As anyone can imagine, I had more than a few comments about the “great victory” our local “leaders” claimed with the announcement the Bureau of Land Management will move its headquarters to Grand Junction. Since you already know why I put quotes around leaders from being a loyal reader (a small town columnist can hope, no?), let’s delve into the “victory.”

First and foremost. Is it a good thing the BLM is moving its headquarters for the director to Grand Junction instead of some other small town in the West that few east of the Mississippi have heard of? Sure. I’ll give you that. It’s better than Lander, Wyo. Is it the greatest jobs and economic victory in the history of River City? Nope.

And then, of course, I made the mistake of saying that on social media.

So let’s put the good, the bad and possibly some ugly across in this column to tell folks where I’m coming from. And then maybe I won’t have people telling me not to be such a “downer all the time” with “everything I write.” To which I respond, “Obviously, you don’t read everything I write, let alone the paper.” But … moving on.

First, if you’d like to read about how this BLM move will be a good thing as time goes, just scroll through the paper and you’ll see a great report on the plusses from statements of some key players. Also, you might note — although I’m not certain, because I manage no content for the paper in my role as publisher — you could read a differing point of view across the page. So much for the Business Times (read: Craig) is always a downer.

Let me state this. There are indeed 27, good, high-paying jobs moving to Grand Junction. And since I know federal government jobs NEVER go away, these jobs are here to stay. As I also know the feds, chances are this will turn into 30 high-paying jobs, then 35 and so on. After all, federal bureaucracy has but one job, and that’s to grow. So there’s the positive.

Here’s what I also see. We were sold this bill of goods as 300 jobs with 3,000 ancillary other jobs. We were told this would have a huge effect on our real estate prices — even though there aren’t enough homes for sale in the county, let alone homes high-paid federal fat cats might desire. We were told this would be a huge boost to our economy. And yet, we have 27 jobs. As a friend pointed out, it’s better than zero jobs. He’s right, 27 is a bigger number than zero. Also note, by splitting the agency the way the BLM did, we’ll have way fewer visitors because division headquarters are now scattered. As a final jab, the BLM will one day be run by a Democrat environmentalist because it’s a political entity first and foremost — and most of these same leaders were not fans a few short years ago.

So just where did all that pablum come from? Someone had to put it out there so people would support the BLM move here. We were sold a bill of goods from plans that have been in the making for a while. All so a few of our leaders could travel to the most dangerous place on the planet: between them and a microphone, where they can take credit for creating jobs for our little slice of heaven on this orb — especially coming into an election year or when envisioning a cornerstone to be chiseled.

But this always happens whenever special jobs — jobs not for you and me —are “created” for folks on the inside, folks who are subsidized with tax incentives and our tax money, government-based jobs that aren’t needed or if you’re one of the special players on the block. These are the same ones who get the same awards for doing a whole lot of the same thing. Hollywood has little on Grand Junction when it comes to pulling shoulders out of joint for backslapping.

Maybe you think this whole deal has my nose out of joint, and I’m smarmy because I’m not in the club. And you’d be right — but not why you think. First off, it’s really not my style of club. And yes, I get tired of receiving press releases the morning a story is running on the front page or on radio or TV for members of the club. But I also have the ability to see reality. And when these things happen, I see so much more than the scene at the club’s press conference.

But that’s what hard working, little guys do: Work with what we have, do the best job of it and make our way.

You see, also in the past month our local entrepreneurial friends who built an ice rink have decided they can’t give it a go any longer. A local, award-winning and pioneering vintner put his winery up for sale. God only knows how many local, little guys opened or had to close their doors.

You might see or hear about that from the insiders, and almost certainly from the Business Times. But you’ll never see a microphone. No credit or cornerstones there for the taking.

And that positively bothers me no end.