Tag: Ray Scott

Crazy Republicans, Crime, Dangerous Republicans, Domestic terrorism, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Janet Rowland, Lauren Boebert, Ray Scott, Republican lies, Stupid Republicans, Tina Peters, Trump Insanity, Violence

W. slope Republicans promote domestic extremist lies

by Anne Landman • January 31, 2021 • 1 Comment

Post from Janet Rowland’s campaign Facebook page, August 14, 2020

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a National Terrorism Advisory (pdf) 1/27, warning of a heightened risk of violence by domestic extremist groups across the country who have been emboldened by the insurrection on the Capitol on January 6th.

The Advisory says,

“…some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”

The Advisory says domestic violence extremists (DVEs) are

“motivated by a range of issues, including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results, and … opposition to immigration…”

The bulletin further states,

• Threats of violence against critical infrastructure…increased in 2020 with violent extremists citing misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 for their actions.”

Local elected officials promote this extremist ideology

Western Slope Republicans need to apologize and tell the truth

by Anne Landman • January 21, 2021 • 18 Comments

Republican House Rep. Lauren Boebert, CD-3, (Photo:Youtube) — advanced the Big Lie about massive election fraud that led to the insurrection.

Donald Trump repeatedly claimed in the months following the election that he had won the election by a landslide, but it was stolen from him due to massive voter fraud.

It was the most outlandish lie of Trump’s term, maybe the craziest of his life, and it led thousands of his supporters to violently attack the Capitol in an insane attempt to overturn the results of the election on his behalf. We all watched, horrified, as hordes of angry Trump supporters bashed their way through barriers and stormed the Capitol holding their Confederate and “Don’t Tread on Me” yellow Gadsden flags, intent on capturing and killing legislators, journalists and anyone with a political opinion different from their own. The insurrection, based on lies, caused the death of five people, including a police officer.

Why not Ray Scott? Consider his past as an elected official.

by Anne Landman • June 29, 2020 • 2 Comments

Colorado State Senator Ray Scott

What do you know about State Senator Ray Scott, who is currently a candidate for Mesa County Commissioner?

One question people have about Scott is, if he is already a state senator and his term doesn’t expire until 2022, why is he running for county commissioner? Why doesn’t he want to finish his term in the State Senate?

The answer?

Money.

Scott makes $30,000/year and a $45/day per diem as a state senator.

As a county commissioner, he would more than triple his salary. The salary for a county commissioner is now $92,681, not including benefits and perks, like insurance, use of vehicles, etc. — more than three times the average salary in Mesa County.

Republicans’ lies are turning deadly

by Anne Landman • April 25, 2020 • 4 Comments

House Rep. Scott Tipton, State Senator Ray Scott and Mesa County Commissioner Rose Pugliese all were recently outed in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel for spreading false information on social media that was put out by Colorado Counties, Inc.

The false story went like this: Governor Jared Polis was intentionally withholding federal funds intended for local governments under the Coronavirus relief bill approved by Congress last month, and he was going to use those badly-needed funds to balance the state’s budget instead, forsaking people in rural Colorado who desperately needed the funds.

They didn’t read the bill

In truth, the bill Congress approved designated relief funds only to state and local governments that serve populations of over 500,000 people.

The CARES Act states:

“A unit of local government eligible for receipt of direct payment includes a county, municipality, town, township, village, parish, borough, or other unit of general government below the State level with a population that exceeds 500,000.”

“Exceeds 500,000” means eligible units of government must serve a population OVER 500,000.

Ray Scott trounced in Republican Assembly

by Anne Landman • March 29, 2020 • 1 Comment

Ray Scott

Republican State Senator Ray Scott got only 107 out of 349 total delegate votes cast for County Commissioner in yesterday’s Mesa County Republican Assembly. Scott, who is running for the District 1 commissioner seat, is seeking to abandon his state senate seat halfway through his term and seize the job of County Commissioner instead, which would pay him three times as much ($30k vs. $90k/ year).

Scott got crushed at the assembly by Cody Davis, former chair of the Grand Valley Drainage District, who won 231 votes. Even with that miserable result, though, Scott will still be able to appear on the primary ballot in June.

State Senator Ray Scott (R) attends Denver rally opposing childhood immunizations

by Anne Landman • January 20, 2020 • 15 Comments

Colorado State Senator Ray Scott

You can judge legislators by the company they keep.

