From The Greeley Tribune (T.M. Fasano):

Let the dialogue begin about solving the problems of Colorado’s urban/rural political divide. Or not. After the 51st state initiative failed in Weld County on Nov. 5 by 56 percent to 44 percent, Weld commissioners Sean Conway and Barbara Kirkmeyer said the effort to secede from Colorado started dialogue around the state regarding rural counties’ needs not being considered by lawmakers in the Denver-metro area.

“If the entire effort was to send a message, message received,” Conway said. “I think we have kick-started a very important dialogue that I look forward to participating in as we move forward. We’re not going away.”

Colorado House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, though, has a different opinion.

“If anything, I actually think it built up walls,” Ferrandino said in a phone interview from Denver. “I have known Sean for a while. He’s always welcome in my office, but doing this type of stuff doesn’t build bridges. It puts up walls. Saying, ‘We just want to be a different state,’ doesn’t say, ‘We want to work together to find the right policies for this state.’”

Ferrandino said Denver legislators won’t shut out rural Weld officials because of the 51st state effort. But, he added, “there’s a group now who are seen I think by some as more out of touch, especially when Commissioner Conway is the one pushing it and then his county doesn’t even vote for it. I think he’s out of touch with his own voters. If he’s supposed to be advocating for his constituents and he’s supposed to have a pulse on his constituents, then you would think he’d be able to get more support than that. He should talk to some of his other constituents who voted against his measure.”

Ferrandino added that having a meaningful discussion is important and he vows to be part of that, but he believes the 51st state issue was perceived by many across the state as “throwing a tantrum.”

“That’s not the right process,” he said. “We have a process in place, and we should use that process. I’m glad to see that it didn’t pass because we have a fundamental belief in our democratic process. You organize and you work to elect people who will agree with you. You don’t just say, ‘We’re going to take our toys and go home.’ I think it is a small group of people who are not happy with what’s going on and trying to make political hay out of it.”

WHAT NOW?

The big question now is: What can be done to get Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Democratic-dominated legislature to be more attentive to the concerns and needs of rural Colorado?

“We understand that some rural areas still feel under-represented and are not being heard. We remain committed to listening more and working with local communities all across Colorado,” Gov. Hickenlooper said in an email response Friday.

Eric Brown, director of communications for the governor, said Hickenlooper will continue to reach out to Weld County and other rural areas.

“The vote in Weld County doesn’t change our intent to continue talking to residents there or in other counties,” Brown said. “The governor held community meetings this fall on the eastern plains, in southern Colorado and on the Western Slope — and he’s been in Weld County four times in the past two months.”

Conway said the county commissioners began the journey in June with the recognition that the political divide exists, and it’s not going away.

“I think we’re going to be at the Legislature in January looking for ways to do this. We’re going to be engaging with our state legislators who, quite frankly, have been AWOL,” Conway said.

Even though 56 percent of the voters (more than 36,260) voted against the 51st state, Conway takes solace in the fact that 44 percent (28,107 yes votes) wanted a change.

“Clearly, there’s frustration out there that needs to be addressed,” Conway said. “Do we really think the governor would be saying, ‘I’m going to come to Weld County more often. That I’m going to listen more. That I’ve got to lean in more. I’ve got to have more of a dialogue here,’ if we hadn’t had this discussion? I doubt it.”

The Divide Goes Beyond Denver

If you ask Conway, the political divide between rural and urban areas isn’t just about the Denver-metro lawmakers. Conway called out Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley, as being part of the problem.

“I think we accomplished a lot in the last few months in terms of opening up this dialogue, getting attention at the state capitol, getting the attention of legislators, including some of our own legislators in Weld County who were, quite frankly, part of the problem,” Conway said. “When you have a Dave Young, who votes against oil and gas bills that are absolutely paramount to Weld County. I want to see if he’s going to listen more. Is he going to engage more? I couldn’t get a meeting last year during the legislative session with Rep. Young. Is he going to become an active participant in this dialogue? Does he recognize there’s a problem out there?”

In response to Conway’s comments, Young said he’s had numerous interactions with Conway.

“I’m a little disappointed that he would say that he tried to set up a meeting with me and that he couldn’t get it done,” Young said. “I met with all five commissioners, at their request, after the flooding occurred to really get a sense of what was going on in the county and tell them what I was working on. I make myself extremely available. He has attended my town hall meetings that I’ve had. I’m a little surprised that he would say that I’m unavailable.”

Young said his job is to represent the people in his district.

“There are other representatives who represent other parts of northern Colorado that are primarily rural. My district, I don’t know if you really can call it urban but I don’t think it would be called rural,” Young said. “I know from lots of conversations with people in my district that we’re very sensitive to the issues of rural folks. Our economy in Weld County is driven primarily by agriculture, and that we need to really look out for the concerns of the ag community. Certainly, we’ve gotten economic benefits from the energy sector, as well, and oil and gas. I’m trying to work pretty carefully with them as well to make sure that we balance the needs of our economy and the need to make sure people’s health and safety are protected.”

ANOTHER PROPOSAL FOR RURAL AREAS

Kirkmeyer said a positive thing that came out of the 51st state initiative was the Phillips County plan which would set representation throughout the state based on geography rather than population.

“That is something we will continue to work on and push,” Kirkmeyer said. “This is just the first chapter.”

The Phillips County plan would base either the state House or Senate representation on area instead of population, similar to Congress in which the House of Representatives is based on population, but the Senate has two senators from every state no matter the population.

“We look forward to working with those counties who put this on the ballot. We have been working on this Phillips County idea, which came out of this,” Conway said. “Without this discussion, we would never have come up with this Phillips County idea. I think that’s gaining momentum. Quite frankly, I think that potentially could be the solution out there. We’ll see as we proceed forward.”

Ferrandino said it’s his understanding that based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Phillips County plan would be unconstitutional.

“Everyone I talked to and all of our non-partisan legal staff seems to think the court is pretty clear,” he said. “While I understand the idea around it, if you do it based on counties, there are counties that have a few thousand people and giving them more representation might be a worthwhile goal, but the over 600,00 people who live in Denver, who I represent over 10 percent of them, losing their representation is a problem and making them have less of a voice is not a fair way either.”

Ferrandino said there has been division in the state before, but not to the point of trying to form a new state.

“Every state goes through that. Colorado is changing both demographically and politically over the last couple of decades, and that’s going to continue,” Ferrandino said. “Anytime change happens, there are always people who try to stop change and that causes issues.”

John Straayer, a political analyst and political science professor for 47 years at Colorado State University, said the Phillips County plan is a non-starter because of the Reynolds vs. Sims 1964 Supreme Court case that ruled that all districts in any state legislature must be equal in population.

“The case law is very settled on that matter,” Straayer said. “Then there was one specific to Colorado, and it just blows my mind that nobody seems to have looked at it or paid attention to it. That followed Reynolds v. Sims the same year and the case is called Lucas v. Colorado. The peculiar thing for me through all of this is how in the world does this talk about the Phillips plan keeps going and going and going without some very clear recognition that it’s going to fly in the face of settled law, and that law has been settled now for half a century. You can’t do it. It’s unconstitutional.”

IS THERE A SOLUTION?

Young agrees there are some urban/rural issues to discuss, but he thinks most issues are more complicated than that.

“I’m not sure I saw solutions being brought forward through the whole conversation on the 51st state, but we have issues around water that are of concern to everybody in the state,” Young said. “Agriculture uses 84 percent of our water, and they’re already claiming that there are impending shortages. If agriculture is affected, we’re all affected. It’s a complicated situation that we need to work together to resolve.

