In what amounts to a subtle but seismic shift in local politics, former Colorado Mesa University (CMU) President Tim Foster publicly endorsed Janet Rowland’s opponent, J.J. Fletcher, for Mesa County commissioner, formally ending his years-long support for Rowland.
Category: Ethics
Bobbie Daniel, Cody Davis, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Janet Rowland, Local concerns, Safety
Mesa County Commissioners ignoring safety concerns & quietly working to tweak land use code to advantage large scale solar development, citizens say
by 7 Comments
• •On January 9, Mesa County Commissioners Janet Rowland, Cody Davis and Bobbie Daniel voted to put a moratorium on large-scale solar development in the County supposedly to take time to address the community’s growing concerns over these developments. Citizens are worried that the current county Land Development Code (LDC) contains no provisions protecting agricultural and irrigated land, wildlife, water sheds and view sheds from these developments, as well as no requirements for fire protection, buffers, setbacks or plans to decommission these installations that will assure solar plants that get destroyed by inclement weather or live out their expected life spans are cleaned up in a way that minimizes environmental harm and expense to local taxpayers.
Activism, Conservatives, Crime, Democracy under threat, Domestic terrorism, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Freedom under threat, Insurrection, Trump Insanity, Women
Restore the Balance is bringing Cassidy Hutchinson to Grand Junction
by 17 Comments
• •Cassidy Hutchinson is a former White House aide who served as assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration.
Hutchinson testified at the June 28, 2022 public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, providing testimony on President Donald Trump’s conduct and that of his senior aides and political allies before and during the January 6 United States Capitol attack. As a Trump administration member and direct eye witness to the events that unfolded that day, Hutchinson’s testimony received significant national attention, with several media outlets calling it “compelling” and “explosive.”
Crime, Ethics, Lauren Boebert, Weird western slope stuff
Lauren Boebert’s eldest son arrested on 22 charges amid alleged crime spree
by 8 Comments
• •House Rep. Lauren Boebert’s eldest son, Tyler Jay Boebert, 18, was arrested yesterday, February 27, 2024 (pdf) by the Rifle Police Department on a mix of 22 charges of felonies and petty offenses. The arrest came amid a spree of car break-ins and property thefts in Rifle.
Consumer advocacy, Corporations, Crime, Ethics, Greed, Red Rock Nissan, Weird Grand Junction Stuff
Local owner of Red Rock Auto pushed out
by 14 Comments
• •The sole local owner of the Red Rock Auto dealership chain, Bryan Knight, has been pushed out of the company.
Documents from the Colorado Department of Revenue show Mr. Knight, who oversaw the Red Rock dealerships and had long been listed as a partner and minority owner of the Red Rock GMC and Honda stores, is no longer an owner of record for any Red Rock stores.
The rumor that Mr. Knight had been pushed out of Red Rock Auto came on January 19, when someone in the local auto industry contacted AnneLandmanBlog to say “Bryan Knight no longer works at Red Rock.”
Rumor: In a reversal, Red Rock got fleeced by a customer
Consumer advocacy, Ethics
Buyer Beware: Mesa County does not license homebuilders, and state law makes it hard to hold builders accountable
by 6 Comments
• •If you are planning to build or buy a newly-built home in Mesa County, be forewarned that Mesa County has no licensing requirements for homebuilders and Colorado laws make it hard to hold home builders accountable when things go wrong, and lots can go wrong.
Cody Davis, Consumer advocacy, Ethics, Housing, Local business, Republicans violating laws, Scams
Soils report at heart of lawsuit against Cody Davis & Chronos Builders recommended alternative foundations, but plaintiffs say Davis never disclosed the report to them as Colorado law requires
by 4 Comments
• •Michael A. Berry, the professional engineer who authored the report, recommended three types of foundations that would better protect the structure from “heave related movements” than a typical shallow foundation, but also admitted such foundations are “usually cost prohibitive.”
Cringeworthy, Dangerous Republicans, Education, Embarrassing Republicans, Environment, Ethics, Extremism, Public health, Rose Pugliese, Separation of Church and State
Former Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese elected state House Minority Leader
by 9 Comments
• •Former two-term Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese, who moved to Colorado Springs in 2020 to run for the state House District 14 seat (and won the seat), has been elected Republican House Minority Leader in the Colorado Legislature. She replaces Rep. Mike Lynch (R), who resigned as Minority Leader on Wednesday, 1/24/24 after it was revealed that he had been arrested in September, 2022 on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI) and possessing a firearm while intoxicated. Lynch pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months probation and 150 hours of community service.
Consumer advocacy, Corruption, Ethics, Scams
FTC finalizes CARS Rule to combat Red Rock-style auto sales scams that have plagued customers
by 3 Comments
• •Last minute update: The FTC’s CARS Rule, which is the subject of this article and was intended to put a stop to shady dealerships’ worst abuses of customers, was scheduled to go into effect July 30, 2024, but was officially postponed (pdf) on January 18, 2024 as a result of lobbying by the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association, which oppose the rule.
————————
On December 12, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized the Combating Auto Retail Scams rule (CARS) to end the most common abuses that dealerships like Red Rock Auto in Grand Junction have long perpetrated on customers when selling cars. The CARS Rule was scheduled to go into effect on July 30, 2024. [See above last minute update].
Economics, Ethics, Public health, Republicans violating laws, Stephen D. Daniels
Mesa County Board of Public Health Chair Stephen D. Daniels owes the state over $10,000 in unpaid taxes
by 11 Comments
• •Update: As of February 1, 2024, the debt is still listed as “Unsatisfied,” and appears to date back to the filing period of 12/21/2003.
