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The recent Daily Sentinel editorial about the Delta Petroleum “mistake” in going ahead with its project without a conditional use permit seems to be missing one very obvious circumstance. The Sentinel gave County Commissioner Meis its endorsement seemingly either considering he did not have any conflict of interest issues with energy activities in the county or that they were of no real concern. Isn’t it interesting that Meis’ company had done work for Delta?
Why would an experienced energy company move ahead on a project knowing full well that permit requirements are an everyday fact of life in their business? You don’t think that maybe they felt it was of little concern that there would be a potential problem because they felt that they were “wired” in to the county with their relationship with Meis? Isn’t the controversy over Meis not only the possibility of actual conflicts of interest but just the appearance of conflicts? With most elected public figures, that is a major consideration for their fitness for office.
Furthermore, isn’t the job of commissioner a full-time job and the pay recognizes that fact? Why does the Sentinel feel that Meis should be measured by relaxed scrutiny not available to other elected officials?
Supposedly Meis’s value to the county is the knowledge he has because of his “other” job. That job is to help energy companies with their profitability. Is Meis’s loyalty to his ongoing clients of his “real” job or the citizens of Mesa County?
Isn’t it the job of the county to make judgments and then have energy companies having disagreements with them challenge them and prove their case rather than having Meis making them first, without public scrutiny, just because he “knows” the industry?
It would be interesting to have an outside investigative publication evaluate Mesa County governance.
JOHN BORGEN
Grand Junction
One Response to “Did Delta Petroleum have an in with Meis?”
Posted October 18th, 2008 at 3:10 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
The question of “conflict of interest” on the part of Commissioner Meis is a central issue in the race for his seat. After cancelling a debate with his opponent so that he could be sure to make a Club 20 retreat on Grand Mesa, Mr. Meis attended the Tree House fund raiser at Two Rivers Convention Center on Friday night. Most of his time that evening he spent in the company of one of the men who appeared before him on Monday to try to affect his vote on the “man camp” issue. That man is a friend of Mr. Meis and a manager for, you guessed it, Delta Petroleum. I am not an eavesdropper so I cannot tell you what they discussed. Perhaps, they talked of the weather.
In fact, two of the men who appeared for Delta Petroleum at the Monday hearing are old acquaintances of Mr. Meis. While they are all fine citizens and, no doubt, good men, they have similar agendas. They are too close.
This coziness, I believe, has led to a situation where, energy companies are setting up industrial shops in the semi-rural Ag land around the valley, and the impacted rural landowners (who are justifiably upset )are being told that the 51 step process to enforce the Code can take up to two years. This has prompted a recent letter writer( an impacted neighbor) in the FreePress to refer to the process as an “unofficial incubator program” for the oil and gas industry.
This increasing display of apparent cronyism and favoritism by Commissioner Meis is like a runaway freight train carrying an enormous load of liability for Mesa County. Technical expertise belongs at the Planning Commission and staff level, not the commissioner level. Perhaps Commissioner Meis should return to his regular job in the industry, and restore some balance to Mesa County government. The voters can arrange that.
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