County Commissioner Ben Pearlman thinks 71% of voters equals a fringe group.

Cliffnotes: One day left for public comment, which the Commissioners are largely ignoring anyway (though they’ve listened to hours of bought-and-paid-for out-of-state testimony by Monsanto & Friends). Three days after that of deliberation. Then, decision. At this point, our guess is Will Toor will vote to remove GMOs from our lands (that we pay for). Cindy Domenico is on the fence, but probably will vote with Monsanto. Ben Pearlman, who we’ve liked and respected for years, has given every indication that he’s already made his decision: to forgo a powerfully symbolic moment of “health and environmental responsibility” and vote to protect six farmers’ “right” to continue to plant untested GMOs on public lands. ~ Waylon Lewis, ed. PS: Happy ending? We somehow win next week? Elephant Journal will follow this little blog up and make just as much noise appreciating our representatives, including Mr. Ben Pearlman, for serving the greater commonwealth against corporate and out-of-state interests. ~ ed. Let’s make some noise! The only hope at this point is to go nuts on FB, twitter, email lists…really make it clear it’s not just “a few nutty old hippies” who feel this way.

Allow GMOs on Boulder County Open Space?

Via Arron Mansika—a great example of the sort of local natural products entrepreneur who has done a good deal to make Boulder famous and financially stable:

If you were an elected public servant, would you like to know what 71% of your voters are thinking? Of course you would. In politics, that’s a huge percentage in agreement. And, as an elected official with such insight, would you then call that sizable majority “a fringe”? You would if you’re Ben Pearlman.

Boulder County Commissioner Pearlman has marginalized the will of the citizens he’s been elected to represent when it comes to GMO on publicly-owned Boulder County Open Space. A study this October conducted by Denver-based Kupersmit Research and GMO Free Boulder revealed that a whopping 71% of Boulder County voters said they would prohibit the farming of genetically-modified crops on Boulder County Open Space.

Isn’t 71% enough to sway this elected official? Well, no. Instead, Ben repeats,

“this is a fringe of our community.”

Suspending the scientific debate, the varying economic views, the studies on what makes Boulder thrive, and in fact, suspending all intellectual and emotional dialogue, how can a community get through to its representative when he somehow convinces himself that 71% is a fringe?

If you’re in the 71% fringe, let Ben know you’re a real person with real concerns. Then contact his colleagues, too:

Share this blog on your Facebook Wall. Tag “elephantjournal.com” so we can see the support coming in. Tweet this blog with hashtag #elej so we can keep track. At this point, our job as a community—not merely a fringe group—is to make some noise. Let’s strike one for We the People vs. this bottomline-focused out-of-state corporation.