Rob Rogers, Vice-Chair of the Colorado Springs Democratic Party, found himself in hot water last month when he posted a meme stating “Being nice is overrated. Just find a good lawyer and choose violence.” His Facebook page is rife with posts railing against school choice and drawing conspiratorial connections to “Christian Nationalists.” Rob Rogers runs a consulting company called Subterra Insights, which offers political consulting. The lone client recommendation on the site is from current Woodland Park City Council member Teri Baldwin: “Thank you so much for everything you did to develop a strong campaign and coach me through the election.” Considering this connection, it should be no surprise that Baldwin often takes the opportunity on the dais to rail against school choice and fear monger about a farcical connection to Christian groups. In the most recent rant in the Feb. 6 city council meeting, Baldwin claimed that Charis was behind the ballot initiative efforts to save school funding. The is a baseless smear but follows her former campaign consultant’s common narrative.

Baldwin isn’t the only city council member with an agenda that goes beyond good governance. Jeffrey Geer’s Facebook page is replete with fringe ideological posts, including one stating “What in the world is wrong with gender neutral bathrooms?” in response to the DOE Office of Civil Rights investigating Denver Public Schools for discrimination against female students. Based on these comments, Geer would hypothetically support converting one of the women’s restrooms in Memorial Park to an “all-gender” restroom. That’s insane.

What’s most egregious about the blatant partisan nature of these city council members is not their political opinions. They are entitled to those. It’s their complete lack of focus on the business of the City of Woodland Park in lieu of fringe national political ideologies. I met with Teri Baldwin and a local business owner in June of last year, where the business owner shared the common obstacles that make it difficult for local businesses to open in WP. Despite promises, Baldwin never followed up with the business owner on that topic. Geer’s Facebook page is almost completely absent of any posts on city business, except those targeting school choice and falsely accusing anyone with an opposing view on school choice or funding of being associated with Andrew Womack Ministries. Geer also recently told a local resident that he had no intention to keep the sales tax, despite the contractual agreement that the city has with the district and the November vote where the majority of city voters chose to keep the tax. So much for respecting the will of the voter.

Council members were eager to pull the school funding again during their Feb. 6 meeting and were initially unaware that the district had 30 days to cure their contract by providing the financials. Now that over 140 pages of financials have been provided, will they act in good faith, or will they act according to their apparent partisan desire to eliminate school funding in Woodland Park?