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Gilpin County Democrats held their assembly yesterday, April 8th. In addition to our delegates and alternates, we were happy to have our State Senator, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald in attendance, as well as Secretary of State candidate and State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon and Colorado Democratic Party 1st Vice-Chair Dan Slater.
HD-13 candidates Claire Levy and Jim Rettew and local candidates County Commissioner 2nd District Jeanne Nicholson, County Assessor Anne Schafer, and County Coroner Zane Laubhan were all there; Clear Creek Democratic Party co-Chair Tim Mauk attended for Rep. Mark Udall (Tim also serves as Rep. Udall's Compliance Directory). Gilpin BOE member Scott Groginsky spoke for State BOE 2nd District member Evie Hudak.
Thanks to all who attended! Results and details "below the fold" - keep reading...
I'd like to start out with a hearty thanks to Sen. Ken Gordon, who attended FIVE (!) County Assemblies yesterday. Ken drove from Colorado Springs up to our Assembly outside of Black Hawk, timing his arrival perfectly and bringing along a DVD of his hilarious candidate announcement ad.
First, for Governor, we are sending a majority of our delegates for Governor as 'Unaffiliated'. There is a clear feeling among our active Democrats in this county that Bill Ritter needs to understand our position that Church and State must be clearly separated, and that we have not heard him do that yet.
Sen. Fitz-Gerald received our unanimous and enthusiastic support for re-election for SD-16 and Senate President. Similarly, Mark Udall received our unanimous support for re-election as CO-2 Representative. How much better does representation get in this state?
We also went about the business of electing delegates to our HD-13 Assembly, where we have to replace Tom Plant (we'll miss you, Tom!). Claire Levy came out on top in this round of delegate selection with 5 delegates to Jim Rettew's 2 delegates. The HD-13 Assembly will be held on April 22nd in Nederland; I expect that both candidates will make the ballot.
Local Races: We will be re-electing our County Commissioner (2nd District) and Assessor - neither have drawn opponents, leaving our Commission firmly in Democratic control and our Assessor's office running smoothly. Our newly-appointed Democratic Coroner candidate has drawn an apparently weak opponent (one GOP source wonders that they got a second for his nomination); Coroner Zane Laubhan has better credentials than most big-county Coroners, and we'll have no issues electing him to a full term. Sadly, at this time we have no opponents for GOP-held seats in the Treasurer's, Sheriff's and Clerk's offices.
Our platform is very Progressive. We voted to support all the platform resolutions presented, including:
- Support of the Democratic Progressive Initiative Platform
- Support of the Democratic Education Initiative Principles
- A Resolution For Reproductive Freedom And Protection Of The Health And Safety Of Women
- A resolution supported by the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition
- A resolution in favor of alternative solutions as opposed to lighting a ball field.
- A resolution supporting repeal of TABOR statewide
- A resolution opposing the sale or disposition of Federal Lands
- A resolution that the Democratic Party support and encourage candidates to speak up for our core values and against Republican attacks.
Thanks to Ken Gordon for answering not only questions about his candidacy, the state of elections in Colorado, and questions about the Legislature, but also questions about his feelings on Bill Rittter's position on abortion.
Thanks also to Dan Slater, who walked in just when we needed his experience the most, during the HD-13 preference poll delegate calculations. Sorry for jumping on you just as you walked in the door, Dan. And thanks for a rousing speech.
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