City of Louisville City Council Person Ward III
Karen Brown
Ashley Stolzmann
There
are a few warning signs we’re learning to look for in city council
candidates’ statements. Karen Brown isn’t a bad candidate by any means,
but she put up at least one warning sign in her statement on retail
marijuana sales. Brown said, “If elected, I will review staff
recommendations …” and alarm bells went off for us.
It’s
a little worrisome that elected city council people would turn to
unelected city staff to make a decision. Taking their recommendations is
fine, but in this case Brown didn’t say whether she was in support of a
moratorium, a ban or
a free-for-all for retail marijuana. She said she’d “then make the
determination” after hearing from the staff. Staff recommendations, in
other words, had a good chance of simply dictating her position, which
we feel gives unelected staffers too much power. Even without this
issue, it’s not easy to endorse someone who doesn’t yet have a position
on a highly visible issue.
Ashley
Stolzmann, who says she’s on hiatus from her engineering career,
acknowledged in her answer that every precinct in Louisville went for
the amendment on retail marijuana, indicating the city is ready for
those stores. It’s not ideal to base every position on polls, but
Stolzmann is correct that city council shouldn’t block something
citizens want. On other questions, candidates’ answers were similar.
Both support increasing retail presence in Louisville, and both say
federal and state governments need to take the lead on limiting
fracking; Stolzmann says she supports a citizen initiative “pertaining
to fracking.”
View all of Boulder Weekly’s endorsements here.
