AndreaGail
6th June 2013, 07:28 PM
America's 51st state could be just down the highway.
Saying that northeast Colorado has been repeatedly ignored by the Legislature, Weld County commissioners are leading an effort to create the new state of "North Colorado." At least six other counties have expressed interest in following suit, Commissioner Doug Rademacher said, including Yuma, Morgan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington and Kit Carson.
"We've had counties in Kansas and Nebraska say they're interested, too," Rademacher said. "This could become a multi-state initiative."
If successful, it would be the first time since the Civil War that one state has broken away from another. The western counties of Virginia petitioned Washington to create their own state in 1861, after Virginia's government seceded from the Union. West Virginia became a state in 1863.
Frustration with Denver is nothing new for Weld County. As recently as
Farmer Mike Rademacher works in a field Thursday near Firestone in Weld County. ( Matthew Jonas )
last summer, county leaders tried and failed to get Gov. John Hickenlooper to turn on water pumps in the South Platte River Basin for 30 days to relieve a drought. But, Commissioner Sean Conway said, this year's legislative session took it over the top.
"We had more and more people showing up at our hearings frustrated, saying 'The Colorado I grew up in is under assault,'" Conway said, citing oil and gas bills, gun control bills and the recently signed Senate Bill 252, which doubled the amount of energy rural electric cooperatives had to obtain from "green" sources. "We started talking among ourselves, asking 'What can we do?'"
The choices, Rademacher said, appeared to be keep working in a system that was ignoring them, join a neighboring state, or have northeastern Colorado strike out on its own.
"I give our chances of success under 50 percent," Rademacher acknowledged. "But I think we're going to send a strong message that we're serious and we're tired of being ignored."
County commissioners from the region met at this week's meeting of Colorado Counties Inc. to discuss the plan.
Eric Brown, a spokesman for the governor, said the rural/urban divide wasn't quite as stark as Weld wanted to paint it.
"Background checks on gun sales, increasing renewable energy and supporting responsible development of oil and gas are popular with rural and urban voters," Brown said. "Not everyone agrees, of course. But we keep trying."
News of the project hadn't yet reached many local leaders Thursday afternoon. Chad Auer, the mayor of Firestone in southwestern Weld, laughed with surprise when asked about the breakaway effort.
"Of all the questions I've had over the years, that's the most interesting one," said Auer, still chuckling. "If that were to happen, the capital, of course, would have to be in Firestone."
He added more seriously that he'd have to hear more about the reasons, but that he didn't lean toward a split himself.
"Certainly, I've had my disappointments with the current legislative session," Auer said. "But I've always been a fan of trying to fix things from within."
Glenn Vaad, a former state legislator from Weld County, said he'd had his own frustrations with the session, but he didn't see this effort going far.
"I can't believe they're really serious," Vaad said of the statehood proposal. "But obviously they're hoping to get attention focused on 'Hey, things aren't working how they're supposed to.'"
No votes have been taken yet. Weld's county commission plans to hold hearings for about a month and then have a ballot issue ready before Aug. 1. The state already has a couple of statewide measures coming up in November, Conway noted, so adding a countywide one could be done without requiring the expense of a separate special election.
Weld ranks among the top 10 counties in the nation in total market value of its agricultural products, and also contains one-third of all the oil and gas wells in Colorado.
"The money we bring into the state and the benefits we get from the state are not in proportion with each other," Rademacher said. "They have balanced the budget on the back of Weld for years."
If Weld County residents vote yes, the county would formally ask the Legislature to petition Congress for a new state. (Other counties could put forward similar petitions, if ballot issues were put to and approved by their voters.) The Legislature would have to decide whether to forward the petition or not. The U.S. Constitution specifies that no state can be created within another state's territory "without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as the Congress."
