Wow----that was funny!! I have never seen anything about Loveland so funny!! By the way, that ouch guy who says in the other blog these are just freeze frames when his eyes were closed is dead wrong! His head is in his hands or his head falling completely forward----even the skin near his chin is folding from the wieght of his head on his palm and his eyes are dead shut and his other face muscles limp - clearly not a blink. Common guys - wake-up it might not be interesting but at least pretend you are paying attention!!!!
--Jenny

fyi-the city manager is talking about pulling cable coverage until he retires in two years. you might be doing more damage than good since they may decide only citizens without cameras can enter the council chamber (napping room) to avoid future embarrassing photos getting out
--Not saying

I don't believe that, they really have no choice now but to stay awake and look interested. City Council meetings are like a movie you have already seen 100 times - you always know how they will vote depending on how the city manager has said in advance. The is more diversity of thought and action in the Sea World clapping seals show. These seals always do the same trick for the McWhinneys so there is nothing new. Who did the video thoguh?
--Jenny

Thanks guys-this video was played all around our office today until the boss had to tell people to get back to work. A comic break from all that terrible news in Virginia is welcomes.

Thanks also for the link to the story about the statue being moved. It was a big news story and I was wondering when they were going to move it even though I didn't care.

Keep uo the good work! I never know what i am going to find here but it is always interesting and something nobody elese in the local media is talking about. Until today I never told anyone where I work about where I was getting news they never heard from anywhere else.

Well, I am sending this video link to everyone i know in Loveland. The old men on our Council are comic in their lack of interest in city issues but in reality it is kind of sad no one really wants to run for these local offices.

Gene is a nice old guy but if he really prefers gardening he needs to move-on and give the position to someone who will stay awake for the whole meeting.
--Kimberly

I have an idea-lets all show-up at the next City Council meeting with wind-up alarm clocks (you know the old wind-up kind). Each person who speaks can hold the alarm clock and turn it on if Gene falls asleep!!!! It would be a blast!
--Jay

I don't know what is so funny. He clearly doesn't care and doesn't belong in public office. He needs to explain to the commuity why he deserves that office after being caught sleeping on the job. If I fell asleep at work I would be fired.
--Fred

Oh my gosh friend, that video is too funny. Keep entertaining us. I saw the Monkeys in Texas a bagillion years ago. Thanks for taking me back down memory lane.
--You know who

Jenny: Time for a reality check. Get yourself out of bed and go to a council meeting. It's not a good thing to believe all that you see or hear...especially on this blog.
--ouch

A friend told me about this blog. I seems kinda funny that guy would allow him self to be caught sleeping like that in a public meeting. as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. I am sure this politician has more than a thousand words to explain his actions but I prefer the picture!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go LovelandPolitics!!!!!!!I bet you will never this guy sleeping on the job again.
--Dennis

Ouch, how do you know I am no an invalid?

What a rude comment to make. No, I could go to the Council meetings but they don't really listen to public input, never debate an issue and only ask inane questions that demonstrate a severe lack of knowledge or preperation.

Indeed, I am not as you say "in bed" but doing chores about the house when I watch these meetings on TV. Why would I want to suffer the selling of our city in person?
--Jenny - not-in-bed

Sorry Jenny. I didn't mean to be rude. The point was that too many people take what they read as truth without finding out for themselves. I've been told by people that a certain thing is true when it turns out that they read it in the R-H Line.

I've been to a lot of council meetings and have never seen Gene fall asleep. You will see all of our council members look down and read their packets at any given time and if you still-frame the video tapes, you can get any image you wish.

Unlike you, most people don't vistit or view the council meetings and simply believe what they choose to believe without taking the time to discover the truth.

Ignorance and all its manifestations is the biggst threat to the human race.
--ouch

Too bad he didn't look down to read his Councilpacket before voting at the April 17, meeting.

Councilor Pielin stated the 850 people didn't bother him not aware he was voting 850 residences. There is no excuse for this!

Unless you are going to say it was his body double paid by LovelandPolitics or something, the evidence is very clear. I don't really care if he sleeps sometimes but he shouldn't be voting on zone changes he clearly doesn't understand.
--Ken

WE JUST SAW THE VIDEO AND LOVE I! It took too long to download however. Wow, you guys are really creative!! That old guy is clearly sleeping. I have been to a council meeting or two and boy that Gene guy is really critical of his colleagues and a very negative person. I remember everytime Walt or Steve tried to make a comment that guy had some quick unprepared and uninformed response. Well, some people are just grouchy when the wake-up and he seems to wake-up after every staff presentation to Coucil.
--J. Wells

Agreed that Gene is arrogant and looks down at people who have never owned garden centers. It is wierd he uses a council seat in Loveland to lobby for the garden growers' association. i was at the Congresswoman Musgrave event when he was so rude and attacked her for not supporting more immigrants coming to work here since he said he represented garden businesses that hire mostly Mexicans to do thier work. Who ever voted for that old windbag anyway? I know I certainly did not!!!!!!!!!!He should have been representing Loveland at the meeting with the Congresswoman not himself.
--B. Aurther

