Rio Blanco Republicans hold nomination assembly

RBC — CNCC hosted the local Republican assembly for this election season, where delegates from all precincts in the county gathered to meet officials in the county government and those citizens who are running for elected positions locally and across the district.
Brief nomination speeches were given for each candidate followed by their acceptance addresses. Commissioner Ken Parsons, who is not facing any contenders, gave a short talk on the state of county affairs.
For the other commissioner position, a special vote was taken by the registered delegates to see if challenger Kai Turner had enough support to be placed on the ballot in opposition to incumbent Forrest Nelson. Turner received 58 percent of the vote to Nelson’s 42 percent so both will be on the primary ballot.
Turner thanked the assembly for their support and stated he feels he has enough experience in county affairs to be an effective leader. Nelson summarized his agricultural background and work he’s done on local and state boards on a broad range of interests, most notably energy and infrastructure development.
For House District 57, two candidates are vying for the position being vacated by Al White.
Dan Korkowski lives in Grand Lake and is a small business owner. He is a retired law enforcement officer who has served in Miami, Fla., and Aurora, Colo.
The other candidate is Randy Baumgardner from Hot Sulphur Springs. He is currently employed by the department of transportation and he and his wife run the Baumgardner Cattle Company.
Both have extensive backgrounds working with local and state agencies.
White, who is running for the State Senate in District 8, was unable to attend the assembly due to appearances in other areas but CNCC President John Boyd gave a strong endorsement message in White’s behalf.
The assembly also passed a resolution calling on the BLM to stay on schedule in the leasing process for oil shale and other energy development projects and not give in to delaying tactics by anti-development forces. The resolution was amended to make sure agricultural and recreational uses were also protected.