“Education is an issue that’s complicated. That cuts across urban versus rural. We’ve got children all across the state in small or large communities that need better access to education and quality education.”

Young agrees that some people don’t feel as if they have a voice at the table, which to him sounds like a communication problem.

“It’s of concern to me when people say they want to be heard, but then they want to isolate or separate themselves from those they expect to have listen to them,” he said. “That doesn’t seem to be an effective solution.”

He added, “I think if you feel like you’re not being heard that you should be working harder to make sure you’re heard, and to me separating or seceding from the state has the opposite effect. I want to say without equivocation that I am certainly willing to work with others, whether they be Republicans or Democrats or other parties, to be part of the process of coming up with solutions. We have to craft solutions that work for all Coloradans.”

Ferrandino said there is a shift in population happening nationwide with more people moving to urban and suburban areas.

“That has implications, but when you look at the Flood (Disaster Study) Committee, it’s being chaired by a Republican (Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley) and Democrat (Young), both from Weld County,” Ferrandino said. “I think people in urban areas understand the issues and try to understand the issues in rural areas, and rural areas try to understand the issues in urban areas. They’re different, and we have to balance both of those. But we’re all one state and we have to look out for the best interests of the entire state.”

Ferrandino believes it’s vital to have an open-door policy and listen to everyone.

“It doesn’t mean you always agree, but everyone has to have the right to have their voice heard,” Ferrandino said. “A lot of people who say we won’t listen never come down to talk to us. It’s funny that Sean says we don’t listen when he’s always welcome to call me and always welcome to come and have a meeting with me, and he has had meetings with me. The best policies are when people sit around the table and discuss things in a meaningful way, that they understand that they’re not going to get everything that they want. A 51st state strategy is about getting everything you want. It’s saying. “We don’t want to compromise.’ It’s kind of like the Republicans in D.C. who shut down the government. ‘We don’t want to negotiate. We want our way or no way at all.’ ”

Straayer thinks the debate will continue between rural versus urban residents.

“The grievances that some folks have felt being slighted perhaps or not having their voice heard adequately in the legislature, I think, that concern will probably continue,” Straayer said. “There will be continued efforts to press the rural message and the rural agenda. The fact of the matter is that the people live on the Front Range and the urban area. That’s where political clout is. I think if the rural areas that lean heavily Republican want to have their concerns addressed more effectively, they’ve got to get more Republicans elected.”

More 51st State Initiative coverage here.

Here’s a roundup of the issues around the 51st State Initiative (secession) from Alan Greenblatt writing for NPR.org. Click through and read the whole article. Here’s an excerpt:

“We’re rarely listened to when it comes to legislation,” says Butch White, the mayor of Ault. “I’m sure the vote will pass in Weld County quite easily.”

The Colorado counties aren’t alone. There’s been occasional talk of secession at various times in recent decades, but now the idea is showing signs of taking root across the map.

There is talk about and sometimes movement toward secession in several states. These are locally motivated startups, but they share some themes in common.

People in mostly conservative areas feel isolated living in states controlled by Democrats. Rural residents, in particular, believe their values are given no respect in capitols now completely dominated by urban and suburban interests.

Secession may be part of the same impulse that leads states to sue or otherwise try to block or nullify federal laws they don’t like. People are losing respect for institutions that don’t reflect their preferences and would prefer, to the extent possible, to extricate themselves from them.

“What we would like to do is gain representation for the northern people of the state,” says Mark Baird, spokesman for a committee seeking to split off part of California. “The only way to do that is to have our own state.”[…]

“You have issues that go way beyond gun rights,” says Anthony Navarro, owner of Colorado Shooting Sports, a gun shop in Greeley. “You have people in Boulder and Denver who have mostly come in from California and are dictating to the rest of the state.”[…]

“Greater Los Angeles has something like 34 representatives” in the California Assembly, says Baird, the spokesman for the Jefferson Declaration Committee. “The northern third of California has three.”[…]

Secession simply isn’t going to happen, says Daniel Farber, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied the issue. Creation of a new state would require the blessing of the state being spurned, as well as congressional approval.

It’s a Catch-22: People who want to secede because they lost influence don’t have the influence to make it happen.

“You’d have to persuade the U.S. Senate to add two more senators, but why would they do that, since that would dilute their own state’s influence and might well add votes to the opposing party?” Farber says.

From Bloomberg (Michael Tackett):

The shifting U.S. populations that are changing political outcomes have converged in Colorado. Just as in Virginia, young professionals who support gay rights are flooding into the state; like Texas and Arizona, Colorado’s surge in Hispanic population gives Democrats a shot at reversing statewide election results. And suburban women who support abortion rights and gun restrictions are turning away from a party advancing legislation hostile to both views.

“Colorado is a perfect example of demographic change leading to political change,” said Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver.

A wave of young professionals who now live in Denver and its suburbs, drawn by jobs in technology, health care and energy, coupled with a 40 percent increase in the Hispanic population since 2000, has brought almost 2 million new residents to the state since 1990, transforming alliances and reversing political course…

Republicans in Colorado and elsewhere are feeling the brunt of the change. President Barack Obama in his 2012 re-election won almost 60 percent of the vote among 18 to 39 year olds, exit polls showed, and 55 percent of women. Nationally, young voters, who by 7 in 10 support same-sex marriage, have caused politicians of both parties to reconsider their positions…

Nearby Jefferson County has gone from a place where Republicans racked up large margins to one that strategists in the White House now see as predictive in presidential elections because of its swing-vote character.

“We have different trends than other places,” said Governor John Hickenlooper. “There’s been a large influx of young, generally well-educated people that drives not just political change but also cultural change. Metropolitan Denver now has more live music venues than Nashville or Austin.

That’s the kind of thing that is changing the energy.”

The youth vanguard, Hickenlooper said, also makes the state a “great magnet to attract entrepreneurs and business headquarters.”[…]

Hickenlooper and U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, also a Democrat, have won statewide office with centrist economic policies, while Republicans have a growing subset aligned with the limited-government Tea Party movement, Wadhams said. It isn’t a recipe for his party’s revival.

Wadhams, whose family arrived in the state in 1890, said Republicans are on the wrong side of the demographic divide, and its potential nominees for high office, former Representative Tom Tancredo, who briefly sought the Republican nomination for president in 2012, and Ken Buck, who lost to Bennet, aren’t likely to help…

Republicans started to overreach in the late 1990s, said Floyd Ciruli, who has been polling in the state for 30 years. The Denver area, his data show, received 62 percent of new voters in the state, an increase of 263,000 in the metro area, and those voters tend to vote Democratic. He said Republicans spent too much time talking about “gays and God and guns.”

More 51st State Initiative (North Colorado Secession) coverage here.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

A legal concern over Weld County commissioners’ involvement in the 51st state movement was whittled down on Monday to whether passage of the ballot proposal would give commissioners authority they don’t have.

The Weld County Council heard arguments for and against the idea at their regular meeting on Monday, per the request of three Greeley attorneys who originally said they would like council members to review whether commissioners could legally spend time exploring the idea and writing editorials on it. Nearly 100 people attended the meeting at the Weld County administration building in Greeley, and some clapped and groaned during public comment.

The three Greeley men — Robert Ruyle, Stow Witwer and Chuck Dickson — said wording in the ballot proposal means commissioners would be given the unauthorized power to advocate for the 51st state movement and to allocate taxpayer money to explore the creation of a new state.

Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker said a more proper time to debate whether commissioners have that power is to wait to see if the 51st state question passes. Even so, he said, commissioners could legally pass a resolution in support of the 51st state movement and show it to the General Assembly, or they could individually contact state legislators to advocate for the movement.

Ruyle disagreed, saying court precedent requires commissioners to act as a board in those matters, and the board can’t legally pursue the 51st state by advocating for it through state legislators.

The ballot proposal asks Weld voters whether they would like commissioners, “in concert with the county commissioners of other Colorado counties, (to) pursue those counties becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.”

Ruyle and Witwer said “pursuing” secession is outside of commissioners’ authority, but it was also outside of their authority to place something on the ballot that would give them that power.

Barker said commissioners wouldn’t have authority to pass a resolution that initiates secession, because the movement must go through the proper channels, including the state Legislature and a statewide ballot measure. But he said the ballot proposal does not initiate secession — it asks voters whether they would like commissioners to spend time and money exploring the 51st state movement. He cited several state court cases to support his argument that commissioners can budget money to investigate the effects of secession, saying they have wide discretion over the county budget.

Weld County Council Chairman Don Mueller said council members would not decide on anything on Monday, but were there to listen to each side’s arguments and “digest” the information. Still, some council members voiced their opinions on the matter.

Jeffrey Hare, a council member who is also a member of the 51st state movement and updates its Facebook page, told Ruyle and Witwer he felt they were “jumping the gun a little bit.”

“That’s your interpretation of what the referendum intends to do,” he said of the attorneys’ arguments.

Originally, Ruyle, Witwer and Dickson said the state Constitution explicitly says only Colorado citizens have the authority to alter or dissolve their government, but the power of commissioners is limited to what is listed in state statute.

Barker said commissioners have so far acted legally because the Colorado statutes cited by the three Greeley attorneys pertain only to official actions, such as resolutions or ordinances. The only official 51st state action commissioners have taken is a resolution referring the 51st state question to the ballot. He said Weld County’s Home Rule Charter gives commissioners a process for putting an initiative or referendum on the ballot with no restrictions.

“The fact of the matter is, they haven’t done anything else,” Barker said.

More 51st State Initiative (North Colorado Secession) coverage here.

From Bloomberg Business Week (Claire Suddath)

“It’ll be North Colorado. Or maybe New Colorado,” says Jeffrey Hare, founder of the so-called 51st State Initiative and a resident of Weld County, currently in the northern part of regular Colorado. In November, residents of Weld and 10 other counties will vote to determine if residents are interested in seceding from the state. Hare says he knows he’s fighting an uphill battle and that forming a new state is much more complicated than just redrawing a few borders. New (or North) Colorado would have to come up with a school system, maintain its own roads, and collect taxes—the latter a tricky prospect for a state conceived by Tea Partiers. But Hare is so sick of “those people in Boulder,” as he calls them, that he’s willing to take a stab at it.

He’s not alone. Northern Californians are trying to assemble the new state of Jefferson—again. (They tried in 1941, going so far as to inaugurate a governor.) Last year, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula briefly considered independence from the downstate mitten. And in Maryland, a man named Scott Strzelczyk is leading a movement to allow the five westernmost, Republican-leaning counties to separate from the rest of the state. “Here at the state level, we’re controlled by a single party—Democrats—and we feel we have no other recourse,” he says. “We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. We want to be our own state.”

It’s important to point out that none of these movements are attempts to secede from the United States. They’re not like the dozens of online petitions signed in the wake of President Obama’s re-election that sought to declare independence from America, and which were openly embraced by white nationalist groups. (Secession-happy Texas is keeping its petition alive; it had over 125,000 signatures before the federal shutdown took the petition temporarily offline.) And while the movements that are furthest along, those in Colorado and Maryland, are backed by Tea Partiers (you can find people urging each other to to sign up for the 51st State Initiative on the Tea Party Community website), not every proposed state would be populated with conservatives.

Last year, Arizona’s liberal-leaning Pima County, home to Tucson, tried to declare itself the state of Baja because it didn’t want to be governed by Arizona’s conservative majority. In a twist, the impetus for the Baja movement was a proposed bill that would have allowed Arizona to nullify federal laws it didn’t like; the bill was defeated. Pima was thus trying to secede from Arizona because Arizona was distancing itself from the U.S. Or, as early Baja organizer Paul Eckerstom told the Wall Street Journal at the time: “We actually want to stay in the union. It seems Arizona doesn’t.”[…]

The interesting thing about these new movements isn’t their likelihood of success, but the fact that they constitute blatant attempts at ideological gerrymandering. “In previous state secession movements, there was usually a sense of compromise in the end that often diffused these things,” says Michael Trinklein, author of Lost States, a book about past statehood movements, “but now that we’re so polarized, it’s feeling as if these are movements of last resort.”[…]

Leaders of Colorado’s 51st State Initiative have said they’re modeling their efforts on the Kansas movement. Hare points to a host of issues—Colorado’s alternative energy requirements, water rights, taxes—that compelled him to try breaking away from his home state. “But when we saw the gun control bills that were happening, myself and a couple of other people thought: How can we nullify this? The concept of statehood came out of that—we could bring a proper constitution to the new state,” he explained. A problem is that local voters have already recalled two state senators who proposed the gun control legislation and are in the process of trying to recall a third. So the 51st State Initiative is addressing something that has already been resolved via Colorado’s democratic process.

That’s the difference between the new crop of state secessions and its predecessors. The United States isn’t just divided into red and blue states; it has further split into red and blue counties. Instead of celebrating that together, they reach agreements that are essentially purple, people get angrier and angrier whenever the other color bleeds into their own.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Proponents and opponents of the 51st state measure on the Weld County ballot can agree on one thing: North Colorado would be different from what Colorado is now. But those on either side of the issue disagree on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

At a panel discussion hosted by the Greeley/Weld County League of Women Voters on Monday night, Weld County commissioners Barbara Kirkmeyer and Sean Conway said they believe a different state would not disenfranchise residents, as they feel our current state legislators do, while Bob Ruyle, a water attorney and a member of the Greeley Water and Sewer Board, and Steve Mazurana, retired professor of political science at the University of Northern Colorado, said a new state would mean new problems.

Education, water, financial feasibility and commissioners’ legal authority to initiate the 51st state movement were whittled down to the finer points, the issues volleying among panelists as more than 200 people moaned and clucked their tongues during the forum at Hensel Phelps Theater at the Union Colony Civic Center.

“Whether this passes or not, the disconnect is a problem,” Conway said.

Mazurana said he wasn’t even sure of that. He said this year’s state legislation demonstrates the ebb and flow of politics, and questioned whether the argument for a 51st state would be a moot point if Republicans dominate the state Legislature in coming years.

“Take it easy,” he said. “This is one legislative session.”

Commissioners countered that this past legislative session was one of the worst they have seen, citing complaints from constituents who wished to testify before bills who were turned away and the rural renewable energy bill and proposed oil and gas regulations as times when commissioners and others imperative to those processes were not invited to speak at the state Capitol.

On a number of points, either side insisted they were in the right:

» On the power of commissioners to initiate the 51st state, Ruyle said that power is not expressly listed in state statute or the county’s home rule charter, which it must be, if commissioners take any action. He said the power to alter or change government lies solely with the citizens, and the initiative must be citizen-led. Kirkmeyer said a provision in the county’s charter allows commissioners to go through a process to get an initiative or referendum on the ballot, which gives them that power. She said commissioners are expressly charged with representing their constituents.

