The City of Lone Tree is distancing itself from a conservative
group that is seeking signatures for what it calls the “Lone Tree
Declaration.”
A Lone Tree spokeswoman issued a press release “to clarify that
as a non-partisan municipality, the city is not involved” in the
declaration or the first annual Western Conservative Summit, which
is scheduled for July 9-11 at the Denver Marriott South in Lone
Tree.
The conservative group, sponsored by the Centennial Institute,
said in a Denver Post article out July 8 that it intends to get
summit participants to sign the Lone Tree Declaration, a document
that affirms the “six tenets of who we are and what we stand for,”
the group’s website says.
City officials were trying to get summit organizers to change
the name shortly after the Post article came out.
“The city has asked the Summit organizers to re-title the
Declaration to remove any confusion or inference of municipal
involvement,” the Lone Tree news release says.
In the article, former state Senate President John Andrews was
quoted as saying, “If we had called it the Park Meadows
Declaration, everybody would think of shopping at the Gap. When you
say ’Lone Tree Delegation,’ it has more of an Old West feel.”
It is unclear if the word “delegation” was supposed to be
“declaration.”
“We issued the statement because we had constituents confused as
to whether the document described as the ’Lone Tree Declaration’
was from the city,” said Michelle Kivela, deputy city manager.
Among the six tenets contained in the declaration is: “ We
reject, and will resist, the socialist temptation, transnational
progressivism, secular utopian illusions, appeasement, disarmament,
or capitulation to jihad and sharia.”
The Centennial Institute is gathering conservatives to discuss
policies of the Obama administration and to rally support for
conservative values.
“What must we do to restore liberty and limited government and
renew America’s moral core? Explore the answers with hundreds of
fellow conservatives from across the West,” the event web page
says.
