Mayor’s Facebook post resulted in vitriol, death threats

Glenwood Springs Mayor Jonathan Godes apologized in the opening moments of the city council meeting on Thursday night for a social media post he made recently regarding U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Rifle.

The issue centered around a photo of Boebert from 2019 outside of the Colorado State Capitol that featured members of right-wing militia groups, some of whom were flashing a sign of “3-Percenters.” The militant group erroneously believes only 3% of American colonialists fought back against the British during the Revolutionary War, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

The image resurfaced following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 by supporters of former President Donald Trump, with some falsely claiming on social media that the men pictured were rioters and that Boebert gave them a tour of the Capitol prior to the assault.

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Boebert has adamantly denied she gave any such tours, and publicly blasted some Democratic members of Congress who suggested she did.

Godes shared the image of Boebert on his mayoral Facebook account once it resurfaced. In the post, Godes quoted his mother, who told him that he was judged by the company he kept.

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“These are not the people I know who live in western Garfield County or Glenwood Springs,” Godes wrote in the post. “Please Congresswoman, for the sake of your actual constituents, keep better company.”

Five people were killed in the Jan. 6 riots. Multiple people have called for Boebert’s resignation for comments she made on Twitter prior to, during and after the insurrection. Democratic party chairs from across the state, including Garfield County, have called for a congressional investigation into her ties to militia and white supremacist groups.

Godes said the post criticizing Boebert was up for 12 hours and that he received numerous hate comments and even death threats in its wake. He ultimately disabled his entire Facebook account due to the intense negative reaction, adding that he even took the death threats to the police.

“As an elected official in a community that is represented by the congresswoman, I felt it was important to make a clear distinction that these people and these hand signs do not represent the citizens of Glenwood Springs,” Godes said during the council meeting.

He apologized for potentially misidentifying the hand signals and for any other possible misunderstandings that came from the post.

However, Godes was adamant about condemning white supremacy, the Capitol attack, anti-government militia groups and Boebert’s tweets and “rhetoric that might have inspired the insurrection.”

He also noted he wasn’t responsible for the post going viral and that it had been circulated by a Denver news anchor who has more than 120,000 followers on Twitter and other Colorado news publications.

Garfield County resident Sherronna Bishop was the only person who spoke during the public comment portion of the council meeting, using her three minutes to condemn Godes’ social media post and apology.

“The original posts that you made … you immediately connected them to trigger words like ‘white supremacists’ and ‘Nazis’ and ‘terrorists,’” she said. “When you did that, mayor … you have drawn all kinds of parallels falsely. You have again, without discretion, without really considering what your role is as the mayor of Glenwood Springs, you’ve put people in harm’s way.”

Bishop added that the post about Boebert went viral after Godes’ remarks on social media, saying it started because of his dislike or hatred for Boebert.

She concluded with a reminder that Glenwood Springs elections were upcoming, and Godes should know there will be consequences for his actions.

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