“By now, you should have received your mail-in ballot for the Republican primary for Elbert County. We hope you will take the time to fill it out and vote for the candidate of your choice.
We are a group of Elbert County citizens who care deeply that our election process is fair and transparent. While we are not advocating for any candidate in this handout, we do want you to be aware of some things that are important to know as you consider your vote.
All the candidates have some area of vulnerability their opponents would like to expose, sadly we consider that part of our present day political process. Like you, we usually ignore these things.
However. when we see an area where we feel a candidate has not been transparent in their own promotional material, we feel it is important to communicate that with you. In this year’s election, we are happy to report that there is only one area of real concern out of all the candidates.
Grant Thayer, running in the primary for County Commissioner in District 3, has invested a lot of money to win this campaign. He has secured a campaign manager that is negative towards others while being vague about Thayer’s record. This concerns us as you decide how to vote.
Thayer has billed himself as an outsider trying to ride the popular wave against politicians. He is far from an outsider – he runs in circles of people in the county who have tried repeatedly to control county politics and policy. Many of them appear to be his supporters and financiers.
On January 23 of this year, the Elbert County News reported that Thayer had been on the county planning commission for 14 years and was chairman for most of those years.(1) And yet, nowhere is it mentioned in the 14 pages of his website that he was chairman of the planning commission for the majority of the 14 years. He did not even divulge his membership on his “Planning Commission” page nor on his “More About Grant” page.
He sates on his website that: “The Planning Commission is the BOCC and citizens best friend.”(2) If this is true, then it seems strange that he tries to hide his deep involvement in it for 14 years and completely omits that he was chairman. If he is vying for public service, wouldn’t this be an important part of his resume? The transparency may be missing because of the problems we discovered in his record.
A large part of Thayer’s platform is getting a new master plan done. While on his website he acknowledges that the county Master Plan is decades old, he then states: “The Planning Commission is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of the Master Plan.”(3) So why is it decades old if he was chairman for the better part of 14 years?
As part of the planning commission, he approved a water plan for Spring Valley Vista that led to a lawsuit against the county in 2006. The Master plan that was in effect at the time was bypassed by the planning commission and the commissioners.(4) A 2006 article listed Thayer, as a “developer”, planning commission member and sitting on a non-profit corporation with the commissioner who was voting in favor of the failed proposal for Spring Valley Vista. Questions about conflict of interest were raised.(5)
He also advocates cooperation with the county commissioners. Perhaps that is why his work on the planning commission is neglected in his promo material. As chairman of the planning commission, it took Thayer two and a half years to come up with oil and gas regulations that were voted down by the commissioners 2-1 . His response to this obstacle was to promptly resign.(6) If he did not work with those who questioned what he wanted to do just a little over two years ago, what has changed?
But that leads to another deep concern we have about Thayer. While he doesn’t seem to be transparent about his years of deep participation in county politics, he also is elusive about his business connections using political spin to skirt the issue. He flaunts his CEO experience, but is coy about for who and the results.
His site states: “His most recent industry responsibility was as Co-Chief Executive Officer of a firm that purchased a large portfolio of non performing financial assets. The assets included loans to several oil and gas companies that were in default. Within three years, Grant and his associates converted these assets into those that met the investment goals of the firm.”(7)
What firm? Doesn’t say. Assets in default? A takeover? Doesn’t say. Met the investment firms goals? Liquidation? Downsizing? Doesn’t say. Whatever it is, it seems if it is not flattering to Thayer then transparency is missing. That may be how a CEO does it, but not a public servant who represents the people. We are electing someone to represent us, not manage us.
Thank you for voting in the primary and we are proud this year that there are many other great candidates to choose from.”
(1) & (6) http://elbertcountynews.net/stories/Second-Repubican-joins-race-for-commissioner,205742
(2) & (3) http://www.grantthayer4u.com/assembly-position-statements/
(4) http://coloradocommunitymedia.com/stories/Subdivision-loses-legal-battle,75016
(5) http://coloradocommunitymedia.com/stories/Of-alter-egos-transparency-and-fairness,131598
(7) http://www.grantthayer4u.com/more-about-grant/
My 2¢:
Thayer is a planner. I’ve written and blogged dozens of times on this site about the malfeasance of planning and zoning. (http://elbertcounty.net/blog/category/planning/ => index says 140 times!)
My views have not changed.