Summit County GOP Chair Debra Irvine, Candidate for HD 61, Secretary Elizabeth Wickert and Treasurer Jay Brunvand, deprived me of my right to vote at the Summit County Republican Convention on Saturday, March 10th 2012.
I believe that because of the corruption I have uncovered in the Summit County Republican Party, Debra Irvine should step down as the Summit County GOP Chair and abandon her House District race.
Its so bad up here, in fact, that the GOP State Chair, Ryan Call, who over sees 64 Counties, had to drive up from Denver to officiate our convention, even though only 20 delegates to the state convention were at stake.
If you don't know Debra Irvine, you're probably wondering, why all the attention to such a small county? Why would a HD 61 candidate take the time to violate my rights and go after me?
How did I become such a threat to the old guard big government Republican establishment in Colorado?
Well, it started back in 2009 when I was elected to become the Summit County Vice Chair. I changed my voter registration from Denver to Breckenridge the day of the election. My wife Steph kept her registration at the house we were selling in Denver. No one knew me but they liked what I had to say about limited government, following the constitution, restoring sound money and ending the wars. I shared with them how I come from a family of Republican Senators and Congressmen who held positions in several presidential cabinets throughout the years and what it was like to go to the National Convention in 2008 etc. Well, the room full of people heard the candidates speeches, took a vote and I was elected.
Later on that week, after doing a thorough investigation on me, Debra Irvine realized that a real Constitutionalist was now her Vice Chair. This is actually a bad thing in her eyes. She, and several other central committee members, like to publicly praise the constitution, our founding principles, freedom and personal responsibility but deep down they actually despise them based on their actions. It doesn't surprise me given that Deb grew up with the socialism of Europe as did Liz Wickert who's a British American.
I find that an easy way to avoid being fooled when picking a candidate to represent us, that we need to watch what they do, not what they say.
Debra Irvine decided that to get me to step down as Vice Chair, she had to invalidate her own election that she held. So she decided to tell everyone that she made a mistake in the election procedures and was nullifying my win. She called for a new election at the next Monday meeting. This was surprising to me. I didn't realize that she stabs people in the back that she pretends she is friends with. I also didn't know that Debra Irvine was going around that month to the people of Summit County and getting them to fill out proxy votes for the new election. She had to get proxies because the people who answer to her couldn't be bothered to take the time to show up in person to vote against me.
On the night of the new "valid" election only about 10 people showed up for the vote. However, Deb collected around 15 proxy votes cast against me. Thus, Debra Irvine got Lisa Knoble, another big government "conservative" whom she could boss around easier than me, to take my Vice Chair spot.
This was before Lisa discovered Debra Irvine's true colors. I decided to forgive them for their silly games and step down. My wife Steph and I decided to get married on the beach in the Bahamas and travel around the world for a while.
After our honeymoon, we came back to Breck and decided to get politically active again. Steph changed her registration from Denver to Breck after we sold the house.
In December, the owner of the house we rent in Breck decided that he wanted to start using the house again from time to time. So, I decided to purchase a financial interest in a property with fluoride free well water in Blue River so we could have a place to go when the owner wanted to come up to use the Breck house. I moved a bunch of stuff into our room over there, I keep one of our cars there and from time to time we stay there while the Breck house is being used. I changed my voter registration to my Blue River address before the Jan 7th dead line. I also changed my drivers license to reflect the new address as well as the address on my CCW permit so I would be officially representing precinct 3 at the Feb 7th caucus.
Steph thought a good way to get politically connected would be to help the Mayor of Breck, John Warner, with his dental practice because of her background in dentistry. She never got around to changing her address from Breck to Blue River so at caucus she represented precinct 18.
At the caucus I decided to create several resolutions for the delegates from each precinct to introduce. One was to protect our gun rights, (which Jay Brunvand, a fake republican, actually voted against) I introduced another resolution to stop the mass poisoning and forced medication of the people in Summit County with fluoride. The 3rd was to stop the FDA tyranny against natural organic farmers and producers of raw milk and the final one was to regulate marijuana like alcohol which would show support for the state wide initiative that is on the ballot this coming November.
At the caucus, Debra Irvine told us that the resolutions didn't need to be introduced or voted on because we would do all that at the County Convention. This turned out to not be true. In between the caucus and convention she formed a "committee" with Mark Hurlbert, our District Attorney, to shoot them down. He decided that the assembly at the county convention should not be allowed to vote on 3 of the 4 resolutions despite numerous objections from several delegates in the assembly asking that we be allowed to vote on them. Her answer was no. Once Mark's committee rejected them, were we allowed to re-introduce them at the county convention, as promised caucus night, even when it was seconded, so a vote could be cast in favor of the assembly? No, she silenced us which violated the GOP by laws which state that Roberts Rules of order are the way to preside over the meetings.
During the caucus I found out the Mayor of Blue River lives in my precinct. She and her husband are supporters of Willard "Mitt" Romney. They wanted to be delegates to the county convention so that Obama-care, Cap-n-trade, abortion, gay marriage, big government spending, gun control, and the elitist status quo can continue. Well, I spoke to my neighbors and explained to them that they should vote for me because I will put principles over party and follow the Constitution. I was elected to be a Delegate, they were not... Steph was also elected a Delegate from her precinct as well!
