January 10, 2023, Fairplay, Colorado.
It was a beautiful drive south and west over the Highway of Death, U.S. Route 285. (Incidentally, the stretch of 285 in Texas is known as The Death Highway.) The Park County municipal building was our destination. It was almost an hour’s worth of driving from our home in Pine, which borders the county’s eastern edge. Our purpose was to attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting at which Constitutional Conservative Dave Wissel would be sworn in as the new District 3 Commissioner. I expected, too, that after Wissel was sworn in, the new Christian-Nationalistic-Constitutional-Conservative-MAGA-Loving-Big Lie-Believing majority of the three-member board would install Commissioner Amy Mitchell as Chair of the BOCC.
I was not disappointed.
Newly-appointed District Court Judge Amanda J. Hunter administered the first oath of office to Mel Kassel, the new Clerk and Recorder. Kassel was then officially sanctioned to administer the oath of office to all the other newly elected or reelected officer holders:
You may note I’ve rounded the image of Dave Wissel. I’ve done this only to emphasize his campaign promise to find millions of hidden, stolen, or misapplied funds in the existing budget which he will hand over to Sheriff McGraw to, at the very least, provide police coverage for the county between the hours of 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. Wissel campaigned against the 1% sales tax to fund upgrades (equipment, training, personnel, wages, mental health officers, etc.) for the Sheriff’s Department. We anxiously await the fulfillment of Wissel’s campaign promise.
Ray Douglas, a soft-spoken good, and decent man made a very short and simple farewell address. As he left his chair for the last time I could not help but remember a BOCC meeting in August 2022 when a South Park Outsider named Al (some of you know who that is) told Douglas he was a disgrace to his faith and church. He called Commissioner Elsner a coward and a liar. I’m not sure Douglas ever fully recovered from that hateful comment.
It’s probably important to note here that when Wissel took the oath of office, he affirmed the oath verbatim, specifically, “… I will support the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Colorado, and the laws of the state of Colorado…” It’s important to remember that because he’s defied his oath before. As Assessor. And, one of his campaign promises for his new position as Commissioner is “I will not support, abide by or enforce any law that disregards the Constitutional Rights of the People.” No, he won’t depend upon a court to decide what’s constitutional and what isn’t. He already knows.
The courts are damned.
It’s important to also remember another of his campaign promises. “Investigate Legal Options for Increasing County Autonomy: For example, Title 30 of the Colorado Revised Statutes (§30-35-101- ‘Home Rule”) provides additional power and flexibility to county government in order to “better meet and resolve problems of growth and urbanization and to promote the health, safety, security, and general welfare of the people.’ Declaring Home Rule may be an option for ensuring county sovereignty.”
Oh, what a tangled web he weaves. “…ensuring county sovereignty?” Really?
This is a mere hint at what Wissel’s devotion to the openness and transparency he promised would be the hallmark of his term as Commissioner. Kelly Kirkpatrick, Editor of The Flume, asked him for comments after the event was over. Wissel refused to talk to him, reportedly saying, “I won’t talk to you because you are who you are.”
How could we expect less from Wissle than to emulate who is probably his new hero: Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida?
How could we expect less from Wissle than to emulate who is probably his new hero: Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida?
Another thing we all should remember is the new Chair of the BOCC, Amy Mitchell, was endorsed in her 2020 run for a seat on the Commission by Michelle Malkin. Mitchell is certainly a South Park Outsider fellow traveler, but more than that she is, in my opinion, a staunch proponent of Christian Nationalism and everything that entails. She does not like to be “attacked” or “hammered” in a public forum because she is always right, which makes you–whoever you are–wrong. She has an agenda, as does Wissel, and I’m certain they complement each other. I have no doubt one of the first agenda items she will support is giving new life to the failed proclamation of last year declaring through the proclamation that Park County is a Sanctuary for Life. In other words, the county is opposed to a woman’s right to choose.
Are we? Every one of us? And how will that get our potholes fixed?
Finally, what would Kimberly Gregory, the Head Accountable of the South Park Outsiders have done if she had known I was sitting directly behind her during the festivities? (Here she is watching Wissel hug his wife Lillian.)
Well, I don’t know what she would have done, but I did have my wee .38 in my jacket pocket just in case. Or, in the alternative, we could have had coffee and sorted out our differences.
Yeah, as if…
Great article