Watch out for Carr
I see your fine city has hired Tom Carr as the new city attorney.
You should do a little research about Carr in Seattle. He lost an election here in Seattle after trying (unsuccessfully) to kill nightlife in Seattle and pretty much shut down and roll up the sidewalks after 8 p.m. Also, any Boulderites have promarijuana ideas like medical marijuana, or less focus on prosecuting small possession? They better watch out, because Carr has their number — he’ll be rolling up any of those types of ideas, as well.
His staff may have loved him (90 percent were let go by his replacement), but the citizens of Seattle didn’t. We gave him the boot.
Also, Tom Carr failed to do enough when a slumlord broke the law and harassed tenants at 12 rental properties over the term of Carr’s time as city attorney. Tenants pleaded with Carr for assistance, and he turned them away, saying simply, “Call the police. If they want to call me, they can.”
At the same time, he conducted a personal vendetta against bar and tavern owners. Be prepared to watch your favorite clubs and nightlife disappear. This guy ran so many clubs out of town. Seattle is a ghost town at night now, filled with more homeless and criminals because of this guy.
He didn’t represent the city, and he certainly didn’t represent the people of the city. Rather, he represented himself. He insulted the term “public servant” by his actions. Peter Holmes is a 180-degree change for the better. Boulder has no idea what it’s gotten itself. But they’ll learn, soon enough.
My condolences to Boulder. Have fun, Artie Ziff.
Joseph Bottero/Seattle, Wash.
Best ignorant editorial
(Re: Best of Boulder County, April 29.) The staff of the Boulder Weekly has selected as their “Best example of dirty politics” the supporters of Longmont City Council member Katie Witt.
BW seemed to decry the fact that the candidate they apparently preferred to win the Longmont City Council race, Karen Benker, got hammered by Ms. Witt. Contrary to what they may have thought they read somewhere, Western Tradition Partnership (WTP) did not “bankroll” Ms. Witt’s or anyone’s campaign. They made “independent expendi tures”
for candidates (and not just Ms. Witt), which BW knew several months ago. They also, along with other plaintiffs, won a federal lawsuit against the City of Longmont.
What BW failed to mention in their “best of ” piece is what brought on this lawsuit: a misguided change to Longmont’s campaign law that was spearheaded by none
other than Karen Benker. She also tried to use this poorly written
ordinance against WTP and others as her main campaign tool. While she
did squeeze a few hundred dollars out of them during a kangaroo court
proceeding, they eventually got back tens of thousands of dollars out
of Longmont in federal court. I was part of that lawsuit. I wasn’t
backed by WTP, nor did I fight the lawsuit for money (nor did I receive
any). The “Benker Bloc” was warned that the amended ordinance was
seriously flawed for several specific reasons — yet City Council made
it even worse than written by the task force. These changes led
directly to the costly court loss for the city, and the changes that
are being made currently in the ordinance. We beat the U.S. Supreme
Court and the state to the punch on similar changes to campaign laws.
As
much as Ms. Benker’s supporters in and out of Longmont would like to
believe otherwise, what cost her the race wasn’t WTP, mailers or any
push-polls. She ran a terrible campaign, including a weak to
non-existent ground game, a less-than-popular voting record to run on,
less than half of the campaign contributions than her opponent, and no
“likeability” angle working for her. She made too many people in the
city angry, and she was part of a Democratic Party machine that was
becoming increasingly unpopular. To assume WTP ran the show and that
all of Katie Witt’s supporters engaged in “dirty politics” is
disingenuous, ignorant and an insult to supporters and volunteers who
are still probably unaware of who or what WTP even is. Her contributor
list is open-records information; it’s by far made up of small
contributions from people, not organizations or corporations. The miles
of walking door to door were done by volunteers, not some faceless
organization. Ms. Witt won fair and square (and overwhelmingly) using
traditional campaign techniques. If she was the beneficiary of outside
influence she had no control over, it couldn’t have been any greater
than the built-in advantage of running against an inferior candi date.
Chris Rodriguez/Longmont
Pecker checkers
(Re: “The (nearly) lost
art of sportswriting,” Buzz, April 29.) Alex Karras didn’t call
sportswriters, individually and collectively, “pecker checkers” for
nothin’.
