Category: Mesa County Republican Party

Janet Rowland says she’ll “fight for the truth” while having a history of being untruthful herself in the local media

Janet Rowland’s March 28 Instagram post touting her devotion to “the truth.”

County Commissioner Janet Rowland (R), in a campaign plug she posted March 28 on her VoteJanetRowland Instagram page, says she “will always fight for the truth, even when the media presents the facts in a way that distorts the truth.”

But even as Janet denigrates the local media as untruthful, we must remember an episode in 2007 when Janet deceived the public herself by using local media.

Making it worse is the fact that even after it was exposed, she’s never taken responsibility for it, or apologized for it.

Shortly after losing statewide election for lieutenant governor as Bob Beauprez’s running mate in 2006, while she was previously Mesa County Commissioner, Janet was a columnist for the Grand Junction Free Press, at the time a competing newspaper to the Daily Sentinel. She wrote several columns for the Free Press under her own name until one day a sharp reader spotted the fact that Janet had been lifting the text of her columns word for word from government pamphlets, and brought this to the attention of the Free Press’s editor.

In seismic shift for the local GOP, Tim Foster endorses Janet Rowland’s opponent, J.J. Fletcher, for county commissioner

Endorsement posted on the “JJ Fletcher for Mesa County Commissioner” campaign website

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.

CO Republican Party Chair praises Tina Peters, gets pushback from GOP members & former Mesa County GOP Chair Kevin McCarney

Dave Williams

In a mass email to members of the Colorado GOP on Feb. 2,  Colorado Republican Party Chair Dave Williams praised Tina Peters for “fighting the establishment and our corrupt judicial system.” He wrote that the charges against her were “retaliation, persecution, and prosecution for preserving our election records and exposing the fraud inside the machines” and said Tina has “risked so much to expose the fraud by doing her job as a county clerk…”  He concluded by saying that “We must all unite in prayer and support for Tina Peters so that the jury sees this for what it really is and acquits her of all charges.” Williams added, “We are praying for you, dear Tina. You are loved and appreciated by all.” [All Italicized emphasis in original.]

No proof of fraud has been found in Colorado’s or Mesa County’s elections.

The letter drew immediate pushback from a long list of prominent Colorado Republicans including former Republican secretaries of state. According to a February 6 article in Colorado Newsline by Sharon Sullivan, the written response to Williams said,

“Stand for the Constitution,” which still supports Tina Peters, is working to get Evanson & Skalla elected to D-51 School Board

A slide shown at a mid-October, 2023 Stand for the Constitution meeting that indicates the group still supports criminally-indicted, election denier Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. The same group is supporting Evanson and Skalla for D-51 School District Board.

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.

9News reports Tina Peters fined $15,400 for campaign finance violation while running for Mesa County Clerk

Marshall Zelinger of 9News’ Next with Kyle Clark reported on Friday, October 6, 2023 that an administrative law judge has fined Republican former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters $15,400 for soliciting donations to run for re-election as Mesa County Clerk without having first filed the necessary paperwork with the state that requires she report all the money she raised and spent on her campaign. The $15.4k fine pertains to Tina’s campaign for Clerk that she dropped out of in 2022 to run for Colorado Secretary of State instead.

Colorado Public Radio has published additonal information on Tina Peters’ campaign finance fine here: Former Mesa Clerk Tina Peters fined for failing to register reelection campaign, by Bente Berkeland, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2023

Republican Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis publicly pulls his support for Rep. Lauren Boebert. Better late than never, Cody, but come on…

Commissioner Cody Davis’ Facebook post from yesterday, saying he can no longer support Lauren Boebert

In a remarkable show of common sense unusual in a Mesa County Republican, County Commissioner Cody Davis yesterday posted on his Facebook page that “I can no longer support Lauren Boebert for Congress, and here’s why. Our voters in Mesa County and along the West Slope deserve leaders and representatives who uphold our values.”

He continued, “How can I criticize Democrats for their moral shortcomings if I’m blind to the shortcomings of my own side?”

Okay, great, Cody. Better late than never to emerge as the most rational member of the Board of Mesa County Commissioners.

