As an officer of the Mesa County Democratic Party, I knew about and attended the Assembly on Saturday.  It seems that other than the precinct captains, who are the party’s most active members, few others knew that an assembly was held.

The Sentinel’s opinion piece on Sunday was written by Jim Spehar about the lack of news coverage on either the Republican or Democratic meetings. Spehar is an old news hound, so for him it was personal that there was a dearth of coverage in his old stomping grounds. Then blogger Ralphie took Spehar to task for expecting him to report on the DEM assembly.

To be fair, Gary Harmon wrote his piece about the Republican assembly, although Laura Bradford and her challengers weren’t mentioned. Gary did describe his eyes popping out at the fiery red dress worn to the Republican assembly by Rose Pugliese. I’ve never heard him mention the attire of any of the male candidates, so that was quite the news scoop.

So, for those of you who missed hearing about the Democrat’s Assembly, here goes:

It started with a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner performed by a CMU student. Then we all pledged our allegiance to the flag. As soon as the meeting was gaveled to order, Sal Pace told us why he is running for office, followed by Jessica Garrow telling us why she is running for office. Do any of you know about Jessica Garrow? She’s running for CD3 CU Regent. Locally nobody knows about her because she’s a stealth candidate running in a stealth party. If any reporters had been in attendance at the assembly they would’ve had a real scoop!

For me the most fun part came before the Assembly was called to order, and just before it was gaveled to a close. I can’t stand the fact that there is no Democrat running in House District 54. When a woman I know, who happens to live in the district, emerged from her car I grabbed her and asked if she had ever considered running for office. I told her that we might even draft her from the floor.

Then I spent the rest of the time between meeting her at her car door and the opening gavel trying to convince this woman to run. I introduced her to every person I could find at the assembly, always pointing out that she’s a retired Air Force Officer, really smart, and quite easy on the eyes. Bernie Buescher tried to talk her into running. Sal Pace even spoke privately with her when he finished speaking. I sent Paul Brown to talk to her. I sent Martelle Daniels to talk to her. I sent Co-Chairs Karl Castleton and Arn McConnell to talk to her. I even got some delegates chanting “Run, Mary, Run.”

As the last order of business, I stood up and asked the Assembly Chair if there was any truth to the rumor that there was a woman willing to throw her hat into the ring and run for House District 54. The Chair decided we should ask. Mary stood up and said that she hadn’t decided to run, but would take some time to consider it.

For the record, after the Assembly, I got all of the paperwork together to get our candidates Dave Edwards and Dan Robinson on the ballot. We got our business done, and we had a good time doing it. Too bad that you all missed the fun! See you in two years. Run, Mary, Run—it isn’t too late to get on the ballot, and there are a lot of people willing to get you elected.

Homework

Google Search of DEM Assembly

Jim Spehar Couldn't Read about the Assembly

Junction Daily Blog Responds to Spehar

I know that my readers will be surprised that I didn’t watch the State of the Union speech by Obama until it was aired at about midnight, and then I slept through most of it. Fortunately I did receive the text from my Free Press editor, so I was able to respond to his comments in a piece that will be published Friday.

Instead of watching, I attended an oil shale forum at CMU. The Math and Science Center, who recently received a grant from Chevron, wanted to present a balanced look at oil shale. Presenters included Jeremy Boak, a Colorado School of Mines professor who hosts an annual oil shale conference at his university; Randy Udall, an expert on peak oil and investing in alternative fuels; and Jim Spehar, a local columnist and former Grand Junction mayor and county commissioner. They each had a very different look at the industry.

Boak, a geologist, spoke to the science of oil shale, including highlighting the difference between shale oil and oil shale. Udall spoke to the folly of expecting widespread commercialization, pointing out the fact that it is always just 10 years down the road, and will always be just 10 years down the road. Spehar discussed the impacts on communities of boom and bust cycles. Unfortunately Spehar assumed that his audience understood what the word “infrastructure” means to governments, and got pretty lost in the weeds of how tax revenues flow to cities and counties.

This forum was taped, and will be available within the next week at the math and Science Center’s website. If you watch the video you’ll never think of potatoes and oil shale in the same way again.

Homework

Math and Science Center

KREX Report on Oil Shale Forum