As the Pueblo Chieftain reports:
The Army’s decision to spend more money expanding a Louisiana post doesn’t signal a change in its goal of expanding the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., said Thursday.
The move probably reflects the service’s weakening position in Colorado for that expansion, the congressman said.
Responding to a Denver newspaper’s report that the Army was retreating on its expansion goal by re-allocating military construction money to Fort Polk, La., next year, Salazar said his recent conversation with Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey only confirmed that expanding Pinon Canyon remains an Army priority.
“General Casey urged me to keep an open mind on the expansion, but I told him it wasn’t going to happen while I’m (in Congress),” Salazar said in a phone interview Thursday. “I don’t think anything has changed from the Army’s perspective except they are reading the writing on the wall that Southeastern Colorado is opposed to this.”
Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes the 238,000-acre Pinon Canyon training range, said he has already spoken with House Armed Services Committee staff about putting an outright ban on any future expansion in the coming defense authorization legislation…
Rep. Salazar also urged Governor Bill Ritter to sign House Bill 1317, the anti-expansion bill supported by presumed gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry and controversially opposed by his impending primary opponent Scott McInnis. And after watching what most consider to be the leading GOP contender to be Colorado’s next governor, McInnis, essentially tell the ranchers down there to start packing if he gets elected, we’d say Salazar is dead-on with his warning.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: JohnInDenver
IN: Stay Classy, Rep. Matt Soper (Jimmy Carter Eulogy Edition)
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: TJDenver5280
IN: Phil Weiser First To Throw Hat In 2026 Gubernatorial Ring
BY: Dean
IN: Phil Weiser First To Throw Hat In 2026 Gubernatorial Ring
BY: coloradosane
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: Chickenheed
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: notaskinnycook
IN: Thursday Open Thread
BY: coloradosane
IN: Stay Classy, Rep. Matt Soper (Jimmy Carter Eulogy Edition)
BY: Air Slash
IN: Phil Weiser First To Throw Hat In 2026 Gubernatorial Ring
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
Looks like the only people who care about this are a bunch of peacenik Democrats and a couple of dozen sheepherders in the scrubland.
Why don’t you stop trying to divide Republicans over this? We are the party of private property rights AND a strong military, and Democrats are the party of neither!
Penry or McInnis ’08, ok either way!
Marilyn Musgrave was very involved with the opposition and many others are property rights Republicans. It is not a party issue, it is a regional issue that involves a very large metro area and the rural southeast, not just the ranchers.
But I am really sorry to have risen to the bait and hope no one else does.
under the fraccing trucks every chance they get.
how Democratic combat vets have outnumbered Republican combat vets in congress for so many decades.
Also odd how it was the Republicans who were so anxious to throw enlisted men and non-coms under the bus for Cheney/Rumsfeld’s top down torture policies.
It’s Republicans who attack vets who disagree them with politically and denigrate their service. It’s also the Republicans who’ve spent the past 8 plus years insisting the that guys like Cheney and Bush who did everything they could (or in Bush’s case that his daddy could) to avoid being anywhere near a war zone are the real tough guy patriots while they have persisted in trying to tear down the reputation of any decorated war hero who happens to be a Democrat.
Republicans say to listen to the military except when the military argues against things like illegal use of torture. Or when they say the torture methods they copied for training purposes weren’t really any good for getting accurate intel. The Chinese and North Koreans used them for getting American soldiers to sign false confessions, denounce their country etc. Sounded swell to Cheney for his purposes.
Republicans also vehemently opposed investigating the contractors who spent the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan cheating, endangering and even electrocuting our troops for profit.
Guess you super patriot Republicans believe in supporting, respecting and listening to the military and supporting our constitution and the rule of law only when it serves your political agenda to do so. The Dem Vets in my family all say “screw you very much”. My Dem State Rep. Col. Joe Rice just went back to Iraq this morning but he would never accuse all Rs of being as assinine as you.