by Curmudgeon
Last Saturday, March 28, the “No Kings 3” crowd filled Riverside Park in Salida. Organizers called it a record turnout. Fair enough. But anyone who bothered to look at license plates or listen to the chatter knew the truth: more than half the folks waving signs had rolled in from Denver, Boulder, Leadville, and points beyond. This wasn’t exactly a spontaneous eruption of local fury. It was the traveling resistance circus making another stop in the mountains.
And right at the end of the day, delivering the big finale speech, stood Chaffee County Commissioner Gina Lucrezi. That’s the part that sticks in the craw. Back in 2024, when Lucrezi was asking Chaffee voters for their support, she didn’t sound like the closing act for a national protest tour. She sounded like exactly the kind of steady, practical commissioner mountain counties actually need.
Her campaign website and public statements were full of the usual local boilerplate, but it was the right kind of boilerplate: “We only get one chance to do things right; we must be thoughtful, thorough, respectful, and collaborative.” She talked about preserving natural resources, tackling affordable housing for the workforce and seniors, supporting economic stability, and keeping public lands and working ranches viable. She promised to “engage with the public and all stakeholders” and to focus on “community, sustainability, and collaboration.”
Endorsers called her “down to earth,” “solutions-oriented,” and “a good listener.” Voters bought it. She won.
Now fast-forward sixteen months. Same woman, same office, different script. On Instagram right after the rally she posted: “We are the fabric of this country, direction and desire is driven from us, the power for change and progress will always be from We the People!” “We” and “People” people obviously meaning only those who share Gina’s ideology and agree with her political message. Nothing inclusionary about that. She was “honored” to give the closing speech at an event whose whole branding is pure national resistance theater. No more quiet talk about collaborative problem-solving on water rights, EMS funding, or preserving Landowner rights(you fell flat on that promise, Gina). Just the full “We the People vs. the King” rhetoric that plays so well on Instagram and so poorly when Chaffee County still has to plow the roads, balance the budget, and levy more expensive building codes during a housing affordability crisis.
Interestingly, the surname Lucrezi stems from the Latin word lucrum, meaning wealth, profit or gain. The universe, it seems, has a playful streak.
Nobody is saying commissioners can’t have opinions or show up at public events. But when the same person who campaigned on being “thoughtful, thorough, and collaborative” becomes the featured speaker for a branded anti-Trump road show that imports half its crowd from the Front Range, voters are entitled to raise an eyebrow. Especially in a county where the real day-to-day headaches: housing costs, water, growth pressure, emergency services, don’t get solved by chanting “No Kings.” Lucrezi is free to chase whatever national spotlight she wants.
But Chaffee County voters who thought they were electing a pragmatic local leader might be wondering whether they instead got a full-time activist with a juicy county paycheck and benefits. That contrast isn’t spin. It’s on her own website, her own Instagram, and her own campaign trail. And it’s worth remembering come next election cycle. If she tries it again, we’ll know she never meant it.
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