The Colorado Times Recorder reported that Mesa County’s State Senator Ray Scott attended a rally on the state Capitol steps January 8 in which two thirds of attendees displayed signs opposing immunizing children against disease. Yes, you read that correctly: this was a crowd of people who oppose immunizing children against disease. Other points of view represented included opponents of public health, opponents of equal rights for LGBTQ persons, gun rights and anti-tax activists.

Also attending the rally were members of the white nationalist group the Proud Boys, designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Ray Scott is planning on abdicating his seat in the legislature to run for Mesa County Commissioner this year, a position that pays three times what he currently makes as a state senator.

Advertising, Climate change, Crazy Republicans, Embarrassing Republicans, Extremism, Lies, politics, Ray Scott, Stupid Republicans

State Senator Ray Scott cites full-on wacko nutbag source in tweet on climate change

by Anne Landman • September 18, 2019 • 2 Comments

Ray Scott’s September 17, 2019 tweet citing NaturalNews.com, a conspiracy-theorist website that rivals InfoWars

One of the most dangerous things about Colorado State Senator Ray Scott is that he can’t tell the difference between credible sources, authoritative sources of information and paid promotional research or websites known for trading in wacky conspiracy-theories.

Case in point: On September 17, 2019 Senator Scott posted a tweet saying “NASA admits that climate change occurs because of changes in Earth’s solar orbit, and NOT because of SUVs and fossil fuels.” To support this claim, Scott cites an article published by a website called “NaturalNews.com.”

So… what’s the problem?

NaturalNews.com is not anywhere close to being legitimate scientific website. In fact, it’s the polar opposite. It is described as “a conspiracy theory and fake news website” that hawks dietary supplements, promotes alternative medicine,” makes “tendentious nutrition and health claims,” promotes “fake news, and espouses various conspiracy theories.” NaturalNews.com is as far from an authoritative, legitimate science-based website as you can get.

State Senator Ray Scott lied to the Daily Sentinel about social media blocking case

by Anne Landman • September 1, 2019 • 1 Comment

Full disclosure: I was the plaintiff in the lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado brought against State Senator Ray Scott for blocking constituents from his official social media accounts.

On August 31, 2019 the Daily Sentinel printed an article about the settlement we reached in the case.

Had the Sentinel contacted me for this article, I would have let them know that Ray Scott lied to them about several specific pieces of information regarding the case.

Ray Scott’s first lie:

Scott told the Sentinel that he blocked people from his social media accounts “only if someone posted a profane or inappropriate comment.”

That is absolutely false.

Republican Colorado State Senator Ray Scott can’t even fix a typo

by Anne Landman • October 8, 2017 • 21 Comments

Denver Post: State Senator Ray Scott (R- Mesa County) cast a “spiteful, obstructionist vote” against fixing an error in a bill passed in Spring, 2017 that is costing western slope transportation districts crucial funds needed to operate

Governor Hickenlooper called a special session in early October so legislators could fix a mistake in Senate Bill 17-267, passed last spring, that is costing public entities across the state millions of dollars in lost pot tax revenues.

Legislators passed the bill with an error in it that keeps voter-approved special districts across the state from collecting marijuana sales taxes to fund their services. Many of the affected districts, like the Denver Regional Transportation District, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Botanic Gardens and Museum of Nature and Science are on the front range, but western slope entities are losing critical funding as well. Western slope districts losing funds because of the error include the Gunnison Valley Regional Transportation Authority, the Summit Combined Housing Authority, the Roaring Fork Regional Transportation Authority, the San Miguel Regional Transportation Authority and the Edwards Metropolitan District.

At a special session convened to address the problem during the first week of October, a bill to fix the error that originated in the Democratic-controlled House passed by a 37-25 vote, mostly along party lines. Our very own Rep. Dan Thurlow (R-Mesa County), was the only Republican House Representative who voted for the fix. In arguing to pass it, Thurlow said, “We’re here. We spent the money [for the special session]…I think we should just go ahead and fix it.”

G.J. Chamber Snubs Sen. Ray Scott at Legislative Wrap Up

by Anne Landman • May 24, 2017 • 2 Comments

Ray Scott

Colorado State Senator Ray Scott did not attend the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce’s legislative wrap-up breakfast session on May 23, so instead he gave the Chamber a statement to read at the event.

