Tag: Crazy Republicans

Janet Rowland convinces newly-installed Public Health Board members to put Director Jeff Kuhr on paid leave

Janet Rowland at the Board of Public Health meeting June 5

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland succeeded in convincing the three new temporary members of the Board of Public Health (BOPH)  to vote to put Mesa County Health Department Director Jeff Kuhr on paid leave.

Rowland has been working to push Kuhr out of his job for months.

The stunning part of the BOPH meeting was who was there to support Kuhr.

The audience was packed with prominent longtime local Republican political figures, including former Mesa County Commissioner Kathy Hall. former Chamber of Commerce President Diane Schwenke, former CMU President Tim Foster (now Kuhr’s attorney in this matter) and Doug and Jamie Simons, owners of Enstrom Candies. Former County Commissioner Jim Spehar was there, as well as the owners of the Winery and Crossroads Fitness. All spoke in support of Kuhr and urged the BOPH to keep him in his job. Many said how Kuhr has done a fabulous job as head of the Health Department and that these attacks on him amount to some kind of personal vendetta. Many in were long time supporters of Janet Rowland.

One attendee remarked after the meeting that,

“Every business leader or former community leader that walked out of that room said that Janet has lost her mind.”

Another speculated that perhaps the stroke Janet suffered in February of last year has had some effect on her mind.

At the end of the meeting, armed security guards were posted at the entry way and Janet had to be escorted to her car.

Jeff Kuhr (R) conferring with Tim Foster (L, back to camera) at the June 5 Board of Public Health meeting where Kuhr was put on paid leave. (Photo: Claudette Konola)

Red Alert: Janet Rowland appointed to the Mesa County Board of Public Health

Janet Rowland probably did the most damage to current vaccination efforts through her campaign last year where she denigrated masking and embraced Q-Anon conspiracy theories about Covid-19.

Updated 5/6/23 to reflect support for the REOPEN movement by the violent, seditious hate group The Proud Boys, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists, and the homophobic comments Rowland made on a statewide political TV show in 2006. 

In a move akin to appointing an arsonist as fire chief, Mesa County Commissioners Cody Davis and Bobbie Daniel appointed Commissioner Janet Rowland to the Mesa County Board of Public Health yesterday, Tuesday, April 25.

Rowland has been an outspoken enemy of public health for years.

She fought Covid-19 precautions before vaccines were available and disseminated disinformation about the virus that was linked to QAnon.  Her social media posts promoted the notion that Covid-19 was no more deadly than the flu. She said things on social media about the virus that contradicted public health messages instructing people in how to stay safe and reduce spread of what was then a largely deadly virus.

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.

Tina Peters falsely implies on Joe Oltmann show that the Mesa County D.A. murdered the brothers of two witnesses against her

This article was authored by Erik Maulbetsch and originally appeared 2/2/23 in the Colorado Times Recorder.

Tina Peters’ mugshot from her arrest on 3/9/2022

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters took her conspiracy promotion to a new level this week when she implied that law enforcement murdered two family members of her former staff members in order to compel them to testify against her.

Appearing on Joe Oltmann’s far-right podcast, Peters falsely stated that the brothers of her former deputy Belinda Knisley and staffer Sandra Brown were both killed in separate unsolved hit-and-run accidents prior to the Mesa District Attorney offering them plea deals in exchange for their testimony.

Tina Peters is back begging people for money, this time on a Christian crowdfunding website

Tina’s new crowdfunding campaign on GiveSendGo, which has become a favorite fundraising site for far-right extremist groups like QAnon, the Proud Boys and anti-vaccine groups, which have been banned from GoFund Me.

Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is at it again, begging people to send her money while she awaits trials in March on obstruction charges (for recording in a courtroom and kicking a cop) and on multiple felony charges related to her election tampering.

Now Tina is using a free Christian crowdfunding website called GiveSendGo.com, that was originally created with the idea of helping religious people raise money for missions. GiveSendGo’s website says the “reason we started GiveSendGo” was “to share the Hope of Jesus through crowdfunding with everyone who comes to our platform.”

Tina Peters’ first jury trial (on obstruction & kicking a cop) starts 1/25

UPDATE 1-24-23: Tina Peters’ obstruction trial has been delayed due to a prosecutor being exposed to Covid-19.

A short video reminder from last February of what Trial #1 starting 1/25/23 is all about

Get out the popcorn!

Tina Peters’ jury trial on charges of obstructing a police officer and government operations and kicking a cop (Case No. C392022M364) is coming up on January 25-26, 2023. The trial will start at 8:30 a.m. each day at the Mesa County Justice Center in Courtroom 2, before Judge Bruce Raaum.

