Brief by Allen Best
Politics – October 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Several of the ski-anchored counties of Colorado’s Western Slope are threatening to bolt from Club 20, the regional public interest lobbying group. The flashpoint for the dissatisfaction is the increasing domination of the group by the booming oil-and-gas industry.
Telluride’s Art Goodtimes, a commissioner from San Juan County, resigned from the organization in April after losing his spot as an elected official within the group to an oil-and-gas industry consultant.
“The club has been taken over by the oil and gas industry, from its recent leadership to its big-gun funders,” he said in his resignation letter.
Two other ski-dominated counties, Gunnison and Pitkin counties — which include Crested Butte and Aspen respectively — similarly compared grievances at a recent meeting.
Rachael Richards, a former Aspen mayor who is now a Pitkin County commissioner, said she is dismayed with Club 20’s stance on oil and gas regulations, which she says pays little attention to the agriculture, tourism, and recreation industries.
Too, there is dissatisfaction with Club 20 being seen as broadly representative of the Western Slope.
The organization was seen as trending away from its conservative roots and being more welcoming of resort-valley environmental interests in recent years.
Club 20 voting is premised upon a one-member, one-vote arrangement. Private companies, as well as local governments, are eligible to join. Of late, the membership has swelled with oil and gas companies, who have advanced an agenda that, as seen from the perspective of Richards and Goodtimes, puts people and the environment in the back seat.
Is it time for other ski counties to leave Club 20? Richards told a reporter in April that she didn’t plan to push for Pitkin County’s exit, but in a meeting in Gunnison, she sounded more exasperated in comments reported by the Crested Butte News. Club 20 must figure out better how to issue formal positions that better reflect minority opinions, she said.
Reeves Brown, executive director of Club 20, disputes the charge of steamrolling. “The majority rules, but the minority always have their day in court,” he told the same newspaper.
