Otero County GOP Held Freedom Dinner at Valley Trading Post

Anne Boswell Taylor
Jul 27
4 min read

~by Norman Kincaide, Colorado News Your Way contributor

The Otero County Republican Party held its Freedom Dinner, celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the establishment of the United States of America in 1776 and the 150^th anniversary of Colorado becoming a state in 1876, at the Valley Trading Post on Highway 350, on July 25, 2026. The social hour was from 5-6 P.M. A meal of brisket, baked potato, and green beans with salad was served. There was a silent and live auction. Jeremiah Mason of Fowler, Vice Chair of the Otero Republican Party was the master of ceremonies. Chair, Trish Pfeffer Leone opened the event relating her recent visit to Portugal and Spain.

During the meal, candidates for Otero County offices spoke briefly, Commissioner Tim Knabenshue is up for re-election, as is Ken Hood, Assessor, Lyn Scott, Clerk & Recorder, Bob Fowler for Coroner, the longest serving elected officer in Colorado, 48 years. Brian Lovato is running for Otero County Sheriff. Sheriff Shawn Mobley decided not to seek re-election. Chrissy Ruckus, Colorado Republican National Committee Woman, spoke on behalf of Rep. Ty Winter, Colorado House District 47, who was unable to attend. Senator Rod Pelton, Senate District 35, is seeking re-election and said that if elected, this would be his last term.

For state offices, James Wiley is running for Colorado Secretary of State. Cherish St. Denis spoke for Michael Allen who is running for Colorado Attorney General. Kevin Grantham of Canon City, is running for Colorado State Treasurer.

Jon Caldera speaking at Otero GOP Freedom Dinner, July 25, 2026

Representative Jeff Hurd, US House District 3 is running for re-election. Hurd greeted everybody in line for the brisket meal. During the social hour, Norman Kincaide, of Rocky Ford, conversed with Representative Hurd, having met the representative last fall when Hurd met with the Otero County Republican Central Committee, and gave him copies of signed resolutions by Las Animas and Otero County Commissioners opposing the Wild and Scenic River designation for the Purgatoire Rive and Picket Wire Canyon. Hurd also received letter of opposition to the Wild and Scenic River designation drafted by Rep. Ty Winter and Senator Rod Pelton. The Purgatoire River is an ephemeral stream largely controlled by releases from the Trinidad State Lake. Kincaide told Hurd the process for designation is political in that there needs to be a sponsor for such a bill. Hurd replied, if the county commissioners were opposed to this designation then he would not sponsor a bill for this Wild and Scenic River designation.

Hurd asked Kincaide how the revised management plan for the Comanche National Grasslands was going. Kincaide told Hurd that Freedom of Information Act documents, namely the bi-weekly meeting agenda from November 2023 to September 2025, disclosed a possible systemic bias against the allotment owners and grazing association. Tribes are listed twenty times in these meeting, while there is no reference to allotment owners or grazing associations. The Tribes (no specific tribe was named) were notified of the management plan revision in 2024, while the grazing associations were notified in January 2025. The plan development was proceeding, but the lack of transparency by the Forest Service is troubling.

In conversation with Commissioner Tim Knabenshue, Kincaide learned the Otero County Commissioners met with the Forest Service on Friday, July 24, 2026. The Forest Service told the commissioners they were required by law to investigate Wild and Scenic Rivers in the management plan area. To quote Cool Hand Luke: “Calling it your job don’t make it right.” In this respect, local governments must get out ahead of federal government entities and establish their political and territorial integrity to force the federal government entity to coordinate with county commissioners. Local governments must establish their own ground rules for dealing with the Forest Service and not wait on the next step in management plan revision.

Shad Sullivan, rancher in Crowley County, Colorado and Archer County, Texas, spoke on his experience in Washington D.C., touring the National Mall with Representative Harriet Hageman of Wyoming. He was profoundly moved by Capitol Rotunda, its murals and statues. He contemplated his role in history. Was he a freedom giver or a freedom taker? This was all the more profound to him as he watched the flags lowered to half staff after the murder of Charlie Kirk. Choices are often times forced upon us and we must decide if we are freedom givers or freedom takers.

Shad Sullivan speaking at Otero GOP Freedom Dinner, July 25, 2026

The keynote speaker was Jon Caldera, of Boulder, editorial columnist for the Denver Gazette and President of the Independence Institute. Caldera challenged those attending the GOP Freedom dinner with the reality of a Colorado that is neither Republican nor Democrat. More than fifty percent of registered voters are unaffiliated, which presents both challenges and opportunities for both established political parties. Independents want the same things most people want, affordability, reliable sources of energy, business friendly and safe communities.

What they don’t like on the Republican side is the personality infighting and lack of focus on policy. For the Democrat side, independents don’t like the trend toward a regulatory state and the growth of Democratic Socialist or Communists on that side. Democrats captured Colorado with a combination of policy and a durable party structure that remained in place through election cycles. Whereas, Republican have been focused on personalities and having to rebuild party structure with each election cycle. Caldera predicts a civil war in the Democrat Party between the progressives and the Social Democrats or Communists. This will provide the Republicans with an opportunity, if they seize the moment. But conditions in Colorado will only get worse over the short term with the possibility of brown and blackouts across the energy grid and increased regulation and assaults upon TABOR, the taxpayers bill of rights.

In a tradition established at the 2025 Lincoln Day Dinner, a group photograph of the candidates and speakers was taken after Jerimiah Mason gave the closing remarks.