re-election campaign that so far doesn’t exist.

The lawsuit says Peters also accepted illegal illegal contributions “in the form of travel expenses, including a flight on a private jet and lodging, contributed by Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, in connection with Ms. Peters’ appearance at a Cyber Symposium on or about August 10-12, 2021 and thereafter.”

Commissioner Scott McInnis: Upcoming election will cost County $1 million

Election conspiracy theorists are an expensive bunch to lend any credence to, and humoring them is about to cost Mesa County taxpayers dearly.

At the County Commissioners’ meeting yesterday, Monday, October 25, 2021, Commissioner Scott McInnis let it spill how much County Clerk Tina Peters’ election conspiracy antics are going to cost County taxpayers in the upcoming election.

Hold onto your hats.

McInnis says the tab is going to be about $1 million.

New voter guide from the Best Slope Leadership Project explains the issues and candidates in the Nov. 2, 2021 election

The home page of the Best Slope Leadership Project’s 2021 Voter Guide

A new local organization called Best Slope Leadership Project has a plain language voter guide to help Mesa County citizens decide how to vote in the upcoming November 2, 2021 election. The guide explains the state-wide ballot measures, local propositions and District 51 School Board races, and gives easy-to-understand rationales for recommended votes.

On its website, BestSlopeLeadership.org, the Project describes the local group “Stand for the Constitution,” which is backing a bloc of three candidates for school board. this way:

Rabid right wing extremist Cindy Ficklin announces she is running for State Representative for HD-55

Update Monday, 10/25/21: “Stand for the Constitution” has pulled the video of Cindy Ficklin declaring her run for the Colorado HD-55 Rep. seat. But and article in the Daily Sentinel also transcribed what Ms. Ficklin said in the video, including her statement that she decided to run for the seat because the school board didn’t pick her to replace Paul Pitton on school board. The Sentinel article is here.

Starting at minute 8:00 in a “Facebook Live” video posted yesterday by “Stand for the Constitution,” local rabid far right wing extremist and realtor Cindy Ficklin announced she is running for State Representative from House District 55, the seat currently held by Janice Rich, who plans on running for state Senate.

Ficklin tells viewers she filed for the seat because the District 51 School Board did not accept her as a finalist to be appointed to the Board.

My Pillow Guy appears with Sherronna Bishop at Garfield County School District RE-2 Board Meeting

Mike Lindell appears alongside election conspiracy theorist/anti-mask activist/Tina Peters defender Sherronna Bishop at a Wednesday, Oct. 13 Garfield County RE-2 School Board meeting held via Zoom

In a bizarre scene, “My Pillow guy” Mike Lindell made a cameo appearance alongside Rifle election conspiracist and Tina Peters defender Sherronna Bishop at a Zoomed Garfield County School District RE-2 Board Meeting on October 13.

Bishop appears about three minutes into the meeting, speaking during the public comment period and accusing School Board members of abusing children by “forcing medical devices on them.” She condemns the Board for how her “kid had to wear a mask to his homecoming dance” and how the students were “interrupted” by an adult at the dance who reminded students how to correctly wear their masks. Bishop accused the school board of “assaulting and abusing” children by having them wear masks for protection at school amid the pandemic.

After a member of the school board warns Bishop she has 30 seconds left to speak, a man wearing a shirt and tie moves into the frame with Bishop. He then bends down to where viewers can see his face, and it was the clear the man is Mike Lindell. One of the school board members can be heard in the background saying “Jesse, turn it off!”

As Bishop ends her comments, Lindell starts weighing in with the District RE-2 School Board, saying “There’s more science than you guys even know of” about masking, and “[inaudible] suicide and addiction…”

The school board then cuts the couple off, and lets a student present know that it is her turn to speak.
Video of the meeting is below:

Tina Peters supporters yell expletives at people trying to ask questions at an event billed as a “press conference”

An event held by embattled right wing Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters at the old county courthouse that was billed as a “press conference” turned out to be more of a rally of her supporters Monday, as the event was poorly attended by local media outlets. Two newspapers were represented, and no television stations were there.

