Category: Elections

Activism, Elections, Lauren Boebert

Lauren Boebert sued for libel and slander

by Anne Landman • October 18, 2022 • 4 Comments

David Wheeler

David B. Wheeler of American Muckrakers Political Action Committee (PAC), filed a defamation lawsuit (pdf) against Lauren Boebert in North Carolina on October 5.

Wheeler, who operates the nonprofit PAC, alleges Boebert made false statements about him on national radio and TV news shows in retaliation for his opposing her re-election by releasing factual information about her to the press and media. Wheeler states his PAC suffered a 92% decrease in revenue after Boebert made the false statements about him.

Among other things, Wheeler says Boebert defamed him on the nationally-broadcast Sean Hannity show, saying he had called her a “drug addict” and a “prostitute,” and that Wheeler had made death threats against her. Wheeler says none of that is true.

AnneLandmanBlog Voter Guide, 2022 Mid-term Election, Grand Junction & Mesa County

by Anne Landman • October 6, 2022 • 24 Comments

Are you wondering how to vote in the Tuesday, November 8, 2022 mid-term General Election? Are you sweating over where you’re going to find all the time you need to research all the candidates and ballot measures?

Relax.

AnneLandmanBlog has done all the work for you.

What does “freedom” really mean to Rep. Lauren Boebert?

by Anne Landman • September 7, 2022 • 1 Comment

Lauren Boebert

The following letter is reprinted with permission from The Daily Sentinel. It appeared on their editorial page on 9/6/2022:

There are a several billboards around town that have a photo of Representative Boebert highlighting the word FREEDOM. Exactly what does she mean? Does she mean President Roosevelt’s four freedoms – – freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, and freedom from fear? Does she mean that we are free to worship or not worship as we see fit, without the government using our tax dollars to support a church or forcing us to believe a specific religious doctrine? Does she mean that we are free to speak in the public square without threats of violence? Does she want Americans to earn a living wage? Does she want her fellow citizens to be able to afford healthcare, housing, clean water, and healthy food? Does she believe that medications should be affordable, and that Big Pharma should not gouge diabetics for insulin? Finally, does she believe school kids should not live in fear of a mass murderer entering their school?

Want to help defeat extremist Republican candidates in Mesa County? Pitch in Saturday, 9/10, to help elect rational candidates in November

by Anne Landman • September 3, 2022 • 1 Comment

This political map shows how the Grand Valley vote has changed since the 2016 election. Every single area on the valley floor has trended towards being more Democratic. If we can keep the trend going, we can finally stop electing embarrassing, unethical, unqualified, costly and irrational candidates who lie and commit crimes while in office, like Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

Mesa County Democrats will gather for a big canvassing event September 10th and are asking everyone’s help to get the word out about which state and local candidates belong to the only remaining political party that deals in reality.

Tina Peters: Judge and D.A. are “very, very evil,” and “don’t follow the same God that we do”

by Anne Landman • September 1, 2022 • 13 Comments

In a talk in El Paso County on August 29 to an audience of election-deniers, indicted Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters quoted the Bible, called her legal troubles “a spiritual battle” and praised her multi-millionaire benefactor, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, saying,

“Lindell has paid for many of our legal challenges, you know, and their end goal for me, and I’m just going to be really frank and really serious for a minute, is to put me in prison.”

Peters added,

“That is what they want. … I’ve got such an — I can’t even think of a word beyond ‘egregious”– judge, [and] when my chief deputy just made a deal, he was just sorry that she didn’t have to serve prison time.

They’re coming after me, and you know, Mike Lindell and the Legal Offense Fund, you know, these attorneys are not cheap, you know, they have they put a lot of hours [in] ….

Knisely flips, agrees to testify against Tina Peters and others

by Anne Landman • August 25, 2022 • 5 Comments

Tina Peters (L), and Belinda Knisely (R)

In a major development in the case against indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, former Deputy County Clerk Belinda Knisley reached a plea deal in which she flipped on Peters, plead guilty to reduced charges and agreed to testify against Peters in court, according to reports today in the Daily Sentinel, the Colorado Sun, Colorado Public Radio, Denver 9News and other news outlets.

Felony charges dropped, no prison time

Knisely had faced three counts of attempting to influence a public servant (class 4 felonies), one count of conspiracy to attempt to influence a public servant (a class 5 felony), and two misdemeanor charges of violation of duty and failing to comply with the Secretary of State. Before the deal, Knisley faced up to 21 years in prison and $2 million in fines.

Mesa County GOP Chair says Tina Peters asked him to block other candidates from running so she could win again for Clerk

by Anne Landman • August 12, 2022 • 4 Comments

Tina Peters and her deep-pocket financial benefactor Mike Lindell, the My Pillow CEO

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported August 11 that indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters asked Mesa County Republican Party Chair Kevin McCarney to rig the primary election for her by blocking all other candidates from running against her. McCarney told the Daily Sentinel that Peters asked him to do this before she declared she was running for Clerk again on January 16, 2022. She then dropped out that race in February, 2022 to instead run for secretary of state.

