11 thoughts on “The Weld County Recall Is Not About Weld County”

1. Republicans know that they don’t have to win to nullify the 2018 election. Instead of working on legislation that could help Weld County and the rest of Colorado, Galindo and Colorado Democrats must now devote a significant portion of time to fighting the recall. Money and resources intended for a legitimate reelection campaign in 2020 will instead be depleted on this totally unnecessary political stunt. A community that needs to come together and solve serious problems related to growth and the local economy will instead will be even more torn apart.

   Well said, Bob. I still think that they'll be able to get sufficient signatures from base Republicans and conservative unaffiliated there to get it on the ballot and call a special (and expensive!) election; I doubt that all the signatures will be valid. 

   People think that they can live anywhere in Colorado (not just her district) and sign the petition. With any luck, the two factions (gun nut / evangelical and Oily Boyz/ corporate) will both try to go after the same small group of true believers. I also don't think that they can win a recall election now that we have mail ballots and better GOTV.

   Rochelle's been a good representative, and was elected fairly by people who knew what she was about. She's never hidden her ideas that oil and gas development should balance profit with care about residents' health ( a radical idea for Greeley!)

   Also, the wording on the petition that "energy companies pay over 490 million in taxes" is a false statement. The context in another article was that energy companies have paid 490 million in taxes over a decade. They do not "pay" this amount yearly. The "200 million for schools" is also greatly exaggerated; by my count, total Weld county property taxes paid to school districts(and that's everyone, not just energy companies) is about $140 million.

   Recall petitions are supposed to be factual, so I'm going to dispute their facts. I'll also donate to http://standwithrochelle.com/ and put in some volunteer time calling voters in her district to "Decline to Sign!"

   Thanks for all you do, Bob.

   

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2. What was old is new again.  Six years ago I wrote a diary on the effects of ozone on corn and wheat production that was part of a USDA-ARS study.  As the new make-up of the boards take into consideration health and environment, let's also include the effects these unchecked emissions have on the bottom line of our agricultural community?   If we played the same game the petitioners are using in their narrative, we could assert the industry has cost Weld County agriculture alone roughly a hundred-million dollars over the past six years. 

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   1. If we played the same game the petitioners are using in their narrative, we could assert the industry has cost Weld County agriculture alone roughly a hundred-million dollars over the past six years. 

      Nobody seems to be making that argument, though ( except you, of course!) I looked again at the language in SB19-181, which Governor Polis is about to sign.

      The bill doesn't consider impacts on agriculture, just on public health, which is huge. Section 3 of the bill states

      Section 3 directs the air quality control commission to review its leak detection and repair rules and to adopt rules to minimize emissions of methane and other hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of nitrogen.

      That would help, of course, but it seems more needs to be done. Always. The people who are hollering the loudest about Democratic overreach are also those who are being impacted by climate change and fracking's VOC emissions, but they don't know it.

      So they do these stupid-ass political intimidation rituals like trying to recall legislators for their votes, and never address the underlying problem. Like you said, what's old is new again.

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      1. By default, if they fix the human problem they'll be fixing the crop problem.  Yet another example of the negative external costs of an activity.  If anyone but O&G was pulling this kind of money from ag's bottom line there would be class action lawsuits. 

         In other news, we have a little red-on-red action going on in Yuma County.  There was reportedly an attempt by Recall Jared Polis – Yuma County and Greg Brophy to hijack a local fireman's annual fundraiser.  The firemen didn't want to politicize the event, cancelled the Recall activity.  The finger-pointing has started.  

         I checked in on the Recall Colorado Governor Jared Polis Facebook page, who claims 34,000 members.  If you click into the history of the page it shows the group was created on November 5, 2014 and the name was changed on February 26, 2019.  Polis wasn't running for Gov in 2014; is this just a running collection of sore losers who careen from recall-to-recall as directed by the Borg? 

          

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         1. Jebus, Harry, & JoBeth . . . 

            . . . you mean to say those terrorist watermelon have already slippery-sloped themselves onto the menu at the YumaFD???

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            1. He seems to be awfully busy trying to preserve the Electoral College slave-era construct these days. It takes a lot of energy to maintain the illusion of viability statewide when your platform is built upon the 1787 foundation of a slave economy.  Makes one wonder just how he finds the time to gin up the troops to recall our democratically-elected Governor? 

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               1. Still, someone (. . . a concerned in-law, maybe? ), ought to clue in the little Elmer Fuddlette about never getting into a pisser with the local fire fighters . . . 

                  . . . I mean, not only do the know how to put out fires, but they also know how to start them, . . . – and, – they know where you live.

                   

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         2. Short answer: yes. The Recall Colorado group was formed to recall whichever Dem pissed them off, for whatever reason.

            The name was changed when they decided to go after Polis, and in fact, since they can't go after Polis until July, they're busy doing support work to recall Galindo and to try to intimidate the others they have in their sights.

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3. What are they going to do when the recall election fails?  Talk about out of ideas.  I think the public is a little more savvy after the 2013 recalls.  It could be a light turn out but then again it might not with mail ballots.  I guess you could argue that it won't matter since Weld County will be seceding from Colorado.

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4. They're already trying to nullify the effects of SB181. Kirkmeyer, et al, from the Weld County BoC, have put forward ballot initiatives 64-67 to change COGA back into an oil industry mouthpiece. Even the minor changes Democrats wrought are not acceptable to these people. They want total control. And they're all the same people, really, as I wrote to V. A Venn diagram of Weld public officials, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, and the recall activists would have one huge bubble in the middle, and three smaller peripheral bubbles on the side. It’s the same with Mesa and Pueblo, and most of the gaspatch counties.

   They’re not even subtle about it; everyone knows that you pay to play, and you play to get paid. Rochelle wasn’t playing – therefore she must go.

   Political power and profit are inter-related; most of these people have personal stakes in the oil and gas industry, or in the gun industry.  Even if they don't, they still want their party to stay in power.

   To Bob Seay's point in his OP above, this is really about regaining political power for the GOP.  That's what recalls are always about. The energy and gun industries are bankrolling the recalls because regulating their industries will make them less profitable, even if public health and the environment are more protected.And that Rochelle Galindo is a Latina and a lesbian who voted for SB181 and HB1177 in Weld County makes their goal of taking back power achievable.

    

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5. Bob.  Thank you for this post.  Fortunately, you're not the only one saying this.  From the Greeley Tribune:

   Former Weld County GOP Chairwoman Stacey Kjeldgaard, who is leading the recall effort, in a phone interview Sunday went further when it comes to oil and gas — and the potential negative economic impact of SB 181 — being the reason for the recall.

   “That’s our big thing; that’s our only thing,” Kjeldgaard said.

   But then there’s this: When asked whether she would be working to recall Galindo if she had voted “no” on SB 181, Kjeldgaard said, “Absolutely.”

   Galindo and her supporters have a pretty good idea about why people are looking to recall her, and she said it has nothing to do with her votes.  [Emphasis, mine].

    

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