» On financing the new state, Mazurana said the new state would have to purchase UNC, three state parks and three prisons, and pay for a national guard, state infrastructure, state law enforcement and other services. Ruyle said about 83 percent of the new state’s assessed value would come out of Weld County, so the county would be subsidizing the other 10 counties that wish to form North Colorado. He said oil and gas may be helping Weld to thrive economically, but he said he doesn’t have faith in the long-term stability of the industry.

Conway said an I-News Network analysis of the financial aspect of the 51st state, which said the 11 northeastern counties receive more state funding for education and other services than they contribute, left out $115 million that Weld County gives to the state land board, meaning North Colorado actually gives more money to state coffers than it receives. He said the new state’s business philosophy would be similar to that of Delaware, another small state, which has the greatest number of Fortune 500 companies in the country.

» On water issues, Ruyle said a number of things would have to be renegotiated, such as the new state’s compact with Colorado on water use. In the interim, he said the new state could be left with no water rights. Ruyle said the new state would have to get permission from a water court for every acre-foot of water that flows outside of Colorado’s boundaries, at a cost of about $1.5 million per year. Ruyle and Conway differed on the results of a U.S. Supreme Court case that Conway cited as precedent for why Colorado could not completely impede the water received by North Colorado, and he said resolutions of support from Colorado counties on the Western slope would mean hassle-free headwaters for the new state.

» On the cost of tuition, Mazurana and Ruyle said students who were formerly a part of Colorado would have to pay out-of-state tuition to go to the likes of the University of Colorado and Colorado State University. Conway countered that tuition in Wyoming is cheaper for Colorado students to pay out-of-state than to pay for an education at CU and CSU, thanks to the state Legislature’s lack of attention to funding for higher education. Ruyle said part of the problem is Colorado’s TABOR law, which doesn’t allow the legislators as much taxing authority.

More 51st State Initiative coverage here.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Three Greeley attorneys are questioning whether Weld County commissioners have the authority to initiate the 51st state movement, calling on the Weld County Council to investigate the issue. In a letter sent on Monday to Don Mueller, chairman of the Weld County Council, the three attorneys — Robert Ruyle, Stow Witwer and Chuck Dickson — say the Colorado Constitution gives citizens the authority to alter their form of government, but no such authority is granted to county commissioners.

“We have reviewed the Colorado Constitution, the statutes of Colorado and the Weld County Home Rule Charter,” the letter states. “We can find nothing in the law giving the Board of County Commissioners the power or authority to advocate, investigate or initiate the secession of Weld County from the state of Colorado.”

Weld County Commissioner Doug Rademacher said those claims are “totally baseless.”

“We obviously wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t have a legal basis to do it,” Rademacher said.

Witwer, one of the attorneys who signed off on the letter, said commissioners’ proposal to secede from Colorado is their most recent action in a number of instances that he said don’t necessarily fall under their authority. He said no state law or county charter outlines commissioners’ authority to focus on issues outside of county affairs.

Weld commissioners have said they were approached by a group of residents who asked them to start a secession movement. But Witwer said the fact that constituents approached them still doesn’t grant commissioners authority to start the movement.

Witwer said the November ballot question asking voters whether they would like to secede isn’t an official action, but more of a poll. He said that kind of initiative has no real legal base.

Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker acts as legal counsel for commissioners and the Weld County Council, so the letter asks the county council to seek a neutral attorney to investigate commissioners’ authority.

Mueller said on Tuesday he had not seen the letter and wished to comment after he had seen it. Barker also declined to comment until he has discussed the letter with county council members.

Witwer said he agrees with the sentiment that started the 51st state proposal, which is that state legislators are not tending to the concerns of rural Coloradans.

“It isn’t that I reject the idea that there is some dissidence among the rural community,” he said.

But Witwer said he feels there are a number of logistical issues, namely water rights, that pose too many difficulties to allow the creation of a new state.

He said the letter came about after he and Ruyle struck up a conversation about the 51st state movement, and the three attorneys decided a letter to the county council, which oversees commissioners, was the best way to express concern.

More 51st State Initiative coverage here.

From KUNC (Burt Hubbard) via The Greeley Tribune:

Colorado could stand to benefit financially and would see some improvement in the educational and economic standings of its remaining citizens if 10 northeastern counties should make good on their threat to secede and carve out a new state of North Colorado.

But what’s left of Colorado would also lose half of its lucrative oil wells, much of its prime farmland and some of the lowest crime areas in the state.

In addition to the 10 northeast Colorado counties that have a secession vote on November’s ballot, Moffat County in far northwest Colorado also will vote on whether to leave. But Moffat apparently wants to become Baja, Wyo.

I-News at Rocky Mountain PBS analyzed census, budget, crime and voter records to develop profiles of a new 51st state and a truncated Colorado. Suffice it to say, Colorado would no longer be considered a square state. And, of course, neither would Wyoming, with its new Moffat County panhandle.

Residents of the 11 counties will decide next month whether to start the fraught with difficulty political journey to leave Colorado and, in the case of the northeast counties, become a new state.

West Virginia was the last state to manage such a separation, in 1863, during the American Civil War, a move that was validated solely by a proclamation from President Lincoln, according to a state Web site.

It isn’t that easy today. One impediment: Both houses of the U.S. Congress would have to agree.

But proponents of secession said rural Coloradans are tired of having unpopular laws like stronger gun control and mandatory alternative energy standards forced on them by a Front Range dominated state Legislature.

“What has happened is the urbanization of America has disenfranchised the rural population,” said Jeffrey Hare, one of the organizers of the 51st State Initiative.

John Straayer, political science professor at Colorado State University, said bills from the last legislative session appear to have aroused animosity toward the legislature.

“In terms of the immediate trigger, guns and probably SB 252 (requiring use of alternative energy resources),” Straayer said. “They allege that it is more than that, not being treated properly by the legislature on a variety of issues for a long time.”

The eventual exodus, if the constitutional minefield could be navigated, would create a North Colorado of about 336,000 people, supplanting Wyoming as the least populous state in the U.S. It would leave Colorado with about 4.7 million residents, dropping it to the 23rd most populous state behind Alabama.

One of the key questions is the financial viability of a new state and its impact on the remainder of Colorado.

Financially, state government in Colorado would probably come out ahead if the 11 counties left, according to I-News estimates of how much revenue the state receives from the counties compared to expenditures there.

The counties generate between $360 million and $400 million yearly for the state in sales tax, state income tax and the state’s share of vehicle registration fees. That accounts for about three-fourths of the revenue Colorado receives from those counties each year from taxes and fees.

Extrapolating forward, that would be the equivalent of between $500 million and $560 million in revenue lost to the state from the 11 counties.

The state natural resources department estimates that oil and gas operations in those counties generate about $28 million in severance tax for state coffers each year.

Historically, oil and gas operators in Weld County have contributed little or, in some years, no state severance tax because they can take credits against the state severance tax for the property taxes they have paid in each county.

On the other side of the ledger, the state spends about $520 million in the 11 counties for K-12 school funding, incarcerating criminals from the counties, providing Medicaid, running the courts and the state’s share of running a university and three community colleges.

Those costs equal about 84 percent of the state’s overall general fund spending in the secession-voting counties. Extrapolating forward, that would come to total spending of about $620 million.

