On Dyer’s ‘Willmeng Dilemma’
As a Democratic Party precinct leader in eastern Boulder County I have the answer to Joel Dyer’s “Willmeng dilemma” (Re: Dyertimes, Oct. 11, 2018). Remember 2016 when the establishment Democratic Party turned a blind eye? The Boulder Dems basically spit in the face of the progressive movement in Boulder County! I want to get metaphorical for a moment. If not now then when? And if not us then who? So hopefully all you progressives who have gotten their ballot in the mail had not squandered your vote on another establishment Dem for County Commissioner. Cliff is not a dilemma; he is an answer to the way forward to heal the lack of representative democracy! The only person Cliff has to answer to is we the people! I feel a vote for Willmeng will send a message to the corporate Dems: Time to join the people! I encourage all voters to read Joel’s opinion last week. It’s crystal clear why you should vote for Cliff Willmeng for County Commissioner. I want to close with another metaphor. The forest was shrinking, the trees kept voting for the axes because their handles were made of wood. Choose wisely, my friends.
Rod Brueske/Democratic precinct leader, Boulder County
Yes on Prop 112
The oil industry wants us to believe that by requiring new fracking wells to be at least 2,500 feet away from our homes, schools, businesses and waterways, Proposition 112 will destroy their business and bring the entire Colorado economy down with it. Such claims are complete and utter fabrications, designed to scare you into voting against Prop 112. One need look no further than the industry’s own Journal of Petroleum Technology (JPT) for proof. An August 8 article in JPT explains that technical developments have resulted in lateral drilling lengths up to 3.4 miles, with average lengths exceeding 10,000 feet, while drilling costs per foot have dropped 69 percent since 2012. And we’re supposed to believe that extending setbacks to 2,500 feet is going to be the end of the fracking industry? Sorry, that’s just not even remotely credible.
What is credible is that the industry is unwilling to spend a little bit more to extend their straws so that their industrial operations — which reduce property values, poison our air and water, and threaten our health in subtle, but very, very real ways — are not in our backyards and playgrounds.
There is a long and growing body of evidence linking proximity to fracking wells to a variety of nasty health impacts. For details, Google “fracking” and “PSR.” The depressing reality is that the oil industry owns our legislature and the regulatory bodies that should have our health as their first priority. We must protect ourselves. Vote YES on 112!
Dan Greenberg/Boulder
Selecting a County Commissioner
The United Nations’ October climate change alarm spotlights our local oil and gas issues — the extraction corporations’ exacerbation of global warming starting right here in Boulder County. Presently we need to elect a new member to the team of County Commissioners who are already working on this issue.
After attending the League of Women Voters’ non-partisan forum, hearing all three candidates, I predict that probably even to his party, the Republican candidate’s views seem narrow and short sighted.
The Democrat’s candidate is an extremely good guy who, since 1987, has doggedly fought against oil and gas interests at the state capital, yet has a deeply disproportionate success rate to show for it. He blames these failures on the Republican majority. However, the Democrats controlled the state houses for many years, and still, no significant legislation has passed without oil and gas companies’ approval under either parties. Not one gas and oil permit has been denied in the state of Colorado in 66 years. I question how effective Matt Jones can be at the local level, considering his limited successes in the past.
The Green Party candidate is a firebrand activist for human and workers’ rights. For the past six years he has presented scientific information to Boulder County residents educating them about the effects of oil and gas extraction in our county. He brings together diverse groups of people to face issues with grassroots support, the facts, and no small amount of outrage at to what our politicians have allowed to happen. At the forum his clear thinking, fresh ideas and eloquent explanations showed him as a leader I want fighting for my grandchildren’s futures. Vote Cliff Willmeng, because it’s time to do something.
Sandra Backlund/Lafayette
On BW’s Vote Guide
The Boulder Weekly could have saved 185 column inches if they had simply said, “Vote for anyone with a (D) behind their name.”
Jim Peel/Longmont
Colorado needs Weiser’s expertise, vision and
leadership
I was sorry to see The Durango Herald’s endorsement of George Brauchler for Attorney General. The editorial failed to demonstrate a clear understanding of the role of AG and whose experience would best serve Coloradans.
The AG is the state’s top lawyer demanding executive, not “nuts and bolts,” experience to successfully oversee an office of almost 500 personnel and 270 lawyers. The AG protects our rights, especially from federal government overreach. Because of a TV ad showing Weiser losing sleep over Trump administration policies, the editorial suggested Weiser’s approach to AG was more distant than his opponent’s.
Hardly. I want the state’s AG to lose sleep over federal attacks on Coloradans’ rights to clean air and water, a woman’s fundamental right to make decisions about her own body, to plan her family, and have access to health care. I want an AG to fight for fair treatment for all Coloradans, including immigrants like Edin Ramos of Bayfield who was deported last May leaving behind two businesses, his wife and two children.
The Herald stated that Weiser’s opponent was more practical and liked his idea to address the urban/rural divide by “putting more manpower in Colorado’s rural areas.” Yet, it was Weiser, as Dean of the CU law school, who founded the Rural DA program in 2014 to help put young lawyers in communities like ours.
Weiser’s experience and acumen (he worked for Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Byron White; and served in the Dept. of Justice under presidents Clinton and Obama) matches and exceeds that of three of the past four Democrat and Republican AGs when they took office.
Vote for experience. Vote your values. Join me, Gov. Hickenlooper and former Sen. Ken Salazar in voting Phil Weiser for Colorado AG.
Ellen R. Stein/Durango
For whom can I vote?
Is there a candidate for me who is proactive for mental health care to help stop massacres in public places?
Is there a candidate for me who finds the kind of honorable honesty important that our parents, ministers and rabbis taught us?
Is there a candidate for me believing, “If you are gay, you are born that way?” How would you like to be told whom to love or be loved by?
Is there a candidate for me discussing population overload, birth control and supporting Planned Parenthood big time?
Is there a candidate for me who is fighting for universal health care, which enables our society to reach its potential?
Is there a candidate for me saying let’s not argue causality, let’s just concentrate on clean air for human breathing?
Is there a candidate for me who will only use education funds for education?
Is there a candidate for me who supports profits from all college football money for free college tuition?
Two local notes: Is there a candidate for me who will put outhouses around the main Boulder Library for the needy and the tourists, so we keep Boulder Creek clean? All it takes is a cup of lime thrown in each time.
Is there a candidate for me who will stop the re-use of inefficient asphalt on roads, and consider almost-free cobblestone streets? FYI: We live in the cobbles of the Rocky Mountains.
Louise Love/Boulder
Stand up for the American dream
Joel Dyer talks about the American dream in his captivating story of Ingrid Encalada Latorre (Re: “Window, Walls and Invisible lines: Ingrid Encalada Latorre” Oct. 11, 2018). The American dream needs to be protected and renewed constantly by “we the people.” Right now nearly half of us are just a $400 crisis away from poverty, like a bad refrigerator, a medical problem or a car problem. One in six are not sure about their next meal; one in five children are living in poverty. How about an American dream without anyone hungry, homeless or without medical care? Our voices can bring this about: Ask now what candidates will do to make this American dream a reality. Next, vote accordingly. Then make sure they choose the Senate Farm Bill that protects the SNAP program (food stamps), to battle hunger, able to expand when tragedies like hurricanes strike and helps lift people out of poverty. With calls, letters and visits to those who represent us in Congress, we can make sure everyone has enough to live and create their dream. Otherwise, there is only more hunger and poverty for the majority of Americans.
Willie Dickerson/via internet
