reported Saturday that Mayor Don Wilson of Monument had been accused of racism against El Paso County GOP Chair Vickie Tonkins.
In reality, Monument News is referring to a letter penned by several elected officials calling for Vickie Tonkins to resign when she called COVID-19 a “psy-op” last year. The problem is that Mayor Wilson didn’t sign the letter, which itself wasn’t racist.
Per a local Facebook built to highlight dirty politics in Monument, Home of Monument’s AnnCountability,
“On the 6th of February at about 2am, Ann Howe of Monument created a posting on the Facebook Page that she controls, titled “Monument News”. The page is not associated with any credentialed news agency nor is it anything more than a local opinion page that she heavily curates.
“In this posting, Ann Howe accuses Monument, Colorado Mayor Don Wilson of racism citing the appearance of a Colorado Springs resident on Tron Simpson’s 740 KVOR Sunday Radio Show. The full transcript from that show can be found here: https://www.gopevidencelocker.com/sabotage
“Oh oh Houston, We have a problem. There’s just one tiny detail that Ann Howe may have intentionally overlooked – John Pitchford, the source Ann is citing – referenced a letter that was signed by 17 Colorado GOP leaders, asking for Vickie Tonkins to resign from her position as the County GOP Chair. Here are those names:
“Rep. Shane Sandridge (HD14), Rep. Larry Liston (HD16), Rep. Tim Geitner (HD19), Rep. Terri Carver (HD20), Rep. Lois Landgraf (HD21), Sen. Dennis Hisey (SD2), Sen. Paul Lundeen (SD9), Sen. Bob Gardner (SD12), Comm. Holly Williams (CCD1), Comm. Mark Waller (CCD2), Comm. Stan VanderWerf (CCD3), Comm. Cami Bremer (CCD5), Sheriff Bill Elder, Assessor Jose Bryant, Clerk & Recorder Chuck Broerman, Coroner Leon Kelly, Treasurer Mark Lowderman
“Link: https://www.cpr.org/2020/04/02/republican-officials-urge-el-paso-gop-chair-to-resign-over-covid-19-post/
“You will note – Mayor Wilson’s name is nowhere in that list. Ann’s entire premise rested on her belief that Mayor Wilson had signed that letter. He did not.
“Setting all of that aside for a second – let’s examine what John Pitchford (ousted El Paso County GOP Treasurer, btw) actually said:
“’I think there is some a, some a, oh I don’t know, some jealousy and perhaps some even hate. And it may come to other things. It may point to racism. I don’t know. I haven’t had discussions with all of these folks’
“Folks, this is what we like to call “grasping at straws”. You throw enough accusations out there and see which one sticks.
Let’s recap:
- Vickie Tonkins has acted inappropriately on Social Media abusing the official County Republican Party Facebook page, treating it as her own and caused the page to be removed.
- Party Officials and Leadership from around Colorado have asked her to step down. (She has not, today Republicans are voting for a new Chairperson)
- Ann Howe has used a snippet from a radio show, over 8 months ago to maliciously malign Mayor Don Wilson by attempting to imply that he had signed the above mentioned letter. He did not, nor is there ANY indication that he had any involvement.
- Monument News is not news. It is only Ann’s pulpit for spreading what is quite literally, Fake News.”
Whoever runs Monument News didn’t reach out to Mayor Wilson and didn’t do any research on the topic of Vickie Tonkins and racism in general. Racism is not disagreeing with one’s political peers; racism is much worse than that, and Wilson has not done anything to indicate he’s a racist.
We reached out to Mayor Don Wilson, who has not responded to the unfounded allegations as of today. The El Paso County GOP is in a world of trouble, and this incident is only a red flag in a sea of red flags. A party division may be on the horizon according to party insiders.
