Republicans waking up to the reality of Tina Peters’ and Sherronna Bishop’s lying, attention-seeking and predatory behavior

Matt Crane, Executive Director of the CO County Clerks Association called Tina Peters “a liar and a predator” who is “coming after their money.” (Photo: Election Official Legal Defense Network)

It’s been a rough few days for indicted Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

First her $255,000+ recount showed again that she lost her race for secretary of state by the same 14% margin she lost by in the original election tally.

Then Mesa County Republican Party Chair Kevin McCarney — one of her longest, staunchest defenders — finally realized Tina is completely off the rails and publicly called on her to resign from her office.

McCarney told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Tina is acting “like a petulant child crying about not getting her way,” and said she’s “dragging down the party.” He said it takes a lot to get on his bad side, but Tina managed to do it.

It has taken a lot, to the detriment of county taxpayers.

Republican Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis also made his position against Tina clear, saying,

“If it hasn’t been clear for the last year, we strongly oppose Tina and her efforts to undermine Mesa County’s elections process and those dedicated elections staff. … She’s no longer a sore loser, she’s on full tilt and will settle for nothing less than the complete destruction of a pillar institution of our democratic republic.” 

Mesa County Commissioner Scott McInnis, shown here eating a cracker at CMU

Republican Mesa County Commissioner Scott McInnis has also had it up to his eyeballs with Tina, telling the Daily Sentinel that “she’s trying to play the starring role in her own movie,” and…

“She loved the attention, the private jets, the high-end hotels, the taste of money and most of all, the attention … She was amazed people would drink the Kool-Aid, that the more deceitful she was, the more she believed herself to be a national hero. She discovered how easy it was to destroy others like Gerald Wood and his family on her path to stardom.”

And if that wasn’t enough, Colorado Newsline published an article about Tina August 5 titled “Tina Peters gains nothing in costly recount as she continues to raise money off election denial.” In that article, Matt Crane, the Republican Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said Tina is a “predator and a liar.” Crane called Tina and her handler, Sherronna Bishop, “carnival barkers.”

Quote callout from Colorado Newsline

Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Cody Davis, shown engaging in the locally popular pastime of trespassing on the banks of the Grand Valley Canal in one of his campaign TV ads

Tina raised over $500,000 for her campaign fund, the majority of it coming after she lost her election on June 28. She raised the money mostly from out of state donors by promoting lies about the election on internet TV shows like Sherronna’s show on Lindell TV, “Americas Mom,” and Steve Bannon’s show “War Room,” and promising her followers she’d get a hand recount  — something she already knew that by law would not happen. In fact, it was one of her own five attorneys, Republican former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who helped put that law in place while he was in office.

Crane said he believes it’s fair to ask if Tina is actually raising money for her criminal defense any more, pointing out that she and Sherronna are lying about the election process, and continuing to ask people to send money even after the election is over.

Crane also questioned why people continue to give Tina money when everything she’s saying about elections is wrong. He wishes “they would just stop” giving her money, he said, adding that “She’s very good at playing the victim here. And I wish people knew that she is not a victim. She is a liar, and she is a predator, coming to them for their money. It’s disgusting. I can’t say that clearly enough … She is a predator and a liar.”

A look back at Tina’s enablers, showing how we got here:

Mesa County GOP Chair Kevin McCarney, defending Tina in front of an applauding crowd at Appleton Christian Church in September of 2021, when most of us already knew she was lying, grifting and trying to squeeze money out of her fans:

Far right wing “Stand for the Constitution” members chanting “We love Tina! We love Tina!” at a rally in front of the County Clerk’s office in August of 2021, after her breach of Mesa County’s election equipment was revealed, an act that cost County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars:

  11 comments for “Republicans waking up to the reality of Tina Peters’ and Sherronna Bishop’s lying, attention-seeking and predatory behavior

  1. The GOP did not ‘wake’ to the reality that TP is lying in order to enjoy the attention and perks that she gets for being used by outsiders seeking to throw national elections into disarray. The GOP woke to the reality that support for TP will lose them elections.

    • You are so correct! When the ballots were found in the drop box outside Tina’s office that she failed to collect in a previous election, I sent Scott McInnis an email and asked that he call for her immediate resignation. He did the whole song and dance about what happened to him with the whole plagiarism incident and how we needed to have everything investigated and not jump to conclusions. I explained how Sheila Reiner had triple checks and balances for elections security and if Tina would have kept Sheila’s processes in place this never would have happened. I told him our elections would be scrutinized after that incident for years to come. I had no idea that it would cost 1.3 million dollars or whatever the Mesa County Taxpayers have had to shell out to oversee our elections since then. This was a terrible waste of money that could have been spent to improve our community instead of chasing after Tina as she trapses across the U.S. spreading lies and hate. I think Scott should NEVER be voted into any office again. He was warned by at least one constituent what could happen, and it did. All of a sudden, when the three county commissioners and the head of the republican party figure out that there are elections coming up, they jump ship on Tina and try to brush another incident under the rug. We need new leadership in this community that is not all about Trump and guns!!! Think about this every time you cast your ballot in upcoming elections and understand how easy it could be for our elections to be tampered with in the future.

