Re. David Grant Long’s article in the Free Press, August ’09 issue, I have a few comments.
David’s article quoting me about not fighting fair but about fighting to win lacks any context, which is not entirely David’s fault since he wasn’t present during prior discussions at earlier meetings where we went over the dishonest and unfair tactics used by the Obama forces when staging so-called “town meetings” to sell their various agenda items. We noticed that they were packing the auditoriums with their own supporters and allowing the general public to enter only after all the seats were taken. The most recent examples of that tactic being used wherever Obama shows up, would be his “town meetings” in Grand Junction and Montana. We were also concerned about union thugs shouting down and working over some of those who oppose Obama’s effort to take over health care as we have seen in other parts of the country. We expect Udall’s “town meeting” in Durango on August 27th to be run similarly since we’ve already got a list of the ground rules that heavily favor supporters of the notion that the earth is warming despite evidence to the contrary that’s been accumulating for the last eight years (Cap and Trade).
Tonia Gurnea, chair of the Montezuma County Democratic Central Committee, won’t be cut any slack, as David has been, because most of what she said (in the article) is pure, intentional fabrication. For years I’ve been dividing liberals into two types: those who know they’re lying and those who don’t. Gurnea knew she was lying.
We were firm with Ann Brown (Senator Bennet’s local representative) but we were polite and fair at both meetings. Gurnea’s claim that Ann Brown came out to us when we were gathering prior to the second meeting and said she would give us a half-hour of her time is false. Ann came out and said angrily that she wasn’t going to talk to us, that she was here to work with citizens who were having problems with federal agencies such as Veterans Administration or Social Security. Her hostility toward us raised the decibel level. We told her that we were not going away, that she was as close to the senator as we were able to get, and her job included forwarding our views on the issues to the senator. We also told her that if any citizens with any other issues showed up, we would yield the floor to them. None showed up while we were there. Ann finally caved and decided to give us a half-hour.
In David’s article Gurnea said that I claimed that I had “done research that showed all gays are pedophiles…”. Not only did I say no such thing but nothing like that was even alluded to by me or anyone else. That statement by Gurnea is a complete fabrication and there are at least 20 people who were in attendance who will swear in a court that her statement is a lie. Gurnea went on to say, “Ann tried to explain to them that wasn’t the way it was, but of course, they knew more, she knew nothing and they went on and on…”
Ann Brown clearly had no idea that the “hate-crimes” bill protected pedophiles because she was staring at us in utter disbelief. She didn’t know that the Republicans tried to get pedophilia removed from the protected list and she didn’t know that the Democrats overrode that Republican effort. Pedophiles are protected by the hate-crimes bill.
As a result of Gurnea’s intentional misrepresentations and outright fabrications of things that she claims I said, I’m now being subjected to phone harassment and threats. Toni owes me a retraction and an apology and right now I’m building my case against her in the event that I don’t get it.
Roger Hazlewood Montezuma County, Colo.
