Your Money, Their Gain: Colorado County Pays Industry Consultants to Prepare Pro-Industry Sage-Grouse Plan

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

For years, we’ve known that the oil and gas industry will throw unlimited amounts of cash at preventing conservation initiatives that it believes might limit its ability to produce more resources and make more money. We also know that energy companies largely prefer to fight back on the mere concept of protecting land, water and wildlife rather than finding solutions that meet the goals of all parties.

That’s old news.

But how far will some elected officials go to waste taxpayer dollars fighting industry’s greedy battle as well?

Last week, Western Values Project released newly uncovered documents that show some Garfield County officials are more concerned with protecting the interests of oil and gas companies than in finding workable solutions to a difficult problem. Documents revealed by an open records request show county officials are using taxpayer dollars to wage a losing battle against the grain of compromise – which is the only way forward to avoid listing the Greater sage -grouse as endangered, an outcome absolutely no one wants.

It’s time to hold the County accountable. Here’s the story…

As oil and gas production in Colorado continues to expand quickly, conflicts between wildlife conservation needs and energy development will continue to be exacerbated due to the impacts of industrial operations. Garfield County is one such area. The Greater sage-grouse is in danger of being listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which gains its authority to do so from the Endangered Species Act.

To avoid such a drastic outcome, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service are now revising land use plans for millions of acres across the West. They have until the end of this year to finish those revisions, when FWS will determine whether the plans are strong enough to avoid a listing.

To be clear: there is no chance of avoiding a listing unless everyone comes to the table to find a commonsense solution.

Given that, you’d think Garfield County would do anything it could to prevent the sage grouse’s listing with notable consequences including significant impacts to oil and gas operations, ranching and farming. But instead, evidence suggests that county officials have decided they would rather spend taxpayer cash hiring industry consultants to dig their boots into the ground with a plan the BLM will never approve.

For example, in 2012, the County hired several consultants (with more than $200,000 in taxpayer money) to prepare an alternative plan for sage grouse. That plan would drastically reduce the amount of protected habitat, which would only further endanger this already imperiled species.  Additionally, BLM is very unlikely to sign off on a plan so disparate with its own scientific findings, which ultimately makes it an unworkable solution.

Making matters worse, these are the very same consultants being used by the oil and gas industry to make the very same argument against the need for protected habitat.

For starters, Dr. Rob Roy Ramey is the biologist hired by Garfield County to draft its sage grouse plan. However, Dr. Ramey is also serving as a consultant to the oil and gas industry, and helped author comments filed in March 2012 and December 2013 by industry trade groups, including the American Petroleum Institute (API), Western Energy Alliance and Colorado Oil and Gas Association, on BLM’s proposed management plan for sage-grouse.

But that’s just the beginning. In February 2012, Dr. Ramey filed a declaration on behalf of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming in a federal court case concerning BLM’s management of sage grouse. In that declaration, Dr. Ramey claimed that the opinions of the “leading expert” (according to that federal court) on sage grouse “are seemingly designed to prevent oil and gas activities that are important for the Nation, as well as the local communities.” 

Another one of the county’s consultants, Eric Petterson, works for URS Corporation, which also represents Chevron. According to one of the e-mails, URS is currently “helping Chevron with the sage grouse habitat discussion with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission [COGCC]. . . .” That “discussion” refers to a formal objection filed by Chevron in August 2013 against Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s revised sage-grouse habitat map, which at the time COGCC was considering adopting through its rulemaking process.  Petterson provided the county with copies of Chevron’s filings, and billed the county for “phone calls with . . . industry consultants. . . .”

Finally, the records reveal that commissioners and their consultants met with Encana – an oil and gas company with substantial holdings in Garfield County – on at least two occasions over the past two years, including one meeting where the county briefed the company on its sage-grouse plan. That meeting took place just two days after the commissioners unanimously approved the plan.

That very plan is likely to meet resistance with BLM. Margaret Byfield, Executive Director of American Stewards for Liberty – one of the outside consultants hired by the county – assured the commissioners that BLM is required to “make its plans and policies consistent with the local plan.” This is not actually true, as the Federal Land Policy and Management Act requires consistency with local plans only to the extent those plans are “consistent with Federal law and the purposes of this Act.” What the county and taxpayers have spent money on then, remains unclear.

