Local angle on potential national bombshell

That ever so subtle whiff of possible felonious activity you may or not be aware of at President Obama's cabinet level is also something addressed at the local level in Longmont.  The current Longmont Fair Campaign Practices Act has a provision for "encouraging withdrawal from a campaign".  The federal version is an impeachable offense and could land one in prison, the local version carries the highest penalty ($499) of any any offense in the ordinance.

Money didn't buy seats

(As printed in the Times Call opinion section 5/24/10)

At the May 18th Longmont City Council meeting, I found it deplorable that a representative from a local partisan group would insinuate that because city council candidates who were appointed received more money, that they were only elected because they brought in more money. Is that supposed to be a bad thing? Candidates who lost...lost because they were inferior candidates.

Tantrums as a tactic

(Subheading: At-large and not in charge) The May 18, 2010 Longmont City Council meeting was excruciating and embarrassing.  I suggest every citizen slog through the video of it, either online or from the library, for examples of what is wrong with government.  To be fair to members of council, it was mostly just one person.  No, not the screaming from the podium during Public Invited To Be Heard, as bad as that was.  It was Councilmember Sarah Levison’s actions and demeanor, which was about the worst I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve watched these sessions – and that’s saying a lot.

Repeal the LFCPA

I appreciate and agree with Chris’s cogent LFCPA analysis here, but I would take it one step further: Repeal this local version, which has become a political football, and adopt by reference Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act.

Suggested changes to Longmont's campaign law

This coming Tuesday May 18th, the Longmont City Council will once again consider changes to the Longmont Fair Campaign Practices Act (LFCPA).  Here are the suggestions I sent them:

Survey smurvey

Ever notice how the Dems and left wing politicians love their public surveys?

A few weeks ago the Longmont city council deliberated ad nauseum in shaping questions for the biannual city Customer Satisfaction Survey coming out this summer at a cost of over $27,000. Leading the way in the minutia parade were the three far-left members of council, Brian Hansen, Sean McCoy, and Sarah Levison. They acted as if the survey was the infallible Magna Carta of all things relating to Longmont policy.

No one ever said anything about corruption?

The May 4, 2010 Longmont City Council meeting was full of all kinds of twists, turns, surprises, and laughs.  There was also some mass amnesia going on amongst some in the crowd, City Council, and the Election Committee.

BEST EXAMPLE OF IGNORANT EDITORIALS

BEST EXAMPLE OF IGNORANT EDITORIALS
Boulder Weekly’s pick for dirty politics by Katie Witt’s supporters

In the ongoing need for Boulder to assert its unquestionable dominance over its neighbor to the northeast (for you in Boulder, that would be Longmont), the staff of the Boulder Weekly has selected as their “Best example of dirty politics” Katie Witt’s supporters.  In a cute, snarky, and mostly factually challenged diatribe, it decried the fact that the person they preferred to win the Longmont City Council race, Karen Benker, got hammered by (now Longmont City Council member) Ms. Witt.