First, I want to thank Brooks for sharing his Elbert County Forum with me. I am honored to post some facts — from my perspective — about how some Elbert County Democrats are trying to “hijack” the local GOP with the intention of creating havoc.
Now I’ll introduce myself. I am Karen Shipper, a member of the Elbert County Republican Central Committee — specifically a Committeeperson for Precinct 5, which includes Simla. As a student in the ’60’s, I was not “a flower child”. Instead, I was a Republican .
For insight as to what’s really going on politically in Elbert County, I’ll start with some facts about our 2012 County Commissioner Candidates.
The “Conveniently” Republican Newcomers
Two newcomers to the Elbert County Republican Party are challenging incumbent County Commissioners Del Schwab and John Shipper. The newcomers are self-appointed local Tea Party Chairman Robert Rowland (District 1) who registered as a Republican on May 5, 2010 and Larry Ross (District 3) who registered as a Republican on August 22, 2011.
Reasons to Re-elect Experienced, Honest County Commissioners Schwab and Shipper
Incumbent County Commissioners John Shipper (District 3) and Del Schwab (District 1) are running for re-election. Both are life-long Republicans. (They are who they say they are.) As incumbent commissioners, they — along with Commissioner Kurt Schlegel (District 2) — have kept Elbert County on course during a severe economic downturn. Here are some of this Board of County Commissioner’s (BOCC) accomplishments.
- The Elbert County Budget, using classic accounting methodology, is balanced as is mandated by state law.
- The county debt (all of which this BOCC inherited) has been consolidated into a single loan, which is the county’s version of a mortgage — much like the mortgages that most of us have on our homes and land.
- The previously unpaved 4-mile portion of the Kiowa-Bennett Road has been paved using Federal Hazard Mitigation funds for 90% of the construction cost.
- The Director of Planning, Community and Development Services and the Elbert County Planning Commission are drafting Oil & Gas Regulations to protect county roads and mineral and surface owners rights.
- The new Water Task Force has assembled a team of experts who are preparing educational forums with presentations for the county’s citizens. These forums will cover critical water issues.
- To cope with decreased income (as the result of a down economy), the BOCC has streamlined county government. Since income (and accordingly the budget) has decreased 33%, the Commissioners have decreased spending by 33%. They have succeeded in only decreasing personnel by 25% — mostly by attrition and retirement.
- To increase efficiency and eliminate redundancies, the BOCC has combined governmental departments. For example, they combined the Kiowa and Simla Road and Bridge Departments into the Elbert County Road and Bridge Department under one director.
- The BOCC will replace an existing “rubbish” ordinance with a similar ordinance that has enforcement guidelines. And yes, most towns and counties have such ordinances. (The rubbish-ordinance “push back” makes me wonder what the activists opposed to “rubbish” ordinances might have lurking in their yards.)
Now that I’ve established that Elbert County’s incumbent county commissioners are competently, efficiently and professionally managing and directing Elbert County, let’s move onto the local political shenanigans.
Democratic “Loopy Left” Endorses Ross and Rowland
Republican newcomers Robert Rowland and Larry Ross frequently avoid Elbert County Republican events. In fact, I sense that they have complete contempt for the Republican Party. For example, on May 12th, Ross and Rowland held a fundraiser for themselves that competed with and was at the exact same time as the gala fundraiser the local GOP held for Congressman Mike Coffman, which some 80 to 100 “Real Republicans” attended.
And I’ve also noticed that newcomers Ross and Rowland have joined the local Democratic activists in relentlessly harassing, criticizing and attacking incumbent County Commissioners Schwab, Shipper and Schlegel who are public servants merely doing their jobs as mandated by state law.
It is my opinion that these attacks and accompanying vitriol are being heaped on our County Commissioners in part because they are “Real Republicans” — and additionally because many of the harassers themselves can’t garner much more than 30% of the vote when running for government office.
This past week, the Elbert County Democratic New-Plains website again directed its ridicule and vitriol at the Elbert County Republican Party. Then they proceeded to demand that Unaffiliated (independent) and Democratic voters re-register as Republicans. That done, these Democrats formally endorsed recent newcomers to the Republican Party — Robert Rowland and Larry Ross.
My opinion is that what we’ll have is “Fake Republicans” voting for “Fake Republicans”.
Now I’m off to find a copy of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” so I can figure out what’s really going on.
K_Shipper