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The O. Zone: Hurd has to do much more than the bare minimum, Matt
Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr Saturday at No Kings rally in Edwards (David O. Williams photo).
Thanks to President Donald Trump’s campaign of mass deportations, America has become a police state where it’s difficult if not impossible to tell who the police are and why they’re arresting our friends and neighbors. That sense of fear was palpable Saturday at the “No Kings” rally in Edwards, where it was tough to find people of color willing to speak out.
The mostly white, mostly aging crowd at times felt festive, because, for now, that’s not a demographic that has to worry too much about being disappeared to an ICE detention facility and perhaps a private prison in a third-world country. That said, I was proud and encouraged to hear folks from that demographic loudly and very publicly decry Trump’s police state.
A couple of elected officials, Democrats, also deserve credit for calling out Congress for bending knee to the executive branch, where Trump has fully politicized and weaponized the Justice Department and is now ruling by executive order and secret memos while sending U.S. Marines into peaceful, hardworking communities and parading tanks down Constitution Avenue.
Democratic state Rep. Jessie Danielson of Jefferson County was in Eagle County Saturday on a family getaway. She took time from her weekend escape to speak to the No Kings rally, where there was a moment of silence for Minnesota Democratic state lawmakers and their families who were gunned down in the early morning by a man disguised as a police officer.
Thanks to the violent rhetoric of Trump, who wrongly and horribly was the victim of two assassination attempts ahead of last year’s election, we now live in a country where sociopaths find it easier to effect political change with an AR-15. Running for office and speaking truth to power is now an act of extreme bravery, as Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband found out very tragically in the early morning hours of Saturday.
Guns meant for combat are now readily available everywhere in America, with an unfettered gun industry lobby fueled by a Republican gun cult that wants no reasonable restrictions. I applaud anyone willing to stand up to such unrelenting political violence, but I have to admit I was very nervous covering Saturday’s demonstration – even in seemingly peaceful Eagle County.
The other elected Democrat willing to stand and speak at Freedom Park in Edwards was Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr:
“We have seen now what happens when Congress does not do its job in reining in the executive,” Scherr told the No Kings crowd on Saturday. “Congress’s job is to uphold the constitution and make sure that this country is safe, secure and provides the order so that the creativity and ingenuity of American citizens is unleashed for a prosperous economy to the benefit of all. The constitution is the duty of Congress. So we know right now we’re in a moment where the executive has overreached. It is extending into the realm of kings. We knew what we needed to say no to. We have to remember what we say yes to. Congress needs to do its job.”
Very, very well said. Currently there are very few congressional checks on Trump’s unconstitutional attacks on LGBTQ people, scientists, immigrants, people of color, federal agencies meant to make us safer, health care, vaccines and our air, water and public lands.
Scherr rightly asked Republicans who currently hold both the House and Senate to do their jobs – to stand up to Trump when he tries sell off public lands in order to extend tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, to push back when he cuts public health funding to benefit billionaires. But then he went on to praise a man he said has been standing up for Colorado’s western values:
“For our representation, about a quarter of Eagle County is represented in Congressional District 3,” Scherr said. “That’s Rep. Jeff Hurd. We, at the county level, have been impressed with Congressman Hurd. He has been doing what I would call a good job of representing western Colorado values. We don’t necessarily agree with a lot of the positions he has. He’s a Republican, and that used to be OK. And now what we need Rep. Hurd to do is hold strong to those Colorado values of independence, the priority of the people for the benefit of the people. He has been holding a pretty good line.”
I suppose Hurd deserves some credit for doing the very bare minimum of opposing Trump’s pardon of his violent supporters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to stop the certification of freely and fairly elected President Joe Biden, attacking cops and leading to multiple fatalities. Or I guess maybe we should be glad he voted in a committee meeting not to sell off public lands to benefit the tech and oil-exec broligarchy – even though he ultimately voted in favor of the bill that strips away so much of our low-income social safety net.
And I would not have expected Hurd to show true courage and attend Saturday’s No Kings rally that brought hundreds of his constituents to the streets of Edwards (although wouldn’t that have been nice), but where was he on Saturday? He keynoted a $450 a plate fundraiser at Cotton Ranch Golf Club in nearby Gypsum that also included a slew of GOP election-deniers.
Making nice with Hurd just because he happens to represent a corner of our county strikes me a bit like Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper saying he’s cozying up to mega-MAGA Utah Sen. Mike Lee to try to get wilderness protections passed and then acting surprised when Lee doubles down massively on selling off public lands in the Senate version of Trump’s hateful budget bill – the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that’s actually an ugly attack on American values. One that Hurd voted for in its decisive 215-214 margin of victory last month.
“For those of you who have the ear of the congressman – and by the way, a congressman is supposed to have the ear of everybody – reach out to Rep. Hurd and let him know that you support supporting Colorado values,” Scherr continued. “When the last budget bill passed before it went to the Senate, it won by one vote. Congressman Hurd voted yes for that. He’s got a second chance. The Senate is not liking that bill, as nobody does. It’s going to come back to the House. He’s got another chance to hold up western Colorado values. He gets to do his job under the constitution. We are there to encourage him to show support.”
Absent at Saturday’s Eagle County Republican Party fundraiser at Cotton Ranch was Hurd’s recently announced primary opponent, former Colorado Republican Party Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman – a raging MAGA who helped Dave Williams crater the state party. So much for the Eagle County GOP’s previously stated policy of pre-primary neutrality.
Regardless, what does Hurd have to lose now? Why not call out Trump’s anti-democratic actions and reach across the aisle to Democrats and the Independents who make up the majority of his district and stand to lose the most when rural hospitals struggle under the bill he approved? Why not vote against the Senate version with all of its public lands giveaways when it comes back?
“The president has threatened to primary anyone who votes against that bill,” Scherr said Saturday. “[Hurd] already has a primary opponent. So right now he’s our sitting congressman. He’ll be up for election next year. That’s going to be up to all of you how you decide. Right now he’s our representative. He will listen to you if you call or write the congressman, and I encourage you all to do that because the constitution is not a suggestion. Ask congressman Hurd to support the constitution and show his support for western Colorado values.”
I am not one of Hurd’s Western Slope constituents who has his ear. I repeatedly reached out during his campaign against former Aspen City Council member Adam Frisch with very limited success in getting any sort of comment on a wide range of topics, let alone an actual interview.
And in recent weeks I’ve been trying again, seeking comment on his primary challenger and reaction to what the Democrats already in the race against him are saying, a tentative proposal to store nuclear waste and install nuclear power in his district, an expected Trump executive action aimed at ramming oil trains down our throats along the endangered Colorado River, and the fact his One Big Beautiful Bill will likely explode health insurance premiums in his district.
To no avail. Hurd doesn’t have to talk to me, a clearly progressive-leaning freelance journalist who actually lives in Democrat Joe Neguse’s 2nd Congressional District. But he should talk to you, the people, especially if you live in his district and if you’re among the nearly 30% of Western Slope residents on Medicaid, which will be gutted by Trump’s OBBB.
Editor’s note: The O. Zone is a recurring opinion column by RealVail.com publisher David O. Williams. Please read how you can help support this site by considering a donation or signing up for news alerts … or both.
David O. Williams
