Category: Democracy

Democracy, Democrats, Grassroots advocacy, Mesa County Democratic Party

Mesa County Democrats seek help with literature drop Sept. 23

by Anne Landman • September 6, 2023 • 1 Comment

If you value personal freedom, a decent living wage, affordable health care and housing and if you want your elected officials to have sanity and integrity and work on real issues that matter instead of manufacturing culture wars, elect Democrats locally and nationally.

Mesa County Democrats are seeking help to rock the vote in 2024.

Don’t wake up on November 6, 2024 asking yourself, “Could I have done more?”

September 23 is the Mesa County Dems’ kick-off to get the 2024 voting party started. They are asking for help to deliver volunteer recruitment material to the homes of registered Democrats in the Lincoln and Sherwood Park areas:

–> When: Saturday, September 23, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
–> Where: Meet at Lincoln Park, Ash Shelter. (The Ash Shelter is

MC Dems are encouraging registered Democrats, unaffiliated voters and anyone else who supports Democratic candidates to volunteer for this literature drop. They also seek young adults over the age of 18 to engage in the democratic process and join the effort.

Participants can expect:

–good company and socializing over coffee and donuts,

–a brief training session, and

–lists of homes organized by neighborhoods (called “turfs”) where volunteers will drop literature.

“Talking to residents is great, but knocking on doors is not necessary,” says Charley Allan, Precinct Organizing Committee Chair for the Mesa County Democrats, and the organizer of the event.

Why participate in this event?

Had it with the circus? Vote blue.

Because:

— Over 12,000 (2,500 in Mesa County alone) registered Democrats in Colorado’s Congressional District #3 did NOT vote in the 2022 election. This just can’t happen again.
— Defeating Lauren Boebert in 2024 could be the key to securing a Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
— Republicans were stunned by how close the last election was and are working hard to hold their lead.

There will be additional events like this around Mesa County in the coming months. Please contact Charley Allan to volunteer for September 23 or for future opportunities to fight for American democracy. Contact Charley if you have any questions.

Here’s his contact info:

Charley Allan, Mesa County Democratic Party
pocgotv@gmail.com
Cell: 970-623-3179

Activism, Andrea Haitz, Democracy, Education

Andrea Haitz Recall Committee calls off signature-gathering effort

by Anne Landman • June 29, 2023 • 6 Comments

Meme D-51 School Board President Andrea Haitz posted on social media c. May 9, 2022, widely seen as transphobic and a dig at public school teachers

The committee to recall District 51 School Board President Andrea Haitz has stopped gathering signatures for the recall.

The Committee issued a statement at 7:52 p.m. on June 29:

Sometimes we win. Sometimes we win, regardless.

The Recall Andrea Haitz Committee has decided to suspend collecting signatures. We are close to our goal, but the D51 board’s decision to include Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction High School was a major factor for starting the Recall. We celebrate the board’s decision to give our D51 students accessible and needed health care. We believe our Recall effort is a success by acting as a “6th member of the board” and keeping community attention on the actions of the board while important decisions are being made.

Recalls rarely succeed. But we have shown that non-violent, democratic action can positively move the needle, and galvanize voters before the election of two new board members in November 2023.

Folks have spoken clearly – No more political agendas in our schools. No more charter schools that siphon off public school students. No more secret committees deciding how many additional neighborhood schools will be closed.

We hope that Recall supporters know that while the Recall committee is turning a page, community attention remains squarely on board decisions. Our students are worth the time and energy of a 100-strong coalition of signature collectors has devoted to the attempt to peacefully and constitutionally effect change. We continue to Sign for D51 Kids.

