Elect Eric Bodenstab to the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners

Fair Representation. Reform Metro Districts.

  • FINAL DAYS.

    It’s the final days of the campaign season and I think we’re all feeling it.

    A lot of signs dot neighborhoods, fences, lawns and open spaces. A lot of them are in public right-of-way, and thus should not be there. If you see any of my signs, please let me know. You won’t.

    The Jeffco Commissioner front-runner, Rachel Zenzinger, has many signs and larger signs up in only – from what I can tell – authorized private property areas. A campaign manager for many of the Democrats races indeed confirmed that and that Rachel needed little to no help managing her own campaign – fundraising, volunteers, sign placement, etc.

    My boys like pointing out the signs and we have a little chuckle*. As a winner-take-all system (of First-Past-the-Post) that’s all we can do. It reminds me of the Johnny Cash song “One Piece at Time” – particularly the line:

    Every day I’d watch them beauties roll by
    And sometimes I’d hang my head and cry
    ‘Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.

    I would like to garner 2 plus % of the three-hundred fifty some-odd-thousand voters as it would show that I achieved incremental gains and ran on some of the right ideas for once. Perhaps I too can assemble a Cadillac of a winning election one piece at a time.

  • At Peace with the Post.

    And they link back to this site. Muchas Gracias.

    See my candidate questionnaire just published:

    Jefferson County Commissioner District 1 candidate Q&A
    Thanks to Jon Murray of the Denver Post.

  • Jeffco Voter stats, from the Denver Gazette:

    Registered total: 469,000

    Dem: 156,000
    GOP: 120,000
    Independent: 193,000

    …

    Who should have the most seats?
    With three commissioners, each should get 1.
    With 5: (2) Independents, (2) Dem, (1) GOP
    With 7: (3) Indies, (2) Dem, (2) GOP
    With 9: (4) Indies, (3) Dem, (2) GOP
    With 11: (4) Indies, (4) Dem, (3) GOP

    Some think the Board of County Commissioners could hold as many as twenty-seven!

    Also with (11) Commissioners, the 4 or 5 Indies would break up into Greens, Libertarians, Centrists and Uniters. So maybe even more than 11 would be better for more granular representation.

    A rural district could be formed as well, past 9 or 10 reps.

  • It strikes me how remarkably similar the Proportional Representation systems (that 95 countries in the world use to have a better democracies) are to the new College Football Playoff here in the USA with 12 teams.

    No one for years thought that College Football National Championship game matchups were best solved through computers or polls or the the press. It was expanded to a 4 team playoff a decade ago. Now it will be 12 teams this January, with a apparent cap on SEC teams projected by CBS sports of only 3 teams (more on this later).

    The idea is exactly the same as with Proportional Representation, we want more parties at the Table. And the goal while not a championship is bona fide democracy.

  • I am out today in the pre-game tailgating in Parking Lot E for “Eric”. My kid and I will be enjoying the festivities and selling Cub Scout Popcorn. We’d appreciate your support.

    As an aside, I grew up in San Diego, which made me a Chargers fan by birth. After 22 years in Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Arvada, Red Feather Lakes), I am fully transitioned into Broncos County. It should be a good game.

    I was a little miffed to once again be excluded from Media coverage: this time it was the Arvada Press (Colorado Community Media). They even have “Unity” in their name! Only the Dem & GOP were covered. There were also unopposed candidates covered for other offices. I am pretty darn sure proportional representation of the Jeffco Board of Commissioners would solve this. The media would just have to work harder.

  • So ballots go out 22 days before the election. That is next Monday, the 14th of October. You will see a lot of on that ballot regarding measures, initiatives, candidates, of course. Perhaps not enough viable choices for third-party or minor party candidates here in Colorado, or even just Jeffco by itself.

    Like I have said, Proportional Representation will bring more parties to the table, ending what is called Duverger’s [Law] Effect.

    If you want to be an informed voter, and be aware of all your choices, I would suggest looking at some of the voter guides and questionnaires that were in most cases distributed to all the candidates in Jeffco:

    LEAGUE of WOMEN VOTERS: https://www.vote411.org/ (you must do an address specific search)

    Arvadans for Progressive Action: https://arvadansforprogressiveaction.org/political-action-team/eric-bodenstab/

    Arvada Chamber of Commerce: Voter Guide to be emailed shortly by the group.

    and

    Tomorrow of course is the Jefferson County Council on Aging Forum, which is an in-person event. I will see you there!

  • I want to ask all the people, not just voters, how are you doing as residents in Jeffco.

    With regard to democracy, it is worth noting that in the United States, we are considered a “flawed democracy” by the Economist Intelligence Unit and only rated 29th on the list they compile: https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2023/

    You can download their free report and see for yourself. All the top 10 democracies worldwide employ a version of Proportional Representation and/or Single Transferable Vote. Why could we not be the best democracy in the world?

    Jeffco has the opportunity in a few weeks to elect a Commissioner on the County Board, who will attempt to implement this *new system*. I would need the support of another commissioner to call for a ballot initiative to have Home Rule for Jefferson County. Or you all as residents could call for the same voter ballot initiative (and have direct democracy) with 23,000 voter signatures in the County, or 5% or the last count by the Clerk.

    The system is not that new actually and is used in 94 countries to increase their overall happiness.

    Through the course of the campaign, I have been reminded that the 2-party, or cartel parties, system and affiliates actively work to exclude minor parties, and minority voices. Part of the exclusion based on pragmatic concerns: “we just don’t have the time“.

    Another area of exclusion is on Metro District Boards. Developers don’t want residents initially or perhaps ever on their boards, because self-determining people would never authorize the outrageous debt that these districts allow – usually not long after their inception and approval by counties and municipalities. Please see https://metrodistrictreform.org/ for more information on this rather dark and hidden aspect of our government. Yes, Metro Districts are governments?! And they have the power to mislead and tax you at the same time.

    I am reminded of a thought by a happiness writer: “Will this be anything I will care about when I am 90?” My Grandmother is 98. My mother-in-law is 88. I should ask them if they care about Metro Districts or Proportional Representation.

    I will get 2 minutes of time next week to speak to the Seniors represented by the Jeffco Council on Aging. A lot of other candidates and for other offices will be there. I had to fight my way into be included. It is my intention to fight for EVERY Jeffco resident to be included, by being represented (politically) by their Commissioner.

  • We have a new site for our campaign and appropriately named for the Jefferson County Commissioner race.

    If you would like to donate please see unityparty.us/donatenow/

    The same rules apply that are listed at unityparty.us

    Recent news from the campaign trail is that after some convincing by my fellow Candidate, Natalie Menten, The Jeffco Council on Aging has decided to include me at their forum on October 10th starting at 2:00pm at Apex Center on 68th & Wads. See the flyer

    Also there is a Arvada Chamber event right after that and I am included this time around.

    Arvadans for Progressive Action, the Ralston Valley Coalition & McIntyre Neighbors United apologized as well for not including me in their forums that have already occurred. Good on them.

    It’s democracy in action, and you have to fight to be included. I expect less nastiness once we adopt Proportional Representation here in Jeffco. Then the 2nd and 3rd place finishers will also receive seats on the board. They will have voice and not be shut out like the Republican right now.

    How can that not be the #1 idea for Jeffco (and the USA) right now?!

Got any suggestions for the County?

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