"If it's summarily disposed of, it would be one more proof of what we're saying," Conway said. "I hope, at the end of the day, this will be the people's decision ... It's very healthy for a representative democracy to have a discussion of how it wants to be governed."
http://www.timescall.com/news/longmont-local-news/ci_23405341/weld-county-leads-effort-secede-create-state-north
Saying that northeast Colorado has been repeatedly ignored by the Legislature, Weld County commissioners are leading an effort to create the new state of "North Colorado." At least six other counties have expressed interest in following suit, Commissioner Doug Rademacher said, including Yuma, Morgan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington and Kit Carson.
"We've had counties in Kansas and Nebraska say they're interested, too," Rademacher said. "This could become a multi-state initiative."
If successful, it would be the first time since the Civil War that one state has broken away from another. The western counties of Virginia petitioned Washington to create their own state in 1861, after Virginia's government seceded from the Union. West Virginia became a state in 1863.
Frustration with Denver is nothing new for Weld County. As recently as
Farmer Mike Rademacher works in a field Thursday near Firestone in Weld County. ( Matthew Jonas )
last summer, county leaders tried and failed to get Gov. John Hickenlooper to turn on water pumps in the South Platte River Basin for 30 days to relieve a drought. But, Commissioner Sean Conway said, this year's legislative session took it over the top.
"We had more and more people showing up at our hearings frustrated, saying 'The Colorado I grew up in is under assault,'" Conway said, citing oil and gas bills, gun control bills and the recently signed Senate Bill 252, which doubled the amount of energy rural electric cooperatives had to obtain from "green" sources. "We started talking among ourselves, asking 'What can we do?'"
The choices, Rademacher said, appeared to be keep working in a system that was ignoring them, join a neighboring state, or have northeastern Colorado strike out on its own.
"I give our chances of success under 50 percent," Rademacher acknowledged. "But I think we're going to send a strong message that we're serious and we're tired of being ignored."
County commissioners from the region met at this week's meeting of Colorado Counties Inc. to discuss the plan.
Eric Brown, a spokesman for the governor, said the rural/urban divide wasn't quite as stark as Weld wanted to paint it.
"Background checks on gun sales, increasing renewable energy and supporting responsible development of oil and gas are popular with rural and urban voters," Brown said. "Not everyone agrees, of course. But we keep trying."
News of the project hadn't yet reached many local leaders Thursday afternoon. Chad Auer, the mayor of Firestone in southwestern Weld, laughed with surprise when asked about the breakaway effort.
"Of all the questions I've had over the years, that's the most interesting one," said Auer, still chuckling. "If that were to happen, the capital, of course, would have to be in Firestone."
He added more seriously that he'd have to hear more about the reasons, but that he didn't lean toward a split himself.
"Certainly, I've had my disappointments with the current legislative session," Auer said. "But I've always been a fan of trying to fix things from within."
Glenn Vaad, a former state legislator from Weld County, said he'd had his own frustrations with the session, but he didn't see this effort going far.
"I can't believe they're really serious," Vaad said of the statehood proposal. "But obviously they're hoping to get attention focused on 'Hey, things aren't working how they're supposed to.'"
No votes have been taken yet. Weld's county commission plans to hold hearings for about a month and then have a ballot issue ready before Aug. 1. The state already has a couple of statewide measures coming up in November, Conway noted, so adding a countywide one could be done without requiring the expense of a separate special election.
Weld ranks among the top 10 counties in the nation in total market value of its agricultural products, and also contains one-third of all the oil and gas wells in Colorado.
"The money we bring into the state and the benefits we get from the state are not in proportion with each other," Rademacher said. "They have balanced the budget on the back of Weld for years."
If Weld County residents vote yes, the county would formally ask the Legislature to petition Congress for a new state. (Other counties could put forward similar petitions, if ballot issues were put to and approved by their voters.) The Legislature would have to decide whether to forward the petition or not. The U.S. Constitution specifies that no state can be created within another state's territory "without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as the Congress."
"If it's summarily disposed of, it would be one more proof of what we're saying," Conway said. "I hope, at the end of the day, this will be the people's decision ... It's very healthy for a representative democracy to have a discussion of how it wants to be governed."
http://www.timescall.com/news/longmont-local-news/ci_23405341/weld-county-leads-effort-secede-create-state-north