FLASHBACK: Dammit, Janet! The Rocky Mountain Horror Show Of Mesa County
In preparation for her upcoming trial in March 2023, I am republishing my contemporaneous reporting of Tina's journey, written as it happened.
Originally published on September 8, 2021
There is something twisted and perverted going on in Mesa County, Colorado. This story is evolving daily as the Colorado cabal relentlessly pursues their coup of the western slope of Colorado.
Janet and the Betas tried to take back the narrative recently, begging the people not to be upset with them for voting to use Dominion for Mesa elections until the end of the decade. In Dominion contract shields county from civil suit, Grand Junction Sentinel author Charles Ashby shares:
“That means Dominion is agreeing not to file a civil defamation lawsuit against Mesa County like it has against others who have questioned the reliability of its products, such as My Pillow guy Mike Lindell, who continuously has claimed, without evidence, that Dominion equipment can be and has been manipulated to alter the outcome of past elections, including that of former President Donald Trump.”
for the people? or for themselves?
Now, the people of Mesa County overwhelmingly said, “Bring it” to this challenge from Dominion, but the spineless Commissioners caved to the corporate communists, clashing with the will of the people.
Worse, the agreement had a clause that shielded the Commissioners personally from defamation litigation. So, on paper, it appears that signing this contract with Dominion, against the wishes of the people of Mesa County, is about Janet and the Betas looking out for themselves.
As the defamation case in my last piece showed, Dominion sues everyone for defamation. We also showed conclusively that they have no case because the allegations against Dominion are, in fact, true. Just wait until the Maricopa Audit Report comes out.
Whether or not Ashby wants to face reality, Dominion is in trouble. Also, the Commissioners of Mesa County are spineless weasels who have failed to uphold their oaths and have betrayed the people they represent.
the question is: why?
Scott McInnis, while perfectly content to insult his constituents during public comment (check out his remarks at 1:39:45), doesn’t appear to be compromised based on our research for this reporting. And Cody Davis is new, albeit on pace to set the record for fastest time ever to sell out your constituents.
But Janet? Oh, Janet. Our research into Janet Rowland turned up some very interesting nuggets.
dammit, janet!
When Mesa stood up, she said, “can it!” (Janet)
Public trust gone, you began it (Janet)
Oh, they want audits? Say, “ban it!” (Janet)
I've one thing to say and that's,
“Dammit, Janet, I loathe you.”
There is no end to the public officials who need some good ol’ fashioned exposure. In August 2019, Mesa County Communist Spokesperson Anne Landman did an expose on Janet Rowland and, while I generally don’t praise Communists as a point of principle, Landman raises some interesting points.
plagiarism
From the Colorado Independent in February 2007, Janet was fired by Free Press where she had a column:
“A Mesa County official has plagiarized a government substance abuse booklet in her two most recent columns in the Grand Junction Free Press, that newspaper’s editor confirmed Friday. The majority of Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland’s Feb. 1 column in the Free Press, titled “The importance of a strong parent-child bond,” was lifted verbatim from a 2006 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism publication titled, “Making a Difference: Talk to Your Teen About Alcohol.”
cronyism
In January, 2007, James Garrett, the former head of the Mesa County Department of Human Services, wrote a letter to the editor of the Sentinel about his difficulty working with (then) Commissioners Rowland and Meirs. In part, he stated, "Often, the ‘directives’ that I received, again in my opinion, seemed designed to gain photo ops, build a political resumé’ or settle personal scores, whims or ideology. I could not ethically or professionally support those types of directives.”
term limit loopholes
If you're thinking, "Wait, Janet was commissioner in 2007 and now is commissioner in 2021?" Yep. That is correct. Rowland served two terms as Mesa County Commissioner from 2005-2013, which would make her term-limited to serve again except for sloppy legislative language. According to a Sentinal report,
“Rowland has served on the board before, from 2005 to 2013. She left office because of term limits. Under the state’s term-limit laws, elected officials can serve no more than eight consecutive years, unless voters remove those limits or set longer ones.”
So, it’s a loophole. The people of Mesa County should remove the word “consecutive” from their law and close that hole immediately.
questionable income
Perhaps the most curious discovery about Rowland -- and full credit to Shelly of Scientia for this find -- is her non-profit income. From 2014 to 2018, Rowland served as Executive Director of the Court Appointed Special Advocates of Mesa County (CASA MC).
CASA MC is a 501(c)3 organization and according to their website, “Our mission is to provide a voice in court for victims of child abuse and neglect in Mesa County.”