Bottom line: Colorado spends between about $60 million and $120 million or more a year in the 11 counties than the revenue it receives.

“There’s still a lot of (state) money coming back to these counties,” said Brian Lewandowski, economist with the Leeds Business School at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

By comparison, a similar analysis of Denver showed the county provides more tax and fee revenue to the state than it gets back in state funding for programs.

“You’ve got densely populated areas where there is a lot of wealth like Denver County and Douglas County,” said Lewandowski.

However, advocates of secession disagree with the I-News analysis and point to their own report that shows the counties break even with state government on spending and revenue.

The differences between the two analyses involved spending figures on K-12 education, revenue from the state income tax and severance taxes from oil and gas development.

Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office had no comment on what financial impact the secession would have on Colorado.

The I-News analysis did not examine how much money the counties currently receive directly from oil and gas operations. That’s money that would help run a new state.

More than half of Colorado’s oil and gas wells would reside in the new state, mostly in Weld.

“It’s pretty amazing the amount of dollars that it generates,” Lewandowsk said.

Weld County alone gets 55 percent of its property tax revenue from exploration. That has resulted in a current $100 million county contingency fund and no debt, said Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, a leading proponent of secession who previously was chief of staff to former U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

During the recent flooding, the county was able to re-open its roads on its own.

“We’ve done this on our own,” Conway said. “We haven’t got help from the state.”

Not all politicians in Weld County want to secede.

Tom Norton, the mayor of Greeley and former Republican president of the state Senate, wrote in a column in The Tribune this summer that, while some state decisions have hurt rural Colorado, collaboration with the state, not secession, is the solution.

Demographically and politically, the two states — North Colorado and Colorado — would look quite different, the I-News analysis showed.

North Colorado would be predominately Republican with the fifth highest ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Colorado would outnumber Republicans for the first time in years.

“We would have a red state and a blue state,” Straayer said.

The would-be exiting counties are generally poorer and less educated than the rest of Colorado, according to Census data.

College education levels in North Colorado would be on par with those of Tennessee and Oklahoma, while college graduation rates would rise in Colorado to the second highest in the nation.

North Colorado would have among the lowest crime rates in the nation, ranking from fifth to 11th lowest among states for rape, robbery, burglary and car theft.

Colorado’s overall crime rates would go up, with motor vehicle theft rates almost three times higher than those of the 51st state.

North Colorado would have a higher percentage of families among its households, be younger on average and have a higher percent of Latinos. In fact, the new state would have the 6th highest percent of Hispanics in the U.S. But its black population would only be about 1 percent, the fifth lowest in the U.S.

And then, of course, there are the issues of marijuana and tornadoes. Legal pot would stop at old Colorado’s borders. About half of the state’s tornadoes touch down every year in the counties that would leave Colorado.

Even if approved by the counties involved, secession would appear to remain a long shot. It would require both Colorado and federal approval.

State ratification could come in a citizens’ initiative, such as the one that legalized recreational marijuana, in a ballot measure from the legislature, or in an act of the legislature, said Richard Collins, professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.

If that happened, it would then need approval by both houses of Congress.

In the meantime, the effort has drawn national publicity and its share of political quips.

Last month, when Hickenlooper was looking at flood damage in Julesburg which would be part of the new state, he assured officials there that all Colorado would be working together to overcome the disaster, before quipping, “then you all can get back to seceding.”

And Conway could not resist a dig at his two least favorite counties when talking about interest in secession being voiced elsewhere — including in some counties not involved in the current effort.

“When we’re done, we might be voting Denver and Boulder off the island.”

More 51st State Initiative coverage here.

From The Greeley Gazette (Sean Conway):

Since discussion of creating a 51st State began, the most asked question I have had is how will the existing water rights our farmers and communities currently own be impacted?

First and foremost, water rights are private property. And like other private property – your home, car or land that you own – they cannot be taken away because you live in another state. Many water rights throughout Colorado are currently owned by individuals and entities who do not reside in the state of Colorado. Under the constitution, any private property that might be attempted to be seized would be called a “taking” and has been deemed by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional.

Second, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982, in the landmark case of Nebraska v. Douglas, ruled no state may impose severe withdrawal, impede, divert or keep water from flowing into another state. This case, between the State of Colorado and Nebraska, is important, because this ruling would have precedence over the Colorado State Constitution and existing State law. This ruling protects all current water right holders.

Third, existing Water Compacts between the state of Colorado and the states of Nebraska and Kansas and other states must continue to be honored under federal law. This means that the water that flows currently from the Poudre River, South Platte and St. Vrain, along with other tributaries, must continue to flow as is, uninterrupted, toward those states to meet those federal compacts.

Fourth, the largest supplier of water to Weld, Morgan, Logan and Sedgwick Counties is the Big Thompson Water Project. This project, which is operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD), provides 220,000 acre feet annually to northeastern Colorado and is a federal project permitted by the Army Corp of Engineers. This permit would remain and continue to operate as usual. In addition, the only thing needed to protect the current boundaries of the district in the new state would be for those boundaries to be recognized in the new state’s constitution; something that would be almost certainly the first thing the new state constitution would include.

In discussions with several water attorneys and water experts about the new state, the one common phrase that was frequently stated to me about existing water rights and protection for water right holders was it is “very attainable.” Protection for the existing counties in the NCWCD and working out an agreement with Colorado and other current compact states are very “doable” and can be accomplished.

Finally, benefits overlooked by those looking at this issue in a parochial manner include the ability of a new state to enter into new compacts with other states and the ability of a new state to address the issues of needed water storage projects as well as the “buy and dry” issues that have seen tens of thousands of acres of productive farm land along the South Platte be transferred to metro Denver communities over the last three decades.

Another item which might escape naysayers is that a new state could include several western slope counties including Grand, Garfield, and Mesa. All head water counties for the Colorado River and the origin for much of the water we currently use in Northern Colorado. If these counties were to be part of the new state, our very valuable water rights would even be more protected.
To conclude, any new state would protect current water right holders. The actions needed to protect those water rights have been identified and certainly will be acted on by the new state.

More 51st State Initiative coverage here.

From the Washington Post (Michael S. Rosenwald) via the Loveland Reporter-Herald:

West Virginia was the last state to break off from another. Now, 150 years later, a 49-year-old information technology consultant wants to apply the knife to Maryland’s five western counties. “The people are the sovereign,” says Scott Strzelczyk, leader of the fledgling Western Maryland Initiative, and the western sovereigns are fed up with Annapolis’s liberal majority, elected by the state’s other sovereigns.

“If you think you have a long list of grievances and it’s been going on for decades, and you can’t get it resolved, ultimately this is what you have to do,” says Strzelczyk, who lives in New Windsor, a historic town of 1,400 people in Carroll County. “Otherwise you are trapped.”

Strzelczyk’s effort is one of several across the country to separate significant portions of states from, as he puts it, “the dominant ruling class.” Nearly a dozen northern Colorado counties are the furthest along, with nonbinding referendums set for November ballots. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is making a move to join with parts of Wisconsin. Northern California counties want to form a state called Jefferson.

Historians, political scientists and the leaders of the movements say secession efforts are being fueled by irreconcilable differences on issues such as gun control, taxes, energy policy, gay marriage and immigration — all subjects of recent legislative efforts at state and federal levels. The notion of compromise is a non-starter. With secessionists, the term “final straw” comes up a lot…

What’s different now is how the secession efforts illuminate a hard truth about the country: The rural-urban divide is increasingly a point of political conflict. The population boom in urban areas such as Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs near the District of Columbia, the Boulder-Denver areas in Colorado, and in Detroit have filled state legislatures with liberal policymakers pushing progressive agendas out of sync with rural residents, who feel increasingly isolated and marginalized.

