U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Somebody
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
50%
40%
40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 26, 2010 01:15 AM UTC
37 Comments
There really is nothing more annoying than being forced to listen, for hours on end, to the concerns of you know…the people you were elected to serve.
What’s the big deal? Citizens are not allowed to speak during regular council mtgs in Denver. When a public hearing is allowed for a bill, it is limited to one hour (two hours for comments about marijuana) and each speaker gets only three minutes to speak. Why aren’t you calling out Hickenlooper for these shocking anti-citizen limits?
Longmont has a population of over 500,000 people now?
Did Hickenlooper change the public comment policy three months after taking office? Has he ever once said that listening to his constituents “makes him tired?”
Lame…
Apparently the theme of the meeting escaped you or you just didn’t bother to read the article.
The reality of Hickenlooper’s position is that he never has to face the public in a meeting. There are no “public invited to be heard” segments of denver meetings, not unless council votes to allow a hearing for limited comment on a limited subject. Hickenlooper does not even attend city council meetings.
He’s not your mayor, obviously. If he were, you’d know he doesn’t ever have to sit in a public meeting and listen to public comments. Unless he chooses to. And he doesn’t.
Facts.
Because your whiny ass bitch fest about Hickenlooper isn’t what this diary is about. It’s about Longmont. The above block quote you are responding to is about Longmont. You know, Longmont–north of Boulder, about 3 miles west of I25.
But do feel free to write a big old opus about it. Who knows? I might even front page it.
My, my. Awfully touchy. It’s fun to call out a Republican mayor of a Republican town and accuse him of being somehow anti-citizen… until you realize that the bigshot Democrat mayor of Democrat Denver has even less regard for citizen comments at public meetings.
When a Republican does it, it’s brilliant front-page fodder on Pols. When a Democrat does it, it’s a “whiny ass bitch fest.”
Heh heh.
I hate to burst your bubble but no, you didn’t strike a nerve. I just have zero tolerance for stupid people. No offense Skippy, of course.
Last I heard, Hickenlooper (1) was not proposing changes to existing Denver laws and (2) was not elected on a promise of “listening to the voters.”
You and your ilk are so quick to accuse others of not listening, shouting “You lie!” and the like, but then, when the Tea Party crowd gets elected, you try to shut everyone else up through threats, intimidation, and ridicule
“Heh heh.” Indeed.
What does Hickenlooper have to do with city council meetings? Unlike the Longmont mayor apparently, the Denver mayor doesn’t sit on the council. Thus, he doesn’t run the council’s meetings.
about municipal government, weak-mayor v strong-mayor forms and such. Don’t you know Skip is a drive-by partisan? He is not bound by such limits as reality, relevance, or facts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M…
Colorado Gov. 101. Denver has a strong mayor system, which in this case means he doesn’t have a seat, or a voice, on the city council but serves as an executive. It’s like the governor not having any say over the legislature’s rules, got it.
Suburban cities, including if memory serves, Longmont, have a council manager system. In such cities, the “mayor” sits on the city council, votes on the council, and acts as the presiding officer of the council. Mayor Baum’s equivalent, in terms of setting rules before city council, is thus city council president Michael Hancock, not Hickenlooper.
Thus, the reason
is that we actually know what we’re talking about.
that I can seldom resist when a blogger like Skip posts what amounts to a bit “Kick Me!” sign for public comment. I guess it’s a character flaw on my part 😉
I said it first. Where’s the love?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
🙂
I honestly love you…(Gee, those would make great lyrics for a song…hmm…)
Now, that you’re all in the post-climax, cigarette-smoking phase of this thread, let’s get back to the point:
Why is limited public comment evil in Longmont, but laudable in Denver?
which specifically was directed at the role of the mayor.
But that’s OK, I understand that it may be easier than acknowledging that you got schooled.
The public comment part is the most important part of the meeting. That’s what makes it the voter’s government.
Most public meetings have some sort of limitation on the amount of public comment permitted, and essentially all preserve the right of the chair to end it if there is not a pre-set time.
“Respond immediately to” sounds much preferred to the usual practice of letting everyone in the audience make a comment before providing any kind of response.
It isn’t clear if there is a policy of accepting written comment by those not present, but that is a much better way to open up input than having hours of citizen comments (and while many are well informed, some are confused or rambling).
I think this was more about appearances than legalisms. The article plainly says they have limits, Mayor Baum just wants to make them shorter. That looks bad to democracy liking people.
And maybe you like the idea of interrupting citizens making comments, but aren’t you a lawyer?
