Members of Colorado’s Parks and Wildlife Commission probably should have some experience with, well, you know — parks and wildlife. A connection to the Coloradans they are supposed to represent on the commission would be helpful, as well.

Yet, those attributes are missing from some of Gov. Jared Polis’s picks to serve on the commission — which helps explain why a state Senate committee last week voted against confirming two of the governor’s three nominees.

Their reputed ties to the animal-rights movement didn’t help them, either, as they faced the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Nor did the key role one of them played in 2020’s controversial ballot initiative introducing wolves onto Colorado’s Western Slope.

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All three — Gary Skiba, Jessica Beaulieu and John “Jack” Murphy — serve on the commission in an interim capacity since their appointment last year. And the committee’s vote only is a recommendation to the full Senate, which will have final say.

But the committee vote spotlights the Polis administration’s continued disconnect from rural and agricultural Colorado. Consider that the pivotal committee member turning thumbs down on Skiba and Beaulieu was Polis’s fellow Democrat, Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Summit County, who voted with the committee’s minority Republicans.

Roberts, the agriculture committee’s chair, appeared to have substantive differences with Skiba on wolf introduction — which the state’s ranchers bitterly opposed but is now underway — among other issues.

Critics of the wolf initiative — The Gazette editorial board among them — have contended such arcane policies should be the call of the science-informed wildlife commission rather than emotionally manipulated voters.

Now, Skiba’s and Beaulieu’s appointments suggest the commission is being politicized given their ties to the anti-hunting, animal-rights movement. Indeed, you have to wonder what the governor was thinking.

As Colorado Politics reported, Skiba is a former biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife but also was associated with Defenders of Wildlife, which called him “the primary author of Colorado’s wolf conservation plan.” Beaulieu is an environmental lawyer with the University of Denver’s Animal Law program, which advocates on behalf of “non-human animals.”

Skiba’s seat in part requires him to represent hunters as a constituency on the commission, but hunting groups have rapped his appointment, saying he has no connection to them.

Beaulieu, whose seat must represent “outdoor recreation and parks utilization,” has never held an annual pass to Colorado’s state parks and only had visited a few in the Denver area before her appointment.

Colorado Politics noted in its report last week how relations between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and ag producers have deteriorated over allegations of a lack of transparency in the release of wolves in December. Ranchers and landowners have told lawmakers they no longer will work with the agency on conservation issues.

The awkward truth is Polis has a problem with rural Colorado. The Boulder-born-and-bred, multimillionaire and internet entrepreneur might not think he has a problem — but a lot of rural Coloradans sure think so. Polis is the governor who famously munched on veggie burgers before attempting to make amends to cattle producers.

He appointed a fringe animal-rights activist to the state veterinary board who publicly called ranchers “lazy” and “nasty.” First gentleman Marlon Reis, meanwhile, is an outspoken animal-rights activist in his own right.

The tone deafness isn’t just about PR; it’s reflected in policy, as Roberts seemed to attest.

“I’m concerned about the direction of CPW,” he told the appointees at last week’s hearing.

“The wolf reintroduction was incredibly damaging to my district.”

Damaging to Polis’s image in rural Colorado, too.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board