{"id":101284,"date":"2018-02-20T16:15:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T23:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/americans-for-prosperity-pulls-back-campaign-against-la-plata-countys-land-use-code\/"},"modified":"2018-02-20T16:15:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T23:15:33","slug":"americans-for-prosperity-pulls-back-campaign-against-la-plata-countys-land-use-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/americans-for-prosperity-pulls-back-campaign-against-la-plata-countys-land-use-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans for Prosperity pulls back campaign against La Plata County\u2019s land-use code"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Americans
Americans for Prosperity announced it will suspend its campaign against La Plata County\u2019s land-use codes after county officials announced they will put the process on hold to address residents\u2019 concerns.<\/span>Courtesy of Americans for Prosperity<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Americans for Prosperity has pulled back its campaign against La Plata County\u2019s proposed land-use codes, for now, the group\u2019s deputy state director Tamra Farah said Monday.<\/p>\n

Last month, AFP announced it would take an active role to influence the county\u2019s proposed land-use codes, which the group said are harmful to farmers and ranchers and infringe on individual property rights.<\/p>\n

Over the past few weeks, the politically conservative advocacy group launched a series of digital ads asking people to sign a petition against the land-use codes<\/a>, which garnered 200 signatures from county residents and another 100 from people outside the county.<\/p>\n

While AFP is known for spending a lot of money on campaigns, sending volunteers door to door and making calls, Farah said the campaign in La Plata County was limited to digital advertising.<\/p>\n

But when La Plata County staff members and commissioners announced late last month they would put the land-use codes on hold to address serious concerns raised by residents, AFP decided to end its local efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ads were something we did for that period of time, and we were pleased with their decision to hold off,\u201d Farah said. \u201cIt was a very small effort. What we do going forward, we\u2019re still considering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last fall, the La Plata County Planning Department released a draft of new land-use codes that seek to update antiquated regulations that haven\u2019t been seriously overhauled since the 1980s. A number of La Plata County residents strongly opposed the draft codes because they viewed them an overreach of the county\u2019s authority and an infringement of property rights.<\/p>\n

The issue caught Americans for Prosperity\u2019s attention. The group recently opened a Durango office on north Main Avenue and quickly made the debate over the land-use codes its first campaign on the Western Slope under new Colorado director Jesse Mallory. This past summer, the group also hired its first representative on the Western Slope \u2013 La Plata County resident Ginny Chambers \u2013 to expand the group\u2019s reach into more rural parts of Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the feedback we\u2019ve been getting from the community on the land-use code \u2026 look for us to become involved in educating and rallying our activists against this plan,\u201d Mallory wrote in an email to The Durango Herald on Jan. 27.<\/p>\n

It is unclear if people associated with AFP attended land-use code meetings because it is difficult to determine if those who object to the draft land-use codes also identify with the advocacy group, Farah said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have people there that have been active a long time before we opened an office,\u201d she said. \u201cProtecting property rights is something near and dear to many people\u2019s hearts, not just Americans for Prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farah adamantly said that the group has not donated money to any group or individual engaged in fighting against approval of the draft land-use code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never have, and we never will,\u201d she said Monday.<\/p>\n

Jon Fossel, a representative of LaPlata Liberty Coalition<\/a>, a group of residents who recently formed mostly in opposition to the draft codes, said the group has never received outside money for its efforts.<\/p>\n

Expenses that LaPlata Liberty Coalition have incurred so far, such as paying for room at the Sky Ute Casino Resort for a meeting, have been completely funded by donations from local residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have absolutely not given one nickel,\u201d Fossel said. \u201cEven if they wanted to, they couldn\u2019t. We don\u2019t even have a checking account.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farah also denied any involvement, financially or otherwise, with the recall petition against La Plata County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt, who has claimed in recent weeks the group is behind the effort to oust her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not engaged in that at all,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a false statement on her part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lachelt did not specifically address the recall but said in an email: \u201cI welcome the news that the Koch Brothers group, Americans for Prosperity, has decided to discontinue its involvement in the county land-use code process. AFP heard the resounding call from our residents that we don\u2019t need outside corporate interference in our planning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFP will continue to operate out of its Durango office, Farah said, working on various local, state and national issues, including protecting property rights and the Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights, as well as promoting federal tax reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re there and not going anywhere,\u201d Farah said.<\/p>\n

The Koch brothers-funded group may re-organize its efforts on the land-use code, depending on the scope of revisions made over the next few weeks, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just depends,\u201d she said. \u201cOur goal is to stand up for people\u2019s property rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spokeswoman reiterates group not involved in recall effort against County Commissioner Gwen Lachelt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":101285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[4826,1745,193,265],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-101284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-gwen-lachelt","tag-la-plata-county-officials","tag-land-use","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101284"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=101284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}