Fallout from the Republican County Assembly of March 11, 2022
Photo credit Forbes.com
By Sherry Simmons
03/14/2022
Edited 03/22/2022
Imagine the surprise and disappointment on the faces of the people who rented the county Annex Building Saturday following Fridays night Republican Caucus. Arriving to find the doors unlocked, and the inside in a mess. They had to clean up from the previous night before they could set up for their own event.
For those who participated in the Republican County Assembly of March 11, the lingering disappointment will reverberate for quite some time. More than a few were heard to whisper, where is Allen Maez?
The Republican Central Committee announced that Vice Chair Casey McClellan was the acting Chair for the Assembly.
First, there were questions of violations of By-laws being violated, particularly in regards to Valerie Maez’s delegate status. All protests were brushed off.
Then came the issue of the unorganized nature of the meeting itself. The meeting started at 6 pm and lasted past 11 when McClellan adjourned the meeting without following the established protocols for conducting a County Assembly. One protocol violated was that the counting of delegate voter status was completed after the meeting was adjourned.
Another key factor is the final composition of the Delegate lists for House District Assemblies, Congressional District 3 Assembly, and State Assembly. McClellan and Gardner removed a valid delegate from consideration by the Assembly.
On Monday morning, Allen Maez received a call from the Director of the County Annex, who was irate that the building had been trashed and doors left unlocked from the Friday event. Folks who had booked the building for their Saturday event were left to deal with the mess, before they could conduct their event. The Director expressed the feeling that Republicans would no longer be allowed to use the building, and that the Republican Central Committee would lose their deposit.. Numerous previous uses of the Annex by Republicans when Allen Maez was in charge had zero issues.
Also on Monday, Valerie Maez received a private apology from the Montezuma GOP Secretary Jan Gardner on behalf of the Executive Committee that an error had been committed.
Valerie responded, “get use to making apologies, you have more to make.”
When Allen Maez was conducting the Chair, he attended every event in the County, performing outreach effort for the Republican Party. He participated in 4-5 zoom meetings on a weekly basis that had topics ranging from Election Integrity to State and CD3 GOP updates, as well as arranging for individuals running for elected office to come to Montezuma County and meet the grassroots. That list includes Danielle Neuschwanger, Lauren Boebert, Ron Hanks, Greg Lopez, Shelli Shaw, Debra Flora, Gino Campana, Joe O’Dea, and Greg More, not to mention getting our new State Senaor Clive Simmons to the Cattleman’s meeting to meet us. He attends the weekly Board of County Commissioners meeting. He has a good working relationship with the Republican Women of Montezuma County who do outreach on behalf of the Republican Party, six days a week at their self-funded Conservative Grounds coffee shop. He participates at Patriot rallies, another grassroots group.
Leaving the County annex building in a mess and not locking the doors hurts the community and the Republican party. It would seem when division is a focus in a group it trickles out into other areas. Like poison, division spreads quickly and it's not particular in where it veins off to.
I'm an outsider looking in and what strikes me is how division doesn't stop. I don't know what goes on behind close doors, nor do I need to, in order to see the aftermath.
In my life, I always considered the Republican party to be conservative Christians. That being said the Bible is very clear on what to do with disputes among each other. We are to go about everything in love and kindness. I don't recall a verse in the Bible that excludes any particular party from behaving like brothers and sisters in Christ. There is nothing in Gods word that contradicts Gods commandment to love one another as I have loved you. Politics or not we are to conduct our self's in a loving brotherly way, and to me that means everywhere including the political spectrum.
Perhaps this is part of the problem we have today in the political world, we have gone on about our business as if Jesus isn't sitting in the room watching. We go on with personal agendas and puffed up characters thinking God doesn't belong in the meeting rooms or at the table in discussions. We are to go about everything in Prayer and here again there are no exceptions in scripture. How on earth can one political party achieve for the greater good if it tramples on other brothers and sisters in Christ along the way. Disagreements or not, there is a bigger calling on everyone who is in the body of Christ.
Division is a tool of Satan, and it spreads like milk on the floor, try as you might you can't ever get it all back in the bottle. It oozes down into cracks and crevices, disappearing out of reach.
I have seen- so sadly seen the division in our local republican party infect so many other areas within our community. Luke 11 17 ..".Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall." Surely any party divided will not stand either.
I am disappointed to hear how the Annex building was left. I am disappointed to hear of the disrespect for the building and the community.
I am disappointed that the republican party would put anything or anyone above the commandment to love one another. Things would certainly go differently if we could visualize Jesus sitting in the room with us.
1 Corinthians 13 1-13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love
EDITED March 22,2022
After the publication of this , I received messages. Some of those messages were rather mean, eluding that I had made the story up. I knew the source I had gotten the story from to be trust worthy, but I decided to investigate for my own piece of mind.
What I discovered was the story was true, that the doors were left unlocked, large amounts of trash left behind and the rooms left less than respectful. Further investigation showed that no one wanted to take responsibility for this. Mistakes are made, no doubt about that it is human nature, bur the decency in owning it, was void.
The Annex building is a huge blessing to our community. Community events from birthdays to celebrations of life held regularly there. The senior center is in use regularly as well, bringing much needed joy to our senior citizens.
For anyone to disrespect the building is to disrespect the members of our community. The disrespect is greatly amplified when someone does not take responsibility for their actions or lack of.
Republishing this story, with notes. I will add that I pleaded with others to send in their side of this and received nothing except the hate mail ad unkind comments.
Unfortunately we live in the days of less and less accountability. Blame games and excuses. This story would have most likely never been published if the responsible parties would have taken responsibility and perhaps an apology was warranted.