Sarah Lester, Eric Rechel, Ricki Howie
The Recall Andrea Haitz Committee and D51 Stakeholders

Trump & his associates have repeatedly fleeced those who trusted him most. Tina Peters is following his lead.

by Anne Landman • June 17, 2022 • 4 Comments

Tina Peters appears on Steve Bannon’s Internet TV show, “War Room,” Dec. 31, 2021

First, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon raised hundreds of millions of dollars from Trump supporters using his private fundraising campaign, “We Build the Wall,” that promised to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Bannon promised gullible MAGA-heads that “100% of the funds raised …[would] be used in the execution of our mission and purpose.” But Bannon and his associates diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the campaign to pay their own personal expenses and credit card debt, buy expensive luxury items like jewelry, home renovations, high-end SUVs, plastic surgery and golf carts. Law enforcement agents arrested Bannon in August of 2020 on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud while he was off the coast of Connecticut, lounging on a 150-foot long super-yacht owned by a Chinese billionaire.

Trump pardoned Bannon of these crimes before leaving office in 2021, which is why Bannon was never prosecuted for them.

When and where to watch the Jan. 6 Select Committee hearings locally — will keep this page updated

by Anne Landman • June 12, 2022 • 40 Comments

Update July 8, 2022 – The next hearing of the Jan. 6 Select Committee will be on July 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 8:00 a.m. Mountain (local) Time. A summary of what previous hearings have revealed is here.

Update – Wed., June 22, 2022 –The next January 6 Committee hearing will be Thursday, June 23 at 1:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time). After posting a tipline with its last hearings, the Committee has received additional video footage and is also talking to Ginni Thomas about her cooperation, and because of all the new information, following hearings will be held in July.

Update – Tuesday, Jan. 21- The Jan 6 Select Committee examining the assault on the U.S. Capitol convenes today for its fourth public hearing this month. This session will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure state officials into falsifying election results to make it appear as though he had won, as part of his broader campaign to cling to office for a second term after he was informed by his White House attorneys, aides and family that he had lost the election. Today’s hearing starts at 11:00 a.m. local time and will be broadcast live on CBS (KREX, Ch. 5) ABC (KJCT Ch. 8) and NBC (KKCO Ch. 11) television stations starting at 11:00 a.m. Mountain Daylight (local) Time, (1:00 p.m. Eastern). You can also watch the hearings live on the website of the PBS News Hour and the Jan. 6 Committee’s YouTube channel.

***WARNING – the hearing may contain video of violence and foul language***

How to register as an Unaffiliated voter so you can vote against awful Republican candidates in the June primary

by Anne Landman • May 28, 2022 • 19 Comments

Lauren Boebert is the extremist candidate running for re-election as House Rep. from CD-3. If you’ve had enough of her, follow the instructions below to vote against her in the primary election on June 28th. Her opponent is former CO State Senator Don Coram, who, while still a Republican, is a far better choice.

While many had hoped redistricting would make Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District more competitive, it ended up doing the opposite. It increased Republicans’ advantage by an additional nine points.

This result is not lost on beleaguered CD-3 voters who, over the last two years, have been deeply embarrassed by extremist Republican elected officials like rabidly-right wing House Rep. Lauren Boebert and election-denier-to-the-point-of-insanity Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, both of whom, in addition to behaving terribly and in some cases denying voters their honest services, have also been exploiting their offices to rake in millions of dollars from like-minded, loony far-right wingers across the country who think they’re terrific.

To combat western Colorado trend of electing obviously unqualified, crass, shallow-thinking, extremist, far right Q-Anon conspiracists who exploit their positions to cash in personally, many CD-3 electors have re-registered as unaffiliated voters so they can vote the Republican ballot in the June primary and have at least some say who will run for office in the November general election. In effect, they are becoming Republicans for the primary election so they can vote for the least obnoxious, offensive Republicans, to try and push the worst of them off the ballot completely before the fall general election.

“Stand for The Constitution” is little more than Constitution theater

by Anne Landman • December 4, 2021 • 6 Comments

Comments under a video Stand for the Constitution posted of the Tina Peters Rally Dec. 1. The group blocks speech they don’t like from their Facebook page, showing they oppose the spirit of free speech enshrined in the U.S. Constitution

“Stand for the Constitution,” (SFTC) a Mesa County group that claims to defend the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and the integrity of local elections, has started blocking critics and deleting comments it doesn’t like from its public Facebook page while defending the only person in Mesa County who has ever publicly refused to count hundreds of legitimately-cast ballots: Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

The First Amendment of the Constitution makes it illegal for government to enact laws restricting freedom of speech and expression. Stand for the Constitution is a private group, not a government entity, so it has every right to block people from its social media pages. But despite claims that it exists to promote freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, SFTC blocks speech they do not want to acknowledge.

