Category: politics

People’s March unites locals who oppose oligarchy, loss of rights & right wing extremism

The People’s March on Saturday, January 18, provided a chance for a large group of Mesa County’s growing number of liberal residents to get together, enjoy  camaraderie, speeches, free hot coffee, chai and cookies provided by Octopus Coffee. People were bundled up as the temperature was just below freezing.

The crowd numbered around 300 people.

On Wednesday, January 15, President Biden gave a farewell address to the public in which he warned Americans of a coming “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of very few ultra-wealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.” Biden said,

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.” 

Interactive map shows donors to Harris/Biden and Trump in Mesa County in the 2024 presidential race as of 10/24/24


This fascinating interactive map from the Washington Post shows a surprising number of people in our area are Harris supporters, and that Mesa County has continued to trend more “blue” politically since 2020. 

Mesa County Ballot Issue 1B: Can the County keep tax revenue above the Tabor limit and use it to fix roads and bridges?

Mesa County Ballot Issue 1B asks voters if the County can keep almost $11.5 million that’s already been paid in taxes, use it to maintain roads and bridges and raise the TABOR limit in the future so they can keep more tax money. So Ballot issue 1B asks Mesa County voters to let County government avoid complying with the state’s TABOR law.

What’s TABOR?

Tax-and-Spend Republicans?

Colorado’s TABOR (Taxpayer Bill Of Rights) law says state and local government can keep and spend only a specific amount of money based on their prior fiscal year’s revenue, an amount called the TABOR limit. If they collect money above that amount, it must be refunded to the taxpayers. The TABOR limit can only be adjusted according to a “population plus inflation” formula. The intent of the law, which was promoted by Republicans, was to constrain government to keep it from growing, a long-held conservative ideal.

Proposition 131: Top-Four Primary and Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative

Proposition 131 changes Colorado’s current primary election voting system into a ranked-choice voting system.

In ranked-choice voting, all candidates running for an office who have met the state’s conditions to run, regardless of their political party, get their names on the ballot, and voters rank the candidates in order of preference. The top four vote-getters then advance to the general election.

This is called an “all-candidate primary.”

Here are two examples of what ranked-choice ballots look like:

Tractor Supply throws LGBTQ+ customers and investors under the bus

Tractor Supply Company, a farm, ranch and feed company which previously had touted its efforts at diversity and inclusion, did an about-face June 27 after it issued a press release saying it will stop sponsoring events like gay pride festivals and voter registration drives, stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, eliminate its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) roles, “retire” its DEI goals and will “withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”

The company says they “work hard every day” to “represent the values of the communities and customers we serve. We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”

Rowland booted as commissioner

Results as of 10:25 p.m. Tuesday night

Political newcomer J.J. Fletcher of Palisade won by a wide margin over longtime career politician Janet Rowland in the primary election for District 3 Mesa County Commissioner.

Rowland conceded the race this morning via a brief Facebook post. 

Paonia’s High Country Shopper under fire for running outrageous, false political ad

Ad that ran in June 12, 2024 edition of the classified ad paper the High Country Shopper

Delta County residents are up in arms about a display ad that appeared on Page 20 of the June 12 edition of the High Country Shopper, a weekly newspaper published in Paonia that runs classified ads and promotes local businesses.

The ad, which is a departure from the norm for the Shopper, shows a photo of President Biden among an array photos of fascist dictators who have “had their opponents arrested,” including Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, Stalin and others. The ad was paid for by Cedaredge resident Wes Fisher.

Where could someone get such a misleading idea as this?

Republican CD-3 candidate Jeff Hurd straight-up lies in new TV ad

Scene from a new Jeff Hurd ad titled “Fight for American Energy” that’s running on local TV

We had hoped that maybe Jeff Hurd, a home-grown Grand Junction Republican running to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in Washington, D.C., might be a slightly more honest politician than we’ve had in the CD-3 office for several years now, but Hurd just disappointed us all.

He put out a new TV ad two days ago in which he straight-up lies to viewers.

Hurd casts himself as a strong proponent of fossil fuels in the ad, showing piles of coal and people filling up their cars at gas pumps. But he lies to viewers right out of the gate by making a false claim that “Biden is waging war on American energy.”

Whether we like it or not, that’s hardly the case.

Meet ‘n’ Greet event this week for JJ Fletcher, the Republican running against Janet Rowland for County Commissioner in the 6/25 primary election

UPDATE, 5/8/24 @ 10:30 a.m. – JJ Fletcher has cancelled this event. 

Claudette Konola will host a Meet ‘n’ Greet this week on Wednesday, May 8 at 7:00 p.m. for JJ Fletcher, the candidate running against Janet Rowland for County Commissioner in the June 25, 2024 primary election.

The event will be at Claudette’s home, so she requests people use the blue “message” button on her Facebook page to RSVP and get the location.

