Brief by Central Staff
Politics – December 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
We congratulate our friend, traveling bard, and occasional contributor Art Goodtimes of Norwood for his re-election to another term as a commissioner in San Miguel County.
He was elected in 1996 as a Democrat, and changed his registration to Green in 1998. This time around, he had no Republican opposition, and defeated Democrat Leslie Sherblock by 2,169 to 975.
When we saw Art at the Headwaters Conference in Gunnison the weekend before the election, he said one of his major accomplishments was the elimination of most building codes in his district — the west part of the county that stretches to the Utah line.
“It’s mostly big farms and ranches,” he said, “and they don’t need building codes. In other parts of the county, like around Telluride, we do need them. Being in the Green Party doesn’t necessarily mean you’re for more government; it means you’re for sensible government.”
Goodtimes is the highest-ranking Green office-holder in Colorado, and San Miguel County has another distinction: its sheriff since 1980, Bill Masters, is the only Libertarian sheriff in the United States.
