Mitchell’s and Wissel’s Immutable Ideological biases ensured that
The June 4, 2024, quasi-judicial meeting of the Park County Board of Commissioners officially killed the grassroots citizens’ effort to establish a Health Service District in the Platte Canyon area of the county, home to 63% of the county’s residents. The effort was doomed from the get-go; the ideological conspiracy-friendly, no-tax, far-right, MAGA-inspired dynamic duo of Mitchell and Wissel ensured it would fail even before it got off the ground.
Interestingly, this meeting included not only the motion by District 3 Commissioner Wissel to kill the proposed Health Service District by supporting the resolution to do so but also comments from both Wissel and Commission Chair Amy Mitchell relating to the revision of “on the record” statements they made at the May 21, 2024, BOCC meeting. At that May meeting, the resolution to kill the PCHSD was set aside for attorney input and clarification in preparation for the final resolution to be voted on at the June 4, 2024, meeting.
Wissel: “I submitted my comments that I had written down, that were my draft. I had edited it before we got on the record and then added or subtracted from that article, but it’s my draft, and I’m comfortable with it.”
I don’t know for sure, but I will speculate that Wissel did not write the statement he presented at the May 21, 2024, BOCC meeting. He uses the word “article,” which affirms my suspicion. The statement was well-written, which, again, affirms my suspicion.
Mitchell: “I took out the ums and ahs and realized that I need to improve my public speaking skills some and not make a sound when I’m pausing to think.”
We can forgive Mitchell her ums and ahs.
Here is Wissel’s revised written statement for June 4, 2024. You will note that he didn’t say what is included in red below.
The applicants have attempted to paint a pretty picture of their plans. These are based upon public data primarily from our County Health Department. These are data with historic data used from the pre-COVID era. When this plan was presented to us last year, I sensed it would appear again in an application like this one.
This is a gathering of groups and other local governments who have worked together for their self-benefit(s). Each one of the listed “partner” organizations are feeding off one another’s assets and income streams.
This is a group of governments conspiring to create more government funding into perpetuity. This is just another attempt to fool the voters about the true intent of these funds. This is forcing ALL residents of the proposed service plan to pay for the few who will use it. Plain and simple to me.
Is it for primary care or is it really a shield from the State sponsored push for progressive causes? All / each of the 20 proponents is a progressive leaning individual, in my observations. That does not provide confidence for me that the true primary purpose is fully disclosed. These factors also contributed / provided me further pause that the truth has not surfaced to date.
So, Wissel perceived a conspiracy involving unnamed “groups” and “local governments” (special districts?) was afoot to fool the voters about the real intent of the Platte Canyon Health Service District proposal. Indeed, Wissel says he knew as far back as June 27, 2023, when Lynn Ramey, Director of Park County Public Heath, presented the Park County Health Assessment and Improvement Plan to the BOCC that an insidious cabal of progressives would be forthcoming with a proposal to establish a health service district.
But what was the “true intent” of the proposal? A coven of wild-eyed pinkos eyeing a takeover of the county? Indeed, after he orally delivered what came before the red portion of the quote on May 21, he paused and said, “I’ll stop….” He didn’t speak those inflammatory words on May 21 for the public record. But look at that: they appear in the corrected written record document of June 6, 2024.
Why would Wissel not give voice to his characterization of the Platte Canyon Health District Committee as “State-sponsored” progressives? Why would he not give voice to his hunch that all twenty of those who testified on behalf of the district were “progressive-leaning” conspirators out to fool the public? Why would he refrain from voicing his hunch that they were not telling the truth?
I won’t call it cowardness, but I suspect the significant Zoom viewership on that day gave him pause. It’s one thing to quietly, out of the public’s eye, communicate your ideological venom against your enemy, and it’s quite another thing to gird your loins and proclaim it from the rooftop.
Here’s another portion of Wissel’s revised written statement of June 4, 2024, that was not orally presented at the May 21, 2024 meeting:
I fully respect the reality of un and under-insured residents across our land. We must continue to address these realities into the future in all areas of our great place. Platte Canyon is like the rest of Park County, and our collective path to adequate health care and a life of fulfillment.
Use these suggestions and recommendations as constructive criticism. Re-arrange your plans, provide estimated financials with greater detail (and correct math), outreach to existing medical providers and seek a conversation with them. Lastly, who are the members of your committee? We never were told, and I forgot to ask. Who has funded the committee to date, and to what amount?
Hmm… This is classic Wissel. The first paragraph is, if not incoherent, muddled. The second paragraph is the work of the pedant Wissel, and the last three sentences reflect the good ol’ conspiracy mentality that MAGA couldn’t exist without.
As to Mitchell’s and Wissel’s contrivance that the PCHDS proposal lacked specifics even down, I suppose, to the cost of toilet paper, multiplied by the average number of unknown patients, multiplied by at least four sheets per patient, factoring in the estimated daily wipes by the staff of the nonexistent clinic, I can only suggest it was the method to their madness. They couldn’t come right out and say, Hey, we’ve got immutable ideological biases against the left-leaning Woke Progressive mob of malcontents who’ve conspired to lie about this whole business because their true intent is not to provide better health care to the Bailey area of the county, but to…
What? What was their true intent? Inquiring minds want to know.
