And, yes, I’m writing this column mostly for the benefit of the Mesa County Republican Party, its leadership and overzealous minions who up until today thought presidential pardons were a bad thing.

Let’s begin by first stating presidential pardons are indeed bad things. Because they pardon criminals who’ve been convicted of crimes. As a matter of fact, the Biden administration upped the ante on pardons to pardoning criminals before they’ve been convicted; thereby declaring them criminals in the pre-pardoning process. Or do I have to bring up Hunter Biden and Anthony Fauci to get the message through?

One can only surmise, then, that Tina Peters is indeed a (convicted) criminal, and the Mesa County Republicans I’ve communicated with all appear to accept this as fact in her case, even though they won’t write or say those exact words and try to change the direction of the conversation.

Let me also communicate to our local Republicans that changing the subject is a foolish, democrat stunt which doesn’t work on clear-thinking individuals.

But let’s get into the meat of the matter when it comes to Tina and her self-inflicted plight, all foisted upon her by those radical Minny–sooootans and their conspiracy-ladened antics.

First and foremost is Tina did this to herself. After all, who was in charge of the voting equipment in Mesa County when the alleged hacking, machine rigging or cheating occurred? Tina, that’s who. If she had the slightest inkling that cheating would occur, why wasn’t she shouting it from the rooftops BEFORE the election?

And if cheating occurred, why in the world would the democrats do it in Mesa County, where the voting results simply reflected the trends locally and every election went as expected? Could it be because there was no cheating?

After all, none has been proven in Mesa County from the election in question no matter how loudly self-proclaimed martyrs and moms and minions murmur and make mayhem in matriculating this mumbo-jumbo. And yes, I’ve read the reports, looked at the canvas and suffered through the movie where Tina was the alleged “star” in more ways than one.

Hate to break it to you all, Tina is no shining star. She was a flash in the pan that was there for a moment, like the smallest, shortest-lived asteroid in an election-fraud storm that was here one night but gone the next, all bank-rolled through online pillow sales for one reason and one reason only: Tina was willing to lie her head on her (my) pillow and get between the election fraud/denier sheets as the patsy. And a perfect patsy she was.

According to many friends and associates of mine, all this pillow-talk made Tina do all the wrong things for all the right reasons. Let’s begin with this, many convicted criminals use the same excuse. Yet this statement goes against pretty much everything conservatives believe. Let me further say in plain English what this statement really means: Tina Peters broke the law, and you appear to be OK with that. My final thought: I’m not OK with that, nor should anyone be who believes in the rule of law.

Just to help clarify and because it’s a favorite comeback of many Republicans on this topic, here’s what Tina was convicted of beyond a reasonable doubt in a Republican county, by a Republican prosecutor bringing charges asked for by a Republican county commission and by a (probably) mostly Republican jury of her peers: Three counts of attempting to influence a public servant; one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation; one count of official misconduct; and one count of failure to comply with the secretary of state.

In other words, Tina did a lot of wrong at the behest of the pillow guy for those “right reasons.”

It begs the question, if Tina was in charge and by law she had to keep a record of the votes in Mesa County as part of her job, why did she have to break the law to secure those records? The only answer can be Tina had no idea what she was doing at her job, and the robe and slippers fit as someone the pillow poppers could use. That’s why she harangued her underlings into the mess. The same underlings who testified that Tina broke the law.

The final argument I hear from my fellow conservatives is the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. That it’s too harsh. The asking of what law did Tina break that deserves such an unusually harsh sentence? Well, when one piles conviction atop conviction, it does show intent and requires additional sentencing per crime. That’s how courts work.

That said, here’s another, social law Tina broke in bringing the harsh sentence upon herself: the laws of arrogance in committing crimes you think you should be able to get away with because of how righteous you are in your own mind; how you treat law enforcement in the public arena; and, worst of all, having no remorse before the court.

To present a popular, slightly vulgar phrase making the rounds in our current political climate: Tina F’d around and found out.

Yup, Tina is right where she’s supposed to be because she’s the person who put herself there. This time, elections certainly had consequences.

In Christ and Freedom.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of The Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com