City Councilor says he sees cronyism creeping into G.J. City Council

Scott Beilfuss

At the regular May 1 meeting of Grand Junction City Council, Councilman Abe Herman was voted in as the new mayor of Grand Junction and Randall Reitz as Mayor Pro Tem for the next year by all attending city council members present except one, and that hold out was perhaps the more important story that Grand Junction citizens should know about.

The vote was 5-1, with current Mayor Anna Stout absent from the meeting.

The lone hold out vote was Councilman Scott Beilfuss.

Curious about the vote, I contacted Beilfuss to ask why he didn’t vote for Herman and Reitz along with the rest of Council.

District 1 Commissioner candidate Dr. Tom Acker to speak at Edgewater Brewery May 9 @ 6:00 p.m.

Retired CMU Professor Dr. Tom Acker is running for the District 1 Commissioner seat, against Cody Davis

If you need a breather from Mesa County Republicans who use their elected offices to violate morals and ethics, deny reality and promote conspiracies, commit felonies, engage in religious grandstanding, double-dipviolate state laws, mindlessly spout racist tropes in public hearings, say things that draw national embarrassment onto our community, engage in cronyism, compromise voting equipment, take credit for the contributions of others and spend hundreds of thousands in taxpayers funds on exacting revenge on people they take a personal dislike to — if you want to consider electing people with integrity for a change, then come and hear what Tom Acker, the only Democrat running for Mesa County Commissioner has to say.

Dr. Acker is a retired Colorado Mesa University professor Emeritus who taught Spanish at CMU for two decades. He is running against Cody Davis for the District 1 county commissioner seat.

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.

Former CMU Professor Tom Acker to run against Cody Davis for County Commissioner

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.

Findings from the 2023 Colorado Latino Policy Agenda Survey to be presented on 3/11 @ 7 p.m. @ UU Congregation

What issues are top of mind for Latino voters in Colorado? How do Colorado Latino voters feel about the major political parties?

The public is invited to this review of the Colorado Latino Policy survey findings from 2023, with some very knowledgeable local panelists. The review has the highest number of findings from CD-3.

Started in 2021, the Colorado Latino Policy Agenda (CLPA) is an annual, nonpartisan report that provides insights into the demographic makeup and views of Latino voters in Colorado on a number of pressing policy, political, and social issues.

CD-3 candidate Adam Frisch holding meet and greet Wed., 2/28@Kannah Creek Brewery 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Grab your chance to meet Adam Frisch, the leading candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat, and the one who single-handedly chased Lauren Boebert out of our District for good.

Adam is hosting a Meet-and-Greet Wednesday, 2/28 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Kannah Creek Brewing Company, 1960 N. 12th St., Grand Junction. Adam advocates a climb-down from the “angertainment” politics we’ve had to endure in CD-3 for the last few years

Adam Frisch

and seeks instead to represent CD-3 in Congress in a more normal way, meaning he would actually represent and promote the needs of our district in the House instead of seeking fame and notoriety by constantly engaging in outrageous behavior. He also seeks to restore dignity to CD-3’s representation in Congress, while actually making progress towards solving problems in our District.

Civil War & Feeding Migrants to Wolves: Western CO Congressional Forum Gets Extreme

The forum for Republican candidates for CD-3 held at Appleton Christian Church, 2/12/24. (Photo: Sharon Sullivan)

Article by Sharon Sullivan, Feb. 14, 2024

This article is republished with permission from the Colorado Times Recorder. You can see the original article here. 

Immigration policy dominated the discussion among five of the Republican candidates vying to win Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District primary election in June, and it included some eyebrow-raising statements.

The candidate forum, which took place Monday night at Appleton Christian Church in Grand Junction, included all but one of the Republicans hoping to become their party’s nominee following Congresswoman’s Boebert decision to abandon her hometown district for redder pastures on the Eastern Plains.

While their positions on immigration varied, the candidates found more consensus around their doubts about Colorado’s election system. Four of the five participants spoke in favor of banning the mail ballots used by nearly all Coloradans, based on the debunked conspiracy that they have been used to rig elections. All but one of the candidates advocated for a return to hand-counting paper ballots, a process which has been proven to be less accurate and far more expensive than Colorado’s current system. Hanks, Andrews and Varela all promoted elements of another debunked conspiracy theory: that the Dominion Voting machines used by nearly all counties to tabulate their elections could be manipulated to rig the results.

KREX TV explores how the County seized control over all of Mesa County Public Health Department’s contracts when it only contributes 4.2% of the agency’s budget

KREX reporter Michael Loggerwell’s story about Mesa County’s new Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the Health Department- Part 1

KREX-TV News recently did a two-part series about the Mesa County Commissioners’ new, post-Jeff Kuhr Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that more tightly regulates the County’s relationship with the Public Health Department (MCPHD), and how it differs from the old 2012 agreement in important ways that could negatively affect public health and safety in the county.