This made Debra Irvine very upset. Wait till you hear what she did!
On the morning of the county convention, after I voluntarily showed up an hour early to help set up the chairs in the room, I was called over by Jay Brunvand, the summit county GOP Treasurer.
He told me that an "investigatory committee" was created to investigate whether I should be seated as a delegate even though my precinct elected me to represent them. He said that Elizabeth Wickert, our secretary, the one who bragged about living all over the world in the Summit Daily Newspaper, Sunday, March 11th article, had filed a complaint with the County Clerk and Recorder challenging my right to represent my precinct and vote. Ironic right? A Brit trying to take away an American's right to vote...
Little did I know, the month in-between the caucus and county convention, HD 61 candidate, the impartial Debra Irvine herself, Elizabeth Wickert and her husband Al were conducting an investigation on me because my wife and I got elected as delegates. They were acting as unlicensed private investigators and admitted as much on video tape. There are heavy penalties for people who practice medicine without a license or lawyers who practice in states where their BAR license isn't valid.
12-58.5-103. Definitions.
(5) "Private investigation" means an investigation for the purpose of obtaining information pertaining to:
(b) The identity, reputation, character, habits, conduct, business occupation, honesty, integrity, credibility, knowledge, trustworthiness, efficiency, loyalty, activity, movements, whereabouts, affiliations, associations, or transactions of a person or group of persons;
(g) Securing evidence to be used before an investigatory committee or board of award or arbitration or in the preparation for or in a civil or criminal trial;
These are the words that stood out for me.
"movements, whereabouts"
"securing evidence to be used before an investigatory committee"
Debra Irvine, Elizabeth Wickert and Al even showed up to the house, unannounced and uninvited. I believe this would be considered trespassing. They wanted to see if I was there and asked my house mate if "my clothes were in my closet". I thought this was strange that Debra Irvine, the HD 61 candidate and Chair of the Summit County Republican Party was snooping around our house at night... but wait, it gets better!
While conducting their illegal investigation, they got stuck in the snowbank right in front of the house! How embarrassing it must have been for them to come to the door and ask my house mate and one of our neighbors if they could help pull them out of the ditch! Instead of telling them to call a tow truck, my friends helped them get out. Do you the reader, think Debra Irvine would have told me to call a tow truck if she busted me snooping around in front of her house at night, getting stuck in the snow? With Debra Irvine, no good deed goes unpunished.
On March 9th, a day before the convention, Kathleen Neel, the County Clerk, rejected Elizbeth's complaint because 1-9-101 (1) (a) C.R.S. states that "The written challenge and supporting evidence shall be filed with the clerk and Recorder no later than 60 days before any election." There is an election on April 3rd and thus the complaint falls in-between the 60 day limit. Their complaint was rejected, yet they still went along with it.
The morning of the convention, Jay Brunvand told me that the "committee" decided 4-0 that I should not be seated as a delegate because they didn't feel that I had enough evidence to prove that I live in Blue River.
I asked them what evidence did they have that proves otherwise? None, other than my wife is still registered at our other house.
I asked them where in the by laws it says a husband and wife have to be registered at the same address to be able to vote? No where...
I asked if I was registered to vote in other states or counties? Their response was No.
I showed them my government issued id, which in Colorado you don't need to do to cast a vote, and asked them if they thought I was an illegal. They said no.
So, I told them, "In America, you are innocent until proven guilty not the other way around. You have given me no evidence and you haven't explained to me how your information was obtained for you to come to the "opinion" that I do no live where my voter registration card says I live. Im not trying to cast multiple votes in multiple jurisdictions am I?"
I immediately called my house mate John and asked him to bring with him to the convention the signed lease we had and to print my voter registration form off of the secretary of state website.
He brought them with him, we showed the committee the forms and he testified that I in fact do live there and that my clothes are in the closet and tooth brush is in the bathroom since Liz Wickert asked.
They told me that because I changed my registration with the secretary of state on line through their own web based system, that it was unacceptable. I was confused. "If registering online is NOT ok, why do they offer it as an option for people? Why do you invalidate your own rules and procedures?" They gave me no answer.
So, even though I brought 2 eye witnesses, a signed lease, a government issued ID and a voter registration card which was filed before the January 7th deadline, they told me there was no evidence to prove I live where I say I live and that I wasn't allowed to exercise my constitutional right to vote, so that was that. Yet, with the same forms, a couple years earlier, I was able to set up a PO Box, register to vote and it was completely fine with them...
Well, this is not right because their complaint was rejected by the county clerk, so I asked Sheriff John Minor, who was acting as the sergeant of arms, to stop them from violating my rights and to have them arrested.
He chuckled and said that I would have to sue them in court and that there is nothing he could do.
I thought for a minute and remembered that Roberts Rules of Order were still in play, I made a motion, which was seconded, for my name to be re-inserted back into the credentials delegate list so I could be seated.
