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Vail Daily Editorial: On balance, a job well done as county commissioner
Don Rogers
Vail Daily Managing Editor
Commissioner Tom Stone and his lightning rod will go home after eight years serving Eagle County.
Occasionally brilliant and often prickly, Stone was almost never quiet or inactive in his two terms.
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing," he liked to say, citing the phrase as a family slogan.
Stone is an achiever beyond all else.
His signature achievements, include a lead role in helping:
n Build the new terminal at the airport, along with pushing for the new tower, radar and instrument landing system at Colorado's second-busiest airport during winter.
n Build the county annex and recreation facilities at the Tree Farm in El Jebel.
n Develop the Miller Ranch affordable housing project, now held up as the county's most shining model for addressing the community's housing crunch.
n Build the soccer fields, Freedom Park and "Tom's Pond" at Miller Ranch, next to the Colorado Mountain College campus he helped arrange.
n And our favorite: starting the Youth Conservation Corps, which has enabled youth groups to earn money while helping a short-handed Forest Service repair campgrounds and trails and such.
Stone, of course, had an influential hand in many other projects and decisions, including the county's part in helping 1,800 acres once earmarked for a ski resort become part of Sylvan Lake State Park.
He also took the leading county role in protecting two large state parcels of land totalling over 1,200 acres above Edwards from development. The latter two are always fun to bring up when local environmentalists express their frustration at Stone's often deaf ear to their causes.
He was a strong opponent of open space initiatives such as the tax that voters passed by a whisker in 2002, as well as the controversial purchases of the development rights to Bair Ranch and Eaton Ranch so that those properties would remain open space.
Especially early, Stone was a relentless cheerleader for his Republican Party. With that came criticism that he amplified partisanship in an environment that had only nominally operated that way in the past. Stone rejects such claims, but he also was quick to publicly side with state and national GOP figures from a pulpit created by his position as commissioner.
The low point for local politics came late 2001 when Stone and then-Commissioner Michael Gallagher, a conservative Democrat, rushed out a county resolution supporting anything President Bush might to do combat terrorism, then scolded Commissioner Arn Menconi for failing to sign on.
Hindsight certainly has shown plenty of error in such blind fealty. But the real problem lay in making a local wedge issue out 9/11's national catastrophe. Passions inflamed to the point local military veterans waged a failed effort for a recall election to remove Menconi over an issue that had zero to do with running Eagle County.
Not so private feuding from then on between Menconi and Stone - neither party innocent or entirely to blame - distracted from the dignity of the most powerful public office in Eagle County.
As is common in public service, particularly political service, strong leaders often have strong personalities that cut a couple of ways. The qualities that make one effective can also serve as Achilles' heels.
From our seat at the 50 yard line watching county politics, Stone habitually showed the most clarity of thought, creativity in problem-solving and spoke the most articulately of the commissioners he served with. Even critics will acknowledge, if sometimes grudgingly, his intelligence and energy.
Overall, despite perhaps some imperiousness while sitting in the majority, and petulance when in the minority, Stone's account as commissioner tips firmly to the positive for Eagle County.
The community certainly wasn't cheated. Stone lived fully up to the family credo while in office.
Sara Fisher, who replaces the term-limited commissioner for western Eagle County, has bigger shoes to fill than many may realize.
So, thank you, Tom. Good work.
Don Rogers
Vail Daily Managing Editor
Commissioner Tom Stone and his lightning rod will go home after eight years serving Eagle County.
Occasionally brilliant and often prickly, Stone was almost never quiet or inactive in his two terms.
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing," he liked to say, citing the phrase as a family slogan.
Stone is an achiever beyond all else.
His signature achievements, include a lead role in helping:
n Build the new terminal at the airport, along with pushing for the new tower, radar and instrument landing system at Colorado's second-busiest airport during winter.
n Build the county annex and recreation facilities at the Tree Farm in El Jebel.
n Develop the Miller Ranch affordable housing project, now held up as the county's most shining model for addressing the community's housing crunch.
n Build the soccer fields, Freedom Park and "Tom's Pond" at Miller Ranch, next to the Colorado Mountain College campus he helped arrange.
n And our favorite: starting the Youth Conservation Corps, which has enabled youth groups to earn money while helping a short-handed Forest Service repair campgrounds and trails and such.
Stone, of course, had an influential hand in many other projects and decisions, including the county's part in helping 1,800 acres once earmarked for a ski resort become part of Sylvan Lake State Park.
He also took the leading county role in protecting two large state parcels of land totalling over 1,200 acres above Edwards from development. The latter two are always fun to bring up when local environmentalists express their frustration at Stone's often deaf ear to their causes.
He was a strong opponent of open space initiatives such as the tax that voters passed by a whisker in 2002, as well as the controversial purchases of the development rights to Bair Ranch and Eaton Ranch so that those properties would remain open space.
Especially early, Stone was a relentless cheerleader for his Republican Party. With that came criticism that he amplified partisanship in an environment that had only nominally operated that way in the past. Stone rejects such claims, but he also was quick to publicly side with state and national GOP figures from a pulpit created by his position as commissioner.
The low point for local politics came late 2001 when Stone and then-Commissioner Michael Gallagher, a conservative Democrat, rushed out a county resolution supporting anything President Bush might to do combat terrorism, then scolded Commissioner Arn Menconi for failing to sign on.
Hindsight certainly has shown plenty of error in such blind fealty. But the real problem lay in making a local wedge issue out 9/11's national catastrophe. Passions inflamed to the point local military veterans waged a failed effort for a recall election to remove Menconi over an issue that had zero to do with running Eagle County.
Not so private feuding from then on between Menconi and Stone - neither party innocent or entirely to blame - distracted from the dignity of the most powerful public office in Eagle County.
As is common in public service, particularly political service, strong leaders often have strong personalities that cut a couple of ways. The qualities that make one effective can also serve as Achilles' heels.
From our seat at the 50 yard line watching county politics, Stone habitually showed the most clarity of thought, creativity in problem-solving and spoke the most articulately of the commissioners he served with. Even critics will acknowledge, if sometimes grudgingly, his intelligence and energy.
Overall, despite perhaps some imperiousness while sitting in the majority, and petulance when in the minority, Stone's account as commissioner tips firmly to the positive for Eagle County.
The community certainly wasn't cheated. Stone lived fully up to the family credo while in office.
Sara Fisher, who replaces the term-limited commissioner for western Eagle County, has bigger shoes to fill than many may realize.
So, thank you, Tom. Good work.
