Coming soon, to a candidate forum near you

Hi - Welcome to the Matrix, er, Estes Park's trustee forum

Below are the 10 registered candidates for Estes Park town trustee at the time of this afternoon's filing deadline:

Males:

Bob Holcomb
Art Messal
Ward Nelson
Dave Shirk
Scott Webermeier
Ken Zornes

Females:

Carlie Bangs
Marie Cenac
Michelle Hiland
Barbara MacAlpine

Obviously there is still time for write-in candidates to file, but one encouraging thing is the number of female candidates running.  It is time the board was a better representation of local demographics. Sadly, if anyone of color or different ethnicity, even (sadly) someone who was barely bilingual, could be convinced to run, they would be a shoo-in.  Either this message is not being heard, or the folks approached don't have time to serve, because they would be automatically elected.

Here are some discouraging things:  Four of these folks are obviously single-issue candidates, as far as one thing and one thing only pushing them to file.  All of them will claim this is not the case, and those who have lived here longer, or accomplished more in their time here, will have an easier job of selling their reasons to a gullible public.  But last fall's VEP fiasco is clearly still sending shock tingles through the group of 10 or so people who care.  Their supporters will say, "Well, if that is what pushed them to file, so be it.  They have other qualities that make them good candidates."  Perhaps, but town board is probably not the best place to practice abreaction therapy.

Now that this list has been made public, I do hope one or two of these folks will see the writing on the wall, and recognize, unless they are going to spend a whole bunch of money on advertising, they have little chance of getting their message heard, or getting more than a few hundred sympathy votes.  A forum with 10 people sitting around answering the same boring question is horribly unwieldy, and the audience will be so frustrated with the size of the panel, the very first misstep by an unknown candidate in answering will find them immediately checked off in most audience members' minds as inviable, or worth a redemptory listen.

Again, hate to beat a dead horse here, but only one candidate on the list is potentially against the Loop.  So the power structure among Estes Park's alternative news sources has obviously shifted.  If you can't produce more than slogans, if you can't field viable candidates, you are either no longer being read, or are no longer taken seriously.