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

by Anne Landman • November 18, 2021 • 0 Comments

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.

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

by Anne Landman • October 26, 2021 • 9 Comments

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.

ROLLING STONE: House Rep. Lauren Boebert participated in multiple planning meetings with organizers of Jan. 6 insurrection

by Anne Landman • October 25, 2021 • 3 Comments

Oct. 24 Rolling Stone article says Boebert participated in planning Jan. 6th events at the U.S. Capitol

According to an exclusive article published in Rolling Stone magazine October 24, 2021, two people who helped plan and organize the violent January 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, and who have already spoken to the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection, have named members of Congress involved in planning the attack.

One of them was CD-3 House Representative Lauren Boebert, who represents Colorado’s western slope.

Secretary of State lawsuit against Mesa County Clerk also names Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley

by Anne Landman • August 31, 2021 • 9 Comments

Belinda Knisley is described in the SOS lawsuit as “absent and/or unable to perform her duties,” like Tina Peters

The text of the Secretary of State’s lawsuit against Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (pdf) essentially says Deputy Clerk and Recorder Belinda Knisley lied to State employees with Tina Peters’ knowledge when she told them a non-employee County Elections staff allowed to access voting equipment last May was a County employee, when in fact he was not, and had never been a County employee. Knisley, described in the suit as a “possible successor” to Tina Peters in the Elections Department, is specifically named as a Respondent in the suit in addition to Peters.

CO SOS files suit to remove Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as Designated Election Official

by Anne Landman • August 30, 2021 • 0 Comments

The Colorado Secretary of State filed a suit asking a judge to legally remove Tina Peters as Mesa County’s Designated Elections Official, saying she is unfit for the position.

Colorado Secretary of State (SOS) Jena Griswold filed a lawsuit today asking a judge to remove Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as Designated Election Official (DEO) for the county. The suit asks for Wayne Williams to be appointed as the DEO and Sheila Reiner be appointed Director of Elections for Mesa County. Sheila will apparently replace Brandi Bantz, who was Director of Elections for Mesa County according to her LinkedIn page. Bantz was the fourth Director of Elections Peters hired during her tenure.

A press release said the SOS was acting quickly because time is short before the November elections. It also said that the legal action “is necessary because although the Secretary of State’s Office can require supervision of a county clerk’s conduct, it cannot remove a sitting county clerk from acting as the Designated Election Official.” The suit asks a judge to remove Peters.

County Commissioners do about-face on pot with referred ballot measures

by Anne Landman • August 30, 2021 • 8 Comments

Mesa County may finally be recognizing that Colorado’s new cannabis economy has brought big benefits to towns and counties that have embraced it.

Item #8 on the Mesa County Commissioners’ agenda today is a proposal to refer a measure to the countywide ballot a measure that will give voters a choice to “override” a 2013 ordinance (pdf) that prohibited the cultivation, manufacture, testing and retail sales of cannabis in the unincorporated county, and instead ALLOW such activity.

Agenda Item #9 will refer a related measure to the ballot that would let the County charge an excise tax on the sale or transfer of “unprocessed retail marijuana.”

The measures represent a 180 degree turn from where the county was 8 years ago, and appears to be an effort to start grabbing some of the cash the cannabis industry has been generating throughout the state, that Mesa County has lost out on for so long.

Mesa County Commissioners approve extended contract with Dominion Voting Systems

by Anne Landman • August 24, 2021 • 0 Comments

Commissioner Janet Rowland gives angry audience a dose of reality, and votes to do the right thing

Screen shot of Zoom of today’s meeting, with chat box, while County Commissioner Scott McInnis was speaking. He was wearing a pink shirt.

The Mesa County Commissioners voted unanimously this afternoon to extend the County’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems so they could get new voting equipment for no up-front cost from Dominion. The Commissioners voted to maintain the County’s contract with the company until 2029, and agreed to make progressively higher payments to the company throughout that time. The County needed new voting equipment to replace the equipment decertified by the Colorado Secretary of State because Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was unable to prove the equipment had been kept secure and had not been compromised.

