The Daily Sentinel’s editorial of Dec. 23, regarding the “small tent” that the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce has become, was spot on. The local chamber, of which I am a past board member and member, seems nowadays to be more a mouthpiece for partisan politics than a promotional entity for private business.

Bill Grant’s observations on the same page were also spot on. That the chamber would endorse an attempt to deny citizens’ right to petition, cast out members who disagree with the official the party line, withdraw its clear support of a watershed protection ordinance enacted by a conservative City Council and an involved public and be interested in the suppression of discussion around protection of our precious natural resources, which are the reason that most of us came to western Colorado and stayed, are clear statements of the policies of the current chamber.

But the chamber does not speak for all of its members in its insistence to justify its existence via politics.

Its endorsement of Bernie Buescher’s opponent was at the root of his defeat and was, in my view, a calculated partisan political move to unseat him. Buescher was a terrific legislator destined for leadership, who was and will always be a spokesman for not just western Colorado interests, but for Colorado as a whole.

This arrogant, spiteful, payback endorsement, together with the current chamber positions mentioned earlier, led me to determine that indeed, the chamber doesn’t fit for me anymore.

To paraphrase the famous Beatles tune, allow me to add that I’m not the only one.

BILL WAGNER
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.