If you thought you saw a mushroom cloud over the town of Naturita this week, it may not be your imagination. Montrose County commissioner and U.S Senate wanna-be Sean Pond is exploding after being rejected by the Republican Party at their state assembly last weekend. He’s imploding on social media at the same time. Will that lead to spontaneously combusting? Pond, who needed at least 30% of the state delegates vote to be placed on the Republican Primary ballot, fell short with 22%. He also failed to get the required number of signatures to petition onto the ballot. He needed 1,500 from each congressional district. Pond has spiraled into conspiracy theories of the Republican machine pre-choosing the winners. No one is safe, including the one he previously called the best representative CO-3 has ever had, Lauren Boebert. Others he holds responsible include State Rep. Matt Soper and former State Senator and now-Garfield County Commissioner Perry Will. If you run into a wolverine when you're out walking a trail, thank Perry Will. Why is Pond upset with these three? They rallied around his opponent and the only candidate of the six options to make the ballot, state Senator Mark Baisley. Pond finished second. He was so close, but yet so far. Some people when they’re upset scream into their pillow, punch a hole into a wall or eat a gallon of ice cream to cope. Pond turns on his camera and records his anger-rant; and worse yet, he posts the rant on his social media. It’s like watching the Jerry Springer Show without the paternity test. Lauren Boebert stood on the stage and nominated Baisley. Wait a tick, Boebert was a dear friend according to Pond’s past posts and one of the assembly video rants. According to him, she approached him at the assembly apologetically and told him what was coming and that she had no choice but to do so. According to Pond the friends hugged and parted ways. It doesn’t sound like it lessened the blow of the gut punch. Soper, who has felt the wrath of past rants from Pond, supported his state legislature colleague at the assembly. Will was on the stage as Boebert made the nomination. If you ain’t with Pond then you are the problem. Somehow I think Soper and Will will survive their lack of loyalty to the man who has declared the pair RINOs in the past. Now for sure, Pond has some legitimate complaints. It’s been reported that there were 80 more ballots cast than there were delegates. Issues at check-in and problems with the ballot machine were also reported. Who let Tina Peters out of prison to run this election? Colorado Republican State Chair Brita Horn, whose last day in her position was Friday, April 17, has taken the brunt of the blame for the dysfunction. But make no mistake about it, Pond blames the party machine. Pond states that the only candidate who would have beaten incumbent John Hickenlooper is – drum roll please – you guessed it, him. Instead, according to Pond, the Republican Party is sending Mister Rogers to the General Election. It’s a beautiful day in the Republican neighborhood. There’s no truth to the rumor that Mr. McFeely is Baisley’s campaign manager. If Baisley changes into a cardigan sweater and deck sneakers when he gets home at the end of his day … I’m out. Now, you would think that Pond would lick his wounds and plan his next move instead of flying off the handle. The man who in the past year would publicly identify RINOs within the party based on conversations he could see but not hear, matching coffee cups and those who sat together at various meetings, is now saying the whole damned party is the problem. He’s taking a stand: people over party. Pond jumped ship and joined the American Constitution Party. The ACP makes Lindsey Graham look like Bernie Sanders. Pond accepted their nomination less than a week after the GOP said thanks, but no thanks. Did three blokes go into a broom closet and vote? Was it two to one against and Pond made the cut at 33% of the vote? Maybe it was unanimous. Who knows? What’s the loophole that lets him skirt the state election rule that states a candidate must declare their party affiliation by Jan. 2? Now, you may be asking yourself why he didn't reach the required signatures to get on the ballot. That’s not his fault and shame on you for thinking so. Pond, who raised a little over $29K according to his FEC campaign report, claims he traveled the state extensively, hitting almost every county, and says he and his staff did everything possible to get the signatures. He also claims he received enough signatures in every congressional district except his own. How would it look if he turned in petitions from every district but his own? he opined in one of his videos. Why did he fail in his own district? In a word – complacency. You darn Republicans put the petition packet on your vehicle dashboard or kitchen table and figured someone else would do the work. In the words of Johnny Dangerously’s Roman Moroni, you lazy bastages let your boy down. Now, I recall another Montrose County commissioner who dropped her Republican affiliation because of her dissatisfaction with the party and was hammered by the local party for it. I remember the Montrose County Chair Monty George’s finger-wagging speech towards Sue Hansen during public comment at a BOCC meeting. How dare she, after all they did for her including appointing her to the then vacant seat? They did the same for Pond. See you at the next BOCC meeting, Mr. George. Now, there is some joy out there over this unraveling of the Pond political career, even though he says he’s not done. He's out there in the cyber sphere bashing the Republican Party. He believes he’ll beat all takers in the General Election joining other ACP politicians who won their elections. Oh wait, that would be no one. And that other explosion you may have heard was the simultaneous sound of champagne bottle corks popping by everyone in the West End, celebrating the demise of the tyrant who publicly tried to bully them. How about people over everything in politics from now on? I know, I’m a dreamer. Dennis Anderson is publisher of the Montrose Daily Press and Delta County Independent. |
