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August 21, 2012 04:30 PM UTC

Nudging Jared Wright Out

  • 32 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As reported by the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby today, here’s the complete text of a robocall that went out to 6,000 voters in HD-54, the House district sought by Republican ex-Fruita police officer Jared Wright–now jeopardized by a scandal over Wright’s “chronic tardiness,” dishonesty about said tardiness, and a questionable personal bankruptcy.

This is Alex Chaffetz asking you to call Jared Wright, our Republican candidate for House District 54. Please call Jared at 639-0149 and ask him to withdraw from the race immediately so the Republican Party has time to legally name a new candidate.

We should be focused on defeating Barack Obama, but instead Jared Wright continues to embarrass our party on the front page of The Daily Sentinel. His unethical behavior as a policeman and his unwillingness to take responsibility for his own actions speak volumes about his inability to represent us in Denver.

The Sentinel’s editorial asking Jared Wright to step down was spot on. And the facts regarding his personal bankruptcy prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jared Wright has no business managing an $18 billion Colorado state budget.

The fact is Jared Wright racked up tens of thousands of dollars in personal debt, then stiffed local businesses because he couldn’t pay his own bills. $40,000 for three cars including a Prius? $6,000 for jewelry? He even owed a thousand dollars for a tanning salon membership

I’m not a candidate, but I do live in House District 54. I’ve asked Jared Wright directly to step down and I’m asking you to call him right now to do the same. Call Jared at 639-0149. That’s 639-0149.

There’s still time for our Republican Party to select a candidate we can proudly support as our representative. There’s still time for Jared Wright to do the right thing and step down.

I’m Alex Chaffetz and I personally paid for this message because we need a proven, trustworthy representative at the state capital. That ain’t Jared Wright.

The robocall from prominent local Republican Alex Chaffetz, brother of Utah’s Rep. Jason Chaffetz, comes following another report in the Sentinel this past weekend on the belated response from local Republicans to this growing scandal. From that story:

“The Mesa County Republican Party, the Delta County Republican Party and the HD54 Central Committee cannot overturn the results (of) these elections,” officials from the three wrote in a statement. “Jared Wright won his elections and won them with wide margins.

“That being said, most of us were unpleasantly surprised when details of Mr. Wright’s work record and personal bankruptcy became public. It is unfortunate the voters did not have this information before the elections took place.”

With some parallels to the situation faced by embattled GOP U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, it’s an open question as to how long Wright can last without the support of his party. It’s different for Wright in that he faces only token opposition from an unknown Libertarian candidate, but it’s clear now that Wright isn’t going to Denver next January with the backing of…well, much of anyone. We haven’t heard from former Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry about this yet, and we would expect to given Penry’s widely-acknowledged role in helping select Wright.

Sometimes you’ve got to come to grips with these things in your own time.

But be mindful of deadlines when you do.

Comments

32 thoughts on “Nudging Jared Wright Out

  1. Prius-driving Jared Wright right now. Tell him to stop quit this race. It’s time to put Grand Junction’s focus back on ending Obama’s reign of terror.”

    Parody is dead . . .

    This wouldn’t be nearly so funny If the west slope were any closer to home . . .  

  2. Pols, you keep repeating that there is a Josh Penry connection to Wright’s candidacy – that is just not true. It’s the old repeat it often enough, I suppose…

    P.S.  I’ve talked with 3 R’s who have reacted to Alex Chaffetz robo call – all have said he crossed the line and Jared Wright should stay in the race.  

    My question: Where were all these self-righteous people when Craig Meis (County Commissioner) tried playing fast and loss with the law?  Hmmm!  

    1. We welcome evidence to the contrary for any assertion we make, and we will happily correct if proven wrong. Please elaborate on why this isn’t true and we’ll consider it.

        1. that Penry has lost his kingmaker status in Mesa County and the western slope in general? It wasn’t too long ago that every candidate for public office from county commissioner to congress had to kiss Josh Penry’s ring. At least that was how the stories went once filtered out to the rest of the state.  

          Was Penry ever that influential or was that a matter of his own PR? Either way, if a poorly vetted candidate ends up on the ballot in spite of the vaunted political machine then it reflects poorly on Josh’s purported influence.  

      1. Why should she have to prove the negative (good luck with that) when you won’t say what leads you to believe Penry is involved? In case you don’t know, Penry and Jason Chaffetz are BFFs, so if Penry did have anything to do with Wright to begin with, why the robo call from the Grand Junction Chaffetz?

  3. Folks from these parts understand that Penry and Chaffetz are good friends.  Chaffetz didn’t act without consulting or even being recruited by Penry to do the robo call.  