But it’s worth noting that Commissioner Davis didn’t yank his support for Boebert last July after she trashed a lapel pin representing a child who was massacred at the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

He didn’t pull his support for her after she lied to her constituents about missing the debt ceiling vote last June.

He didn’t criticize Boebert after she mocked the tragic death of a young woman who was accidentally killed on a movie set by Alec Baldwin with a prop gun that had been loaded with a live round instead of a blank.

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland vs. former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters: Lots of similarities

When their behaviors as elected officials are compared, Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland and former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters have more in common than people may realize:

Chart of Janet vs. Tina

Mesa County Commissioners avoid getting bids for $49k forensic Health Dept. audit & Dufford, Waldek law firm contract

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland failed to get 3 bids for multi-thousand dollar contracts

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland has cited the awarding of contracts without first getting competitive bids as reason enough to fire Mesa County Public Health Department (MCPHD) Director Jeff Kuhr:
According to an article in the 6/14/23 issue of the Daily Sentinel, titled “More turmoil on the Public Health Board,”
“At the June 5 public health meeting, [Mesa County Attorney Todd] Starr presented a largely one-sided view of a partial audit done earlier this year on the department, some of which said Kuhr hired contractors without going through a competitive bid process…” [Italicized emphasis added.] Rowland complained that awarding sole source contracts without first getting bids or going through review by County finance departments “puts the County at high risk because [the contracts don’t] go through a legal, risk or finance review.”
But she and the other Commissioners award high-dollar contracts without first getting competitive bids where such bids and oversight are merited, according to County policy.

Grand Junction City Council candidate rundown 2023

For this article, I drew from publicly available sources, including the candidates’ own websites and social media accounts, newspaper articles, the candidates’ financial disclosure statements filed with the City of Grand Junction, background-checks done on TruthFinder.com, and public records requests to the Grand Junction Police Department (GJPD) for records of any contact the candidates had with local law enforcement agencies. I felt the law enforcement piece was necessary after seeing Mesa County voters elect people to public office who were later involved in theft, falsifying time cards, embezzlement, assault, plagiarism, DUI, double-dipping, election tampering and other offenses.

These City Council candidates are asking voters to hire them for a job. City taxpayers pay their salaries. The candidates should be background-checked.

New info about “Tammy Bailey” emerges during Tina Peters’ obstruction trial

Cory Anderson (center) helped Tina Peters (L) set up a cell phone under Tina’s alias, “Tammy Bailey,” the person Tina told police was the actual owner of her IPad. The woman on the right is Cory Anderson’s wife, Jacqueline Anderson, who is the former First Vice Chair of the Mesa County Republican Party. (Photo: YouTube)

New information was revealed about “Tammy Bailey” during Tina Peters’ obstruction trial, which just concluded yesterday afternoon.

Tina Peters’ obstruction trial starts Wednesday, March 1

Wondering what’s next on Tina Peters’ Law & Order docket?

Well, you won’t have to wait too long for the next episode.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/28, at 3:00 p.m. Tina has a one-hour, in-person hearing in Courtroom 2 of the Mesa County Justice Center about her upcoming obstruction trial, Case No. C392022M364. That’s the case about her using an IPad to record a Court proceeding in violation of Court rules and kicking a cop in the bagel shop.

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters

Tina’s jury trial on obstruction charges starts the next morning, Wednesday, March 1 at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 2. That’s Judge Bruce Raaum’s Courtroom. You should be able to access the 2/28 hearing and the 3/1 trial online via the Court’s WebEx system via this link to Judge Raaum’s Courtroom. Her obstruction trial is scheduled over two days, and should continue on Thursday, March 3 starting at 8:30 a.m.

What’s the deal with Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel’s book?

Bobbie Daniel’s May, 2016 self-published book, is 273 pages and is now out of print.

In May of 2016, Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel self-published a book, “Solutions from a Nobody: Using Founding Principles to Solve Modern Problems.” She wrote the book to present “clear and important ideas to fix what ails America.” She spent ten years as a hairdresser listening to her customers and put a lot of time into thinking about the problems they talked about. Daniel wrote this book to provide solutions to their problems.

First of all, kudos to Daniel for bothering to think about societal problems at all, let alone try to come up with solutions. Most people never bother, so that’s worth something.

