Elected leaders and health officials came en masse from across the state on bended knee to beg Gov. Polis for redress from his random and unyielding COVID-19 orders.
No more surprises, they pleaded. Take a non-partisan approach, a collective vision. Meet with us. Tell us what the Hell is going on so we can create a unified front with you to govern the masses with a centralized message.
The petition came from Colorado Counties, Inc., Colorado Municipal League, Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, Colorado Hospital Association, and Counties & Commissioners Acting Together.
It sounds like their constituents are angry, and officials are ill-equipped to explain, defend, or enforce Polis’s ever-changing rules.
The letter to Polis asks for a better partnership between local and state decision-makers, asking for “no surprises and early engagement.”
“Surprises undermine our collective credibility and puts us at odds unnecessarily with the public we are trying to impress upon. Commissioners and other local elected and appointed officials can locally elevate a unified message in tandem with the State, but to do so, we must be involved at the onset,” the letter stated.
For all their diplomatic efforts to ask for relief, inclusion, cooperation — Polis told them all to pound sand.
A governor’s spokesman basically told 9News they already meet with locals, who should be happy the state gives them the time of day.
The only elected official in Colorado who matters anymore is Jared Polis, who rules autonomously without the state legislature, and only coordinates however he pleases with local elected officials.
We’ve seen what happens when localities brazenly defy the king.
Polis sends in state regulators to shut down businesses, confiscate property and issue fines.
When localities try to reason and play nice with the Great and Powerful Polis, they are dismissed like peasants.
We suppose it could have been worse.
