| I'm not sure which quote is more fitting when it comes to Michael Badagliacco (MJB) and his written ramblings. Is it "Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In!" from The Godfather, part three or former Denver Bronco's head coach Lou Saban's "They're killing me Whitey! They're killing me!" Since Badagliacco's pulled me back into the conversation, I might just go with Tombstone's: "I'll be your huckleberry." MJB has not been able to move past the recent recall of his buddy, Scott Mijares, so he is dragging everybody into his fit over it. Sue Hansen, who he first labeled "Queen Bee" -— misogynist much? — is his main target. Although he did grant her sainthood in his last piece in the Montrose Mirror – someone needs to call Pope Leo; MJB's trying to take his job – when he decided to attack the newly-elected commissioner Kirstin Copeland. When he nonsensically attacks Hansen he takes a passive aggressive approach to attacking the Montrose Daily Press. I thought this whole episode was behind us. Apparently, a couple of decisions were made by the Montrose County board that MJB didn't approve of, including the termination of Interim County Manager David White and the elimination of the made-up position of Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Administrative Assistant and Project Coordinator, filled by previous unaffiliated district three commissioner candidate Trisha Murray. This position was once budgeted as the Assistant County Manager but reallocated after the departure of Emily Sanchez during the Mijares turning-over-of-the-tables episode back in March and April. The administrative assistant position was requested by Commissioner Sean Pond, who wanted to hand it over to Murray, who was at the time a legal assistant in the Montrose County Attorney's office. He emailed Human Resources Director Leslie Quon on April 17 about his intentions. He wanted to avoid posting the position, but Quon in an email response let him know that legally it had to be posted. Shortly thereafter Murray resigned her position as legal assistant and accepted the BOCC position. On May 5 she sent an email to Pond and Mijares, "Excited to be moving forward and part of a team that will move the County forward in the best interest of the people." Hansen was not included in the email. When Hansen was told they were moving forward with the position and informed she could use Murray as her assistant too, she responded that she hadn't needed an assistant during the previous six years, so why would she need one now. After the current board decided to terminate the contract of Interim County Manager David White and conduct a nationwide search for a new county manager it made sense that they would want to clear the deck for a new county manager to hire a new assistant county manager. Murray's position was then eliminated. That logic seems to be escaping MJB. He claims that Hansen is "cleaning house" in short order, labeling it a purge. He notes that there are 20 open positions in the county. That's actually down from the 30-plus number reported in July. Hansen and the current board didn't make a public spectacle about the termination of White's contract. White was told and according to him, as reported in the Montrose Daily Press, there were no hard feelings. Hansen thanked White for his work on the 2026 budget. Apparently, White didn't check in with MJB about his feelings on the situation or maybe he did. I don't speculate about how others may be feeling, I refer to their own words. MJB cites that MIjares received bad press for his actions when he decided to make personnel changes. It was his approach that put him in that position. Instead of merely coming clean about his intentions, Mijares put undue pressure on then County Manager Frank Rodriguez and County Attorney Marti Whitmore to quit. The appropriate action would have been to make a motion at a BOCC meeting to terminate their contracts instead of making their work lives miserable and consequently others around them. But he didn't. It appeared his plan was for them to resign under pressure. We know he targeted the two because the HR Director stated so in her interim county manager resignation letter. As for White, it was the termination of his contract which was set to end in January and for Murray, it was the elimination of a prior nonexistent position. It required at least two board members to make the decision on White. MJB and others defended Mijares' actions against Rodriguez by stating the commissioners have a right to choose their manager. Is that same logic not in play here? Hansen has publicly stated that she preferred a professional manager and not a former commissioner as the candidate's only experience. Murray and Pond have a history. Back in February of 2024 when a group of West Enders were working in the "Halt the Dolores" group, Pond wanted to donate funds to Murray's campaign. Others in the group did not want to spend funds on political candidates. There were other issues and a meeting was called with Pond, but he didn't show. It was the beginning of the end of the group working together and it became ugly after that, including Pond posting attack videos on social media against some in the group and their businesses. Murray, an independent candidate running against Republican Rick Dunlap for the District 3 county commissioner seat, was also allowed to speak at a Republican fundraiser in October of 2024 that was led by Doris Van Ness, a Pond loyalist. Dunlap was already unhappy with the event coordinator because he wasn't invited and had to crash the party. He was offended, as well as others, that the unaffiliated candidate and his opponent was allowed to speak at the event. According to some who attended the event it was at the request of Pond to allow her to speak. After it was clear that the Dolores Monument designation wasn't going to happen a group of stakeholders began looking at a National Conservation Area designation for the Dolores. The idea was to prevent a future effort for a monument. In January of 2025, Hansen and others in the stakeholder group held a public feedback meeting on the West End. Both Murray and Pond spoke against it during public comment. Van Ness expressed her displeasure that Pond was not on the committee. Again, Pond handpicked Murray for the BOCC administrative assistant position with Mijares' blessing. Murray took a risk by aligning with the two commissioners despite already having a county position. The position change amounted to a $1.73 per hour raise and a lot of confusion with her coworkers on exactly what her position was. Here is where "they're killing me Whitey" comes into play. Instead of speculation and pushing false narratives, MJB should use publicly available information like meeting recordings, emails and news reports to form better, more informed opinions. But then again, let's not let facts get in the way of his and the Republican central committee's executive team's divisive agenda and attacks on the first female majority Montrose BOCC. "They're killing me Whitey! They're killing me!!" wins. Dennis Anderson is publisher of the Montrose Daily Press and Delta County Independent. | 
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