Author Archives: Jason Salzman

Colorado congressional candidate Lauren Boebert clarified over the weekend that she thinks vaccinations should always be a “personal choice,” regardless of the circumstances.

Colorado doesn’t mandate that residents get any type of vaccination, but Boebert’s stance would go further, stopping the state from requiring, for example, that most workers at licensed medical facilities get the flu vaccine, as Colorado law currently states.

Colorado also stops short of mandating that children get recommended vaccinations in order to attend public school

Instead, Colorado allows parents not to vaccinate their kids for medical or nonmedical reasons, as long as parents obtain a written medical exemption or take an online education module.

Boebert opposes such requirements, which passed into law this year.

“I believe that that is a personal choice,” Boebert, who also thinks mask-wearing should be optional, told KVOR radio host Jeff Crank on Saturday, referring to vaccinations. “And people should be able to talk with their doctors and make that decision, not having government come in and forcing that decision on people. So that should be between patients and doctors, not have more government intervention.”

Boebert erroneously told Crank that Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, wants to “mandate vaccines and hold our children’s education hostage.”

Eighty-seven percent of Colorado kindergartners have taken recommended vaccinations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the lowest in the country for that age group.

And it’s short of the 90-95% required for herd immunity, making Colorado vulnerable to an outbreak of measles or other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Boebert faces Diane Mitsch Bush to represent Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District.

Bush recently released an ad stating that “even in the largest health crisis of our time, [Boebert] is still anti-vaccine.”

The contest is a tossup, according to polling released to journalists.

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner will address a large gathering of conservative activists “via video” on Saturday, according to a spokeswoman for the event.

Normally, the Western Conservative Summit is billed as the largest gathering of conservatives outside of Washington DC and has attracted speakers ranging from Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to Sarah Palin and Jeff Sessions, the former Alabama senator.

This year, the event, sponsored by Colorado Christian University, is being broadcast online, where it will be available for free to those who register. It runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The lineup of speakers and workshops has been pared down considerably from past years but still boasts some of the leading far-right conservative in the country, including Trump cabinet member and former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson; another former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, and Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy group.

Last year Gardner said at the event, “There’s no place I’d rather be than here with the largest gathering of conservatives in the Western U.S.”

In 2018, he took a shot at the media, saying, the “media is afraid” and “want us to fail.”

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, who died of COVID, is featured in a film to be unveiled at the event. It’s among the last interviews he conducted, according to event organizers.

The Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter first reported in July that tax liens totaling about $20,000 have been filed against congressional candidate Lauren Boebert’s restaurant, Shooters Grill, in the past four years–and that the “Boebert campaign said it is unaware of any past-due taxes or outstanding liens” against her diner.

But documents from the Garfield County Clerk and Recorder’s online files show that, while a portion of Boebert’s debts have indeed been paid, the Rifle Republican still owes about $19,000 for unemployment insurance, interest, and penalties.

The public record does not necessarily mean the leans are still outstanding, however. The state may not yet have posted “release” documents showing that the debts were paid.

Boebert’s campaign didn’t respond a request for receipts or other proof that the candidate has actually paid off the liens.

Boebert’s restaurant was hit with 8 liens since 2016 totally $21,841.33, according to public records. She paid $583.18, leaving $21,258.15, of which $18,999.36 is owed to the State of Colorado for unemployment insurance premiums, interest, and penalties. She owes another creditor the remaining money.

The $583.18 was paid in February, according to public records.

The information about the liens adds more details to a picture of Boebert’s struggles to keep her businesses above water. The Post reported that Shooters Grill lost $242,347 in 2018.

Rural Colorado United, a Political Action Committee formed by Pueblo residents Stephen Varela and George Autobee to educate voters about Boebert, referenced the liens in a news release today.

Rural Colorado United distributed a tweet in which Boebert wrote, “When are they releasing Nancy Pelosi’s taxes? We want to see all the itemized ice cream!”

The group called on Boebert to release her tax returns.

Correction: Boebert accumulated 8, not 18, liens since 2016.

In response to her stance against public health orders and her campaign events that do not follow social distancing recommendations, Colorado congressional candidate Lauren Boebert is being called a COVID-backlash candidate. And she’s embracing the label, calling it “Trump-esque,” in a good way.

But a Colorado public health expert says Boebert’s response to COVID is “stoking mistrust” of public health workers, who should be considered “heroes” for “grinding it out, trying to help their communities get through this pandemic.”

“The worst of it is stoking mistrust of public health authorities, who are just doing their best to try to come to grips with a pandemic,” says Matthew Wynia, a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, referring to Boebert’s response to COVID-19. “The people in public health departments around the state and around the country are suffering terribly right now. They are working enormous long hours at little pay with no glory. They are getting threatened by people now from campaigns like hers, her supporters, who are calling them Nazis. And that’s the worst of it. These are heroes, who are grinding it out, trying to help their communities get through this pandemic.”

“She may not like the rules,” said Wynia. “But we have ways to change the rules, right? That’s what makes us a democracy, is that we actually have ways to say, ‘I disagree with this rule.’ And she, by the way, is pursuing that by running for office. Great. She should do that. But in the meantime, she should not encourage people to disobey the rule, when it puts other people at risk.”

Multiple events by Boebert over the past month appear to violate statewide public health recommendations.

And one indoor event, an Aug. 31 fundraiser in Aspen, with U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, violated state rules, resulting in the Pitkin County health department issuing a warning to Boebert’s campaign.

Wynia said events like the Aspen fundraiser could be putting public health at risk.

“To the extent that these are rules that make sense from a public health standpoint, and she is flouting them, she is putting pubic health at risk,” said Wynia. “Now, will there be an outbreak as a result of her doing this? That’s a lot harder to say. Someone will have to come to one of her events who is infected, probably without knowing it, and we may never find that out, because there is enough transmission going on in our community right now that someone who went to one of her events wouldn’t necessarily know that that’s where they got infected.”

Other outdoor events show little respect for social distancing.

For example, Boebert appeared at an Aug. 29 meet-and-greet in Montrose, with U.S. Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), with a large crowd of people, mostly without masks.

An outdoor event in Mesa County Sept. 6 shows a similar lack of concern for distancing.

“The role of government is to inform us of the risk, and then let us decide; let us choose what we are going to do,” said Boebert in a speech at a Sept. 14 campaign stop. “For instance, I know darn well, I’ve been told my whole life, the risks of eating raw cookie dough. I never want the government to come in and tell me what to do with my cookie dough. That is not the proper role. I know the risk and I’ll take it.”

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In the bigger picture, Wynia says Boebert’s stance against public health orders shows a misunderstanding of Boebert’s own “belief system.”

Wynia explains: “What’s she’s saying is, ‘I’m a libertarian. Freedom is very important, and the government shouldn’t force us to do things for our own good.’ That’s fine, but this is not a nanny-state activity.

“You can take every risk you want. But you’re not taking a risk when you are not wearing a mask. You are imposing a risk on others.”

“Libertarians presumably believe in stop signs and speed limits,” says Wynia. “They are considered legitimate under libertarian philosophy because they prevent harm to others.”

“Libertarians believe there should be rules. But thoughtless libertarians think the rules don’t apply to them.”

But Boebert, whose campaign didn’t return an email seeking comment, says the virus is being used to seize control.

“As the virus has shown us, they want to take away small businesses, the lifeline of our country, the heartbeat of America,” said Boebert at the Sept. 14 campaign stop. “They want to tell you where you can shop, when you can shop there, what time of day, how old you have to be at that time to be there, and certainly what you have to wear.”