“She was asking me to fix her race to make sure she had a spot because she knew she was going to lose here,” McCarney told the Sentinel.

The revelation about Peters’ request to McCarney to have him rig her primary election comes just before a movie about her titled “Selection Code” is scheduled to premier on August 20, 2022. The movie, funded by election denier My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, advances former President Donald Trump’s lie that election fraud is rampant in the U.S. and elections are “rigged.”

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

by Anne Landman • August 6, 2022 • 11 Comments

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.

Tina Peters’ next big drama to keep the grift going

by Anne Landman • July 30, 2022 • 3 Comments

Tina Peters press release finding fault with the El Paso County recount

Get ready. The next Tina Peters drama is already happening.

Tina is trying hard to set the scene for a hand recount by claiming there is tremendous fault in the El Paso County recount effort, which has barely just begun.

Tina issued a press release yesterday saying the El Paso County Logic and Accuracy test (a precursor to the recount) was an “absolute disaster.”

Tina Peters on the judge in her criminal case: “This is a dirty, dirty player”

by Anne Landman • July 26, 2022 • 2 Comments

NOTE: YouTube removed this video of Tina Peters’ appearance on Steve Bannon’s show because in it, Peters persistently tells a raft of blatant lies about election fraud in Colorado. I am trying to explain to YouTube that the video is being used for purposes of commentary and criticism, and this has worked for YouTube’s removal of other video clips of Tina’s talks, but so far they have not agreed to restore this particular one. Fortunately I transcribed some passages of her talking in this video here:

In the video she made in Pitkin County the night she bonded out of jail in Aspen on 7/22, Republican Tina Peters called Mesa County Court Judge Matthew Barrett, the judge overseeing her criminal case, “partisan” and “malicious,” and claimed “his goal is to incarcerate an innocent woman.” She further accused Judge Barrett of “legislating from the bench,” and urged her followers to “file a lot of ethics complaints” against him.

Just two days later, on 7/25, while appearing on Steve Bannon’s internet talk show “War Room,” in a segment titled “Deep Dive of a Few Bad Men,” Peters continued assailing Judge Barrett:

Video shows Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel endorsing Tina Peters for Clerk in 2018

by Anne Landman • July 21, 2022 • 11 Comments

A 2018 Facebook video shows 2022 Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel endorsing Tina Peters for Mesa County Clerk, assuring viewers that Tina has a “wealth of knowledge” and “we’re in really good hands if you’re our Clerk and Recorder.”

Daniel appears in the video with far right-wing activist Sherronna Bishop, whose home was searched by the FBI last November in connection with Tina Peters’ election tampering scandal. Bishop has been implicated in the scandal as well. She and her husband recently sold their home in Garfield County, fled to Texas and are keeping their whereabouts a secret.

It turned out electing Tina Peters as County Clerk was the biggest, most expensive and most embarrassing mistake Mesa County voters have ever made.

Tina Peters fails to meet deadline to pay for recount

by Anne Landman • July 19, 2022 • 4 Comments

Tina Peters waves around a letter to the Colorado Secretary of State at the July 12 Las Vegas conference she attended, demanding a recount of her race in the primary. She failed to meet the deadline last Friday to pay over $236,000 for a state-wide recount. She lost by over 88,000 votes or a margin of over 14% between her and the winner.

For all the bluster Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters made over demanding a recount in her June 28 primary loss, she failed to get the necessary funds in to the Secretary of State by the deadline last Friday to commence the recount, so it won’t happen.

For the state pay for a recount, the difference between the leading candidate’s total votes and the next highest candidate’s total votes must be less than or equal to one-half of one percent (0.5%). Peters lost to her opponent, Pam Anderson, by 88,000 votes, a margin of more than 14% between her and the front runner.

At a speech she gave at a conference of election-denier sheriffs in Las Vegas on July 12 (video), Peters waved around a notarized letter (pdf) to the Colorado Secretary of State that she told the crowd she was sending to demand a recount, claiming without any evidence that she lost because of “extensive malfeasance” in the June 28 primary. She failed to mention ore recognize how her being indicted on 7 felonies related to election tampering might have affected the vote.

There was no fraud or malfeasance in the June 28 primary, and Peters’ loss has been accepted as legitimate.

Tina Peters’ unhinged talk in Las Vegas

by Anne Landman • July 14, 2022 • 18 Comments

By now everyone has probably heard that Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters had her bond revoked today for leaving the state without first getting permission from the court, which violated the terms of her release in her criminal case. Peters traveled to Las Vegas for a July 12 conference of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group of anti-government sheriffs who are also election deniers.

