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Embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters headlines conservative group’s mixer in Eagle
It’s important this midterm election that candidates are very clear where they stand on voting, public health and education.
Shadowy “conservative” groups that are part of a national trend of disinformation are working locally to support candidates who espouse election conspiracies, anti-science policies and the suppression of critical thinking in our education system.
Previously, I’ve avoided naming these groups so as not give their noxious dogma oxygen, but as we approach county caucuses and party assembly season, I think it’s important to know what candidates are being supported by these groups.
In Summit County, a group called CT3 is trying to pass itself off as nonpartisan while railing against critical race theory in public schools. CTR is a conceptual social justice framework in higher education and is not being taught in our local public schools.
This looks just like what you’ll find locally on the Eagle County Grassroots Conservatives website – the same group that held political fundraisers for anti-government anti-vaxxers and school board candidates who were soundly defeated last fall.
This Sunday, in what it’s calling “The Grand Mix and Mingle” at a private home in Eagle, the group is welcoming “America’s Mom, Tina Peters, Ron Hanks, Deborah Flora, Peter Yu, Greg Lopez, Mayor Steve Carver, Brian Brandl, Marisa Sato …”
The group also has been conducting something called “Voter Roll Accuracy” during February “in select areas of Eagle County. We will go door to door conferring with our fellow citizens, to ensure their votes are being counted accurately, and not diluted by inaccurate excessive votes.”
There has been no evidence locally or statewide of “inaccurate excessive votes,” but this is all part of the 2020 “Big Lie” that former President Donald Trump and his supporters spread to undermine confidence in our free and fair elections.
Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, who will be schmoozing at someone’s private home in Eagle on Sunday, is being investigated by federal and state authorities for improperly handling voting machines in that deep-red county, where her fellow Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, won by huge margins. Peters, who is running for Colorado Secretary of State, has spread the Big Lie conspiracy theory with the support of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
U.S. Senate candidate Ron Hanks attended the Jan. 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington where Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell” and to march on the U.S. Capitol, where rioters then stormed the building during the certification of the electoral college vote, badly injuring dozens of police officers and delaying the count by hours. Hanks said, despite overwhelming evidence, that it was “antifa” on Jan. 6.
Gypsum Mayor Steve Carver should seriously reconsider whether he wants to be associated with these folks. In fact, Peters, who flew on Lindell’s private plane to a conservative confab in the Dakotas as investigators were closing in, has reportedly been playing a game of process-server evasion in recent weeks. Consider this recent post from ColoradoPols:
In today’s edition of the Colorado Sun’s Unaffiliated newsletter, we got a preview of what might be the next stage of embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ defense strategy – note the omission of the word “legal,” because, well, it’s not exactly:
Colorado Sun: “Embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a Republican, has avoided four different process servers in a lawsuit filed by her ex-husband, Thomas Peters, according to court documents. Thomas Peters alleges Tina Peters used ‘deceit and deception’ to transfer ownership of his home to herself. The lawsuit, filed in December, comes amid the criminal investigation and campaign finance complaints that have been lodged against Tina Peters.”
More from Pols: Now, understand that this latest news bit is not related to the criminal investigation underway over Clerk Peters’ alleged tampering with election equipment and/or wire fraud, in her failed attempt to prove her heartfelt belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump – rather a civil matter between Peters and her ex-husband. But check out how Clerk Peters, who is awaiting an indictment or further search warrants related to these much more serious charges at any time, is dealing with process servers (we assume) of all varieties:
Colorado Sun: “On Wednesday, Thomas Peters’ attorney filed a status update claiming a process server tried to officially notify Tina Peters of the lawsuit at home, but that no one came to the door. Amazon and UPS packages were piled on the doorstep. Another server also tried to serve Tina Peters at a political event several weeks ago, but was met by a group of Peters’ ‘staunch supporters. ’Upon approaching, she was literally blocked by a group of women who were dressed substantially similar to the Defendant, and they literally would not (let) the process server get to the Defendant,’ according to the filing.”
So if you’re attending Sunday’s “Grand Mix and Mingle” in Eagle, consider whether you want to have to dress up like Peters and keep process servers at bay. Or whether it’s really wise to kick off campaign season with these folks. In the minds of the voters, there is such a thing as guilt by association.
David O. Williams
Katie Ryder
March 30, 2022 at 3:46 pm
Thank you for this! I’m relatively new to Gypsum and I’ve had a hard time researching the candidates. Looks like I won’t be voting for Steve Carver!