Letter from Lee Milner
Politics – August 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
The replacement of Congressman Joel Hefley will be decided on primary day August 8th. Yes, we Dems have a good candidate in Jay Fawcett, but let’s face it the Republican candidate would have to wake up with a dead girl or a live boy two days before election day to lose. And even then I don’t know that I would bet on the Dem!
I am a life-long Democrat. I was even the Democratic candidate for El Paso County Commissioner in 1994 against now State Senator Ed Jones. In 1994 I had the fortunate opportunity to meet John Anderson who was the successful candidate for Sheriff.
John Anderson is now running for U.S. House of Representatives in Colorado Congressional District 5 against five other El Paso County men who seem to be in a contest to see how far to the right they can run.
An excellent article by Erin Emery, May 14, 2006, Denver Post, suggests very little sympathy for a woman who becomes pregnant as a victim of rape or incest. John believes in abortion exceptions in cases of rape and incest and the health of the woman. The one other candidate who will be posing as somewhat moderate, Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera, believes “life is a life whether it was created by rape or incest, it’s still a person.”
John, while not in favor of gay marriage, does not support a constitutional amendment banning it. He has also assured me that he does not believe in a constitutional amendment against flag burning, believing instead in the importance of First Amendment rights of free speech.
The fact of the matter is that whoever wins the Republican primary is likely to be our representative for a long time. With that in mind, I have taken what is a radical step for me and become unaffiliated with the intent of walking into my polling place on August 8th and (I can barely say it) declaring myself a Republican and voting for John Anderson. I will already have the paperwork filled in and ready to mail in on August 9 to rejoin the Democratic Party. One day of being a Republican will be more than enough!
One might ask why go to all this trouble to cast one vote. Only an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 people will vote in the Republican primary and with six candidates running, without any obvious frontrunner, the vote will be divided. The winning difference could be just a few votes and a moderate conservative such as Anderson does have a chance against 5 candidates all supplicating themselves for the Focus on the Family vote!
My motto is that even though you may have no chance of receiving a whole loaf of bread, a few slices or even a few crumbs is better than starving.
Working against disenfranchisement,
Lee Milner
Colorado Springs