    The power brokers are also reminded of Penry’s involvement with his column in the Sentinel telling Fruita Mayor Ken Henry and the city of Fruita to “pound sand” when they first threatened to force Jared out of the police department.  

    Josh is conflicted and is doing his part now to pay recompence for his past sin of supporting Jared Wright.  You could say he is an unfaithful supporter of Jared Wright.

    Voters in these parts will never forget that Mr. Penry was an unfaithful public servant when he supported HB 1365 – a bill that helped to line his own pockets with Nat Gas money – while forcing coal miners in his district out of jobs.

    We all should be mindful of an old proverb:

    Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.

    Josh could never run for Governor in this state – he is finished.

    1. And which CO coalminers have been forced out of a job because of HB 1365?  Yeah some cites and sources would be nice.  All three mines in the NF going at high-levels of production, 29miles, ColoWyo…yes, provide something other than rhetorical bloviations.  

      Thanks

      -CT

      1. are in Penry’s former district?  From which all these coal miners in ‘his district’ were ‘forced’ out of jobs.

        Do you mean Cameo?  Not the NF mines, not the Hayden or Moffat mines…

        People know things here, and myself I like people to argue based on reality not ideological BS.  

          1. And you have yet to produce.  Paonia is NOT in Penry’s (former) District, which (look above) you claim are where the coal miners he ‘forced’ out of their jobs lived; nor have you provided anything other than a LETTER TO THE EDITOR (in the Delta County Independent even!) as ‘proof’ that jobs have been lost because of this?  I mean that LTE is from two years ago–surely the data must be in now that show coal miners (from Penry’s district, or anywhere for that matter–tossing you a little rope) being forced out of work?

            C’mon, you can do it Junk Town…Surely you didn’t just pull that out of your butt?  

            (PS-anyone who thinks I am either Josh Penry or a Josh Penry supporter is even dumber than I make you out to be.  Good job).

             

        1. Oh, no coal mines in Penry’s former district.

          Some coalminers in Delta, but the NF mines themselves (and Hotchkiss, Paonia, Crawford and Somerset–where most of the NF live) are outside SD7.  And the NF mines are still putting out millions of tons a year, and Oxbow is actually looking to open a new mine.

          Again, you can talk the talk…now pony up with some facts.  Thanks

          -CT

              1. That was Tipton.  Also, HB1365 was passed when Penry was in the Senate, thus the stabbing he did (yet no evidence have you provided such occurred) was not to his ‘constituents.’

                Ipso Facto and all that.  I kind of figured you would use that extra rope I tossed you that way…  

  4. I live in his former district and his support of HB 1365 have undoubtedly increased my utility bills.  Like I said he stabbed us in the back.

    Why don’t you talk to the people in his district.  They will tell you what they think of Penry and HB 1365.

    There is also this:

    http://blogs.denverpost.com/el

        1. Two years ago is when he sponsored the bill.  I understand your disdain for History – but alot of people think it counts.  It is part of the public record.

          1. But here’s the thing.  You now have two years.  

            Produce the data that support your claim–which was not that some coal miners in Paonia were goaded by the industry into believing their jobs were in jeopardy at the very time industry was lobbying against a bill; but that Mr. Penry forced coal miners in his district, his ‘constituents’ you called them, out of a job.  

            That was the original contention, and you are simply wrong.  You have produced nothing but two letters to the editor from 2010 that predict calamity.  Where is the calamity?  Your utility bill went up?  THE HORROR! THE HORROR!   (meanwhile I have produced actual numbers,and from the mining industry itself, that show coal mining jobs increasing in CO from 2010 to 2011.  

            I am not a Penry fan, but I hate made up bullshit more.  Pony up or acknowledge (tacitly) to all here that you are full of it.

    1. You are shifting your ‘argument’ Junk Town.  And since you can produce no facts, an anecdotal argument.  Surely the CO Mining Assoc must have the numbers…oh, wait They do:

      2010-Coalmining employment, Colorado

      Number of Employees 2,199

      Total Payroll & Benefits $235,893,126

      Number of Employees 2,504 – Up 14% from 2010

      $ 251,834,805

      Hmm, employment went up.  Now about those miners forced out of their jobs again by HB1365…

      Getting a bit tight around the neck, ehh?  

  5. gave Chaffetz the list of 6000 Republicans complete with phone numbers?  

    And for those of you who follow politics and know the players, Google Rock Chalk Media and take a look at the owners name and “Alex ” is a big supporter of Tipton and his bro Jason(the senator).  

    Yup, no doubt about it, Chaffetz is just a “businessman” with reason to be concerned.  And the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round.  

    1. Spend a few hours setting up as a government relations/public relations firm with zero capital, zero employees, a home office, land one contract with your buddies and/or relatives and you’re a ” businessman “.  I don’t think so…

      More like apparatchik.

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