Buchanan or Conrad or Lewis for DPS?
The race for DPS School Board Director at Large is attracting so much dough that we'll actually see TV ads for the first time in a School Board race, according to the Denver Post [October 12, 2005, "DPS races take a pricey turn"]. From the article, "Two Denver school board candidates have each raised tens of thousands of dollars, setting the traditionally low-profile school board campaign on a track to be the most expensive in Denver's history. Developer and architect Brad Buchanan has raised $69,129, and his opponent, education consultant Jill Conrad, has brought in $44,712...In contrast, Dave Lewis, a third at-large candidate, has given $225 of his own money to beat Conrad and Buchanan, and done no other fundraising. Neither has candidate Matt Webster, who is running against Jeannie Kaplan for the central Denver seat."
Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [October 12, 2005, "Money rolls in to DPS race"].
Here's the link to Jill Conrad's website. If you know the URL for Brad Buchanan please post it in the comments or send email.
Grover Norquist wants to debate Governor Owens in Washington D.C., according to the Denver Post [October 12, 2005, "Foe of C, D dares Owens to a debate in D.C."]. They write, "Owens, who has received high ratings as a fiscal conservative from Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform over the years, found himself on Norquist's bad side last spring because of the fiscal-policy proposal he crafted with statehouse Democrats."
Colorado Pols: "Various polls now show 'YES on C&D' pulling slightly further ahead of 'NO on C&D.' The word is that YES is winning by 1-9 points, depending on the poll. Those numbers, except for the high end, indicate that this is still near the margin of error and too close to call. However, we haven't seen a number as high as 9 points in any of the polling lately, so there is some indication that the YES campaign is moving ahead. No, we aren't going to tell you who did these polls, and no, we didn't just make this up."
Al Knight is arguing that support for Referendum C is lukewarm across the state, especially amongst Republicans, in his column in today's Denver Post [October 12, 2005, "C & D, an odd coalition"]. He makes the odd statement, "The support among Democrats is higher than that but in some sections isn't exactly off the charts, either. For example, in southern Colorado, where Republican support is about 38 percent, support among the Democrats is at 44 percent, far less than a majority. What these numbers show is that voters instinctively know these measures are tailored to mostly benefit the Democratic Party and that fact is likely to affect the way people vote."
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is urging Denver voters to pass ProComp on November 1st [October 12, 2005, "ProComp vital for Denver schools"]. They write, "To begin with, the current contract is a straitjacket for unusually talented, effective, motivated teachers. What teachers are paid depends first on how many years they've spent climbing the salary scale, one step at a time, and second on how many graduate credits they've earned. Salary has nothing to do with whether they're standouts in the classroom, especially successful at inspiring at-risk kids to excel, or willing to take on challenging assignments. And worse, long before the midpoint of a teacher's career, the salary steps come to an end. When many professionals are reaching their peak earning years, teachers are limited to 'longevity increments' every five years, across-the-board salary increases that everybody gets, cost- of-living adjustments and the like. Nothing rewards them for being and doing their very best at whatever they do, or - from the district's side - for devoting their efforts to the district's greatest needs. If you don't reward excellence, you may not stamp it out but you will get less of it. And excellence is what Denver must cultivate if it is to surmount the serious challenges it faces as a large urban school district."
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
6:06:29 AM 
|
|
