Retired CMU Spanish Professor Tom Acker
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.
In addition to his teaching career, Acker has been a long time community volunteer in Mesa County
He has worked tirelessly to elevate community awareness of human trafficking in Grand Junction. In 2015 he co-founded Western Slope Against Trafficking, a nonprofit group formed to reduce and prevent trafficking as a crime against humans. Professor Acker is also very familiar with the housing crisis our county faces. He successfully advocated on behalf of sheepherders, who mainly come from Latin America and South America, for better pay and legal protections. Acker was one of the founding members of the Dual Immersion Academy charter school, which provides English/Spanish bilingual education for elementary school students. Acker is solution-driven and works collaboratively with county organizations to provide shelters for the unhoused community.
Professor Acker’s vision will put Mesa County on track for a dramatically improved quality of life for all residents.
To do that, he wants to:
1) Expand affordable housing;
2) Improve access to mental health services;
3) Increase women’s health services in Mesa County;
4) Ensure fair and constitutional enforcement of immigration policies;
5) Ensure access to healthy activities for all Mesa-county youth and
6) Ensure County residents’ right to a living wage.
Professor Acker supports expanding the Board of County Commissioners to five members who are elected by only their own districts, to provide for greater diversity of thought and representation on the County Commission.
If you’re tired of the same old Republican regime in county government and all their expensive, disastrous and embarrassing failures, and want to make a change for the better, volunteer to help get Professor Acker elected. He needs help with:
- Making phone calls
- Canvassing voters
- Preparing campaign packets
- Writing letters to the editor
- Distributing yard signs
- Setting up banners
- Hosting fundraisers
Let him know how you want to help.
He needs 100 volunteers and $35,000 to win. To donate, make checks out to “Tom Acker for County Commissioner” and mail to P.O. Box 2463, GJ, CO 81502.
If you want to help get Professor Acker get elected, contact Charley Allan at pocgotv@gmail.com or text to 970-623-3179.
What better way to escape our county’s long and embarrassing past than by electing someone with a real sense of social justice and integrity to the Board of Mesa County County Commissioners (for once).
Republican Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis, shown trespassing on the Grand Valley Canal bank in one of his 2020 campaign TV ads. Professor Acker is running against Cody Davis for his seat on the Board of Mesa County Commissioners
Tom Acker running for County Commissioner is the best news I’ve heard in quite some time, a ray of sunshine lightening the shadows of shenanigans in Mesa County. We all need to support his effort. I’ll start with sending a contribution for his campaign.
Tom will continue his years’ of service to the people. My contribution is in the mail. Let us all do our part.
He’ll need a lot more than $35,000 to even come close, and a lot more than that to win. Having 100 volunteers is a good start.
Great! I have nothing but respect for an accomplished, decent, and credible man running for this important office. Because much like his fellow clownshow County Commissioners; “Crony” Davis has proven to be a complete ignoramus as well as a dangerously expensive liability for the taxpayers of Mesa County. It is also encouraging that since both the state and national GOP party coffers are running empty, a grassroots candidate has a real shot to win here. Besides, the incumbent might be too busy fending off another controversy or further embarrassing “Family” (Chronos Builders) lawsuits to run any semblance of a campaign let alone promote a coherent policy platform. Sounds familiar, huh?
Tom Acker is a stellar human being with his feet on the ground and his hands ready to help. I will definitely find ways to help him in his campaign. We need him to represent those very under-represented voices in this community. Thank you Tom for stepping up.
I am delighted to know this as I just received his friend request. I met him when I was active with what is now Western Colorado Alliance, they removed the name congress, understandably.
A good place to put my energy!