Caitlin Carey is the Democratic candidate for Garfield County Commissioner, District 2. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Sopris Sun: Why are you running for John Martin’s seat on the Garfield County Board of County Commissioners?
Caitlin Carey: I would start with: It’s not John’s seat. It’s the people of Garfield County’s seat.
When I first decided to run, I wanted to talk to as many people as I could in the county and hear from them about what is missing, what is needed. My original thought was, we don’t have a lot of collaboration. I have seen that while serving on New Castle Town Council. We had a joint meeting with the commissioners in February of, I think, 2023, and it just didn’t seem to me that there was a real collaborative mindset.
Counties were created to bring government services to the people. To do that, there is an umbrella of county, state and federal that is supposed to work together. I didn’t see that and it bothered me. So, I decided to run.
I hear more and more that we just want new eyes looking at the same problems. I moved here in 2002, but eventually I couldn’t afford it and had to leave. Housing was very expensive in 2002 and the job market was terrible. I moved back in 2013 and housing was still a problem. It has become more of a problem. [Wildfire] has always been a problem. Transportation’s always been a problem. We’ve always had a very diverse population here, [which] has always presented challenges to make sure that people are well-represented, that people are well-served.
The difference [between] a politician and a public servant lies in motivation. My motivation is making sure this place remains the rural Mountain West we love so much — for my son and his friends when they’re grownups, so they don’t have to live in our basements because they can’t afford a place to live. My motivation is making sure there are services the county is supposed to be providing that are readily accessible — like language access [and] mental health services. I want to make sure we’ve got access to women’s health information, in English and in Spanish.
What have been the current commissioners’ two best decisions in the past four years and how were they in the best interest of Garfield County?
CC: New Castle’s getting a roundabout at Highway 6 and Castle Valley Boulevard. It’s a very expensive endeavor and the commissioners have agreed to provide some funding to help us. Now, that’s not a giant services thing, but it is definitely something that will impact the people of New Castle, who are their constituents.
As far as the second one, I am cautiously optimistic about the work that may go on at the Rifle Airport. It’s an opportunity to create an economic driver that the county needs to backfill some of the money that we’re not going to be seeing from the oil and gas industry.
What were two decisions that were not made in the interest of Garfield County?
CC: The library. What I saw was a lack of collaboration, the collaborative spirit. Clearly there are some people who are concerned about access to certain types of books in the library. That is a fair concern. They are welcome to have that concern. As a parent of a 12 year old, I want my son to be looking at things that are age-appropriate.
But taking autonomy away and doing so because the library didn’t do what [the commissioners] wanted, to me, was a complaint resolution that was bullying: “Do what we want, or we’re going to take over.” I don’t think that’s appropriate. The better road forward would have been, “We are clearly at a crossroads. Let’s sit down and have a work session and talk this out.” I think it was done in a way that did more harm than good, and it caused more division than anything else.
Similarly with the non-sanctuary resolution. I don’t think that resolution really had any legally binding authority. It is words on a page, and it does no positive thing for the county. It can only harm people. Things were said that hurt my heart because they were speaking of people they don’t know and made judgments on their character based on a book they read or what country they came from or how they got here.
How do you approach working with someone whose political views differ from yours?
CC: I serve on a nonpartisan board right now and, between the seven of us, we cover a very large portion of the spectrum of political affiliations. But we hold space for each other’s differing opinions. Our commitment is not to one policy standpoint or another; our commitment is to the people of New Castle and making sure that we are doing the very best by them. My hope is that my colleagues on the commission would approach things in a similar fashion because, at the end of the day, we probably all have the same goal and that’s serving the people of Garfield County.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
CC: I was at a candidate forum with my opponent (Republican Perry Will) who said he felt like God had told him that this was what he was supposed to do. I feel the same way but I feel like it’s the journey. I know I am supposed to be doing this right now.
I’m the only woman running for commissioner. The fact is, we have not had a woman commissioner since Tresi [Houpt]. And the fact is, a substantial portion of the population of Garfield County are women. And I think it is absolutely time to have a different voice in the room.