The election season of 2008 is a wacky one and the wackiness has trickled down all the way to the Garfield County commissioner race.
County Commissioner Tresi Houpt is contributing to the wackiness by going on record in a letter to the editor and a newspaper ad, asking for GarCo residents to vote for commissioner candidate Stephen Bershenyi in his race against incumbent John Martin. In her letter to the editor, Houpt also went after commissioner Larry McCown, who is not running for re-election, and endorsed both Steve Carter and Bershenyi.
One question for Houpt is this: How well do you think you can work with Martin and McCown in the next two months after basically telling them “You guys stink”? If Martin wins, will Houpt just tell him, “Hey, the election’s over. You don’t stink anymore”?
Beyond the allegation of body odor, there’s this. Houpt, Carter and Bershenyi are all Democrats. If the Democrats control the three-member Garfield Board of County Commissioners like they’ve long wanted to do, how much input will the state and national Democratic Party have in the way Garfield County is run? Will Houpt, Carter and Bershenyi make their decisions based on what “The Party” wants to accomplish on a state and national level? It seems like a legitimate question to ask.
In any case, as a resident of Garfield County, I don’t recall a sitting Garfield County commissioner endorsing any commission candidate and don’t see the need for it now. Residents of Garfield County are paying Houpt to do a job. By endorsing candidates she’s more likely to end up doing less of a job than she’s being paid for.
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Wacky as Houpt’s endorsements are, they can’t compare to the 23 questions the Aspen City Council is asking applicants for the late J.E. DeVilbiss’ seat. The questions range from hypothetical to absurd, including this one: “Which part of intense media scrutiny, 400 page memos and 7 hour meetings interests you?”
Question No. 17 asks: “If chosen, will you promise to run (or not run) in May for a full term?” Uh … let’s see. How do you figure incumbents Jack Johnson and Mick Ireland might use this answer if they run again, and the soon-to-be appointed City Council member goes against the “promise” not to run? Is this question just giving them a campaign issue to keep up their sleeve? Are Johnson and Ireland less inclined to add or not add someone to the council whom they might have to run against next May? Is question No. 17 pretty much the craziest thing you’ve ever read?
Question No. 16 is a good one. “How would you behave on City Council if you had evidence someone appearing before council was lying to it?” (Note to applicants: If you want the job, do not answer, “I’d start yelling at them like Mayor Mick Ireland does sometimes and then berate them and act all snippy like council sometimes does.”)
Question No. 13 asks, “What conditions would have to be present for you to exercise the condemnation powers of the city council? The moratorium powers? The emergency powers?” (Note to applicants: If you want the job, do not answer, “Conditions? No conditions! We’re the Aspen City Council! We can do whatever we want! We don’t need any conditions! What, are you nuts?”)
The City Council questions, wacky as they are, do make for great fodder for you letters-to-the-editor writers out there. If you’d like to check them out, go to www.theredant.com.
One final note: Why didn’t the City Council put former City Councilman Torre on the short list? Torre knows how the city works. You’d think the City Council would want someone they don’t have to bring up to speed.
Lynn Burton is night editor for the Aspen Daily News. He can be reached at lburton@aspendailynews.com.
