There has been a sudden uptick in chatter from Peak Nation™ about irregularities in the recount over the fracking ban in Broomfield.
The Broomfield ban, as we wrote before the election, was the one proposed ban on hydraulic fracturing that was worth watching because that ban occurred in something akin to a swing community as opposed to a liberal stronghold. (Broomfield actually isn’t a true swing community — Barack Obama carried it twice, and Mark Udall and Michael Bennet both carried it handily — but it is certainly more so than the liberal bastions of Boulder and Ft. Collins)
Forced to compete in a left of center community, the frack banners are actually losing, albeit by a small margin — 13 votes
Heading into a recount, though, strange things are happening in Broomfield. We haven’t had time to run down all the paranormal voting activities, but these two stand out.
Cliff Willmeng
One trusted source reported that a well-known fracktivist, Cliff Willmeng tried to escort an elderly woman in to get a ballot to vote just yesterday.
Cliff, was that you trying to commit voter fraud, or were you just being a good neighbor and helping your grandma vote? Our source tells us Mr. Willmeng was denied.
Today things are getting even weirder, with reports of magically appearing ballots and an email from one trusted source reporting that the Clerk and Recorder is actively considering counting a FedEx package full of votes mailed from Boulder and received after the election date.
Packages from Boulder with votes on a Broomfield election question?
Counting ballots received after the election?
Cliff Willmeng trying to get Granny Frackellberry a new ballot?
If someone sees Cliff, the Elections Chief in Broomfield, or the District Attorney for that matter, would you mind asking them what in the world is going on?
On the question of whether or not to count ballots not received by Election Day, we would refer Broomfield vote counters to our two favorite liberal blogs for legal clarification:
No! Some people just deserve a kick in the ass!
Right Cliff I'm sure between raising your kids and working a real job you've got nothing better to do…
I don't believe that he cares as much as he says he does. He just wants the status and celebrity limelight
Here's another thing to think about: Filtering kids to schools based on District Boundaries is archaic, cumbersome and limits choice, competition. While we have boundaries, then changing them to adapt to shifts in population, new schools, etc. is a healthy practice, but it also obviously causes confusion. Adams 12 has changed their boundaries 10 times over the past seven years: http://www.adams12.org/boundary_process_timeline
Irregardless, governments and districts (and political opponents) should always be vigilant in checking the qualifications of candidates.
My friend Joseph, allow me to respectfully clear a few things up, and perhaps defend Jim Candelarie also.
Speers is indeed ineligible, but the ballots were already printed and she refused to withdraw from the race, and believe it or not, State Law is not clear about what to do in this case. Broomfield and Adams Counties asked the Secretary of State to clarify and he did on Nov 5:
10.7.5 If the designated election official determines [Adams 12 School District], after ballots are printed, that an individual whose name appears on the ballot is not qualified for office, the votes cast for that individual are invalid and must not be counted.
The machines were already set to tabulate results from this race and cannot be changed during the election, so her votes are going to be tabulated even though she's ineligible, its just a matter of whether they'll be published or not. However, since they are public record, a CORA request will undoubtedly reveal how many votes she received, but again, it won't matter.
The most sensible message to receive from all this is that Adams 12 messed up big time by not checking their boundaries and they need to fix that. There is no sense in placing blame on Clerks who have their hands tied by Laws that sometimes aren't precise enough, or need to be changed quickly to accommodate.
Cliff Willmeng your a poster boy for some america hating ass hat of a liberal. People like you are what is destroying this country. Your pathetic.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=JxI7ERflFfM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJxI7ERflFfM%26feature%3Dyoutu.be
So do you Intend on stopping volcanos, and natural oil and gas seeps? What your doing by spreading fear and propaganda is not helping. Why don't you put thus energy into something productive like improving frac technology. Make a difference, not a scene.
Class act! Love media now a days!
Of course Scott, just as soon as the industry that uses the atmosphere as its dumping ground can remove itself from utilizing air and water. The sad truth is that it does not matter what we do, or even if Colorado used no fossil fuel at all. Oil and gas are commodities, mined for profit by international corporations and that will ultimately be sold on the world market. In the mean time the costs will be externalized onto the public in the form of pollution and health impacts. So just because we attempt to boycott their products does not mean that the industry will no longer come for the community, public will or no.
*stop
If your so against franking and the oil and gas industry I suggest you atop being a hypocrite and refrain from using anything that uses petroleum or natural gas.
PLEASE SHARE love that photo http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vast-methane-plumes-seen-in-arctic-ocean-as-sea-ice-retreats-6276278.html
Glen Willmeng No – I really have no idea where they came up with that story. But given the opportunity, I would gladly help a senior citizen to vote, for sure.
Did you really walk an old lady to vote?
I'm going to have to start charging them royalties for that photo.
Awesome photo
Your trusted sources shouldn't be quoted so eagerly. Apart from being anonymously reported, they are also entirely wrong, similar to many oil and gas claims involving community self determination. Despite hundreds of thousands of dollars of that outside money, Broomfield wasn't convinced that the industry actually has their interests in mind. And you should do your readers the favor of informing them that this photo is actually of a character on a music video, and therefore fictional, or make believe. But if those are your standards of reporting, it would make sense that no respectable author or industry would want to attach their name to it. Paranormal indeed. Remember this last spring when the Colorado Oil and Gas Association turned in petitions with falsified names? What ever happened to that police investigation? http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20130603/NEWS01/306030017/Fort-Collins-Police-investigating-error-filled-COGA-fracking-petition
Violent are you…
Disturbing…. the Broomfield clerk is Jim Candelarie. He is the same clerk that was willing to count votes for *ineligible*, union-backed, Klingon speaking school board candidate, Amy Speers, who lived OUTSIDE of the director district for which she was running. And yes, you read that right – the message was nearly: "run in any race, anywhere in the state and never change addresses; and you could be elected, or at least impact the vote, so long as you're not caught." The Secretary of State had to intervene to prevent that count and awful precedent from happening. Perhaps it's time for another intervention….
Remind me why if the Broomfield vote was the only one that matters industry dumped $1M into defeating all four (mostly–perhaps totally–unsuccessfully) again? EXTRA CREDIT: How does repeating the transparently self-serving nonsense that industry and its apologists (aka, you) didn't really care about the ballots in Boulder, Lafayette or Ft Collins ("Those grapes were sour anyways!") bolster your overall credibility?
CO Peak Poli…..you ALWAYS make my day!!! ~hopelessly devoted to YOU! ♫ (here in Broomfield)
Time for another recall!!!!
Cliff nice middle finger. What do you expect from an a poorly educated coward liberal? I dare Cliff to flick me off to my face. That finger would be broke in under 2 seconds!
Cliff Willmeng, with actions like what was reported, is attempting to retain his donor base as opposed to actually making a difference for a cause he claims to believe in… Politics is all about money these days folks.. But a guy who daringly flips the "world" the "Bird", is really telling anyone who ends up seeing the photo to "F**K off", and people gave this guy money to do this…