In Maryland, the five western counties — Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick and Carroll — represent just 11 percent of Maryland’s population, according to 2010 Census figures. They earn less than the people who live in more urban areas. They vote overwhelmingly for Republicans in a deeply Democratic state. Nearly 90 percent of the residents are white, compared with 51 percent elsewhere. About 60 percent were born in Maryland vs. 46 percent in other parts of the state…

Olden’s views are generally not the same as those that dominate Maryland’s urban centers. She is against gay marriage. She is against what she describes as “the horrible encroachment on Second Amendment rights.” She opposes abortion.

She is fed up with taxes, and was particularly galled by the “rain tax” — a stormwater management fee — approved during the last legislative session.

“Taxing the friggin’ rain?” she says. “The next thing they tax will be the air we breathe.”[…]

The best case scenario, experts say, is that the threat of walking out somehow gets people back to the table. (Comparisons to marriage counseling come to mind.) In Colorado, Gov. John Hickenlooper, D, has said that he doesn’t agree with the secession movement there, but his public comments on the issue suggest that the efforts are at least seen as real.

And in the end, just having their voices heard could, perhaps, soothe the situation for frustrated voters like Olden.

“Best case scenario: It works. Worst case: Nothing changes,” she says. “But if it doesn’t work, maybe they will finally see that the populous really is fed up.”

From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Charles Ashby):

State Sen. Greg Brophy is pretty certain he wants to be governor of Colorado. But if some people in several of the counties in his expansive northeast Colorado Senate district have their way, the Wray Republican who’s seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper soon could live in another state. The state of North Colorado.

Brophy, who’s in town to attend this weekend’s Club 20 fall meeting, said that while he encouraged commissioners in numerous counties in his district to place a 51st state initiative on their November ballots, he isn’t necessarily in favor of the idea.

Officials in such northeast Colorado counties as Weld, Morgan and Logan have pushed the idea of creating their own state because they don’t feel the Legislature is listening to them.

But while Brophy said he understands that sentiment, the longtime state legislator said the issue puts him in an awkward position. “I encouraged my county commissioners to move forward with this to catch the governor’s attention and the state Legislature’s attention,” Brophy said. “I think that most of the counties will vote to secede, but it won’t pass through the state Legislature.”

If such a vote passed, though, Brophy said he would be obligated to introduce a measure into the Legislature if his constituents demanded it of him, even though he’s not sure how he would vote on it. That’s because Brophy is hoping to persuade GOP voters in that district and elsewhere in the state that he should be their pick for governor when Hickenlooper comes up for re-election next year, and not one of the five other Republicans in the race.

That group includes former congressman Tom Tancredo and current Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who has created a gubernatorial campaign and is set to announce next week whether he plans officially to enter the race. “If we run a Republican with a fresh face — but with the experience to immediately be effective and have the ability to appeal to the center of Colorado as a guy who’s interested in the things that they’re interested in, and someone they could trust — then the Republicans could win this gubernatorial election probably easier than anyone thinks,” Brophy said. 
“I think I’m that guy.”

When it comes to creating a new state, though, even Brophy doesn’t believe the effort is all that serious, saying that most of his neighbors see it as a protest more than anything else.

But would Brophy carry a bill in the 2014 legislative session allowing some northern Colorado counties to leave the state? “I have been obviously wrestling with that one,” he said. “Let’s wait to see the outcome of the vote before I decide what it is I have to do.”

Weld County Commissioners: "It is time to send THE message: we will no longer be ignored." Nxt 6 weeks will release editorials on #51stState

— Nathan Heffel (@Heffeln) September 10, 2013

From WYOFile.com (Kerry Drake):

Wyoming was granted statehood in 1890, but it took Republicans in the northern half of the state 49 years to decide that things just weren’t working out for them. Like their counterparts today in northern Colorado, they were fed up with the Democrats in the rest of the state having control of state government. They particularly despised Union Pacific and union workers.

But Swickard and his associates didn’t bother with petitions to get the secession issue on the ballot. Instead, they simply did what made sense and started acting like a state. After getting some like-minded residents in neighboring South Dakota and Montana to join the effort, Absaroka began issuing its own license plates. Swickard and his fellow rebels hosted the king of Norway, billing it as an official state visit that proved Absaroka was being recognized by world leaders, even though the king had just happened to be passing through southeastern Montana.

The new state even had a contest to crown its first beauty queen, Miss Absaroka, who turned out to also be the last Miss Absaroka when the movement faded into obscurity later in 1939.

Most of what has been recorded about the history of Absaroka is from the Federal Writers’ Project, which helped document New Deal life throughout the country. The primary motivation behind the new state was apparently dissatisfaction with how little money from the federal government was being doled out to northern agricultural interests that had been plagued for years by drought and grasshopper infestations…

What caught my attention, though, was that because the secession movement’s leaders recognize that fact, they are already looking at alternate plans, and one of them is for the northeastern Colorado counties to be annexed by Wyoming. No one seems to know exactly how this might be accomplished, but several county commissioners said they are studying the issue to determine if it’s viable. Some suggested that it could require only a state constitutional amendment instead of state and federal legislative approval.

At this point we Wyomingites need to call a time-out and yell, “Wait a minute — don’t we have a say in this?” Just because they may want to become residents of Wyoming doesn’t mean we have to let them. Do they know nothing about our historic, incredibly strong independent spirit, or the fact that many of our residents see Colorado license plates and have nothing but disdain for the people driving through the state? They’re certainly welcome to stop, eat, gas up, look around for a while and even stay a night or two, but after they’ve bought their souvenirs and seen Yellowstone or the Frontier Days rodeo, it’s time for them to go home.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Weld County commissioners on Tuesday announced they will publish a series of editorials in support of the 51st state initiative, with plans to release the series before early voting begins and Weld County residents voice whether they wish to secede from Colorado. The string of articles will answer specific questions that commissioners said have been asked since they proposed the initiative, and will outline their frustrations with the Colorado Legislature and Gov. John Hickenlooper that led them to suggest secession. “For too long we have endured the arrogance and, yes, elitism of the state Legislature and the Governor’s Office. They mock us, they refuse to listen and they dismiss our concerns,” commissioners said in a news release. “As your Board of County Commissioners, we have been ridiculed for having the audacity to even suggest we pursue separating from the rest of Colorado. The fact is, the state many of us grew up in, the state we love, is slipping away into something many Colorado residents no longer recognize.”

Commissioners said they will address a number of topics over the next six weeks, including water, energy, education and agriculture, highlighting the tensions between rural and urban needs and responding to some questions about how those things would be handled in a new state. Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said commissioners would write editorials about any other questions that constituents have about county government, and that many residents have asked him and his fellow commissioners if they were going to disseminate any information before the vote in November.

Commissioners said it doesn’t cost the county any money to place the initiative on the ballot because counties must pay for elections anyway. “We do not believe it is a waste of time to go out into the community and provide an opportunity for residents to be heard. We do not think it is a waste of energy to discuss your concerns and listen to your frustrations. We do not think it is a waste of money to exercise one of our fundamental rights under the constitution — the right to vote. We do not think it is audacious to stand up to a government that has failed to live up to our expectations,” commissioners said in the release.

