What the hell? As the Fort Collins Coloradoan reports:
Rep. Betsy Markey has scheduled her Greeley constituent meeting next week at Aims Community College after Weld County commissioners refused a request to use a county facility.
“When we give an organization or elected official permission to use our facilities, we have a rule that it has to be open to the public,” Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said.
Markey’s Congress on Your Corner event Wednesday in Greeley is open to the public, but she plans to meet with groups of 15 to 20 people at a time. The room Markey wanted to use seats 120, and Weld County commissioners insisted she allow the room to fill to capacity.
“It’s been our policy for many years that when somebody reserves a room, anybody who shows up at the county building has access to that room,” Conway said. He acknowledged that Weld County has no written policy outlining that requirement but said they may now put it in writing. [Pols emphasis]
All five Weld County commissioners are Republicans, and Markey is a Democrat. Conway is a former chief of staff to Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and has contributed money to one of Markey’s Republican challengers, Cory Gardner…
Our view: it’s not common for one to see an official in either party openly abusing their official capacity for blatantly partisan purposes. This is pretty clearly such a case.
If the simple fact that all Weld County Commissioners are Republicans, including donors to Rep. Betsy Markey’s opponents, wasn’t enough to convince you that something is fishy about this denial–and we agree that officials are entitled to some benefit of the doubt in these situations–the Coloradoan continues:
Markey spokesman Ben Marter said she held a similar-style meeting in a Weld County facility in December, shortly before she took office, without the restrictions that commissioners wanted to impose for next week’s meeting. [Pols emphasis]
Well of course–there was no nationally-coordinated GOP strategy to disrupt town halls then! So much for our “benefit of the doubt,” that would seem to remove any.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: ParkHill
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: ParkHill
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: harrydoby
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: The realist
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: DavidThi808
IN: Harris vs. Trump Debate Open Thread
BY: Chickenheed
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: Chickenheed
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: MichaelBowman
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
BY: harrydoby
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
This is one of the dumbest excuses I have ever heard. The capacity of the room determines how many she talks with at once??? Hey poop for brains – capacity is a maximum, not a required number.
that isn’t written down anywhere, nor enforced…or ever applied before.
“We have a rule” alright–a rule just for you.
We will be hearing more from him as his term as a Weld County Commissioner goes along. At bottom, he is more interested in bringing attention to himself than he is to either supporting the Republican Party or blocking Congresswoman Markey’s town meeting.
Years ago when Steve Johnson was a newly minted Republican state House member, Mr. Conway published an op/ed piece in the Greeley Tribune vociferously attacking Mr. Johnson for a bill he was carrying in the state legislature. Mr. Conway delivered this attack while he was on Congressman Wayne Allard’s staff and he did it without the permission of Congressman Allard. Needless to say, the Congressman did not like his staff attacking a fellow Republican office holder, especially in this case, because Rep. Johnson and Congressman Allard had practiced veterinary medicine together in Loveland, Colorado. He was forced to apologize to Rep. Johnson but it showed his very poor judgment.
Since becoming a county commissioner in 2007, Mr. Conway has already worn out his welcome with several local government groups including the local MPO by making outlandish and factually baseless allegations against its board members, even though he serves on the board. For example, he has made the charge that CDOT has short changed Weld County on highway construction funds even though the three county highway district that Weld County is in, along with Larimer and Morgan counties, has received 48% of the highway construction expended in that district over the years 2002-2007. Mr. Conway shoots from the hip without any regard for the facts.
His effort to block Congresswoman Markey’s townhall meeting is just another example of Mr. Conway making it up as he goes. He did this to bring attention to himself. The political implications were merely the tool he used to do that. He will continue to embarrass the Republican Party and the citizens of Weld County.
Perhaps Mr Conway et al. are simply afraid of the mob mentality of members of their own party at recent Congressional town hall events.
If so, the good people of Weld County should head down there Monday morning and demand access.
of the growing menace of troglodytism in America.