Vice News reports Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is on the run, housed in secret locations by My Pillow Guy

by Anne Landman • August 19, 2021 • 5 Comments

Tina Peters is on the run

Vice News reports that Mike Lindell, the CEO of the My Pillow Company, has been harboring Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in safe houses around the country and moving her from place to place to avoid detection. Lindell told Vice News he initially housed Peters in Texas after his 3-day Cyber Symposium in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she was featured as an expert speaker on the subject 2020 election conspiracy theories, but after one of Lindell’s own disgruntled security employees leaked Peters’ location, Lindell moved her to another undisclosed location.

The FBI and the Mesa County District Attorney are investigating Peters for possible criminal activity. She is also under investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office for allegedly breaching security protocols put in place to protect Mesa County’s voting equipment from tampering.

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, defiant amid criminal investigation by Secretary of State, appears as “whistleblower” guest speaker at My Pillow guy’s Cyber Symposium

by Anne Landman • August 10, 2021 • 6 Comments

So this appears to be the big news from Mike Lindell’s cyber symposium. They are saying Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State, along with Dominion “raided” the elections department of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters (with a search warrant). pic.twitter.com/PvSSpxYq8E

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 11, 2021

The Daily Sentinel reported today that Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ office is under criminal investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State (SOS) for an alleged election system security breach in which secret passwords to Mesa County’s voting machines were leaked and exposed on a right wing blog called GatewayPundit.

City Council candidate Jody Green appears to be barely literate

by Anne Landman • April 3, 2021 • 0 Comments

Jody Green

Jody Green is running for the Grand Junction City Council District E seat in the April 6, 2021 municipal election. His campaign website says he is construction worker and that he helped build the Oxbow subdivision, the Postal Annex on Patterson, Ratekin Tower Apartments, Lakeside Apartments and other buildings in Grand Junction. Green writes on social media that he “Works at School of Hard Knocks, University of Life,” but provides no other information about his educational background.

In a February 4, 2021 article in the Daily Sentinel, Green told the paper that he is running for City Council because God asked him to.

A quick summary of the eight candidates running for Grand Junction City Council in the April 6, 2021 election

by Anne Landman • March 9, 2021 • 105 Comments

Eight candidates want to get inside these doors and help run the city we all love. Learn about the candidates running for Council and vote wisely.

In case you don’t have time to research the eight candidates running for City Council in the April 6th election, I’ve done the research and condensed it down to a couple of paragraphs about each candidate to help you make an educated choice. I drew on the sources of information that are most accessible to most voters, including the candidates’ campaign and personal websites, their campaign and personal social media accounts (the links to which the City conveniently provides on their Elections Information page). I also researched news reports, published articles and past blogs I’ve done about them, if any, and investigated some of the claims the candidates made on their websites about what groups and organizations they belonged to. I also attended the Western Colorado Alliance (WCA) online candidate forum held on February 24th, and noted which candidates attended and which didn’t.

Here is what I found on each candidate:

Learn more about the candidates running for Grand Junction City Council at this online event tomorrow @ 6:00 p.m.

by Anne Landman • February 23, 2021 • 0 Comments

Are you wondering who wants to call the shots on City Council? Are there candidates for City Council that draw red flags?

If you have an internet connection, you can attend this free online event to find out more about the candidates for Grand Junction City Counci. It’s tomorrow at 6:00 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the Western Colorado Alliance of Mesa County, the Western Colorado Latino Chamber of Commerce, Cleantech Business Coalition, and other community organizations.

The link to sign up and get the Zoom link for the forum is here.

The election is April 6, 2021. There are also measures on the ballot to approve the sale of retail marijuana, and if it is approved, to tax those sales. The city’s portal for more information on the election is here.

Get involved, tune in, determine who the over-the-top extremist candidates are (because this is Grand Junction, and you know some of them are), and who the reasonable candidates are who deserve to serve on the next City Council.

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