Jennifer Finch, spokeswoman for the Board of Weld County Commissioners, said four county employees have spent time on the 51st state initiative: Finch, the county attorney and two people in the finance department. She said the county attorney has spent about four hours working on the ballot language and other issues, she has spent about 10 hours answering press calls, writing press releases and updating the commissioners’ web page and the finance employees have spent about 3.5 hours responding to the board’s questions.

Commissioners have also spent time answering questions, participating in interviews and providing information to the public, but that is what they are elected to do, Finch said — talk to their constituents and try to answer their questions. “I certainly don’t think it’s a waste of energy ever to discuss concerns, listen to concerns from constituents,” said Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer.

She said the ultimate way for Weld residents to show their support or distaste for the measure is to vote this November, which is why commissioners chose to put it on the ballot.

Weld County Commissioner Doug Rademacher has said he expects the initiative to pass in Weld County by a 60-40 margin. Commissioners said out of more than 400 people who spoke at the four public meetings they held to hear residents’ opinions on the proposal, about 60 people, or 15 percent, spoke flatly against it.

More 51st state initiative coverage here.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Kit Carson County has joined the 51st state initiative, becoming the eighth county to place the measure on the ballot this fall.

Meanwhile, Moffat County commissioners have jumped on the 51st state bandwagon, pledging to vote on a ballot measure on Tuesday. Moffat County covers the northwestern corner of Colorado, so Commissioner John Kinkaid said his county could either try to join with Wyoming or work with neighboring counties to connect with northeastern Colorado’s initiative. Kinkaid said he brought up the issue at a commissioners’ meeting because a number of his constituents requested it. “Obviously, it’s a hard, long road to get statehood for another state in the union, I get that,” Kinkaid said. “But … we feel disenfranchised over here in Moffat County.”

Kinkaid cited many of the same pieces of legislation that Weld County and other northeastern county commissioners say brought them to the point of a secession movement. He cited a rural energy law passed this year, a mandate to switch fuel from coal to natural gas in 2010, new gun regulations and what he said were overbearing regulations on the county’s power plant, which is the largest in the state, as reasons for joining the movement.

Kinkaid said he plans to reach out to neighboring counties and to commissioners initially involved in the movement. “We are not leaving Colorado — it’s the Denver area, the urban legislators, who have left Colorado,” he said.

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said he wouldn’t be surprised if Moffat County’s actions open up even more movement in western Colorado. “The disappointment and frustration with the Colorado General Assembly is not confined to just northeastern Colorado,” he said.

Only Morgan County commissioners have not voted to officially join the 51st state initiative. They say they are waiting for a citizen-led petition — which may never come — before voting to place the initiative on the ballot.

The deadline to submit ballot language for this fall’s election is Sept. 6.

Oh, snap! Moffat County's getting dissed. By Wyoming. BY WYOMING! http://t.co/dzffp5Pz2j

— Kristen Wyatt (@APkristenwyatt) August 22, 2013

More North Colorado secession coverage here.

From the Craig Daily Press (Erin Fenner):

“It’d be better if the Front Range just left Colorado,” Mathers said. “If we had a governor that was actually a governor and not a mayor of Denver — of the Front Range — then this secession wouldn’t be happening.”

Frank Moe, who is running for Mathers’ soon-to-be-open seat, said Moffat County has been neglected by the Democrat-dominated state Legislature. “The state left us,” he said, “not the other way around.”

The 51st State Initiative made headlines when five counties in eastern Colorado approved putting the question of secession to voters.

“The goal is to form a 51st state,” said Jeffrey Hare, executive director of the 51st State Initiative. “The net result would be a state that better reflects the values of those outside the Denver/Boulder corridor.”

Kinkaid said Moffat County, under the referendum, would either join up with the 51st state or maybe become part of Wyoming. “It’s not just making a statement but initiating a process to change the way decisions are being made that affect the entire state,” he said.

Another solution, he said, would be to give each county its own state senator. “It would be a stretch to give each county a senator, but it would be a compromise,” Kinkaid said.

From KUNC (Grace Hood):

The movement for forming a 51st state has been moving forward with seven counties so far in eastern Colorado having decided to put the question in front of local voters.

The Denver Post reports that both Logan and Washington county commissioners voted Tuesday to put a secession question on the November ballot. They join Phillips, Cheyenne, Yuma and Sedgwick which have already passed ballot issues.

Meantime, Weld County Commissioners voted Monday to put the question on the ballot.

Kit Carson County Commissioners are expected to vote on the topic Wednesday.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Two more counties are officially on board for the 51st state ballot initiative, meaning just two of the nine counties involved have yet to vote. Logan and Washington county commissioners on Monday approved ballot language asking their residents if they would like to secede from Colorado and become their own state.

Kit Carson County commissioners will vote on the measure on Wednesday, and Morgan County commissioners have said they will only place it on the ballot if 15 percent of their voters petition for it.

Weld County commissioners on Monday unanimously voted to put the question on their ballot. “Now it’s in the people’s hands,” said Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway at their meeting.

Phillips County followed suit on Monday afternoon and voted in favor of the measure. Sedgwick, Cheyenne and Yuma counties voted to place the language on their ballots last week.

Leaders in the nine northeastern counties say they feel disconnected and disenfranchised at the state Capitol. They say their rural way of life has been under attack and their voices have not been heard in the past several legislative sessions.

If voters approve the initiative, it would go before the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

From The Greeley Tribune (Analisa Romano):

Finishing their comments with a quote by Gandhi and one of Barack Obama’s campaign slogans, Weld County commissioners on Monday voted to place the 51st state initiative on the November ballot. “Si se puede — yes, we can,” said Weld County Commission Chairman Bill Garcia just before commissioners unanimously approved ballot language asking Weld residents if they would like to secede from Colorado and form a new state. Obama used that slogan in his presidential campaign.

“Now it’s in the people’s hands,” Weld County commissioner Sean Conway said after reading a quote he found by spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi over the weekend — “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”

Echoing sentiments of a rural-urban disconnect at the state Capitol, commissioners said they received overwhelming support to secede from Colorado at public hearings in Fort Lupton, Longmont, Evans and Ault. “Frankly, I don’t think they share our vision, and they don’t share our morals,” Weld County Commissioner Doug Rademacher said of Denver-metro area lawmakers. Commissioners said legislation passed this year is harmful to the county’s agriculture and oil and gas industries.

Weld was the fourth county involved in the 51st state initiative to vote in favor of the ballot language, followed closely by Phillips County commissioners, who voted in favor of the measure on Monday afternoon.

Sedgwick, Cheyenne and Yuma counties have already placed the language on their ballots. Washington and Logan county commissioners are slated to vote on Tuesday and Kit Carson commissioners will vote on Wednesday. Morgan County commissioners are waiting for a citizen petition that includes 15 percent of their registered voters before moving forward with the initiative.

Rademacher said he expects the initiative to pass 60 to 40 percent when it’s put to Weld County voters this fall.

Weld County Clerk and Recorder Steve Moreno said adding the measure to the ballot won’t be an additional cost to the county because the county foots the bill for elections anyway. He said the cost depends on how many municipalities are holding local elections that year, in which case the county is reimbursed by entities coordinating with Weld.

Commissioners voted on the ballot language in a resolution, but opened the floor for public comment anyway.

“Some folks think that this is a fairly radical idea, they call secession very radical,” said Jeffrey Hare, who founded the 51st State Initiative Facebook page, which has garnered more than 11,000 likes. “I would argue that this is not radical, but it is something that our framers envisioned.”

