By Julia Caulfield

Nearly 70 elected officials across the 3rd Congressional District signed on to a letter condemning U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert for “her association with the right wing groups that supported the insurrection of the Capitol Building” last week.

“A group of us woke up the morning and just thought ‘we have some level of responsibility here as elected officials to reach out’,” says San Miguel County Commissioner Hilary Cooper, “so we started talking through what those actions should be.”

Cooper helped draft the letter which, on Tuesday, was sent to House Leadership – that’s Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, and House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy.

“Our goal was to draft something that specifically referred to what are roles as representatives are, and how we interpret those roles, and how we expect our representatives in Congress to do the same,” says Cooper.

The letter goes on to say “Representative Boebert’s actions, including her statements on the floor immediately preceding the insurrection and her social media posts leading up to the riots were irresponsible and reprehensible”.

Mountain Village Town Councilmember Natalie Binder signed on to the letter. She says she hopes the message from local elected officials shows Representative Boebert what the 3rd Congressional District actually wants and needs. She points to the speech Boebert gave on the House floor directly before the siege on the Capitol.

“She made comment related to ‘I have supporters outside this House that want answers’,” says Binder, “and I think that that kind of language incites anger. Especially representing a rural community where there is sever job loss, and other things; here we are focused on an election that we know was fair, and has been proven to be fair. I think inciting that kind of divisiveness does not help us forward to a path of bringing rural America more prosperity, jobs, and COVID relief.”

The letter asks the leadership to investigate Boebert’s actions.

“While we condemn her actions, and some of the statements that she made, we wanted to very specifically ask there be an investigation opened up to determine if her actions were directly associated with those who breached the Capitol,” says Cooper.

But for Telluride Mayor DeLanie Young, the letter doesn’t go far enough.

“I think our letter carries weight, I don’t think it was strong enough,” says Young, “She’s made it very clear that she really is only representing one small faction of people from our district. We need leaders who are going to represent everyone, and she has made it perfectly clear she has no intention of doing that. She should not be serving in that seat.”

Representative Boebert responded to the letter via email, commenting the violence at the Capitol last week was “indefensible”. She goes on to say she “followed the Constitution and historical precedent to object to Electoral College votes” and she does not “support unlawful act of violence”.

In total 68 elected officials from the 3rd Congressional District – from Durango to Aspen, Eagle County to Pueblo – signed the letter.