Holds up to this day when it comes down to what they’re worth journalistically and as writers.
Bob Diddlebock/Denver
The politics of oil
“This accident has
reminded us of a cold reality, that the production of energy will never
be without risk or environmental consequence.”
[U.S. Sen.] Lisa
Murkowski’s quote shows how few people in Congress have the foresight
to change from using a finite resource, oil.
To
say we will “never” be able to create reusable energy which minimally
impacts the environment condemns our children and future generations.
The transition to use green energy on a large scale will be difficult.
Still, people know how to produce energy that has little environmental
consequence today! Rep. Murkowski’s words ignore science, technology
and human ingenuity.
Murkowski’s
denial also undermines the danger to life and elements essential to our
survival. I am not opposed to drilling, but oil companies must invest
in, test and greatly improve safeguards. They must be self-critical.
The three companies involved in this case seem to have only been
forthright when they blame one another. No successful team points
fingers; they must share responsibility for this tragedy.
I
agree with Murkowski in one respect, there is a “cold reality.” We will
continue to create massive amounts of poison. In a democracy,
leadership begins with the people. We must all track and limit oil
consumption in our daily lives. Recycle, cut back on use of plastics,
drive a more fuel-efficient car, less often and not as far. And invest in energy and products that have less of an impact on the environment.
Eventually,
hopefully sooner rather than later, the first leaders who provide
renewable energy will become heroes to all of humanity. I hope
Murkowski and her supporters would consider life beyond quarterly
profits, the next one or two election cycles, and America needing many
times the resources used by happy people around the earth.
Curtis Griffin/Boulder
I
have been watching with horror as one of the worst oil spills in
American history continues unabated, and millions of gallons of crude
oil now threaten our nation’s vital Gulf Coast ecosystem. This latest
national environmental crisis reaffirms the oil industry’s history of
consistently underestimating the risks of drilling.
In
light of the crisis, President Obama recently called for a timeout on
new offshore drilling, but didn’t specifically include the Arctic
Ocean. Despite the fact that there is no way to clean up a major oil
spill amid the Arctic’s broken sea-ice conditions, exploratory drilling
is slated to begin in the Arctic Ocean in less than 60 days.
If
the oil industry can’t even stop a spill in the Gulf of Mexico,
surrounded by all of its infrastructure and technology, how will they
ever stop one at the top of the world?
Rebecca Springer/Longmont
We
are seeing one of the most devastating consequences of oil addiction in
the Gulf of Mexico as the British Petroleum disaster worsens every day.
If we remain dependent on oil, it leaves us open to spills that destroy
our local economies and environment.
Our
over-reliance on oil for our transportation needs is also perhaps the
single greatest, under-appreciated threat to U.S. national security
today, giving leverage and money to potential adversaries, and risking
embroiling the United States in endless conflicts abroad to secure
access to oil.
Improving
fuel economy standards for all vehicles, electrifying vehicles of all
types, investing in rail for freight and commuting, creating livable
communities where transit, walking and biking are important — these are
all real and oil-free choices.
We
should strive to understand the connection between national security
and energy and start working on solutions here that can end our oil
addiction.
Tony
Hayward, the chief executive of BP, has claimed its oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico is “relatively tiny” compared with the “very big ocean.”
Unacceptable!
Linda Williamson/Erie
Take Iran leader’s cash
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is
not interested in anything but his own selfish interests, which include
social suppression and injustice against the Iranian people.
So, yes, in my
opinion, something must be done to curb his Husseinian control over the
Iranian people! The world has seen and is still watching his barbaric
treatment of the Iranian people.
The
only thing that seems to affect him is his money, so we need to somehow
take his money away from him, and watch him crumble like a house of
cards.
Martin Tippmann/Loveland
Abortion contortion
Focus on the
Family spent $2.5 million on a 30-second Super Bowl spot featuring the
Heisman Trophy winner and his mother, Pam, who say how glad they are
that she didn’t follow her doctor’s advice and abort him 23 years ago.
There is an underlying message that to abort is a sin, a violent act, a message that can bring a devastating blow to spirit.
For
the woman who has aborted, and was judged by others, she most likely
would have experienced the pain of disempowerment, of her trust in her
self being taken away by another.
This is a violent act! David Krest/Paonia
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