Opinion

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The Business Times Contributors THE BUSINESS TIMES august 25-sePtember 14, 2022JANUARY 15-28, 2015 Opinion Opinion Business BriefsA new year affords Business Peoplea new opportunity to meet local needs Almanac

A new year almost always brings an opportunity for a fresh start and renewed ambition to do things better.

In business, that usually boils down to providing customers better products and services faster and at lower cost than competitors. Part of the process must include listening to customers to determine what they actually need and then meeting that need. After all, it does little good to offer the latest and greatest if nobody actually wants what you’re selling.

Just like the businesses that belong to the group, the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce invariably starts out the new year with a reassessment of the services and resources it provides and how well they match with members needs. Jeff Franklin, the new chairman of the chamber board of directors, personifies this approach in describing what he considers his role for the coming year: listen to members, determine their needs and then meet those needs. It’s a role with which Franklin is familiar as market president of Bank of Colorado.

The process will take on a more structured approach in what the chamber plans as the resumption of a program aptly called Listening to Business. Under the program, business owners participate in in-depth interviews to identify barriers to growth and other problems they encounter.

The new year offers a good time to join the proverbial club.

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It’s that time of year when resolutions and prognostications abound. My favorite saying applied to New Year’s resolutions is in saying they’re basically a bunch of promises to break the first week of January. And while I won’t predict a whole lot, I can pretty much accurately nail a few things that without question will make the news. You will see these are pretty, well, predictable: ■ Prediction one: There will be some sort of weather event, natural disaster or heinous occurrence where someone will be interviewed and say the following: “I’ve never seen anything like that in my lifetime.” It’s as if this person is a required attendee at every news reporting event. While I understand most people’s perspective can indeed be limited by, or contained within, their own personal experiences, it is too much to ask to consult some historical perspective before saying such a thing? Yes, this response can apply to some events. But when it comes to weather and natural disasters, I’m pretty sure this is simply history repeating itself. Same as it has for millions and millions of years. More important, the planet made it! What didn’t were certain species. How’s that for perspective? ■ Prediction two: When it comes to a crime or something that occurs between humans, the other required attendee at all news reporting events is the person who says this: “They we’re just the nicest people, and in no way did I see something like this coming.” Exactly. No one does most of the time when it comes to neighbors and acquaintances. People should be surprised at what goes on from time to time in their neighborhoods, towns and with people they know because people are good. And for the times that they shouldn’t be shocked — like with politicians, repeat offenders and terrorists — where’s the interview that says, “This doesn’t surprise me in the least.” ■ Prediction three: Something good will happen economically, and the government will take credit for it. The most recent example is gas prices, where people ask me why I won’t credit the president for low gas prices. My answer is simple: Government never makes the price of something go down and simply takes credit for good news. Gas pricing is subject to many global factors. Now there are government answers to addressing some of them to keep prices stable for Americans, but our government has none of them in place. The only things it has in place in the

Bold predictions for 2015 more like not-so-bold repeats long run always hurt consumers. Another fact is that unemployment reaches a certain level based on the economy. And while the government might brag the number is low, it’s more than likely the government did something to cause that number being low — and not in a good way. Conversely, when business picks up, it’s because the people who need to buy widgets who were not buying widgets because the economy was contracting due to natural (or unnatural, government caused) reasons, decided we better buy some widgets. The government had nothing to do with this. ■ Prediction four: In keeping with things the government does, I predict the government will manipulate the numbers to make the claim the economy is getting better because of how hard it is working to help all of us “working Americans.” Now Craig Hall you might say, “Craig, you always say this about President Obama because you don’t like him.” You’re right in a sense. I don’t know the man, but what I know of him and his thinking, I don’t like it or him one iota. Before you go off, however, I didn’t like President Bush and his bailouts, stimulus and his abandoning the free market to save the free market. And I don’t know him either. What the government does, and the only thing it can do, is hurt the economy. Unless it does nothing or put criminals in jail instead of partnering with them, nothing the government does will help. Always look at it this way, whatever the government says it is doing, whatever the name of the law it is passing, or whatever the name or goal of the bureaucracy it is presenting to the people, expect the polar opposite to occur. I guess what I’m saying is that perhaps it’s time to get out of our own perspective. There’s plenty of history books and historical research out there to begin to understand that all of this has happened before. And it will again, whether the topic is people or government. The best recommendation is to find some books or try that whole Google thing. There’s a lot of information on the Great Depression. The truth is it wasn’t even a good one until the government got involved. There’s also plenty of research on the medieval warm period when the planet was much warmer than today with a whole lot less people (and warmer well before man was here at all). And yep, people have been killing other surprised people since history was first written. Maybe some research will help stop all of these trends. Otherwise, we’ll be saying we’ve never seen anything like it in our lives. And not in a good way. Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 Copyright © 2022 — All rights reserved. or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com. F ✦

And my conclusion isn’t hidden in some secret, inaccessible code no one can look at as the ultimate proof. It’s actually rather obvious after spending an hour watching the public relations video for Tina Peters and Sherronna Bishop.

Tina Peters needs to resign.

This doesn’t mean Tina can’t fight her voter fraud battle or criminal charges. But it’s time to stop doing so in the name of Mesa County citizens. Tina is no longer working for the people of Mesa County. (Full disclosure, I’ve met with Tina a few times about her fight and some project ideas, but nothing came of them.) She seems to focus all her energy on making speeches about election fraud nationally instead of working to make license lines shorter, cleaning up voter rolls, getting back in her office (might be a sign) and doing whatever else a county clerk should be doing. Frankly, Tina seems to have forgotten actually proving fraud in Mesa County should be a main goal — a proof she claims in the video is as plain as the nose on our faces, yet shows only theories, no proof — and not some afterthought.

