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Recall is not the solution

My Side
Mark Janda

The same few people who were trash-talking Colleen Truden now want to blow off the will of the people who voted for her and waste taxpayer money on a recall election.

Since these few people have had numerous articles all stating the same few half-truths, I’d like to address a few issues.

We voted for Colleen because she promised change, because this district badly needed and wanted it. Law enforcement up and down the valley complained they were not getting help from Mac Meyers or his office, and they were extremely frustrated.



Mac writes commentary drivel, all the while not seeing the forest for the trees. He said Colleen doesn’t know budgeting. Mac doesn’t understand budgeting’s most basic principle, which is pay the bills. By his own admission, Mac not only didn’t pay a very important bill, but also threw $60,000 in bonuses to people who decided to leave when Colleen won the election. It doesn’t sound like Mac was concerned about the people of this district, nor the $60,000 we paid.

His commentary was was placed just opposite a page telling how illegal drugs and related crimes have gotten out of control. The Post Independent and its affiliates did a five-part series on how bad things have gotten while Mac and his resignees were in the distict attorney’s office.



Emergency room doctors verified seeing widespread increase in drug and alcohol abuse over the last few years. Mac cut off the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team, another arm of law enforcement against drug abuse. One defense attorney wrote he was very happy with Mac and that he had made a comfortable living since moving here.

That tells me that crime not only pays, but it pays well when law enforcement is not used.

Crime also grows by leaps and bounds just as the newspaper, doctors and police have been saying. Are we going to continue to use our county jail as a revolving door? Seven deaths reported by the newspapers in our district over the last year and a half were directly attributed to drug overdoses. We voted for Colleen to stop this nonsense.

Sherry Caloia showed her business ignorance by not knowing the difference between contract labor and people permanently on the payroll. She is unaware county commissioners control Colleen’s budget. Sherry wants to follow Mac’s footsteps and waste taxpayer’s money to deny the people what they wanted and voted for.

Sherry was too busy to run for election against Colleen, but now has time to mount a recall, give interviews, etc. Is she still billing the same amount of hours to the towns of Carbondale and Basalt while spending time mounting a recall?

The quitters made the choice to resign; Colleen just expedited their requests. When the door hit them on the ego as they left, they decided to tell the world what a tyrant they thought she was.

Many legitimate law firms, manufacturing companies, and retail organizations will accompany people out the door after they resign.

One of the quitters wants to run in the recall against her. He will not get my vote. I had to get my kids through school drug-free, while Mac and his bonus- laden resignees turned their backs on our district.

Colleen has three plus years left in her term. She deserves the chance to make it work. If, after her term, she hasn’t done the job, she can be voted out of office.

With all the other major expenses this county is burdened with, we certainly don’t need to add this recall to the mix.


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