Debra Irvine took it to the assembly which was, of course, stacked with her friends. Despite the witness testimony and evidence I presented with such sort notice, the majority of the crowd voted to not allow me to participate as a delegate in my current precinct or my old precinct which stripped me of my constitutionally protected right to vote. In a Republic, the rights of the individual are protected. In a Democracy, its mob rule.
Debra Irvine railroaded me and now the whole world is going to know about it.
I requested a copy of the Republican bylaws and found that they do not say that married couples have to share the same address or that I need a drivers license to vote. I did, however, change my residence on my Drivers License through the DMV but my license doesn't expire until 2015. When I changed it, they just told me to write my new address on the back of my license, which I did. Several people told me that the address on their ID's are not the same as the address that they are registered to vote at either. I asked to see their ID's to verify and sure enough, one persons license said they lived in Lakewood (Jefferson county) but were voting in Summit and another person said they had 2 houses, their drivers license was at one and the registration was at the other. They were delegates and they were allowed to vote.
The Senate candidate, Baumgartner, who is currently a state House rep, spoke on stage and said he had two ranches. He told me the ranches are in different districts (one in Grand and the other near steamboat in Jackson county). Will his voting credentials be challenged at an upcoming meeting of the State House? Will people be snooping around asking him which closet he keeps his clothes in? Doubt it. Should they? Sure, if he is registered to vote in both places at the same time.
Time has shown that exercising my rights under Debra Irvine's big sister tyranny is not allowed. Imagine, she wants us to vote for her to represent us in the State Legislature!? She must think the voters in Summit County are stupid. If she will do this with her own people, Republicans, what will she do to Democrats once she has real power? This is a warning for those living in Summit County, Debra Irvine is not someone you should trust or vote for.
However, there is another candidate that I met at the convention who is running against Debra Irvine for HD 61. His name is David Justice. I want to let you know up front that I am not a part of his campaign in any way. He did, however, make a great speech at the convention and sounds like a true constitutionalist. We spoke afterwards and I believe that he, not Debra, would take his oath of office seriously. He told me he would never act the way Debra has acted toward anyone. He told me that, "This is not a legal way of taking away someone's lawful right to vote." Turns out, I happen to agree with him, not only on that statement but on a whole lot of his other positions as well.
I decided to look up some law and found that in 1-13-301, C.R.S. states that "Any person in AUTHORITY at any precinct, caucus, assembly, or CONVENTION who in any manner dishonestly, corruptly, or fraudulently performs any act devolving on him/her by virtue of the position of trust which he/she fills or knowingly AIDS OR ABETS any other person to do any fraudulent, dishonest or corrupt act or thing in reference to the carrying on of any precinct caucus, assembly, or convention or the ascertaining or promulgating of its true will is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section." 1-13-111
Looks like this statute applies to Debra Irvine, Ryan Call, Jay Brunvand and Elizabeth Wickert who publicly attacked my reputation and integrity even after the County Clerk rejected their challenge. Ouch!
Am I going to pursue this? If Deb steps down as GOP Chair and drops out of the race, No.
There's some good news though, several people, I had never met before, witnessed the event and came over to me during the election with their ballots in hand. They told me they were disgusted with Debra Irvine's behavior. They asked me who I would vote for if I was allowed to vote. I told them who the constitutionalists were and they voted for the people I would have voted for out of principle.
Debra Irvine's attempt to silence me back fired. Her own Vice Chair, Lisa Knoble, voted to allow me to be seated and is supporting her rival, David Justice. After the event, she came over to me and said that she was surprised Debra Irvine would stoop to this level being a candidate and all. "Especially over 1 vote." That 1 vote that was stolen from me will now hopefully cost Debra Irvine thousands of lost votes if not the election itself because I am now going public with the truth about her. This article would never have been written otherwise. Im tired of being harassed by these people.
One last point for you to hear before you make your decision on who to vote for this coming election for HD 61. I received a phone call from a candidate wanting my support. I asked him how he got my number. He said he got the delegate list from Debra. So, I sent Debra Irvine an email, phone call and text, requesting a list of the delegates that were going to the county convention so I could send them a post card asking them to vote for me to be a delegate to the State Convention. She undoubtedly gave the list out to other candidates but when confronted, she lied to me in writing and told me that she hadn't given the list out to anyone. I reconfirmed this fact with the person who called me at the convention. Debra is a liar, plain and simple. Most politicians are. I simply asked her in my email to play nice, to be fair and impartial. She chose time and again not to...
I never did get the delegate list but I do have the contact details of the perpetrators. If you would like to tell Debra Irvine, Elizabeth Wickert, Ryan Call or Jay Brunvand how you feel over the phone or in person here is how they can be reached for comments.
Again, please take this warning from a Republican insider. Do not vote for Deb Irvine. Call her and ask her to step down as Summit County GOP Chair.
Thanks for your help,
Joby Weeks
Debra Irvine
0037 Packsaddle Lane
Breckenridge CO 80424
970-547-5875
cell 719-238-1462
Debra4GOP@aol.com
Elizabeth Wickert
375 Revett Dr
Breckenridge CO 80424
970-453-4778
Jay Brunvand
398 Willow Lake Ct
Silverthorne CO 80498
970-468-5782
Ryan Call
303-641-4274