Ultimately no one wants to see this bird listed. The county is paying the people’s money to parrot an industry plan that represents the opposite of a workable solution with no accountability to County residents – until now.

Real solutions must involve local governments working constructively with BLM, rather than hiring industry consultants to attack the agency’s science. The conflict of interest we found in Garfield County is profound and ultimately taxpayers deserve more. Our government should spend its time and money bringing stakeholders to the table to prevent the listing in the first place, not hyperbole from industry lobbyists.

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Pueblo’s Choice for County Clerk: Empowerment vs. Intimidation

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

For the last eight years, Pueblo elections have been overseen by one of democracy’s fiercest advocates, Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz.  Now, Ortiz is being challenged by a 28 year old plumber with no elected office experience, whose associates practice intimidation as a political tactic.

Victor Head, a plumber and activist in Pueblo Freedom and Rights , announced on January 13 that he will run against Mr. Ortiz for the office of Pueblo County Clerk in 2015. Mr. Head has no prior experience in elected office; his main claim to fame is that he was an organizer of Pueblo Freedom and Rights, which engineered the recall of Pueblo’s Senator Angela Giron last year.  During the recall, Head’s organization was often accused of voter intimidation, including  surrounding canvasser’s cars, videotaping voters at the polls, parking cars with large PFR signs in the parking lot outside polling places . PFR rented a storefront outside the Democratic anti-recall headquarters in order to place an overpowering 30’ by 10’ sign.

They confronted Democratic canvassers several times, and held noisy and disruptive meetings in an attempt to disrupt the anti-recall organizing. 

Intimidation is still apparently Mr. Head’s go-to tactic for this election, as well.

The day after he announced, a supporter emailed Mr. Ortiz:

“Remember me? You do. How can you not remember me. You and your socialists/ Marxists Democrats in Pueblo County go ahead, try to hand pick your successor. There is a fundamental shift taking place in Pueblo County and you are not part of the equation.”

Ortiz responded: “Looks like Victor Head and his campaign volunteers will begin their campaign to unseat me with intimidation, but guess what, I won't back down!”

The personable and low-key Ortiz has never backed down from intimidation, and never hesitated to go to bat for the rights of voters

*To vote, even if they are military, deployed overseas, and didn’t vote in the last election *to vote, even if they didn’t vote in the last general election (Secretary of State Gessler tried to disenfranchise 19,000 “inactive” voters in 2012 *to vote, even if they only recently became a citizen (Gessler attempted to hunt down 10,000 “noncitizens”. Only four of these were found after  four years, none voted in Pueblo.) *to vote,  even if they recently moved ,  or changed their address *to vote, even if they are disabled and having trouble getting to the polls, as 25% of Pueblo voters are *to vote by mail, because it’s easier, more convenient, cheaper, and results in better turnout *to vote, although recall proponents tried to suppress mail in ballots by having last minute weak candidates petitioning onto the ballot *to vote, although recall proponents engaged him in court battles week after week, until, 10 days before the election, Ortiz secured a court victory which enabled people to vote early or by mail. *To vote, in a completely transparent and verifiable election. He’s opened up the voting process for complete examination.

Ortiz has extended hours, opened up opportunities for all voters to vote, regardless of party affiliation. In the most recent 2013 recall election,  the pro-recall base got their people out and their ballots in. The pro-Giron, anti-recall people, for whatever reasons,  did not. Ortiz’ response, via  Twitter:

“Okay, am I happy about the results? No. Did I run a fair election under these incredible conditions, I think I did.”

And even the recall’s conservative backers agree that it was a “free and fair election”.  In 2007, then-Secretary of State Coffman commended Ortiz for his impartiality and thoroughness in eliminating any possibility of mail ballot signature fraud.  That’s a tradition Ortiz had continued in Pueblo.

That has always been the bottom line with Gilbert Ortiz; a true professional, he seeks only to empower Pueblo voters to make their wishes known by voting in elections, regardless of his personal preferences.

His statement about the upcoming election:

“My first four years in office was about bringing Pueblo into the modern era of elections and customer service. My second term has been about fighting for EVERY citizen’s right to vote. My third term will be about preserving the advances we have made together.”

