Mesa Co. Senator Ron Teck Put Out to Pasture

Poor Ron Teck. The Mesa County state senator has not had a very good last year in office. After serving five years as Mesa County’s assessor and 12 years as SD7 senator, seems like term-limited Ron Teck will be looking for greener pastures outside of politics.First, he tumbled from power when the Republicans lost control of the state senate in 2004. He has had to stand in the shadow of a Democratic Mesa County politician, Rep. Bernie Buescher D-55, who became the powerful chairman of the Joint Budget Committee.

Second, Teck was accused of a conflict of interest concerning a Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office move from Montrose to Grand Junction.  This claim came from a fellow Republican legislator, Ray Rose, who felt Teck had used his political influence and his position at Mesa State College to illegally lobby for the CBI office.

Third, after 17 years as a Republican workhorse, Teck was just another face in the crowd at the Beauprez/Rowland gubernatorial celebration in Grand Junction. It was SD7 candidate and one-term representative Josh Penry who got to ride all day in the Beauprez/Rowland plane, give a speech and introduce Lt. Gov. Jane Norton.

Although Teck’s state senate term doesn’t end until January, Bob Beauprez knighted Penry with Teck’s title. “I look forward to working with Senator Penry,” Beauprez exclaimed at the rally, with no acknowledgement of Teck’s tenure.

The only attention Teck received during the event was when Beauprez described his running mate Janet Rowland as a counselor and said “Ron, wouldn’t you say we need more therapists under the dome?”

It might have been a joke, but Teck only smiled. Obviously, Penry had become the new racehorse in the Republican barn while Teck had been left roped to the fence.

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