While there, Peters gave an unhinged 9 minute talk that appeared to even confuse her audience. In her talk, she made a slew of bizarre statements, like:

“Our crooked DA arrested [my election manager] knowing today is her birthday.”
“They arrested three grandmothers for defending your elections.”
“They’re stealing our elections.”
DA Dan Rubinstein “is the guy who let 26 pounds of fentanyl go.”
“Our candidates were offered to step aside and they would be propelled over the finish line if they did not talk about election security.”
“They took away my husband, too. 36 years we would’ve been married. The DA went in there and had him sign divorce papers in a nursing home. He has advanced dementia. These people are criminals.”
“They’re coming after you.”

Highlights of Wyoming Republican primary debate. Note, this is not a Saturday Night Live episode.

by Anne Landman • July 2, 2022 • 13 Comments

The above is a 2 minute video synopsis of a Republican primary debate among candidates running for Wyoming’s at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, currently held by Liz Cheney. These are actual answers from actual Republicans to questions the moderator posed during a “lightning round.” The debate was broadcast on Wyoming PBS and can be viewed on CSPAN.

This is only one state away.

If you can stomach it, you can watch the full debate here.

Election deniers, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Extremism, Lies, Republicans violating laws, Sherronna Bishop, Tina Peters, Trump Insanity

Wendi and Gerald Wood: “Tina Peters and Sherronna Bishop have sullied election integrity efforts in Mesa County,” and Tina’s “Gerald Wood” impersonator was election denier Conan Hayes

by Anne Landman • June 29, 2022 • 1 Comment

Gerald and Wendi Wood are speaking out after Tina Peters slandered Gerald Wood on a Denver radio talk show on June 18. Tina told Jimmy Sengenberger of KNUS in Denver that Gerald Wood, whose identity Tina is accused of stealing, “perjured himself” before a Mesa County grand jury. Tina called Wood’s grand jury testimony “political theater.”

Woods called Tina’s statement that he perjured himself “a blatant lie.”

On June 28, the Woods gave an interview to KREX TV in which they break their silence on the matter. The full, edited interview is about 20 minutes long.

Among other things, the Woods say Tina used them, that her lack of integrity should disqualify her from office, that Tina “seems like she’s being pushed over the edge,” and that the way Tina used Gerald Wood “could happen to anybody if you elect a disreputable business person” to office.

Trump aides, appointees & family all testify that Trump kept pushing the lie of widespread election fraud to the public even after they told him no proof of fraud exists

by Anne Landman • June 25, 2022 • 15 Comments

In this video clip from a House Jan 6 Select Committee public hearing posted to the public on June 14, William Barr, Trump’s Attorney General, Trump’s daughter and White House Advisor Ivanka Trump, multiple Trump campaign aides and attorneys all testify that they informed Trump in no uncertain terms that no evidence of widespread election fraud existed and his claims about it were false, and in spite of this, Trump continued to push the lie out to the public that widespread election fraud had cost him the election.

Conspiracy theories, Crazy Republicans, Cringeworthy, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy, Democracy under threat, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Julie Fisher, politics, Republican lies, Republicans violating laws, Scams, Tina Peters

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.

Tina Peters losing support locally

by Anne Landman • June 14, 2022 • 21 Comments

Support for Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters appears to be waning among her “base” in Mesa County as people discover Peters is willing to lie and sacrifice other people to further her own ends.

The Daily Sentinel reported today that enthusiasm for Peters among members of the far-right group Stand for the Constitution (SFTC) appears to be waning. The group, previously a strong supporter of Peters, invited Peters’ opponent for Secretary of State, Mike O’Donnell, to speak at their most recent meeting. The meeting was sponsored in part by Andrea Barber, the sister-in-law of Gerald Wood, whose identity Tina Peters stole in order to smuggle a third person into the Elections Department to copy voting machine hard drives.

Former G.J. City Council candidate Mark McAllister speaks in support of Tina Peters at an August, 2021 rally organized by Stand for the Constitution in support of Tina Peters, while a supporter holds a sign that says “I Trust Tina Peters.” (Photo: YouTube)

Peters’ actions swept up Fruita resident Gerald Wood into the criminal investigation of Peters’ election tampering, forcing Wood to have to prove to authorities he was not present at the time Peters had the hard drives copied.

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“Lindell has paid for many of our legal challenges, you know, and their end goal for me, and I’m just going to be really frank and really serious for a minute, is to put me in prison.”

“That is what they want. … I’ve got such an — I can’t even think of a word beyond ‘egregious”– judge, [and] when my chief deputy just made a deal, he was just sorry that she didn’t have to serve prison time.

They’re coming after me, and you know, Mike Lindell and the Legal Offense Fund, you know, these attorneys are not cheap, you know, they have they put a lot of hours [in] ….

Felony charges dropped, no prison time

It turned out electing Tina Peters as County Clerk was the biggest, most expensive and most embarrassing mistake Mesa County voters have ever made.