Basalt Chamber and politics don’t mix

The Basalt Chamber does many excellent things. In a recent scathing letter to the editor, I did not intend to criticize all chamber members for the good work they do. The intent was to call attention to my strong belief that the chamber’s Facebook page has been, and continues to be, extensively used by the chamber-controlled “administrators of the page” for promoting the agenda of Lowe Enterprises or big development plans for the Roaring Fork Development Corp. parcel. The administrators are those individuals, probably one or two different people, who have editorial rights or clearance to delete or promote various posts to either diminish or enhance a proposal, an idea or an existing council member or future council candidate’s popularity.

I have asked both the former and current head of the chamber to play fair and make sure the page is neutral but have been ignored, and so my letters to the editor are sent, as it is about the only outlet for passing information that does not support gig development and/or Lowe Enterprises desire to develop for the Community Development Corp. river site.

The administrators of the Facebook page have, unbeknownst to most of its members, turned the Chamber of Commerce into a political organization. The members should not have to tell the administrators of the page to play fair, but it might now be required.

The last option, if the administrators will not be neutral, is that the Basalt Town Council should revoke the 1 percent lodging tax revenue from going to the chamber. The best solution would be for the administrators stop the sneaky political monkey business that has brought strife to Basalt for the past two years.

If the page is to continue, they need to delete all political and personal criticism posts on the page and not allow any of them to appear in the future, and instead promote all the good things, people and ideas that are Basalt.

Mark Kwiecienski

Basalt