September 25, 2012 09:17 AM UTC

When Did Conservative Morph to Bat Crap Crazy?

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• by: Konola

There is an old saying, credited to British historian Lord Acton. In an April 3, 1887, letter written to Bishop Mandell Creighton, Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He went on to say that great men are almost always bad men. I’ve been pondering this quote over the past few months as I’ve been watching the local Republican Party implode.

I first heard this quote from Carlton Nadelhoffer, a cousin of my ex-husband. At the time Carlton was the Chairman of the DuPage County, Illinois, Republican Party, and the local spokesperson for the Nixon presidential campaign. I honestly don’t remember the context of the discussion when Carlton made that comment, but it stuck in my mind, and I’ve heard it many times since.

Carlton was a Republican I could respect. I didn’t always agree with him politically, but then neither did his own brother. He was on the first Advisory Committee of the DuPage Community Foundation. Their work was centered on raising the quality of life in DuPage County by “fostering philanthropy, connecting donors to area needs and building community partnerships.”  This organization supports grants to further education, health and human services, arts and culture, and the environment.

Fast forward to 2012 in Mesa County:  We have three county commissioners who rarely utter the words that guide the DuPage Community Foundation.  Absent Janet Rowland, who truly is devoted to health and human services, especially when it comes to preventing domestic violence impacting children, the commissioners are focused on their own self serving interests.  I’ll step back from that extreme statement and comment that I do trust Steve Aquafresca to look out for western slope water.

Craig Meis, however has reached the point of absolute corruption.  He attended a meeting in Vernal, Utah that skirted the intent of Colorado’s Sunshine Laws.  Meis didn’t get Mesa County involved in the lawsuit brought by environmental groups against Garfield County because the two other commissioners stayed home, making him in compliance with the letter of the law.  Meis has demonstrated his corruption in multiple ways over his term as commissioner.  The events range from trying to get a boating ticket fixed, to trying to get out of a speeding ticket, to ignoring a fire ban when the entire western slope was a tinder-box.  He is famous for refusing to allow constituents to place their concerns into the public record.  The most recent example was when he first snickered, and then gaveled to a close, comments by Benita Phillips, President of Western Colorado Congress of Mesa County, a Registered Nurse,  and fellow Republican, because she mentioned an internationally renowned scientist in the context of health care concerns about the unfettered development of oil shale.

While easy to point at the in-office foibles of elected officials, that does not tell the whole story of the seedy underbelly of the current “movers and shakers” in the local party.  Western Slope Conservative Alliance, closely aligned with the Republican Party, has slipped into madness. Their primary spokespersons are GOP Vice-Chair Kevin McCarney and Marjorie Haun, who have gone out of their way to smear and stop any individual who disagrees with them.  They have fallen for every whack-a-doodle conspiracy theory, spouted lies, and involved law enforcement officials in order to further their paranoid delusions.

They truly believe that the UN, and the environmental agreement known as Agenda 21, is a plot to take over the government of the United States.  They truly believe that Democrats are out to take their guns, despite the local Democratic Party sponsoring gun safety courses for underprivileged kids who might not otherwise have the resources to attend these training sessions.  They slandered Dan Robinson and waged an on-line war against Barbara and Garry Brewer.  You may recognize Barbara Brewer as the Republican elected Mesa County Assessor.  WSCA members have filed bogus charges against members of GJResult/TeaParty, most noticeably the activist known as American Patriot, because of his demands that WSCA be accountable to their membership by holding elections for officers.

When you cast your vote this fall, think about how nuts all of this sounds and remember that these are the people choosing the GOP candidates on that ballot.