  2. Hi,

    I left a comment last night that was awaiting moderation, but now it has disappeared from my view entirely so there must have been an error. It was honest questions regarding some things I have seen on line regarding the CO GOP primary. I was just hoping for clarification on if the items I came across were propaganda and lies. Rarely do I come across a GOP blog like this that allows me the chance to reply (as an outside who enjoys following statewide politics, I am very appreciative of the opportunity to directly contact people locally versed in the political landscape).

    Here are my questions and thoughts:

    I’ve been following all the GOP primaries, including the one in CO.

    2 questions:

    1. Is the chart presented at this link accurate (the chart is the photo in the tweet): https://twitter.com/Tinafor22/status/1542277094998044673?cxt=HHwWgsCjiZe2oucqAAAA

    2. Did a canvassing board member refuse to certify the GOP primary in El Paso based on the observations in his letter found at this link: https://creativedestructionmedia.com/news/politics/2022/07/29/breaking-el-paso-county-co-fails-machine-logic-and-accuracy-testing-for-gop-primary-recount/

    I believe they did certify, so my assumption is that all of his issues were addressed to his satisfaction (assuming the letter is authentic).

    I have no idea who did what, but with the adjudication feature of the machine it makes it very easy for bad actors to cheat. Technically, a bad actor could reproduce a ballot to match a voter’s preference for all races except for those the bad actor is looking to fix, and rely on the machine to spit the ballots with the blank races into the adjudication pile. Then the bad actor would have the ability to populate the races left blank for a different candidate. I am not saying anyone did this, I am simply providing a hypothetical situation that could arise and that would allow for mass scale cheating. Especially under the sketchy circumstances laid out in the canvassing board member’s letter I linked (broken chain of custody, unsecured ballots with the clerks upon the county dismissing poll workers, ballot envelopes in a broom closet (and not locked up), the reigning SOS being the one who choosing which ballots would be used for the risk limiting audit (it should be random selection of ballots)). The board member states there were 6000 ballots (more than he has ever seen) that were left overnight, pending for signature verification the next day. That leaves 6000 ballots that could be tampered with overnight by bad actors after the poll workers go home. He also pointed out that the basis of the audit was making sure the paper ballots matched the machine image. If a bad actor did adjudicate ballots to fix a race, of course the machine and the ballot will match, the race has been physically populated by the cheater. He states “the popularity of several candidates outpaced the reported outcome of their races”. He also brought up the 20000 undeliverable ballots and said it was indication that voter rolls were not cleaned up, even though the clerk previously stated this would be a priority.

    • No voting equipment in Colorado failed any logic and accuracy tests. All functioned correctly. No ballots were tampered with. The vote has been certified. The chart was presented by Tina, who has developed a reputation for lying and presenting false information in order to keep donations flowing to her from election deniers who support her antics. The adjudication feature of the machines does not make it easy to cheat. It detects any anomalies found on ballots, like an undervote, a stray mark or a write-in candidate, and then kicks the questionable ballots out for two election judges to review. The election judges always consist of one Republican and one Democrat, and they must both agree on the voter’s intent to resolve the adjudication process.

      • Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it more than you know!!! I will take the time to digest the information you provided me with! So the chart was fake, what about the canvassing board member’s letter? Did he misrepresent what he saw? My main issue with the voting machines (across states) is that my understanding is the ballots go into the adjudication pile if a race is empty, so technically a bad actor (NOT trying to say there were any) that gets their hands on the ballots after poll watchers go home would have the time to forge ballots with their choices before the poll workers returned. Again, I am not saying this was done, just that it could happen. Especially with all the extra ballots observed that were undeliverable (20K), and the piles of ballots not counted (for whatever reason, signature verification in this situation) before the poll watchers were dismissed. Aside from that, IF TRUE, it doesn’t make sense to me that the ballots aren’t chosen randomly when conducting the Risk Limiting Audit and instead chosen by the SOS. Again, the ballots would match the machine image in my scenario above if forged, BUT a bad actor would not be able to forge the entire deck of ballots, so a random sampling seems more appropriate for the review rather than a deck that could potentially be stacked (not at all saying they were) by the current SOS. In that letter he said that the ballots used for the RLA had a much higher frequency of votes for some of the candidates running than what was reflected by their final percent of total in the election. I am not saying it couldn’t happen, I am just saying people would have more confidence in the RLA if the ballots used weren’t from a deck handed over by the SOS.

        Thank you SO much for responding, I am grateful to you for addressing my questions in a kind manner.

        • I suggest you contact Sheila Reiner, our former Mesa County Clerk who is now the county Treasurer, who has served honorably as Clerk for several terms and who has conducted lots of elections without incident, and ask her how these things work, because I have not conducted an election and do not have the information you are looking for.

          • You can also talk to Brandi Bantz. She’s very knowledgeable. I would also contend that any potential situation you could dream up has already been dreamed up by the hundreds and thousands of election professionals that have built these systems. These are serious people, especially the career civil servants, who take their responsibility to conduct fair elections very seriously.

            This is not like a high school student council election. People have devoted their entire careers to securing these elections and seeing how Tina and many others have turned them into caricatures for their political ends is infuriating. Imagine if you had devoted all of your professional energy to this one pursuit and then overnight nearly half the country has decided, based on lies, that you are just out to steal elections. It’s insane. Most of these people are Republicans in this County, which makes the accusations even more insane.

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