Stephen D. Daniels, Chair of Mesa County’s new and supposedly more financially responsible Board of Public Health, has owed the State of Colorado $10,200 in unpaid income taxes since at least 2010. Court records accessed on 1/3/2024 currently list the debt as “UNSATISFIED.”
In 2010, the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) filed a lawsuit against Daniels for $10,200.19 in unpaid taxes (Case No. 2010CV800822). On December 28, 2010, an Eagle County Court entered a judgment against Daniels for the amount and then issued a distraint warrant against Daniels’ property. After the judgment and warrant were filed with the Eagle County Clerk and Recorder, the warrant became a lien on all of the real estate Daniels owns in Eagle County.
Daniels apparently has ignored the judgment, debt and warrant for over 13 years.
Cody Davis, Cringeworthy, Education, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Generic idiocy, Weird western slope stuff
Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis uses offensive term in public hearing about the county budget
by 18 Comments
• •
To be fair, Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis (R) probably had no idea what he was saying when he said it, but it was highly offensive.
23 minutes or so into the Commissioners’ meeting on December 12, 2023 to approve the annual budget (video), Commissioner Davis discusses how difficult it is for him to understand the budgeting process and said,
“If I didn’t have help sometimes, reading this budget I’d feel like a knuckle-dragging Mongoloid.”
He was apparently unaware that “knuckle-dragging Mongoloid” is a highly offensive term.
For a long time the term “Mongoloid” was a pejorative term used to refer to people affected by Down Syndrome. It is also a racist term used to refer to people of Asian descent.
Economics, Education, Ethics, Local concerns
District 51 quietly working on plan that involves firing over 50 teachers in Fruita
by 13 Comments
• •AnneLandmanBlog received the following communication this morning titled “A Huge Concern,” from a D-51 teacher who wants to get word out about the School District quietly moving forward with a plan to fire over 50 Fruita-area teachers, many of whom have over 20 years of experience:
Corporations, Corruption, Ethics, Health, Health care, Scams
What’s wrong with “Medicare Advantage” plans?
by 28 Comments
• •At this time of year, ads hawking “Medicare Advantage” plans flood every possible media outlet, imploring seniors to call 1-800 numbers and contact their local insurance brokers for “free Medicare evaluations” where brokers can sign them up for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, also called Part C plans, that offer premiums a bit lower than traditional Medicare and freebies like vision screenings, dental cleanings, gym memberships and a monthly allowance to spend on drugstore merchandise.
These plans definitely sound alluring, but don’t be fooled.
Conservatives, Ethics, Health, Inept Republicans, Janet Rowland, Local concerns, Public health, Republicans violating laws, Stephen D. Daniels
Board of Public Health & county commissioners violated state public health law with their new intergovernmental agreement
by 11 Comments
• •When the Mesa County Commissioners had the Board of Health (BOH) sign their new Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), the commissioners, County Attorney Todd Starr and all 7 members of the new BOH all either knowingly or unknowingly violated Colorado Revised Statute Title 25, Article 1, Part 5(k).
Conservatives, Crime, Dangerous Republicans, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Extremism
All Tina Peters’ court cases, all in one place – November, 2023 edition
by 3 Comments
• •For those who are wondering when Tina Peters’ next appearances in court will be on her various cases, above is her current Mesa County court docket for the next 6 months.
Bad behavior, Crazy Republicans, Dangerous Republicans, Democracy under threat, Election deniers, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Inept Republicans, Republicans violating laws, Scams, Tina Peters
Tina Peters sues to overturn her $15,400 campaign finance violation fine
by 5 Comments
• •Tina Peters filed a lawsuit (pdf) November 8 against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to overturn the $15,400 campaign finance violation fine an administrative law judge levied against her on October 4, 2023, claiming the fine is “unfair” and that it has “irreparably injured” her.
The Court fined her for soliciting donations to run for re-election as Mesa County Clerk in 2021-2022 without having first filed the necessary paperwork with the state that requires she report the money she raised and spent on her campaign. The fine pertained to Tina’s campaign for County Clerk that she dropped out of in 2022 to run for Colorado Secretary of State instead. Tina lost the primary election for that seat to her Republican competitor by 14 percentage points, but she is telling people in interviews that she won that election.
Ethics, Janet Rowland, Lies, Mesa County, Public health, Secrecy
Transparency out the window in selecting new Director for the Mesa County Public Health Department
by 6 Comments
• •For Mesa County residents trying to find out how the search is going for a new County Public Health Department (MCPHD) director, the County is acting like it’s really none of your business, unless you belong to their secret circle of private citizens and friends to whom they are giving private access and input into the decision.
Janet Rowland, Chair of the Board of County Commissioners, told people when she was running for office that transparency in government is “absolutely critical,” but the search for a new MCPHD director has been anything but transparent.
Dangerous Republicans, Education, Elections, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Local concerns, Mesa County Republican Party, politics, Propaganda, Republican incompetence
“Stand for the Constitution,” which still supports Tina Peters, is working to get Evanson & Skalla elected to D-51 School Board
by 30 Comments
• •It seems like Mesa County never seems to learn from its past mistakes.
Stand for The Constitution (SFTC), the local extremist group that pushed to get Tina Peters elected County Clerk in 2018, that continued to support Peters even after her loss of 574 of ballots in 2019 and even after her indictments on multiple felony criminal charges related to election tampering, is now working to get Barbara Evanson and CynDee Skalla elected to the District 51 School Board in the November 7, 2023 election.
Stand for the Constitution also backed the three conservative school board members Haitz, Lema and Jones who have brought rancor, questionable ethics, uncertainty, disruption and hatred to the school board.