Wife of CMU Vice President given vacant seat on G.J. Regional Airport Board

John and Linde Marshall (Photo: Facebook)

Eight people applied for the open at-large seat on the Grand Junction Regional Airport Board, and it was awarded to just one, Linde Marshall, who happens to be married to Colorado Mesa University Vice President of Student Affairs, John Marshall. According to CMU’s website, Linde Marshall also works for CMU, in the office of University President Tim Foster.

The Daily Sentinel for some reason failed to mention either of Linde Marshall’s important connections to CMU and it’s powerful president and rainmaker, Tim Foster when providing descriptions of the candidates for the seat. The Sentinel only said Ms. Marshall is “a small business owner with a background in public relations.” Seems like important info to omit.

A search showed Linde Marshall is linked to a business called “Purposeful Colorado, LLC” registered at the Marshall’s home address that was formed in February of 2019 that appears to be a political fundraising business, and another business at the same address called “Bunny Hill Farms, LLC,” formed in 2017. The unfinished website for Bunny Hill Farms indicates is an outlet for chicken eggs and homemade jam, and according to the state, it is currently “not in compliance.”

Linde is a registered Republican, but her husband has the real Republican street cred, having managed the 2006 political campaign of Bob Beauprez and Janet Rowland for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. That campaign was noted by the Denver Post for its aggressive, negative attack ads that, according to the Post, cost the Colorado Republican Party dearly.

Offensive mis-statements and embarrassing slip-ups

Under the guidance of John Marshall, one of Bob Beauprez’s notable campaign missteps was when Beauprez made an untrue statement on the KCFR talk show “Colorado Matters” in which he far over-estimated the number of black women who have abortions. Beauprez said during the interview that “in some of our ethnic communities we’re seeing very, very high percentages of babies, children, pregnancies end in abortion.” When the show’s host, Ryan Warner, pressed him to name “which ethnic communities in particular he was referring to, Beauprez answered, “I’ve seen numbers as high as 70 percent, maybe even more, in the African-American community that I think is just appalling.”

But it wasn’t true. The actual statistic was about 33 percent, according to CDC.

Another embarrassing slip-up came when Beauprez’s running mate, then-Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland, equated beastiality in with gay marriage on a state-wide political affairs TV show, asking in a discussion about marriage equality on the 3/17/06 edition of the Rocky Mountain PBS show “Colorado State of Mind,”

“Do we allow a man to marry a sheep? I mean at some point, you have to draw the line.”

Rowland’s statement embarrassed Mesa County and drew outrage across the state.

Incredibly, even after all this, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel actually endorsed the Beauprez/Rowland ticket for office.

Lucky for us, they lost.

…But back to the Airport Board

Of the eight applicants for the open airport board seat, six conducted face-to-face interviews at a public meeting. Among the applicants present for interviews were Larry Kempton III, of the family that runs the local Kempton Air Service but who is currently working in construction management, Eric Carlson, the Executive Director of the West Slope Oil and Gas Association, Bryan Wachs, who owns a local internet marketing service, Greg Olson, founder of a marketing and design strategy firm and, full disclosure: me. I applied for the seat, too, which was why I was there.

While Linde Marshall did not attend the in-person interviews, according to the Daily Sentinel, she submitted her answers in writing to three questions that the Airport Board asked of all of the applicants at the live interview.

Ms. Marshall’s answers to those three questions must have been absolutely terrific, because they made enough of an impression on the Airport commissioners to win her the seat. I can vouch for the fact that the applicants who attended the in-person interviews were all accomplished local residents, organized thinkers, and had given a lot of thought to the problems the airport faces and ways to solve them. They were all well-spoken, well-prepared and clearly motivated to win the seat. One even had a pilot’s license.

The selection of Ms. Marshall will now be referred to the Mesa County Commissioners and Grand Junction City Council, who must approve the appointment.

I have no doubt she’ll be a shoe-in.

 

  3 comments for “Wife of CMU Vice President given vacant seat on G.J. Regional Airport Board

  1. Was her promiscuous daughter on Teen Mom? Oh wait, no – that’s Sarah Palin, known to say, “Dont you know who I am? .

    #ToneDeaf
    #OneNoteOrchestra

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