GOP foes of Piñon Canyon expansion balk at McInnis

Republicans opposed to the military's Piñon Canyon expansion project are disappointed that property rights weren't addressed when party leaders unveiled a new platform and rallied around gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis. Some ranchers and landowners in southeastern Colorado who worry that the Army is going to take their land said they can't back McInnis, a former congressman, because he supports the expansion. "As it stands today, I don't think McInnis could get 25 percent of the Republican votes in southeast Colorado," said Grady Grissom, a rancher from Las Animas County. Grissom is part of the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, which criticized McInnis in a news release this week. The group's website says, "Scott McInnis is a big disappointment." But McInnis' position on the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site has earned him plenty of support elsewhere, particularly in El Paso County, home to Fort Carson and the largest GOP stronghold in the state, with 127,156 registered Republicans...read more