But the Chamber refused to read it.

Daily Sentinel’s Coverage of Ray Scott’s Bill, SB 301, Differs Vastly from Coverage Around the State

by Anne Landman • May 2, 2017 • 2 Comments

CO State Senator Rep Ray Scott (R) seeks to hamstring Colorado Energy Office’s ability to promote renewables

Coverage differs vastly in newspapers around the state of a bill introduced by Colorado Senator Ray Scott (R), SB 301, pertaining to Colorado’s Energy Office. The bill seeks to fund the Energy Office, whose funding is set to end soon, but would also reduce the Energy Office’s ability to promote renewable energy. The headlines alone tell most of the story, but one quote from Ray Scott in the Colorado Springs Gazette stood out:

….”The Energy Office’s original focus on renewables may have been justified at the time, but times have changed,” Scott, from Grand Junction, said in a statement….

Also of interest was a quote in the Pueblo Chieftain from another legislator saying Scott’s bill would jeopardize about 40,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector:

Colorado House Rep. Ray Scott’s Weird 2014 Bill

by Anne Landman • October 9, 2014 • 2 Comments

Here ya go, Ray! Introduce a bill for us, will you?

Here ya go, Ray! Will you introduce a bill for us, now, too?

Have you been wondering what Colorado House Rep. Ray Scott has been doing to benefit the western slope during his time in the Colorado House? So have we, but looking into this question left us scratching our heads.

In April, Ray Scott sponsored HB14-1046, a very important bill to create a Scottish-American license plate. To get the plate, all a person would have to do is prove they made a financial donation to the St. Andrew Society of Colorado. That’s right…Scott introduced a bill that would financially benefit a group that has almost no presence on the western slope. The St. Andrew Society has exactly one member in Silt and one member in Montrose. They have no members or branches in Mesa County, and they only put on two annual events, both of which are on the front range. Ray Scott does not belong to the group, either, according to Jean Casson, the group’s self-professed “mother hen” for 40 years, who is also their public contact for phone inquiries. According to Casson, the Scottish-American constituency here on the western slope at the moment isn’t even big enough to support a single pro-Scottish group.

Ray Scott Tanks Club 20 Debate

by Anne Landman • September 12, 2014 • 0 Comments

Ray Scott may be running out of gas in the legislature, after not really getting anywhere anyway

Ray Scott may be running out of gas after several terms in the state legislature, after not really getting anywhere anyway in trying to pass bills since January, 2011

Things aren’t going very well for poor Ray Scott, the incumbent Republican candidate for Colorado Senate District 7. The senate seat he is after will soon be vacated by longtime Mesa County GOP favorite son, Steve King, who currently is facing multiple misdemeanor and felony charges for theft and failing to report income as required by legislators. King’s fate may not be directly tied to Ray Scott in any way, but it certainly doesn’t help the beleaguered local GOP, which has put forth a truly embarrassing long string of inept and/or discredited candidates for office.

Ray Scott faced off with Democrat Claudette Konola in the recent Club 20 candidate debates, where he took a real hit.

Claudette opened the debate by linking Scott and his party with some of those truly bad candidates, including Steve King and former congressman Scott McInnis, who got his buddies in Congress to name a federal wilderness area named after himself in violation of congress’ House Rules, and who stepped down in disgrace from the 2010 race for governor amid allegations of massive plagiarism.

Scott opened at the debate by saying he probably wouldn’t even have gotten up that morning if it hadn’t have been for the debate. Not exactly the level of enthusiasm an incumbent legislator should project with an election just weeks away.

CO Senate District 7: Claudette Konola vs. Ray Scott, the Club 20 Debate in Full

by Anne Landman • September 10, 2014 • 0 Comments

Many Mesa County residents noticed the almost complete lack of local media coverage of the Club 20 debate between the candidates for Colorado’s State Senate District 7, Claudette Konola (D) and Ray Scott (R). The Daily Sentinel offered only one short quote from each candidate, and the local television stations ignored this important debate completely. In the interest of helping western Colorado citizens get adequately informed about the Senate District 7 candidates, we offer a two-part video (credit: Bill Hugenberg) and a transcript of the Senate District 7 candidates’ debate.