We absolutely LOVE!!!!! the moving picture show "Sleepy Gene" - Why not call it "Wake-Up" Sleepy Gene instead of "Cheer-Up." Why would he need to cheer-up? He's got the only job in town where his boss (the public"nobody here but us chickens") seem to allow him to sleep while sitting on his tail. Does the fact he didn't understand what he was voting for with the McWhinney's businesswise mean anything? If I ever run into this yard bird in public I will give him a dressing down he will not soon forget. I don't mind when he falls asleep because for people our age it is, indeed, common. Mind you, his vote for something he didn't even understand is unpardonable! This "gentleman" seems to have no shame.

LovelandPolitics is a splendid way for shut-ins who need to see what is happening to our fair city. I help bring meals to many seniors in-town who are no longer ambilatory. They all just adore that little picture film.

--Grace

Wow Techy granny you are also harsh.

I wouldn't admit ever supporting or voting for this guy but i have seen worse.
--Brad

Sorry, anti-semitic comments will be removed from this site. LovelandPolitics.com is not a forum for spreading any kind of racism or bigotry.

The previous post was removed for content that was not appropriate. We do not edit postings for content but will remove postings that are simply an appeal to racism or bigotry.

Thank you

Did you know Councilman Pielin is now a huge advocate for open borders? I just got this in my Garden magazine - he is even against employers being required to verify that workers are legal. Colorado Confidential (website) and The Coloradoan have covered his antics on the national scene on behalf of his industry. The Reporter-Herald appears to be protecting him by not reporting what he is doing. The lack of respect they show Loveland residents is amazing!

Reps. push immigration reform
Coloradoan - Gene Pielin, general manager of Fort Collins' Gulley Greenhouse, said employers in landscaping and agriculture cannot afford to wait a couple months, or even a couple weeks, for federal verification. Their primary work season is only a few months
Source: www.coloradoan.com

What he says in Loveland and what he is quoted in our trade papers saying in Arizona about immigration laws appear to be different!
--Name Withheld

Yes, why aren't Lovelanders doing more to stop this guy. Using his City Council title to stop illegal immigration reform is WRONG!

Here is a part of the Colorado Confidential article on the topic. Anyone interested in the complete story needs to visit their website.

While Fourth Congressional District Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (CO-R) referred to the subject as "dare I say boring" and expected the usual rubber stamp testimony, one witness had a very different take. And he was willing to tell the emperor that (s)he had no clothes.

Wendy Norris :: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Congressional Hearing
Gene Pielin testified at the hearing as a representative of the Colorado Nursery and Greenhouse Association. He is also the mayor pro-tem of the City of Loveland and a Ward 2 councillor.
Pielin strongly criticized the core of the Musgrave-backed immigration bill. The current system called Basic Pilot is an optional employment eligibility verification system which accesses Department of Homeland Security and Social Security databases to verify legal worker status. HR 4437 would mandate that all U.S. employers use the system for all American citizens and foreign-born workers seeking jobs initially upon application and later retroactively on all workers.

Pielin referred frequently to the June 2006 testimony of Angelo Amador, Director of Immigration Policy for the U.S Chamber of Commerce, to the House Subcomittee on Workforce, Empowerment, and Government Programs. Amador pointed to an independent Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) study that found the government databases used to verify legal work status have high error rates. Overall, 20 percent of workers are incorrectly rejected as unauthorized to work. The false-negative rate for foreign-born and/or naturalized American citizens range between 35-50 percent.

Correcting errors, which can take up to two weeks, falls on the employer and employee to prove that the government information is wrong. The same study also reported that four times out of 10 the INS and Social Security Administration never or only sometimes returned phone calls by employers appealing wrongful determinations.

For nursery and garden center employers, like Pielin, who work in a brief seasonal employment sector — which he described as typically lasting just 12 weeks — he can't afford delays in confirming employment status. Pielin explained that he has not opted to use the Basic Pilot program and will continue to rely on applicants completing federal form I-9 to affirm their citizenship. He, like the conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposes the mandatory House bill expansion of Basic Pilot to all employers because of a lack of confidence in the system due to well-known verification errors.


--Jana

Sounds like Gene doesn't want to know if he is hiring aliens without proper legal status to work here. Anyone can copy and submit a fake I-9 form and he certainly knows this.

I can't believe no one has brought this up before. He needs to be called onto the carpet for defending employers that hire illegals!
--Betty

He told me and a bunch of other people the world is coming to an end in 10 years! Don't take my word for it - ask him. He really is a wierd dude. Everyone on city staff knows this but can't say anything. Thanks for providing a forum for the truth!
--Kyle