The way the current council meetings are run, the council can’t make any comment (except a “thank you”) to a speaker. The council must wait until Council Comments at the very end of the meeting to respond. The Mayor doesn’t want the power to interrupt a speaker, he wants to give the power to the council to respond to questions after the speaker is done speaking, but before the council comments (which is several hours after the question is asked) – to me this sounds like better governance, no?
(looks around fearfully)
You’ll make him (gulp) angry!
I know this sure does:
http://www.freerangelongmont.com
Do council business when everyone is sharp and then let the public have their say at the end. The public gets an education in stupidity having to sit through a council meeting and are ready to tee it up when their turn comes. It’s a win/win for the voters. An education in civics and a chance to sound off.
is if citizens speak last, the Council has already finished its business without their input. Granted, if they speak first, the council may ignore their input. But at least the possibility of affecting policy exists if citizens speak before the meeting.
And I’m not talking about this new council. Yes, everyone run over to http://www.freerangelongmont.com and read all the whimsical fancy dreamed up by the extreme Progresive Left in Longmont – all 12 of them – to try and make it look like the Conservatives who now rule are in trouble. Far from it my friends! Don’t be fooled by the shiny new webpage. Fact is, our new Mayor threw out a suggestion during the council retreat and the left has jumped on it as if it was signed in to law. They’re running so scared right now that they’re inventing things to get everyone whipped up in to a frenzy about in the hope that something will stick. It was suggested that the first call for Public Invited to be Heard be limited to 30 minutes so that the business of the day could be attended to. The public would still be called to speak at the public hearing for each agenda item being voted on and would still be called for the Final call for public invited to be heard at the end of the meeting when the business of the day has been done – as it is, the council listened to an hour and a half of the first call to be heard last week. Does a town of 80,000 really need to spend 90 minutes listening to the same people say the same thing week after week? The meeting went 4 hours and 47 minutes (starting at 7:00pm that’s ending just shy of midnight, folks)! The Progressives are essentially filibustering and causing this council to have to move business back each week because they can’t get it done by midnight! It’s time to end the silliness and let our council get to work! And oh by the way, this council didn’t run on a platform of “listening to the people” – that was the last council – the one that had 1/2 of it voted out this past November and will have the other 1/2 voted out in 2011. This council ran on a platform of making Longmont Business friendly once again.
Your honor.
Translation: For Sale to the lowest bidder. Gives a whole new meaning to Sell Out.
Your lack of basic readability makes any substantive points disappear.
Are you saying you hate democracy, freedom or people?
Guess you’re not from Longmont. Baum ran on a platform that Longmont was “open for business”. I’m merely defining what he really was saying.
Just a quick tip: Danny was replying to Mayor Baum’s errrrr, McGuillicuty’s comment, not yours. If you’re ever confused, you can click on “parent” and it will show you who was replying to whom.
Considering he’s speaking live on Channel 3 right now at the council meeting and I’m here on the computer!
People are worried about the Mayor’s pattern of treating citizens here.
Longmont has started an annual tradition where a City Council Session is converted to purely an open forum that anyone can participate in. Citizens can come and talk to City Council about any subject they want. Often Council will even engage in a thoughtful trading of ideas. It is, dare I say it? … Progressive.
However things went a little awry this year.
From Jan. 13 Times-Call
You can see the whole article here – http://www.timescall.com/News_…
I can understand a mayor saying, “I disagree with you.” Or even saying “I think you’re wrong here, but I hope there are other parts of the City that will keep you coming back.” I am sure that is what ousted Mayor Roger Lange would have done. Instead, Mr. Baum essentially says, “Longmont. Love it, or leave it.”
At least the left wing in this town is approaching this with a sense of humor. http://www.freerangelongmont.com looks like they are taking a cue from http://www.frontrangechickens.com and then turning it on its’ side.
I guess that’s up to me. The person speaking wasn’t a Longmont citizen, he was a Nederland citizen (he made that quite clear) and the Mayor wasn’t saying he should leave Longmont to move to another community, he was saying if he liked those other communities better, leave Nederland. This was no “Longmont. Love it, or leave it.” this was “Nederland: Love it, or leave it.”. Steve King came to the the council with a combative agenda for which he later wrote council a full letter of apology for his actions. You can read that here: Steve King Apology Letter.
Are you saying it did not disclose who Steve King was?
In the Times-Call article I quoted, it specifically states
.
My interpretation of the exchange was Longmont, love it or leave it.
I agree with you that Steve showed some class by apologizing for the way the interaction went. But people can look at a clip of the “discussion” themselves at
http://www.freerangelongmont.c…
for the short version. Or the whole thing at
http://65.49.32.143/maportal/p…
I just think the Mayor could have gotten his message across without interrupting as much and speaking positively about Longmont.
“We have a mayor who intends to strangle other voices.”
Read the full story hear:
http://www.freerangelongmont.c…