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Vote! Longmont 2009 City Council endorsements
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It appears as though every current Longmont city councilperson who is up for re-election is involved in some aspect of the current news stories leading up to our upcoming election.
Tomorrow in Denver federal court, a case will be heard to determine whether the City of Longmont violated the free speech of it's citizens by enacting what many are stating is a restrictive set of new campaign reform regulations.
The change in this campaign reform came about when one city councilperson objected to a donation made in support of electing the newest member to council. A task force was created to help study and enact a set of new campaign reforms that also included lowering the threshold of reporting the donations made to a candidate as well as restrictions on how much they can donate. There has been disagreement about these changes.
Once the elections task force finished drafting these new regulations, the city council was tasked with electing members of the community to be on the governing body of a board to oversee any complaints or violations of the new campaign reform rules. Seven members were chosen by the current council to be on the new Election Committee. There has been disagreement over how these members were selected.
Not too long after the Election Committee was created, a new non-governing group decided to form and call itself the Longmont Civility Campaign Committee. This set off a long list of complaints that this group popped up to try to tell Longmont citizens how to behave during this election. It was stated that this committee sought to control the outcome of the elections because it's founder was upset at being defeated when he ran as a candidate in a previous election.
The creation of this 'committee' backfired, when two of the five members resigned amidst controversy over lopsided partisan bickering, conflicts of interest and favoritism being shown one candidate in complaints involving civility. There have been calls for this group to disband based on conflicts of interest.
Meanwhile this past Monday, one of the current city council members who is running for re-election was present during the meeting of the newly formed Election Committee (many for whom she voted for during the selection process). She was there to add two more complaints to a list of three that she had filed about recent surveys, mailers, and phone calls being made to Longmont voters that cast a negative light on her or issues she was involved in during her time on council. She is currently the only person to have filed any type of complaint with the newly created Election Committee.
In addition to that, our local hometown newspaper has yet to receive a clear answer to the lawsuit they filed against the Longmont City Council claiming that improper methods were done behind closed doors in discussion about multiple taxpayer funded lawsuits the city is involved in with the neighboring town of Firestone over annexation issues.
This case also involves two incumbent city council candidates campaigning for re-election, one of which tried to make a motion to end the lawsuits with Longmont's neighbors only to have the mayor refuse to accept the motion. Vote! Longmont has also spoken at a council meeting about how this unresolved issue is an election related one as the unknown cost to the taxpayers that has been spent on these lawsuits could affect how a voter cast their ballot. Multiple candidates have taken positions on this issue.
Today comes the news that one of the more vocal of the three mayoral candidates has withdrawn from the race. This candidate was previously very critical of the current mayor, yet has chosen to now endorse him.
Meanwhile, Longmont residents are reported to have begun receiving their ballots. It's going to be interesting to see whether any of the above increased or decreased voter turnout.
Hopefully voters have been following along and have informed themselves about what is really at stake here and who truly is working for the betterment of all of Longmont and not just in support of larger scale partisan politicking. The last thing that anyone here in a town of 85k enjoys less is the drawing of a partisan line in the sand for a community that once was voted to be an "All America City" and one of the "Best Places to Live."
Based on observance of the above issues and how they affect Longmont's voters, Vote! Longmont, a non-partisan get-out-the-vote project for the citizens of Longmont would like to endorse the four candidates in the upcoming election who have made statements that indicate they would be the best candidates to improve or end the bitterness that has popped up in Longmont amongst it's citizens and help all of Longmont progress while working in it's best interests.
Be informed. Get involved. VOTE! LONGMONT
Please visit the below Longmont City Council Candidate websites to learn more about them, then consider casting your vote for:
Gabe Santos (incumbent) for At-Large
© Brigette Rodriguez/Longmont Examiner
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