ALAMOSA — On Saturday, a political town hall meeting was held in a filled Society Hall in Alamosa. An estimated 170 people attended the event, organized by Jane Brolsma of Crestone, the Saguache County Democrats and Crestone/Baca Grande Indivisible. 

The March 22 meeting was a platform for discussions regarding the new administration in Washington. During her opening remarks, Brolsma highlighted the urgency of the issues, expressing concerns about President Donald Trump's and Elon Musk's actions, stating, “What they are doing to me is not just illegal and unconstitutional, but there is some kind of a chaotic mess and cruelty to it.” 

Brolsma said that for the past month, she and others have called and emailed the offices of U.S. Representative Jeff Hurd, “Asking him to please come to a town hall in the Valley, and we haven't received a response. A group of us got planning, and we invited him to come today. If he couldn't come, could you send a staff person… that didn't happen either.” 

Requests for comment from U.S. Rep. Hurd were not returned by press time. 

Expressing her disappointment, Brolsma questioned, “If your ideas are popular and you truly believe you are working for the American people, why would you avoid meeting with your constituents?” She continued, “We were genuinely looking forward to meeting with him. The empty chair on the stage serves as a stark reminder that we elected him, and we want him to listen, engage, and act on our behalf. We had hoped he would be here today to hear our stories.” 

The meeting was moderated by Paula Medina, Mayor of La Jara, and featured guest speakers Eric Francis, a Veteran; Angelica Raya Trejo, who spoke about immigration; Dr. Kris Steinberg, who spoke on Medicare; Kyler Brown, a farmer and rancher who spoke about agriculture; Cathy O'Neill, a former federal employee; and Chris Canaly with the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, who spoke about federal lands. 

State Senator Cleave Simpson, Saguache County Commissioner Tom McCracken, and Saguache County Commissioner Liza Marron were the elected officials who attended.  

Brown offered this regarding agriculture, "As the administration starts to unfold with the new president, I think the biggest word that comes to me is 'uncertainty,' in agriculture, we already have a lot of uncertainty. As of right now, commodity prices are low; potato prices are low, and the only thing that is hot is cattle. In terms of how you financially manage a small agriculture business, you are trying to make plans." Brown said his longtime fertilizer supplier visited him to introduce a new employee and to discuss the Canadian-supplied potash that may be subject to a tariff. The supplier, said Brown, asked for an upfront payment of 25 percent before the price doubled or tripled.

U.S. Army Veteran Francis spoke on recent federal developments and their impact on disabled Veterans like himself.  

Francis said that recent cuts to the Veterans Administration have resulted in the dismissal of physicians, and now the wait time to see a doctor can be about eight months. He also said the suicide prevention phone lines for Veterans have been disconnected.  

“There have already been 83,000 [employee] cuts to the VA…. They are trying to completely shut the VA down." He added, "They have cut $2 billion in contracts…these are doctors and nurses. I've already lost my doctor, and my upcoming doctor appointments have been canceled. To reschedule you are looking at eight months." 

Dr. Steinberg spoke about Medicaid and said that in Colorado, the program is very efficient, and administrative costs are only four percent compared to 15-30 percent at private insurers. 

"If we decrease our Medicaid coverage reimbursement, it would have major impacts on the availability of services in our community. We could lose nursing homes, maternity care services, clinics, and even our hospital," Steinberg said.  

O'Neill, a former federal employee with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) who recently accepted a retirement offer, detailed the disorganization offers of retirement that were made and complemented NRCS employees tasked to implement them and said, "A lot of people's lives were upended… were in travel status who had to find a way back home, who were told they weren't going to get paid anymore, people who had just been hired on from far-flung places like Florida and New Jersey, suddenly had to figure out what they were doing. It was very slash and burn, very dishonest; I would call it a train wreck." 

Trejo, who spoke on immigration, said "One of the most pressing concerns with current ICE [Immigration and Customs] enforcement is the increased use of expedited removals, which denies individuals the opportunity to challenge their cases." 

Canaly defended the federal government's role and said, "In Colorado, we get almost as many federal tax dollars as we give. An example of this locally through the counties is the compensation [from the federal government to the counties] is PILT, Payment In Lieu of Taxes, because counties receive financial compensation due to the federal public lands that are here." 

In 2024, these payments to Saguache, Conejos and Rio Grande Counties exceeded $1 million to each county. Alamosa County received $282,148 in 2024 PILT money. 

Canaly noted, "I am so glad Senator Simpson is here. Because of threats to public lands, the Colorado state legislature and Senator Simpson passed a resolution called Protection of Colorado Public Land, reaffirming the state's commitment to keeping public lands under federal stewardship."  

Senate Joint Resolution 25-009 includes this, “Our public lands reflect many of our most noble democratic ideals because public lands offer valuable recreational, economic, cultural, and spiritual opportunities to everyone, regardless of one's socioeconomic status, race, or gender or whether one lives in an urban or rural area…” 

After the event Brolsma told the Valley Courier, “It was heartening to see the overflow crowd and receive so much appreciation after the town hall.” 

After this article appeared online in an email to the Valley Courier, Pete Kasperowicz, a press secretary with the Department of Veterans Affairs, disputed the claim in this article that 83,000 employees at the department had been terminated and offered this statement:  

"We've put out a target number and set up a structure to begin the planning process of reforming the department, but we haven't made any of those personnel changes yet. 

"We're going to run through a deliberative process and find ways to improve care and benefits for Veterans without cutting care and benefits for Veterans. 

"We're not talking about reducing medical staff or claims processors, we're talking about reducing bureaucracy and inefficiencies that are getting in the way of customer convenience and service to veterans." 

Kasperowicz provided a video of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins discussing employee reductions to 2019 levels, which will affect about 72,000 employees.