Please don’t misunderstand me: This is an honorable mission, and I hope the organization is successful. My mother has worked with at-risk youth for my entire life and, even now in her 70s, volunteers at the Department of Juvenile Justice in her city. Helping kids should be the primary goal of all of us, and I hope this organization really does that.
That said, let’s look at how they spend their money. Here is a view of their financials during the time that Janet was Executive Director. The dates, roles and figures below are summarized from this full report by non-profit explorer:
Janet_Rowland_CASA MC Download
2014
While CASA MC has been around since 2001, it doesn’t appear that the non-profit was paying any employees until 2014. That is also the year that Rowland came on as Executive Director. Coincidence, I’m sure. That year Laura Stafford took a $55,000 salary as CASA MC’s president, which was 100% of the executive compensation budget and 23% of the total budget.
2015
It’s a new year and Laura is out as President! This year they upped the executive compensation budget from $55K to $109K, which jumped from 23% to nearly 49% of the CASA MC total budget. Rowland and her newly minted President Joy Thompson split the executive comp that year, with Rowland taking $57,781 and Thompson pulling in $51,953. Fun fact: Thompson is the current Executive Director and only paid employee at $70K/yr.
2016
CASA MC leadership really found their groove in 2016, with the executive compensation budget increasing to $117K, which is just over 49% of the total budget. Thompson took a slight pay cut that year while Rowland raked in an almost $9,000 raise. Now I have spent my entire career in well-paying corporate America. Had I known the nonprofit world was doling out 14% raises, I would have spent my time very differently. That year Thompson pulled in $50,332 while Janet pulled in $66,696.
2017
While our research didn’t turn up the salary breakout for 2017, the executive compensation budget was increased to nearly $130K, up almost $13K. This was a reduction in executive compensation as a percentage of overall budget, down from 49% to around 37%. Guess they started bringing in more money. Looks like Janet learned to dance for her supper.
2018
This is where Rowland’s tenure with CASA MC ends, though she doesn’t leave without one final payday. Joy Thompson takes over as Executive Director in 2018, but the exec compensation budget decreases about $15K to $114,894, just 34% of overall budget. Joy takes the majority at $66,255, which notably is a few hundred less than Rowland was taking in for the same role, but the best part is that Janet Rowland takes $48,640 for her role as “Former Exec” according to the report.
Note that Dan Rubinstein, the newly elected and currently impotent District Attorney of Mesa County, also finds his way into the role as President of CASA MC in 2018. He doesn’t take a salary, though. Everyone in CASA MC knows that you have to pay your dues before taking a cut of the child advocacy money. What’s unclear is the cost of the dues, although based on Rubinstein’s current participation in the coup, it appears he ponied up.
In the Rocky Horror Picture Show we follow Brad and Janet from their early piety and innocence into their “awakening,” characterized as a full blown acceptance of perversion at the hands of a (their word) transvestite. Full disclosure: I’ve always hated this movie but it was a damn good hook for this article.
it’s definitely twisted
In the Rocky Mountain Horror Show of Mesa County, we follow Janet (and Dan?) to their full blown acceptance of perversion in the form of government corruption and cronyism. A key difference however is that, at least where Janet Rowland is concerned, piety and innocence were never at play. Dammit Janet’s dirt goes way back.
As the people of Mesa County struggle to pull their commissioners’ (repeatedly deployed) knives out of their backs, clearly there is something twisted in Mesa County. Her name is Janet. What’s unclear at this time is where the Betas stand, and whether Davis or McInnis will grow a pair in time to stop her corrupt ways before she takes them down, too.
I’m not holding my breath.
Damnit, Janet!
Lying and stealing, you ran it (Janet)
Non-profit dollars, you scam it (Janet)
I see you starting to panic (Janet)
I've one thing to say and that's,
“Dammit, Janet, I loathe you.”
My amazing researcher Shelly of Scientia and my homegirl hollyataltitude.com contributed to this report.
If you’re unfamiliar with the drama in Mesa County, start here:
the tale of tina peters, and the dark days ahead for whistleblowers: Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is a hero whistleblower, cancer survivor,and Gold Star Mom, who exposed Dominion for destroying election evidence during their “Trusted Build” update.
the colorado coup is nearly complete, and dominion is right in the middle of it (yes, really): Mesa Commissioners plan to enter a new relationship with Dominion Voting Systems, despite overwhelming evidence that the system is designed for fraud.
janet and the betas release their new album: we’re voting for this but it’s not our fault: The people of Mesa County showed up with unprecedented and overwhelming public opposition to the new Dominion contract; the commissioners voted for it anyway.