Anti-transgender, racist hate mail sent to 92 year old School District 51 retiree; Local Republican political leaders may be contributing to undercurrent of hatred in Mesa County

“Citizens District 51 Defund Vote” sent hate mail postmarked Oct. 11, 2022 to a 92 year old School District 51 retiree in Grand Junction

My 92 year old neighbor, who worked for School District 51 over forty years ago, received this hate mail yesterday, with the following computer-printed in screaming all-caps, racist, anti-transgender hate letter glued to the back of the picture with the child at the chalkboard:

My neighbor is pretty tough, but the line that said “OL’ BITCH” really saddened her.

In addition to showing that racism and homophobia in Grand Junction are alive and thriving, this rude correspondence raises several questions:

— How did the sender get the address of this person?

Tina Peters: “Why aren’t they arresting Jena Griswold, the A.G., the D.A., the judge in my case and the County Commissioners?”

In an unhinged appearance September 6 on Lindell TV Tina Peters asked,

“Why aren’t they arresting the people that have already proven to be subverting our elections? The Secretary of State Jena Griswold, and the Attorney General for covering it up, and D.A. Rubinstein, and this judge here, Barrett, why aren’t we prosecuting them? They’re covering up…the Commissioners … they’re covering up that 29,000 vital election records have been deleted.”

“…They kicked me out of office unlawfully…the only way they can removed an elected official from office is recall them. A judge cannot remove an elected official.”

Tina either doesn’t understand, or is lying

FBI siezes Mike Lindell’s phone in connection with Tina Peters’ election tampering case; search warrant says Sherronna Bishop is a co-conspirator/subject of investigation

Screen shot of Lindell (L) complaining on FrankSpeech.com TV about the search warrant the FBI executed for his phone, looking for information on the Tina Peters election tampering co-conspirators

Mike Lindell complained on his internet TV channel September 13 (video, 6 min.) that the FBI surrounded and blockaded his car as he was coming out of a Hardee’s drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota and handed him a search warrant for his phone. An article in the September 14 issue of the New York Times says the phone was seized in connection with the Tina Peters election tampering scandal.

Celebrity election denier/pro surfer Conan James Hayes (Photo: BeachGrit/Twitter)

The search warrant names Tina Peters, Conan James Hayes, Belinda Knisley, Sandra Brown, Sherronna Bishop, Michael Lindell, and/or Douglas Frank as co-conspirators and subjects in the case.

Red flags indicate Daniel is a Tina Peters-linked choice for Mesa County Commissioner

Left to right: activist Sherronna Bishop, “No-Work-Clerk” Tina Peters and Bobbie Daniel, from a 2018 YouTube video Daniel made to endorse Tina Peters for County Clerk. Daniel said Tina had “a wealth of knowledge” and assured us we’d be “in really good hands ” if Tina became our Clerk and Recorder. We know how that turned out, and Daniel hasn’t yet apologized to Mesa County citizens for her disastrous endorsement.

Republican Mesa County Commissioner candidate Bobbie Daniel is showing all the signs that she’ll be yet another potentially disastrous elected official in the vein of Tina Peters if she gets elected as county commissioner.

There are a number of reasons why. The first is her remarkably poor judgment:

Bobbie Daniel endorsed Tina Peters for Clerk.

Knisely flips, agrees to testify against Tina Peters and others

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.

Tina Peters has a history of promoting unsubstantiated health claims and multi-level marketing schemes

On an archived copy of her old website, Tina Peters wrote that she was involved in a car accident in 2010 in which she incurred a brain injury. Shortly after that, in 2011, she started promoting products made by Nikken, a multi-level marketing company that manufactures and sells unproven health remedies like health magnets, water and air purifiers, shoe inserts, and supplements with names like “Jade Greenzymes,” by making vague claims that they can improve chronic conditions like neuropathy, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, autism and diabetes.

In October, 2011, Tina started a Twitter account, @BHealthyNow, that she used to promote work-from-home, get-rich-quick schemes, network marketing including Nikken and its products, and on which she made far-out right wing political claims, like that President Obama’s presidency was “illegal” and Obama was “a Muslim.”