———–

Photos of Gilbert Ortiz and Victor Head appeared in The Pueblo Chieftain

Credits: John Jaques, 

Teacher in southern Colorado, wannabe political pundit and sometime activist.

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Douglas County School Board Should Be Shown The Classroom Door

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Well the evidence is in and for all the upheaval over the past four years in the Douglas County schools because of the 2009 election of so called conservatives to the board of education and the subsequent implementation of their policies to terminate the ever evil teachers union and to send public money to private sectarian schools, they have nothing (repeat nothing) to show for it. The scores below represent the percentage of children in the Douglas County school district proficient in the three primary areas of learning:

                   2009        2013

Math            69%        70%

Reading        81%        82%

Writing         68%        69%

In words, after all the hoopla and gnashing of teeth over how bad those unionized teachers are and how all we have to do is stop bargaining with the union and set-up our own teacher evaluation system, establish charter schools, and launch a program to send public tax dollars to private sectarian schools nothing has changed. For all the nonsense expounded by the four so called conservative candidates who were elected in 2009, they haven't improved public education in Douglas County one bit. The nonprofit funding arm of the Douglas County schools paid Bill Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, to come out to Douglas County in September and deliver a speech praising the school board reforms. In other words, even though there hasn't been any appreciable improvement in student performance, they're going to pay nationally known figures to endorse their reforms because the board can then proclaim they have worked, even though the evidence shows they haven't improved academic performance. The present board is attempting to fool the public.

The test numbers above aren't the only statistics that support the futility and uselessness of the board's so called reforms. The Colorado Department of Education rates each school district by awarding a composite score for academic achievement. Since the present board was elected, Douglas County schools composite rating has dropped:

                  Annual Rating by CDOE

?2010                      78.2

2011                      72.7

2012                      73.7

What does all of this mean. The Republican Party, which intervened directly in 2009 and again this year in the Douglas County school board elections (and now in the Thompson School District elections in Loveland, Colorado), has wasted the last thirty or more years using the teachers union as its whipping boy and proclaiming that if it wasn't for the union we could educate our kids. Surprise, surprise, it turns out the union wasn't the culprit after all. What a waste of time at the expense of our children. Again, the Republican Party refuses to deal with the real reasons some kids have difficulty learning but of course to deal with those realities we all know costs money and that goes against one of the other sacred Republican principles – "There's a problem – cut taxes."

Apparently, the Douglas County school board members have and are resisting the request from some quarters that they establish performance standards for the board and their reforms. I wonder why? Could it be this has all been a waste of time and money, and in reality has been nothing more than the pursuit of hard line ideological myths that have no basis in reality?

Link

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Journos should should ask Gardner how he’ll actually vote on secession in Yuma County & Congress

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

In college, I led a petition drive to put an question on the student-council election ballot asking students if they wanted the university to stock suicide pills for optional use by students in the event of nuclear war.

The media had to take this seriously, because kids were actually voting on it, and it had its own internal logic, given the Cold War nuclear craziness around us at the time. But what college would stock suicide pills? Obviously, our core goal, even if we were also serious, was to promote our anti-nuclear agenda.

Same with the secession "movement." At it's heart, given the impossible odds of it happening, it's, duh, a media stunt, offering right-wing conservatives a platform to bash moderate Democratic legislation.

But, it's true that 11 counties will be voting to secede from Colorado, and so you can't blame reporters for feeling as though they have to take the stunt sort of seriously, without overdoing it like The Denver Post has done.

But taking it seriously means finding out if serious conservatives actually support it. This week, the New York Times covered the secessionists, quoting county-level GOP organizers and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper as saying he takes it seriously. But, really, what else can the Democratic governor say?

More interesting is what serious Republicans like Rep. Cory Gardner would do on election day. As a resident of secessionist-hotbed Yuma County, he'll be voting on it next month. And if you take secession seriously, Gardner would eventually be voting on it in Congress, too, if it's gong to pass. Plus Gardner has long-standing ties to secession-organizer Sean Conway.

Will Gardner vote yes? (So far he's been vague.) What about the GOP gubernatorial candidates? Where do they stand?