Peters’ talk seemed to focus on impugning the Mesa County Commissioners for entering into another contract with Dominion Voting Systems to provide secure voting equipment to the County and keeping it maintained until 2029. Peters also waved what she said was a stack of emails from the county commissioners that she had obtained that she believes show the commissioners doing something detrimental to county citizens. Peters insisted she had exposed massive voter fraud in Mesa County, but still has not provided conclusive proof.

Far right wing slate of school board candidates gin up anger and spread misunderstanding to raise funds

“Stand for the Constitution” supports Angela Lema, Andrea Haitz and Will Jones for School Board. They are ginning up hatred against the U.S. Department of Justice to try to raise funds for their campaign. The three are running as a far right wing extremist slate.

The three far-right wing candidates for District 51 School Board backed by the extremist group “Stand for the Constitution” — Angela Lema, Willie Jones and Andrea Haitz — together sent out a fundraising email today, titled “It’s Time to Get Politics Out of the Classroom,” aimed at generating anger towards the U.S. Department of Justice to raise money to help get them onto the school board.

The email’s subject line screams:

“The DOJ is coming after parents!”

At a Christian church, Mesa County GOP Chair Kevin McCarney repeatedly calls CO SOS the name of a porn star

Mesa County GOP Chair Kevin McCarney [Photo from video on AmericasMom.net]

In a video of a talk at Appleton Christian Church on September 16, 2021, Mesa County Republican Party Chair Kevin McCarney repeatedly calls Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold “Jenna Jameson,” the name of a famous adult film actress known as the “Queen of Porn.” 

McCarney spoke at Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters‘ first appearance since she returned to Mesa County after fleeing the state August 10 to speak at an election conspiracy conference in South Dakota organized by My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell. After the conference, Peters  went into hiding in unknown locations out of state for about 5 weeks.

Video of the political rally at the church is posted on the website of far right wing activist, conspiracy theorist and “mobile day spa instructor” Sharronna Bishop, who has dubbed herself “America’s Mom.” The rally was organized by the local extremist right wing group “Stand for the Constitution.” That’s the same group that has been pressuring the County Commissioners to declare Mesa County a “Constitutional sanctuary,” where federal and state laws don’t apply.

The Grand Junction Area Chamber’s long track record of harmful candidate endorsements

Longtime Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce President Diane Schwenke

Note: In light of Chamber President Diane Schwenke’s recent announcement that she is finally retiring after 25 years at the Chamber, I am re-posting articles about her disastrous tenure at Chamber in hopes that the Chamber Board will see what a boondoggle she’s been and finally take an entirely new direction when they hire a new president after she leaves. This article was originally posted on 9/28/21.

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Local candidates usually tout their endorsements by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, but the Chamber’s long track record of endorsing deeply flawed candidates shows that candidates should run from a Chamber endorsement as fast as they can, or at least politely decline it.

Observation of the Chamber’s endorsements going back a decade reveals that the Chamber does not evaluate candidates based on criteria like experience, background, education, knowledge or qualifications to hold office. Rather, the Chamber only considers a candidate’s political and religious ideology before endorsing them, and nothing more.

This extraordinarily narrow criteria has resulted in a flawed process that has proven detrimental to our community many, many times over.

D-51 School Board candidate Voter Guide for the 11/2/2021 election

NOTE: This article is longer than usual owing to the number of people running, the amount of information available on them and the need to put the practical meaning of Chamber endorsements in context so people can accurately grasp their significance. One photo in this article may be unsuitable for kids. Below is a brief summary of my vote recommendations for school board, if you don’t have time to read the whole article immediately:

Recommended Votes:

District C – Trish Mahre

District D – Nick Allan

District E – David Combs

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Following are summaries of the candidates running for District 51 School Board in the upcoming November 2 election. Sources of information included the candidates’ publicly available campaign and work websites, their campaign and personal social media, and other primary and authoritative online resources, including minutes of District 51 Board meetings and the website of Mesa County Libraries.