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.
Mesa County Republican Party Secretary Terry Porter stood up to Colorado Republican Party Chair Dave Williams, saying his support of Tina Peters and Donald Trump is making “too many of us ashamed of being a Republican in Colorado right now.”
Mesa County Republicans may be starting to see the harm they are doing to their party and America by continuing to support Tina Peters, Donald Trump and others like them.
On February 2, shortly before Tina Peters’ criminal trial was about to start, Colorado Republican Party Chair Dave Williams sent a mass email out to Colorado Republicans telling them to “Keep Tina Peters in your prayers while she fights the establishment and our corrupt judicial system in her upcoming trial which will begin on February 9th in Mesa County.” He called the criminal charges against Peters “retaliation, persecution, and prosecution for preserving our election records and exposing the fraud inside the machines.”
That email drew quick pushback from Republicans across the state, including former Secretaries of State and current and former Republican county clerks. It also drew a sharp rebuke from Mesa County Republican Party Secretary Terry Porter.
Porter quickly emailed Williams back and included Colorado GOP Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman and Secretary Anna Ferguson in the thread, saying:
House Rep. Lauren Boebert’s campaign manager, Drew Sexton, told the Washington Post in a September 13 article that Boebert wasn’t vaping inside the Buell Theater at a performance of the musical Beetlejuice, as theatergoers around her had told security, but that the appearance of smoke came from “heavy fog machines and electronic cigarettes” used during the show, “so there might have been ‘a misunderstanding from someone sitting near her’.”
But video shows there was no “misunderstanding.”
Sexton lied to the Post.
Vape “smoke” coming out of Boebert’s mouth at the Buell Theater in Denver last Sunday
The video also shows Rep. Boebert giving ushers the middle finger as she was escorted out of the theater:
Boebert flips the bird to theater employees on her way out.
Even the disgraced and indicted former Trump attorney from Colorado, Jenna Ellis, wrote on Twitter that Boebert’s behavior at the theater was “embarrassing and disrespectful behavior from a sitting Congresswoman,” adding, “Good grief, Republicans. Do better.”
Colorado House Rep. Lauren Boebert (R, CD-3), was ejected from a live performance of the musical Beetlejuice at the Buell Theater in Denver Sunday night after drawing three complaints from other patrons and getting issued a warning by theater security during intermission. She was accused of singing loudly, vaping and taking photos of the performance against theater rules.
Her getting the boot from the theater made national news.
7/5/23 Sentinel article about Mesa County Attorney Todd Starr’s fraudulent action to deceive a court Trustee
People in highly-paid, taxpayer-funded jobs who also are in positions to influence Mesa County actions and policies should be background checked, especially when they start doing potentially illegal things like helping the Mesa County Commissioners dismantle of the Board of Public Health for no real reason, and in apparent violation of county policies and state law.
Mesa County Attorney Todd M. Starr certainly meets that criteria. He makes a salary of $190,800/year, not including perks and benefits, and appears to have facilitated illegal acts by the Mesa County Commissioners against the Board of Public Health.
So I decided to background check him.
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:
Lobby of the $225-$250/night Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs, where County Attorney Todd Starr used his county credit card to pay for a room, in violation of County policy which requires County employees to get a per diem instead for travel.
An Open Records Act request by Daily Sentinel reporter Charles Ashby examining expenditures by Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland and County Attorney Todd Starr over the last year found both made questionable purchases that arguably violated County policy.
Rowland and Starr charged Public Health Department Jeff Kuhr with doing the same thing, but in his case they called it a fireable offense.
County employees are not allowed to use a County credit card for out-of-town trips. Instead, they are supposed to get a per-diem (a fixed daily allowance) for their expenses.
Last page of the intergovernmental agreement MCA 2012-079, laying out the relationship between Mesa County and the Board of Public Health (BOH). The appointment of Janet Rowland to the BOH was highly controversial at the time Commissioners made it, but the Commissioners skipped holding the required meeting with the BOH about it first.
The relationship between Mesa County and the Health Department is governed by the 2012 “Agreement, MCA 2012-079” (pdf), dated June 25, 2012.
The Agreement discusses financing, budgeting, purchasing and personnel policies, and it lays out the overall relationship between the two agencies.
Item #2 of the Agreement says a county commissioner may be appointed to the Board of Health, but Item #10 says:
“10. Points of controversy hereunder will be addressed by a meeting between the Mesa County Board of Health and the Board of County Commissioners.”
Janet Rowland
Janet Rowland was appointed to the Board of Health on April 25th.
It was a highly controversial appointment at the time.
The above mailer was recently sent to homes of prospective Grand Junction voters by the Best Slope Leadership Project, a 501 (c) (4) social welfare group based in Grand Junction.
Andrea Haitz and Greg Haitz are a married couple who over the last few years have been seeking more power in Grand Junction. Andrea is currently District 51 School Board President and Greg is trying to get onto Grand Junction City Council in the upcoming election.
