Brief by Central Staff
Politics – November 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s certainly no secret that Martha and Ed Quillen are both Democrats, and thus endorse John Kerry for President. Back in the primary season, he was the first choice of neither. Martha, who grew up in a labor town near Detroit, favored Dick Gephardt. Ed, apparently inspired by his Populist-agitator great-grandfather, liked John Edwards.
It may be true that Kerry’s greatest asset is that he’s not George W. Bush. But that’s a big asset this year. Bush seems intent on either bankrupting the country or starting World War III. On the domestic front, the economy has suffered a net job loss during his tenure. Despite all of Bush’s subsidies to energy companies, gasoline and natural gas prices are at record levels. And on the foreign front, America is mired in a war that Bush instigated for reasons that turned out to be false.
There are, of course, things we don’t love about Kerry. But we’re reasonably optimistic about him – since he seems to have noticed that many people desperately need better jobs and more affordable health insurance.
For U.S. Senate, we have no trouble voting for Democrat Ken Salazar over Republican Pete Coors. Salazar is a “Romer Democrat,” which is to say he’s a lot more corporate than we’d prefer, but most candidates are. And in regard to corporate connections, Coors is to the manor born.
In the Fifth Congressional District, Republican incumbent Joel Hefley will win easily, but Ed prefers Libertarian Arthur Roberts.
We’d rather vote in the Third, which is competitive. Ed’s known Republican Greg Walcher for years, and has found him generally a straight-shooter, except for his support of Referendum A last year. But given the choice, we encourage Third District readers to vote for Democrat John Salazar.
So far, this has been pretty negative, but there are candidates we feel positive about supporting. Chief among them is Emily Tracy, Democratic candidate for District 60 in the Colorado House of Representatives. She’s smart, speaks well, addresses issues and knows them. She is also experienced in public life, in part from her service on the Cañon City council. We feel fortunate that someone with her talent is running, and we’re sure she will be “a strong voice for rural Colorado.”
Adjacent house districts also enjoy strong Democratic candidates: Gary Lindstrom in HD 56 (Lake, Summit, and Eagle counties), and Kathleen Curry in HD 61 (Gunnison, Hinsdale, and Pitkin). Both are smart and capable, and committed to working for our part of the world in the suburb-dominated legislature, and we’re pleased to endorse them.
For Chaffee County Commissioners, we endorse Democrats Jerry Mallett and Jim Osborne.
For District Attorney in the 11th Judicial District (Chaffee, Custer, Frémont, and Park counties), we endorse Republican Molly Chilson. She’s not the most experienced candidate, but she’s smart and energetic. When we talked to her, she seemed truly concerned with fairness and justice; and that’s the kind of D.A. we want.
We recommend that Chaffee County Judge Bill Alderton be retained. In our experience, he respects the evidence and the law — even when the community just wants to put some rowdy teens away. We’re all for sending messages, but it doesn’t send the right message to punish the wrong kid; therefore we think Chaffee County needs Alderton.
As for the state referenda (A and B) and amendments 34, 35, 36, and 37, Ed’s against them all. Martha’s for A and B, and perhaps 37, and against all the rest. We’re especially against Amendment 36, though, because our electoral votes will always get divided 5 to 4 if it passes. Once that happens, we can forget candidate visits or attention; if 36 passes, Colorado won’t count.
The Salida School District has two issues, 3A and 3B. 3A continues a levy we supported in 2001, and we’ll vote for it. 3B would increase taxes to add staff, and times are tough here, with higher utility bills in the offing. This isn’t the year for 3B.
Question 4A asks whether the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District can “de-Bruce.” This would give the district more control over its destiny, but the more control it has, the less the rest of us have. The District doesn’t “play well with others” — it competes with municipal water providers when it should be coöperating. Its board is not elected and it is not accountable to the public in any meaningful way; there’s no reason to give it any more power, so we urge a no vote on 4A.