People may be able to watch the trial from home using the WebEx video conferencing link to the judge’s courtroom. Here’s how:

All Tina’s court appearances, all in one place – 12/2022 edition

Tina Peters’ Mesa County Court docket as of December 7, 2022

Curious when Tina Peters’ next court hearing is, and what it’s about?

Above is her court docket as of 12/7/2022, with the court dates, type of hearing, and case numbers. Descriptions of each case number are added for clarity. Her docket is subject to change at any time, and it often does. Her docket information can be accessed by going to the Mesa County Court Docket Search page and entering Tina’s first and last names.

Tina Peters still lying on the only media outlet still remotely interested in her

Excerpt of an interview with Tina Peters from a 1 hour, 8 minute show.

With her flame rapidly burning out, Tina Peters continues to seek what little spotlight she can still garner, and on November 21 she gave an extended interview on the little-known “Patriots with Grit” show on Rumble.com, a Donald Trump-backed video streaming platform that has become a haven for far right wing content creators.

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

Tina Peters’ Court docket as of 8/29/2022

Above is Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ Court docket as of August 29, 2022

Many people have been asking when Tina Peters is scheduled to appear in court.

She has many cases ongoing at once, so it takes some effort to sort out all the cases and appearances and what they are all for.

The above chart has been checked for accuracy, lists Peters’ currently-scheduled court appearances the related cases as of August 29, 2022. These dates may change.

Audio of 911 calls about Rep. Lauren Boebert’s family harassing neighbors

Five Garfield County Sheriff’s responded to multiple 911 calls on August 4 from neighbors of Lauren and Jayson Boebert about children harassing  a residential neighborhood in Silt by driving ATVs up and down a residential street at high speeds of around 50 MPH. Two callers reported the children driving the ATVs were the kids of Jayson and Lauren Boebert. The first told the 911 operator that he stopped one of the children going 50 MPH in a RZR off-road vehicle and asked him to slow down. The child said “fuck off” to the neighbor, went home and got his dad, Jayson. Jayson Boebert then returned in charcoal-gray Ford F150 truck with the child in the passenger seat and started threatening “everybody in the neighborhood,” according the caller. Jayson drove over a caller’s mailbox, destroying it, while the caller was on the phone with the 911 operator. The caller reported Jayson was “dumb as a post,” “looking to fight with everyone in the neighborhood” and was “so irrational.” “When 911 operator asked if there were any weapons, the caller responded that the whole family has guns.

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

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.”

Tina Peters is lying to audience after audience about her divorce: “They took away my husband…these people are criminals.”

Tina Peters repeatedly tells a sad story in interviews and at conferences that she would have been married to her husband for 36 years by now if only Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein and the FBI hadn’t gone into a Grand Junction nursing home and forced her husband Tom, who she says has “advanced dementia,” to sign divorce papers dissolving their marriage. She tells this story sometimes angrily, and sometimes tearfully, dabbing at her eyes, sniffing and sounding like she’s about to cry. She says the story is evidence of a coordinated plot being carried out against her by a cabal of high-level Democrats who are intentionally harassing her and trying to silence her because of what she’s supposedly revealed about election fraud here in Mesa County. The cabal consists of D.A. Rubinstein, his “criminal” investigators, the FBI, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, wealthy financier George Soros and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Boebert: Banning assault weapons will make people eat dogs

Lauren Boebert, Republican House Representative for western Colorado, appeared on “The Gorka Reality Check” on Newsmax yesterday evening and said that if an assault weapons ban is enacted in the U.S., people will start eating their dogs, because that’s what happened in Venezuela.

Boebert is currently running for a second term in the House. She dropped out of high school in 2004 to have a baby and got her G.E.D. in 2020, one month before the primary election. She’s running against Democrat Adam Frisch in the November, 2022 general election.

The show is broadcast on Newsmax on Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

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

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

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 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.”

The Mesa County GOP needs to apologize for creating, aiding and abetting the Tina Peters debacle

Mesa County GOP Chair Kevin McCarney defends Tina Peters at a “Stand for the Constitution” meeting at Appleton Christian Church in Grand Junction in September, 2021. Tina Peters’ wild, egregious election-lie fiasco has embarrassed Mesa County on a national scale. 

It was clear back in 2018 when she was elected that Tina Peters was unqualified to be Mesa County Clerk and Recorder. She had had zero experience in government or in the Clerk’s office, had never worked in public administration or worked on an election in any capacity.

At the time, the qualifications between the two candidates for County Clerk couldn’t have been more stark: