So, we know a lot of our readers have issues with Colorado’s US Senator Cory Gardner. We also debated even running a story here because this has been well covered, but it’s Colorado and we’re obliged.
We need to give Cory Gardner props for something that we think is good. Cory in a press release (we linked the video here) tells us that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is moving its headquarters from its HQ in downtown Washington, DC (C and 18th Streets, plenty of parking!) to Grand Junction, Colorado.
Department of Interior in Washington, DC view 1 
Department of Interior in Washington, DC view 2
So why is this a good thing?
Well, decentralizing power from Washington to the States is never a bad thing. Even though this may be primarily symbolic because the BLM and the Department of the Interior (the larger agency that controls the BLM) still maintain their power.
However, and we’re going on faith here, we believe if the agency is closer to the majority of managed land, better policies and rules will be drafted.
Preferably we would like to see the federal government’s ownership of about 47% of the land out west shrink (The federal government owns about 1/8th of the land in the entire US). They’re not the best stewards of the land, and the feds should get out of our backyard! (Editors Note: I voted for using “Get off my lawn!” here).
[Of course, the feds are not the only government entities that own land, the state, municipalities, special districts, etc. own a lot of the land as well. Think about that next time something shows up on your local ballot for the government to purchase more property.
What Does This Mean For Gardner?
So, what does this mean to Cory’s 2020 re-election campaign? We think pretty much zero. Considering Cory should have shored-up votes on the Western Slope of Colorado by now, this just reinforces those votes.
Maybe it will be a positive ad in the front range media markets, but we think it will have little to no impact among the onslaught from the left.
Cory did a good thing here, and that should be the sole motivation for all politicians – doing the right or a good thing. But electorally, this makes little to no difference.
We look forward to the comments from the Gardener sycophants, but the tale of the tape will come in November 2020.
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