Unsolicited Advice and Unanswered Questions for the Candidates for Denver City Council District 8

Watching each of your Forum tapes four or five times in the process of editing and uploading I can’t help but blurt out my unsolicited advice and questions. You know, yelling at the TV! So instead of yelling, I'm posting them here. My TV never answers but maybe you will. (I checked Denver Politics to see if any of the candidates had answered any of the three questions posted to them there. Only Madison answered two. Poor showing for the rest of you.) But before we get to my questions… General Advice to all Candidates (Let me apologize in advance if I seem impertinent or rude to be so bold as to advise you. Feel free to respond “none of your business” or “you shut up”.) - Please be more specific. Don’t say “the task force” if you mean “a task force”. Don't say you started something if you merely participated. People are getting picky now. No more vague generalities. - When you are given 4 minutes, use 3. We’ll be so shocked we’ll remember you and vote for you. This means honing your message down and then shutting up. No more blah blah blah. - Sorry, body-language counts. You are all we have to look at. - Getting up from your chair and standing tall before us is better than slouching toward your microphone from your chair. Pop your mic out of the stand and come to the front of the table. But don't pace. - Please make sure your people are placing yard signs legally (in yards) and not illegally (in the verge). Illegal signs make us think you don't care about the letter of the law. General questions to all - Three of you have experience in neighborhood associations. How many dues paying members did you have then and how many now? - Does it take “fire in the belly” to run for any public office these days given the cost, the media, Internet and press? What, if any, office will you seek after your tenure as Councilperson, and will you promise to fill your term if elected? -Do you think it appropriate for the Denver City Council to issue a position statement on the Iraq War? How would you vote? Specific Questions To Lynn Smith 1. What was the “technicality” that kept you off the ballet? 2. What was your total development activity in the last 10 years? 3. Isn’t your candidacy based on your reaction to difficulty you’ve had working with the City bureaucracy? Since Hickenlooper promised to fix that, and apparently didn’t, how can you have any effect on it? To Greg Rasheed 1. What did you conclude when you were told “we know who you are”? 2. Please get real. You can’t meet 26,500 people face to face. What will you actually do to foster communication? Radio? Internet? 3. Do you have the knowledge of the workings of City government that well enable you to “hit the ground running” or will it be more like “on the job training”? To Sharon Bailey 1. Your biography indicates that you were a consultant for 12 years after and before government jobs. Isn’t this the revolving door they talk about? 2. You mention being elected to the Denver School Board. Are the current sad state of Denver Schools (high-drop out, low scores, closed) your legacy? 3. Are you trying to prove something to your husband? To Carla Madison 1. You’ve seemed apologetic for being “nervous”, “smarter than you seem”, and “white”. Why are you running for this “black seat”? 2. Some of us thought your husband Paul started the Festival of the Arts, now you say it was you. Why did CPWNA pay Paul to run the festival? 3. Didn’t the City waive its $50,000 fee from CPWNA, control, direct and implement the overlay and achieve “unanimous participation” only after allowing all dissidents to have their property removed from the overlay? To Darrell Watson 1. Why aren’t you gay enough? 2. What do you actually do at your day job, and how are you connected to foundations and boards of directors of other organizations? 3. Serious accusations have flown your way, and people are now accusing you of exaggeration and taking credit for others work. Yet, you refuse to respond. What gives? And finally, let me praise the efforts of all of the candidates so far. Keep up the good work. We hope it will lead to our picking the best candidate to represent us all.