Gaslit American

An anti-hunting cabal has hijacked the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission and is racing against the clock to ram through more radical measures before @GovofCO Jared Polis (the man who packed the board with these extremists) leaves office in January. This is a scandal, #Copolitics, and an abuse of power that Governor-elect @pweiser must address before irreversible damage is done to the commission's already tarnished reputation. While the rest of Colorado focused on an election, a narrow bloc of commissioners began racing to lock in an anti-hunting agenda before Polis departs -- and before a number of them face full Senate confirmation. @rachelgabelco's reporting has documented the procedural chaos, ignored staff warnings, and the open disregard for process in a way that makes the pattern impossible to miss. At an October meeting, Commissioners Jessica Beaulieu, Rebecca Niemiec, Jack Murphy, Richard Reading, John Le Coq, and Chair Jay Tutchton ignored repeated requests from staff and @COParksWildlife Director Laura Clellan for additional time for stakeholder engagement and basic preparation. They ordered staff to produce a professional recommendation on the prairie-dog petition in just eight days. This was a deliberate compression of the process so the majority could force action on its preferred timeline. They then doubled down at the Nov. 3–4 meeting. The same Gang of Six voted to advance the citizen petition to end recreational shooting of prairie dogs on public lands toward final rulemaking in January, even after counsel raised concerns about the undefined “public lands” language. The meeting was so muddled that other commissioners had to intervene just to clarify which motions were live. The cabal's conduct clearly showed contempt for the process and the people in the room. Gang members were seen texting during the meeting. Commissioner Tai Jacober called out colleagues for smiling and smirking while rural stakeholders and county officials warned of the real-world consequences. Niemiec dropped a packet of 26 papers one minute before the meeting started, then cited one of her own silly "studies" to dismiss stakeholder engagement as a delay tactic. This fits a pattern with Niemiec, who introducing a phony "public opinion survey" finished the day before to justify slashing furbearer bag limits far below the alternatives that had been properly noticed for public comment. Sportsmen’s groups sued over that episode, alleging violations of the Administrative Procedures Act. The commissioners driving these actions do not appear to care that more lawsuits may follow. Five commissioners have not yet been confirmed by the Senate, yet are serving and voting. Some in the majority have said the quiet part out loud: they want to act now because they may not still be on the board under a new administration. Unconfirmed reports, also noted in Gabel’s coverage, claim Polis himself called at least one commissioner to urge a yes vote on the prairie dog petition. This raises ethics questions that deserve more press attention. CPW is designed to provide independent rulemaking. Direct political pressure, if it occurred, undercuts that structure and intent. Governor-elect Weiser already has said he is “frustrated” with the commission’s failure to listen to Western Slope communities and has indicated that better representation of real expertise and backgrounds matters. Seven of the 11 seats will be up for confirmation or reappointment next year. He should demand a full review of the rushed rulemakings, slow or reverse actions that bypassed normal process, and use the appointment and confirmation process to replace activists with commissioners who will manage wildlife based on science and stakeholder input. The clock is running out. The process has already been abused. Colorado’s wildlife does not belong to a temporary majority racing to lock in personal preferences before the governor leaves and the Senate finishes its work.