It turns out that Democrats in the hinterlands aren't impressed by Brandon Shaffer's plan to take care of himself and throw the rest of his party and rural Colorado off the back of the boat.

The Brandon-Mander is good for Brandon Shaffer, but not rural Colorado.

Witness a column from prominent West side liberal Jim Spehar in the Grand Junction Sentinel. (Thanks to the GJ Sentinel for turning the pay wall off on this article). An attentive reader from points West sent it to the Peak first thing this mornin', and we appreciate it much.

In the column, Spehar, who ran for Congress and plays a big role in Democratic politics statewide, takes the Brandon-Mander to task.

"Democrats would create a situation where all seven of Colorado’s representatives in the U.S. House could live within spitting distance of the State Capitol. Montrose GOP state representative Don Coram may have been a bit too gentle when he labeled the Democrats’ maps “bovine fecal material"…But even a committed Democrat has to be concerned when his party’s plans make hamburger out of the Western Slope and leave the steaks to be parceled out elsewhere.

Spehar also notes, as we have, that the Brandon-Mander comes at grave personal political cost to Sal Pace, who was campaigning in Grand Junction just the other week.

Importantly, Spehar points out that he himself argued for competitive districts in a previous Op-Ed, but that Democrats map are bad for Colorado regardless of any competitive arguments. 

When former Democrat Congressional candidates are ripping Democrat maps you know something is up. Rural Coloradans, regardless of party, are not pleased with this political power play to boost the metro Democrats to the detriment of everyone else. Time for Democrats to go back to the drawing board.

We agree with Spehar and other West Slope Dems: the Brandon-Mander is worse than “bovine fecal matter.”

To read the whole Op-Ed by Jim Spehar click here.