A couple things in Candidate Ross’s recently published campaign statements raise concerns. He said, “Elbert county government should not be in the business of facilitating the export of this precious water.” Fair enough as a political sentiment, but Elbert County really only has a legitimate authority over water properties underneath land it holds in the name of Elbert County. In Colorado, water is not the community’s property. It doesn’t sound like a Commissioner Ross would limit the scope of his water reach to county owned properties. This raises a concern of government overreach from aggressive water zoning and other county approvals and licensing that could become politicized. That’s just not a conservative, rule of law orientation.
Candidate Ross goes on to say, “Decisions regarding any development project must make economic sense and be of true benefit to Elbert County.” Hold on there. Since when is it government’s role to decide winners and losers in the market? In a free country private citizens take economic risks with their property and capital. What’s the constitutional basis for county government deciding beforehand what the prospective economics of a private project will be – and predicating licensing on that decision? Oh that’s right, there isn’t one. So, this is another big problem.
Turning to Candidate Rowland’s recent statements – which requires the turn of a page in this weeks’ Prairie Times, thank you to the Bishops – more effluvia from the tea-drinking upholder of “conservative values and principles” rises to the surface.
Skimming off the top layer, Candidate Rowland’s position appears to be that commissioners Schwab and Shipper intended to bankrupt the county, sell vast amounts of Elbert County water, pollute the pristine water they didn’t sell with dirty Arkansas River water, deny citizens a place to dump their garbage locally, and wrongly direct business to a struggling local employer. Then they succeeded in shutting out a clamoring mob from a non-policy making commissioner business meeting, and wrongly supported county employees in a harassment case.
I don’t see it that way at all. The commissioners I know have no such malice, short sightedness, or incompetence in their direction of Elbert County government.
On the contrary, people who exacerbate circumstances in favor of their personal political ambitions are a big problem in this Elbert County political season. These meeting occupants grab the limelight every other week to sling innuendo and mudballs at decent public servants doing a fine job for the county.
Someone asked me yesterday what I thought the biggest problem in the county was. I said jobs, but a close second would be political self-aggrandizement because it clouds everything and makes reality based decision making much more difficult.
The circus sideshow of public sharing at BOCC meetings does nothing to elevate discussions or add information that could be used to solve a real problem — which was the commissioner’s intent in giving them a microphone. Instead, they self-aggrandize with impunity and permit their lust for power to overcome all shame. As difficult as it is to witness these occupant monkey shines, I’m glad the commissioners put them on the web so we can see what our government is up against.