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November 16, 2010 08:25 PM UTC

"Tea Party" Aims True (For Once)

  • 29 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

It’s a little tougher to argue with the “Tea Party” in Grand Junction over a particular case of alleged official malfeasance that has them up in arms–involving Republican Mesa County commissioner Craig Meis. As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Mike Wiggins reports:

The president of a local tea party organization has asked Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis to resign after a report that Meis raised his elected position in an unsuccessful effort to avoid receiving a boating ticket this past summer.

In an e-mail sent to tea party supporters, local media and others Sunday, Tim Fenwick, president of the GJResult board of directors, alleged Meis’ actions “show his disdain for the public tax dollar” and prove “that he is incapable of making decisions effectively.” Fenwick also suggested that tea partiers stage protests if Meis declines to step down…

As was first reported by The Daily Sentinel on Sunday, Colorado State Parks officer Craig Johnson wrote in a report that Meis told Johnson several times that he is a county commissioner and knows District Attorney Pete Hautzinger well. The report was generated from a June 18 encounter at Highline Lake State Park in which Johnson wrote Meis a $50 ticket for allowing his 14-year-old son to illegally operate a personal watercraft. State law requires watercraft operators to be at least 16.

In an interview with the Sentinel last week, Meis denied making those statements to the officer…

The problem is, presumption in these situations almost always favors the cops, or in this case the rangers–they’re the ones without a reason to lie, and authorities are standing by the officer’s report. With that established, and Meis found guilty of the underlying offense, you bet: throwing around your elected position to beat a ticket is a sure-fire way to turn a minor infraction into perfectly legitimate calls for resignation. It’s one of the dumbest things an elected official can do.

And we’ve got to say, going after actual corrupt behavior is a hell of a lot better use of the “Tea Party’s” time than making those silly “Stop Socialism, Hands off Medicare” protest signs.

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29 thoughts on ““Tea Party” Aims True (For Once)”

  1. It’s rich. Meis campaigned on the usual hard-right themes of low taxes, next-to-no-regulation and “personal responsibility.”

    I’d love to go to his press conference today, but work often gets in the way of having fun.

    Ralphie doesn’t shamelessly promote his own blog on here, but I will. See http://www.junctiondailyblog.com

    2. is that Meis got elected and re-elected. Dishonest politicians who get elected can do a lot more damage than those who are stopped before taking office.  

  3. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes….

    A House ethics panel has convicted Representative Charles B. Rangel of all but one of the 13 ethics violations he faced, for offenses ranging from accepting a rent-stabilized apartment from a Manhattan developer to failing to pay taxes on rental income from his Dominican villa to raising charitable donations from companies and corporate executives who had business before the committee he led.

    This is what the Tea Party is here to stop. Meis is small potatoes.

    5. The fact that Democrats still control the Ethics Committee didn’t enter into your mind, did it? You think Republicans had something to do with all this, when it was just Democrats chastising other Democrats.

      Admit it, the only reason you care about this story and post it in an off-topic place is because the alleged perpetrator is black.

    1. For what is likely the definitive summary of the Meis “press conference” pay a visit to Ralphie.

      I wasn’t there, so I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that the only thing Ralphie left out was how often fellow County Commissioner Janet “McInnis isn’t the only Western Slope plagiarist” Rowland rolled her eyes. GJ’s channel 5 (KREX) replayed that several times:

  5. to anyone in Mesa county that Craig Meis would try to use his office to protect himself.

    He has used it repeatedly to further his career and political aims… and to do the same for his benefactors in the gas patch.

    It was Commissioner Craig Meis that tried to create a rule that would have allowed Delta Petroleum to build man camps on its’ well sites, without even notifying the landowner, much less paying them for it.

    If Commissioner Meis could have pulled it off, Delta would have been able to put 20 men on each well site, 24/7/365, with no limit and no regulation. If you, as a landowner, had 5 well sites on your land, Delta could then house a hundred people on your property, perpetually, with no notification and no compensation to you. He thought it was a great idea.

    One of the highlights of my hobby as a pain in the ass to the O&G boys was watching Meis, Former COGCC Director Brian Mackey, and Dave Cesark (the latter two being Delta employees at the time) try to wiggle and squirm their way out of a public humiliation when their little scheme got blown open by Bill Hugenberg and the late Dr. Eugene Fox (I kinda was involved, too).

    Needless to say, I am delighting in my ol’ buddy Craig being in hot water up to his ass. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving ______ (insert noun of your choice).

     

    2. Great idea, Duke!

      The GJ Sentinel should write all of its stories about the Mesa County Commissioners as Mad Libs&#169. For example:

      A _____(adj) Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis on Tuesday ____(verb) calls that he resign over allegations he abused his _____(noun) to try to avoid a _____(noun). He insisted he never raised his _____(adj) _____(noun) with a ______(occupation) and accused a Daily Sentinel reporter of fabricating a “conspiracy.”

      (With apologies to Mike Wiggins who did a fine job reporting for the Sentinel.)

      I’d pay for that!

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