Only two other people spoke before commissioners voted, one in favor and one against the initiative. “I hope that there will be a resounding defeat of this absurd proposal,” said Vicki J. Anderson, a Greeley resident.

Weld County Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer said the board has been personally attacked since they introduced the initiative — they were called petulant, stupid crybabies, emotional and immature — and spoke directly in response to an editorial that ran in the Tribune, saying she disagrees that the initiative that is a waste of time and energy.

Kirkmeyer said she feels she and the board made an effort to establish a dialogue with a number of state lawmakers and officials about the issues facing Weld and other rural counties, but their efforts were “to no avail.”

Conway likened the secession proposal to an initiative in the mid-1970s to turn Weld into a home rule county, which gives commissioners local control over unincorporated areas instead of the state. He said residents called that initiative crazy, and it took three tries before it got on the ballot.

As a home rule county now, Weld has no short- or long-term debt, no sales tax and a $100 million reserve fund, Conway said.

“What did we learn from that example?” he said.

From The Denver Post (By Monte Whaley/Katharina Buchholz) Sterling Journal-Advocate:

The Logan County Commissioners voted today to join a growing list of northeastern Colorado counties getting serious about secession.

Prior to their vote, the commissioners of Weld and Phillips counties voted Monday to place a question on the fall ballot asking voters if they wish to divorce Colorado and create a 51st state.

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway predicted secession will pass in his county on a 60-40 vote. He quoted Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, who helped overthrow British rule, and warned others not to be dismissive of the movement. “‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win,'” Conway said.

Commissioners in 10 northeastern counties have been considering a breakaway since the end of the legislative session — a lawmaking season they said was the last straw after years of frustration over dealing with Denver-area lawmakers’ perceived indifference toward the concerns of rural Colorado.

Bills were passed at the expense of farmers, oil and gas producers and gun owners, Weld Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer said. “I know from meeting with people, they truly believe rural communities are now under attack,” Kirkmeyer said. “There are plenty who told us that we should vote Denver and Boulder off the island.”

Yuma, Cheyenne and Sedgwick counties already have OK’d secession ballot questions. Washington county commissioners also were slated to vote on the issue today, and Kit Carson County will take it up Wednesday.

Morgan County has set an Aug. 26 deadline for signatures to be submitted to place the question on the fall ballot. Lincoln County officials are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Four public meetings with Weld County residents this summer convinced the commissioners secession is in order.

“They want change,” commission Chairman Bill Garcia said. “They want to be heard. Policies being passed by the Legislature in Denver are having negative impacts on the lives of rural Coloradans.”

If voters do go for it, forming a 51st state will face huge obstacles, including approval in the Legislature and Congress, said state Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, who is running for governor against Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Still, positive votes for the measure will send a message that rural Coloradans are tired of being overlooked, Brophy said. “It will tell the governor that he has a huge problem with people in the northern part of the state,” he said.

Weld County resident Vicki Anderson told commissioners she also wants the question on the ballot, but only in hopes that “it is resoundingly defeated for this absurd notion.”

From the Sterling Journal-Advocate (Callie Jones):

Come this November, Logan County voters will have a chance to give their input on whether or not several counties in northeastern Colorado should secede and form the nation’s 51st state. During their business meeting on Tuesday, the commissioners approved a resolution submitting to a vote of the registered electors in Logan County, the question of whether to pursue a 51st state.

The question on the ballot will ask “shall the Board of County Commissioners of Logan County, in concert with the county commissioners of other Colorado counties, pursue becoming the 51st state of the United States of America?”

Weld, Phillips, Sedgwick, Cheyenne and Yuma Counties have already OK’d secession ballot questions. Kit Carson will take up the issue today.

Morgan County has set an Aug. 26 deadline for signatures to be submitted to place the question on the fall ballot and Lincoln County officials are taking a wait-and-see approach.

Moffat County, in northwestern Colorado, is also looking at placing a question on the ballot.

The resolution passed by the Logan County Commissioners states that “the citizens of several rural eastern Colorado counties have voiced extreme dissatisfaction with the current political landscape at the state level and the passage of laws that conflict with the interests, convictions and lifestyles of rural citizens.”

It goes on to say that the commissioners have been “in communication with the county commissioners of at least nine other eastern Colorado counties who, in concert with each other and on behalf of their constituents, have discussed the creation of a 51st state.”

According to the resolution, “public meetings have been held in several eastern Colorado counties to discuss the creation of a new state to more effectively represent the interests and convictions of rural Colorado, and there is strong public support for the opportunity for citizens to voice their wishes in the matter by submitting the question to the electorate.”

The new state would need to be approved by the state legislature, the governor and the U.S. Congress.

More North Colorado secession coverage here.

Weld County Commissioners vote unanimously to approve #51ststate issue 2 ballot-means Weld voters will weigh the issue in the Nov election.

— Grace Hood (@gracehood) August 19, 2013

Here’s Ms. Hood’s writeup of the vote and meeting on KUNC. Here’s an excerpt:

Weld County Commissioners voted Monday to approve ballot measure language that will appear in front of county voters this November. It will be up to Weld voters to decide if the county should further pursue the formation of a 51st state separate from Colorado.

Three other counties–Cheyenne, Sedgwick, and Yuma–have also decided to put similar measures in front of voters. Counties still deciding whether to put the issue on the ballot include Logan, Phillips, Washington and Kit Carson.

Morgan County Commissioners have decided to leave it up to citizens to get the issue on the ballot. Residents there have until August 26 to gather signatures from 15 percent of active voters.

Westword (Patricia Calhoun) gives the secessionists all the serious attention the proposal deserves:

If at first you don’t secede, try, try again. Ten counties in northeastern Colorado are still considering seceding from the state. Cheyenne County (population 1876, appropriately enough) has already gotten the proposal on the November ballot; Weld County could do the same soon. In this week’s Westword, we offer some alternative slogans, symbols and names for this proposed 51st state, including Uncolorado, Near Nebraska, Southern Wyoming and Coloraduh. But why should northeast Colorado have all the fun?

Here are nine other possible spinoffs:

Potopia : Perfect should Denver and Boulder, as well as that handful of other spots around the state that are respecting the will of the voters on Amendment 64, decide to secede as other local governments ban recreational marijuana sales. (Pairs nicely with Methopotamia, a potential title for the 51st state.)

Crackpotopia: Early contender for the name of the new 51st state, but also available to other crackpot quarters.

Crankerado : Adams County as well as any other county that has more than three curmudgeons show up at county commissioner meetings — not counting the commissioners themselves.

Little Texas: Vail

Little L.A.: Aspen

Coolerado: The Capitol Hill, RiNo, Baker and LoHi neighborhoods of Denver; a slice of Boulder; La Veta, Salida and Crested Butte (the original town, not the resort).

Western Kansas (or Might as Well Be Kansas): An alternative for all those eastern counties that don’t want to be part of Near Nebraska.

Almost Oklahoma: An alternative for all those southeastern counties that don’t want to be part of Might As Well Be Kansas.

New New Mexico: Following the green chile trail from the southern border up to the San Luis Valley, with a few strongholds in Pueblo and metro Denver.

I say let 'em join Wyoming. But then they'd be the evil big city folk! #copolitics #secession @coloradopols @EliStokols

— Luis Toro (@_luistoro) August 19, 2013

More North Colorado Secession coverage here.