Author Archives: Benita Phillips

The Mesa County Commissioners’ weekly meeting was punctuated by several scenes of interest.
The first, was the opening statement by Rose Pugliese regarding the denial of the Jordan Cove port project with its subsequent cross-country pipelines. The usual rhetoric about “government” overreach ensued. Rose used the public’s time for a tirade that was made of her total misunderstanding of what she called “basic economics.” She ignores what the public has stated in no uncertain terms, that Jordan Cove is not in the future thinking of Oregon or Colorado citizens. The future belongs to renewables. Old oil and gas technology is a Trump-thing due to his aging brain.

The second, was Scott McInnis’ tirade at two citizens that dared to make him uncomfortable. Two citizens of Mesa County had legitimate questions and wanted answers and wanted to make sure the Commissioners were compliant with the law. Scott McInnis showed just how thin his skin really is when it comes to questioning his transparency and honesty.

The third and most disturbing issue had to do with the audience. I don’t know how many Mesa County Department heads were in attendance, but I would venture to say most of them. The meeting in which they remained an audience lasted about an hour and a half. They were sitting like dutiful lackeys, doing the Commissioners’ bidding by being there on the taxpayers’ paid time. They were there to take their turn genuflecting, at the podium, reassuring the Commissioners that they were doing a good job. Of all people, President Tim Foster of CMU, was there and was saccharin in his appraisal of the Commissioners’ attempt at making a budget and ensuring he gets his blood money from the Mesa County turnip.

Mesa County Commissioners: In, minus out equals accumulation. This is real basic economics Rose. As “fluid” as you think your budget is, you cannot spend money the county does not have. It is called money management, where “deficit spending” is NOT considered good money management. Deficit spending has become a Republican hallmark. Just ask Cheney about deficits incurred on the Iraq war and never addressed. Then remember 2008.

In the Sunday Daily Sentinel, dated May 8, 2016, Christian Reece, Executive Director of Club 20, was published as a guest editorial. The title was “Supreme Court ruling a victory for property rights, jobs.”
Today I found an “opinion” editorial by Kelly Brough, President and CEO of Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, published in the “Denver Post Opinion” area on May 6, 2016, titled “Yes, Supreme Court Ruled correctly on local fracking bans.” Subtitled “Private Property rights matter in the state of Colorado.”

These two “independent” editorials, though do not follow each other word for word, they are so similar in their content that it boggles the mind that these two women aren’t telepathically connected somehow. I maybe wrong, and I have no way of really testing my theory, but this appears to me to be a concerted effort to disseminate like messages to give the Colorado Supreme Court kudos? on a ruling that is flawed to its very core. In neither of these “editorials” was the “private property rights” of the surface owner taken into consideration, nor was there any discussion by the Colorado Supreme Court (CSC) in regards to surface private property.

Essentially dismissing surface rights by the CSC, the process of the “split estate” has been the most ludicrously entangled piece of ruling ever perpetrated on “surface” private property owners. Common sense alone would have predicted such an idea that forces access to hidden below-ground resources is NOT COMPATIBLE with surface living organism including humans.

The CSC ruled against the right of citizens to pursue their happiness by planning for and deciding the path of their lives and business priorities by voting in a democratically held vote. The communities determined by their vote, that their communities should support their priorities for a “healthy” and vigorous community set to move on into the future with a population not mired in respiratory illnesses, cancers, and a dead environment. For where the oil and gas companies goes to frack, there too goes all else precious to humanity. Just look to Alberta tar sands…North America’s first rout of Environmental Refugees. Picture that for the future of your kids and grandchildren.

I had the honor and privilege of working in a team of people dedicated to the development and presentation of a local county platform that ACTUALLY had meaning to the local peoples of Mesa County Colorado. No session was without argument and strife. No session was without deep introspective discussion. I am proud of what my fellow team members have accomplished and the Mesa County Democrats accepted our offer UNANIMOUSLY!!!
Below you will find a link to the Mesa County Democratic Platform. But before you look at that let me name our committee:
Scott Beifuss (4th chair); Kacey Conway; Duke Cox; Krystyna Dillard-Crawford; Joel Dyar; Rob Fiedler; Larry Ingram; Chris Kennedy; Marshall Martin; Paula McIntire; Benita Phillips.

Local Party Platform