The Mesa County Republican Victory Office held its grand opening today with a standing-room-only crowd in attendance. Ruth Ehlers, Mesa County Republican Chairman, her officers, and about 150 people welcomed Colorado Republican leaders and campaigners to their headquarters which are located centrally in Grand Junction. Several press outlets, including television stations, were present. The leader of the Democrat party from San Miguel county was also huddled in the crowd, apparently tracking the words and activities of the GOP candidates present.
The Victory Headquarters will serve as both the home of the Mesa County Republican Party and the Romney for President Campaign in Western Colorado. The Romney Campaign has called upon the GOP Chairs in each Colorado county to oversee its efforts.
Jared Wright, the candidate for State House District 54 spoke first, urging those present to be active in getting their friends and neighbors to register to vote in November.
Ray Scott, the incumbent candidate for Colorado House District 55, spoke briefly about his doings in the State House over the last two years. Ray Scott was selected by the American Conservative Union as one of the most Conservative members of the Colorado State Assembly. He received this recognition, along with several other Republican Assemblymen, at the Western Conservative Summit last weekend in Denver. Congressman Scott emphasized the need for an economic boon in Western Colorado in the form of busines-friendly legislation. He called out Governor Hickenlooper to use his influence to spur the energy sector. Ray Scott detailed his tireless work on behalf of small-business and conservative interests in the state.
State Senator Steve King of Grand Junction, also a recepient of the ACU's Most Conservative Colorado Legislator award, gave some remarks about the economy, the burdensome regulations that the federal government has imposed on Colorado industries, and the need for the Colorado Senate to have a Republican majority as a result of the November elections.
Rose Pugliese, the candidate for Mesa County Commissioner in District 3, spoke about her plan to decrease local regulations that currently inhibit business growth in Mesa County.
Scott Tipton, the incumbent candidate for the United States House of Representatives in Colorado's District 3, one of the largest Congressional districts in the country, spoke emphatically about the potential of Colorado's energy economy. Tipton, a small-business owner and long-time resident of rural Western Colorado, hammered home the message that the Federal Government has done more to destroy small-businesses that it has to help them. The energy economy, he said, just needs government and the Obama Administration to get out of the way. He recalled that President Obama has subsidized other countries, like Brazil, that received 2 billion dollars of American tax-payer money, to help them expand their off-shore oil industries, while simultaneously blocking energy exploration and expansion in the United States.
The overarching theme of the speeches give by Colorado Republican candidates who were present was the need for jobs on the Westen Slope, which has languished with an adjusted unemployment rate of 10.8 percent, and an actual jobless rate around 20 percent.
The Romney Victory Team coordinators were present. They recruited several enthusiastic attendees to walk precincts and man the headquarters phone bank, which was immediately abuzz with volunteers making phone calls, assembling yard signs, and planning the election season activities.
The Mesa County Republican Party opened the official election headquarters with a sense of unity and optimism. The board of directors of the MCRP has worked hard to unify the party and pull together people of diverse political stripes, from Republicans, to Libertarians, to Independents, to ensure that the principles of individual liberty and limited government win the day on November 6th, 2012.