When something smells like a crazy media stunt, and reporters still have to take it seriously, they should at least give readers enough opinions on the matter so they can try to understand what's really going on. In this case, getting the specific positions of Republicans, whose audiences goes beyond the way-right crowd in the secessionist counties, is key to offering a fair and accurate picture.

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Ted Cruz’s Dad Goes Nuts In Adams County GOP Keynote

Friday night, the Adams County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner was held in Thornton, attended by a slew of GOP 2014 candidates including gubernatorial candidates Scott Gessler and Greg Brophy, U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Randy Baumgardner, and attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman. The keynote address was delivered by Rafael Cruz, the father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and sometimes mentioned as a possible candidate for office in his own right. Based on audio we were forwarded over the weekend, Cruz's speech to the Adams County GOP was…memorable to say the least. Transcribed excerpts:

RAFAEL CRUZ: So Barack Obama said: If the winds shift, I will side with the Muslims.

IN CROWD: He is Muslim!

CRUZ: [Exclamation] McCain couldn’t say that, because it's not politically correct. It is time to stop being politically correct! [Pols emphasis]

CRUZ: Our lives? Well, look at what’s happening with our lives. From the cradle, 55 million babies have been murdered by abortion since 1973. At the other end, Obamacare, with denying care to the elderly, with care being rationed, with care being postponed for 12 to 18 months, with care being controlled by a group of bureaucrats, that on the basis of cost/benefit, will decide whether you get a medical procedure or not, they’re destroying our end of life. As a matter of fact, one of the things in Obamacare is that the elderly, every five years you must have end-of-life counseling. Translation: suicide counseling! [Pols emphasis]

CRUZ: I know I am in a Republican Party meeting. If you want to throw tomatoes at me, throw tomatoes at me. But unfortunately, you cannot say that the Republican Party is without blame. We have too many RiNOs in the Republican Party!

CRUZ: They have their minds made up, and basically their idea is this: you’re too stupid and I know what I’m doing. Well I’ll tell you what, we the people are not stupid. We the people ought to be smart enough to throw them out of office, or primary them, and put constitutional conservatives in their place!

This is the kind of speech that would definitely make Colorado Republican Party chairman Ryan Call, you know, a little nervous. Demands for intraparty purges against "RiNO" Republicans (for the uninitiated, this stands for "Republican in Name Only"), and senselessly raging about such fictional items as Obamacare "suicide counseling," is very popular among the Colorado Republican grassroots today–as energizing to the party's base as it is repellent to most other voters. At the same time, the younger Cruz has emerged as a hero among the grassroots right for his prominent role in the threatened shutdown of the government to stop Obamacare from going into effect.

If you're a "mainstream" Republican who might otherwise side with Call on the base craziness issue, what do you do during this lunatic speech, knowing the base is ready to devour any hapless "RiNO" who dares disagree?

You smile and applaud, that's what.

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Weld County Takes Silly Secession Sideshow To The Ballot

FOX 31's Thomas Hendrick:

The Greeley Tribune reported commissioners unanimously voted in favor of placing a 51st state initiate on the ballot.

The initiative reads: “Shall the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, in concert with the county commissioners of other Colorado counties, pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America?”

Weld County has had a series of meetings talking about seceding from Colorado in recent months. Commissioners have cited a feeling that northeastern Colorado counties are ignored by the state legislature…

Liberals have mocked the move on blogs and on Twitter, where some tossed around new names for a separate, northern Colorado state: “Weldistan”, “Tancredonia” and “Fracktopia.”

“It’s embarrassing for them, and it’s embarrassing for the people they represent,” Jason Bane, the founder of the blog ColoradoPols, told FOX31 Denver. “They complain that the legislature didn’t listen to them — they DID listen to them, but in a Democracy, there are lots of other people who have viewpoints, and they don’t all throw a tantrum just because a vote doesn’t go their way.”

As we've said before, conflicts between urban and rural areas of the state are nothing new. But pursuit of a totally unworkable "solution," if anything, debases what may be legitimate complaints about rural priorities in state government. We've always felt that this secession business was solely meant to provide political visibility to otherwise obscure county-level politicians, but it's fascinating to see their inability to tell, as many of us have explained to our young children, good "attention" from bad.

Bottom line: making a joke of your grievances rarely solves them.

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