Is it because Jefferson County has no media outlet holding it accountable that its Board of Commissioners gets away with ignoring, silencing and even spreading misinformation to its constituents?
In my life, I’ve directly engaged with almost a dozen county governments. Yet only in Jefferson County, Colorado had my commissioner, Lesley Dahlkemper, made false statements to my face on the public record, despite clear evidence to the contrary right in front of her.
Several media outlets (not the Canyon Courier, for some reason) have since reported that Jefferson County is clearcutting its parks and logging many of its fire-resistant mature and old growth trees under the unscientific guise of “wildfire risk reduction” logging (hardening homes is the only action proven to protect communities). Yet at a spring Town Hall meeting, with a photograph on the table showing a logged ponderosa pine with 129 years of growth rings, Commissioner Dahlkemper claimed on video livestream that, “There are no old growth, 125-year-plus trees that have been cut down.” (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Y0-QAiTNsLs)
Then, even with press releases and video to every media outlet in the Front Range, not a single line calling out Dahlkemper for her actions. To this day, Dahlkemper has still not corrected the record.
I’m not sure why all of Colorado media chose to ignore this breach of public trust. But I do know that if our elected officials keep getting away with saying whatever they want without any accountability, they will have little incentive to ever tell the truth again.
Josh Schlossberg, Evergreen
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