Given Tina’s desire to speak at symposium after symposium on the My Pillow Guy’s dime, it’s evident Tina’s focus is becoming the voice and face of voter fraud in the country and not the voice of the people of Mesa County. The video “(S)election Fraud” feels like a PR attempt to make Tina and Sherronna sympathetic victims of those who’d cheat us out of our votes. The fact is, Tina brought all of this — and some of her opponents’ tactics are questionable — on herself.

The video opens with Tina declaring she’s a cancer survivor, Gold Star mother and patriot. While each of those attributes bring some value to a person as an individual, they are by no means evidence of expertise or a righteous vision.

There are millions of cancer survivors in the United States alone. While surviving cancer was obviously a turning point in Tina’s (and many others’) life, it in no way qualified her to be county clerk. Being a Gold Star mom (I know this might be touchy for some, but it needs to be said) draws deserving sympathy for the loss of a child in service to our country, but puts Tina in a category with thousands of other moms. It doesn’t mean every action said mom takes is in the best interest of the people. As for being a patriot, let’s face it, plenty of Democrats have identified as patriots while yelling voter fraud for decades. And let’s face this

Making hay while After watching “(S)election Code,” I’ve come to one conclusion ... funding sun shines as well: It’s only yelled when one’s side loses. Next the video goes into the political

It’s always interesting — at least to me — to observe what sorts of themes tactic of divide and conquer. Or worse, emerge from the Business Times as I complete an edition. It’s not the result of destroy. Yet Tina seems to forget this any intentional effort, but rather a coincidental one that’s sometimes expected and tactic is a favorite of the left in inserting sometimes surprising. itself into every aspect of our lives while If there’s a theme that emerges from this issue, it’s the constantly inserting herself into our lives. federal funding coming into Mesa County and other areas of Heck, as I typed this, she distributed a western Colorado to address a range of objectives and pay for press release about the district attorney’s a variety of projects, facilities and other stuff. To be exact, office refusing to let her travel to see there are no less than four stories reporting on federal grants her mother and family. Perhaps such a funding everything from mobility hubs to a bus maintenance request would be granted if all of Tina’s facility and four buses. That’s not to mention grants funding other requests weren’t to go seek fame projects in Craig and Hayden to diversify the economy in and fortune as the voice and face of voter northwest Colorado and ease the transition from coal mining. fraud at events funded by the My Pillow Phil Castle Or a grant intended to help small businesses statewide access financing. The latest grants follow a surge of still more federal Craig Hall Guy. Lastly, the divide, conquer and destroy irony must be lost on Tina given the demise in Tina’s and Sherronna’s funding in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic — aid names of a local, vocal group who used to intended to speed recovery from that calamity. meet on Monday nights at a church on the

It’s reasonable to agree to disagree about the pros and cons of what some north end of town. might consider federal largesse. Hypothetically, at least, there’s an opportunity cost And that’s from just the opening. I involved. Could money spent on various grant programs be better used elsewhere? have three pages of notes from just two Or, for that matter, could the federal government actually repent from some of its perusals of the video. Even as I type, my spendthrift ways that by comparison make drunken sailors look like tightwads? brain buzzes with what feels like a need

Moreover, grants sometimes constitute the beginnings of cautionary tales. for several more. Federal funding helps launch programs and initiatives, but goes away. Then locals Here are a few general questions. are left to pick up the tab for continued operations. Why didn’t Tina go public with concerns at

On the other hand, there’s an argument to be made federal grants are nothing the time they occurred? Why were almost more than dollars coming home and spent to benefit those who paid the taxes in all of Tina’s actions clandestine when she the first place. claims to be a champion of transparency?

Tiffany Pehl, the new executive director of the Associated Governments Why would Colorado Secretary of State of Northwest Colorado, raised yet another important point in an interview that Jena Griswold insert herself into our city served as the basis for the cover story in this issue. Given the infusion of federal council race? Why is the video basically and state funding to help, there might not be a better time to intensify efforts to a professionally done message of claims diversify the regional economy. that have been covered, investigated and

I suspect I’m preaching to the choir, but let me state this again just in case. answered? And lastly, why is Sherronna’s Entrepreneurs and the businesses they operate create jobs. Not governments, role so big in the video? although elected officials shamelessly take credit for them. For the last question, some answers

But governments play a role in the process for better or worse. Better when are obvious, but others I’ll leave in the fair and clear laws maintain an even playing field and reasonable taxes enable gray areas like the video did as they entrepreneurs to take the risks that lead to rewards. Worse when regulations make relate to people’s intentions. That said, it more difficult and costly for businesses to operate and policies end up picking what happened at Sherronna’s and Tina’s winners and losers among competing enterprises. homes seemed to be out of line, but

Government grants can play a role as well when they promote entrepreneurship way less out of line than the accusations by removing barriers — large capital expenditures, for example —or reducing the made about the district attorney’s office. costs or risks associated with doing business. What happened at those homes might be

That’s a theme worth considering situations that got out of hand, but what F the DA was accused of in the video is reprehensible. To paraphrase Sherronna’s online, cherry picking of Proverbs 18, the truth might be in other side of the story. But that’s karma when mocking the Word. We’re all on the side against voter fraud. But this video does little to prove Tina’s on the right side of anything. Well, except Tina being on one side. The side she, Sherronna and their benefactors want to promote. And that doesn’t improve the life of one person in Mesa County. Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.