November 16, 2023 11:03 AM UTC

Where They Know Boebert Best, (Almost) No Endorsements

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Dennis Webb reports today, the Republican commissioners por vida in Rep. Lauren Boebert’s longtime residence of Garfield County, Tom Jankovsky, John Martin, and Mike Samson, are all conspicuously staying out of the upcoming GOP primary for Boebert’s congressional seat:

None of the three commissioners in the home county of Boebert, a Republican, are endorsing her or any of her opponents in her primary race, they say. Some other current and former Republican elected officials have chosen to back Grand Junction attorney Jeff Hurd instead, responding in part to Boebert’s behavior recently in a theater in Denver.

”I’m not endorsing anybody. I’ve done that before and it just comes back to bite you,” said Garfield Commissioner Tom Jankovsky…

”I’ve never endorsed a candidate yet,” said Commissioner John Martin.

Commissioner Mike Samson didn’t grant a request for a phone interview for this story but said in two brief emailed responses that he is “not endorsing anyone for any political office at this time” and “waiting to see who prevails in the primary before I endorse anyone for office.”

To be as fair as possible, we’re not aware of the Garco triumvirate of eternal commissioners having endorsed in either of Boebert’s previous Republican primaries in 2020 or 2022. In 2020, nobody expected Boebert to prevail over incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton, and Rep. Don Coram’s 2022 primary bid didn’t attract anything close to the groundswell of support that emerged this summer and fall behind Boebert’s principal 2024 GOP challenger Jeff “You’ve Never” Hurd. If Boebert were in a stronger position, she wouldn’t need their endorsement, but the failure to obtain it with so many other Republicans taking a side is its own kind of bad news.

One curious bright spot in this story, however, is the continued steadfast loyalty of Garfield County’s longtime Sheriff Lou Vallario, a.k.a. the Rocky Mountain Joe Arpaio:

Longtime Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario’s support for Boebert dates back to when she was a Rifle restaurant owner challenging, and ultimately defeating, incumbent Scott Tipton in the 2020 Republican primary in the 3rd Congressional District race. He said he doesn’t know those challenging Boebert in the primary and hasn’t had the chance to spend time seeing what they have to offer. But his support for Boebert hasn’t been affected by recent events.

”I like what Lauren is doing in Congress. I don’t really care about her social life. I think that people that are saying, ‘Oh well, because of this incident that happened at the theater, I can’t support her,’ I’m guessing that’s either an excuse to find, that they didn’t want to support her anyway, or in my opinion they’re being pretty shallow-minded,” Vallario said.

Sheriff Vallario brushed off Boebert’s public indecency outside his jurisdiction, but it should be noted that Vallario has more knowledge about Boebert’s long history of contact with the law than even the investigative outfits who having been raking Boebert’s muck since 2020–including the more recent pre-divorce police calls in which Boebert downplayed her child’s reported abuse and neighbors described Jayson Boebert’s mailbox-smashing rampage. Vallario famously refused to shut down Boebert’s “COVID Cafe” after she defied the Health Department’s orders.

All told, Boebert’s support in her longest county of residence (sorry, Seminole County Florida) is a mixed message at best. Those who know Boebert best are either sitting this one out, or their support raises as many questions as it answers.