State Senator Vicki Marble (R-Fort Collins), the third ranking member of her party’s leadership team, proposed secession as “recourse” to a “global agenda,” represented by a bill to strengthen health and safety rules for the oil & gas industry.
Posting a picture of the public hearing for the “Protect Public Welfare Oil And Gas Operations,” aka SB19-181, which lasted for twelve hours and featured testimony from hundreds of proponents and opponents, Marble wrote:
No discussion, no stakeholder process, and no consideration for the hundreds of thousands of workers in oil and gas and their families.
Democrats have declared war on oil and gas and have deemed these workers and their families as “collateral damage.” Unacceptable, and I’ll fight it ever step of the way.
In response to a comment on her post agreeing with her sentiment, Marble, who last year was found guilty of ethical violations involving the oil & gas industry, replied,
“you are right on target. This is a global agenda. My recourse is SECEDE. Boulder and Denver metro are so removed from the working man’s reality. We are considered “collateral damage” as we are not in their realm of approved industries for their approved utopian scheme. Talk about sanctimonious…. this is the classic definition.”
Asked in another comment if the response options are limited to recalling legislators or suing to stop the bill’s implementation, Marble again offered her solution: “SECEDE !!!”
Sen. Marble lives in Fort Collins, the fourth-largest city in Colorado. She represents Senate District 23, which includes parts of Broomfield, Weld and Larimer counties. Downtown Broomfield, which is part of the Denver metro area according to the US Census Bureau, is part of the district. Most of the town of Erie is also within SD23, including the luxury golf course community of Vista Ridge, where the median home price is $530,000.
As Minority Caucus Chair, Sen. Marble’s call for secession makes her the second member of the Senate Republican leadership team to suggest that some portion of Northern Colorado abandon the state, albeit in a different manner. Following last year’s election, Assistant Minority Leader John Cooke, (R-Greeley) proposed that Weld County leave Colorado and join Wyoming.
“I’m thinking we oughta join Wyoming instead of seceding,” [Cooke] said. “We have a lot more in common with Wyoming than Boulder.
A voice message left with Sen. Marble’s office requesting clarification as to specifics of her plans for secession was not immediately returned. This story will be updated with any response.
