More "Unrelenting Attacks Unleashed"

(Hat tip to Dave Burrell for the title).

Take a look at this photo from the Madison website:

Now take a closer look. Something isn't quite right. In particular, note the shadows under the faces. Note the older lady - no shadows - looks like she's sitting in her living room.

Note the unreadable patches on the gentleman with the beret. Uh oh, it looks like backwards printing. Here, I'll flip it over for you and zoom in.

Looks like the reversed shoulder patch spells Cometic - an automotive gasket company. I still can't read the patch below that one. But again, compare the shadows on his face and neck with the lady directly above him.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Perhaps you can see why I call this Photoshopped Diversity. Critics of this blog may say, "So what?, Photoshopping is not illegal". True, but when depicting diversity, one should probably use an actual photograph of a diverse group.

If you are lucky enough to get the Neighborhood Life newspaper, check out the ads for Bailey and Madison on pages 10 and 11. Bailey's ad is mostly informative, ballots, dates and such. Madison's ad is actually a thinly disguised attack on Bailey.

The Madison ad contains the same photo (above) and you can see the backwards printing clearly. If you have the newspaper photo to compare, you'll find many places where the two photos differ. You can see that the older lady, Carla, Beretman, and the sign have moved with respect to the rest of the picture.


The ad goes on to make two points (among others): "Vote for the candidate (Carla) unencumbered by special interest groups and established politics" implying that the other candidate is encumbered.

And at the bottom of the Madison ad: "Because we know that she (Carla) will represent all of us!" the underlining (original) implying that the other candidate will only represent some of us - and which "some of us" would that be?


In a nutshell, these pictures and ads tell the whole story - a real candidate (Bailey) and a pretender (Madison). That's what I've been trying to say all along.


Don't forget to send in that ballot!

Campaign Sign Demons at Work

I was surprised when I went out this morning to clean up after yesterday’s hail storm. In the dumpster behind my house I found:



Oh no! The campaign sign demons at work again! Three Bailey signs in the dumpster. Let’s see; three is more than one person should have in their yard, so it probably wasn’t just a neighbor tired of the decorations. Two were folded and there were no wire sign holders. The lids were closed but the signs were right on top - as if arranged?

Why my dumpster? I checked the other dumpsters in my alley and there were none. What could it mean?

Probably nothing.

Financing and Participation

Broken Windows

Sharon Bailey discusses "broken windows" at the Merchants Forum on April 12, 2007. Carla Madison had to leave early and was not present for this discussion. See also this morning's Denver Post article. >

Flag This! (Part 3)

Received yesterday: Mr. Trumbule, Both Vicki Ortega and I spoke to representatives of the Madison campaign. They have made changes to the logo and have agreed not to print future items with the City flag. We are in the beginning stages of research for trademarking the City flag which will provide clear lines for future use. Again, thank you for bringing this to our attention. Stacey Rohrer From: Gerald Trumbule Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 1:27 PM To: Rohrer, Stacey L. - OED Subject: Re: Denver City Flag Has a determination been made on this matter? ----- Original Message ----- From: Sargeson, Stacey L. - OED To: Gerald Trumbule Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 5:00 PM Subject: RE: Denver City Flag To my knowledge, they do not have permission. Vicki Ortega and I are going to place a call to the Madison campaign staff early next week . Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we will definitely follow up. Stacey

Fighting Crime in the Neighborhood

Snow Removal

Gentrification

Latest District 8 Results

The DenverGov count for District 8 has changed again (11:35 am). Looks like another 119 votes posted in the write-in category (Lynn Smith?).

- Darrell B. Watson 1728/ 6,431 26.87%

- Carla Madison 1803/ 6,431 28.04%

- Sharon Bailey 2295/ 6,431 35.69%

- Greg Rasheed 486/ 6,431 7.56%

- (Write-In) 119/ 6,431 1.85%

What Ever Happened to Lynn Smith?

This morning I noticed that the total votes cast in District 8 (as reported at DenverGov) crept up from 6227 (last night) to 6312. Apparently, votes are still being counted. But there are no votes listed for write-in candidate Lynn Smith. I saw a few of her yard signs so I assume that there must have been at least a few votes. Have the write-ins not yet been counted? In 2003, an uncontested Wedgeworth got 7225 votes out of a total of 7399. Are there 1000 fewer voters now in District 8? Please comment if you have any info.

District 8 Goes Old Skool

In choosing Sharon Bailey for City Council (by a plurality, run-off yet to come), District 8 voters opted for the most-educated, most-experienced-in-the-ways-of-government-bureaucracy, most previously-elected, and perhaps, “safest” candidate. Dr. Bailey’s website is an academic treatise. She has laid it all out. If you want to know what she thinks, read, read, read it here. She scored zero on my “internet responsiveness” measurement, but she told me she was sorry about that. She says “My top priority will be to provide more efficient and effective constituent services for District 8 residents.” and I believe her. Call me naïve, but I actually think she means what she says. Having Bailey as our representative will also give us more clout. With her background, she won’t start out at the bottom of the City Council newbies. Madison came in second, 484 votes behind Bailey and 74 votes ahead of Watson. That 74 votes is 1.19%, so I assume there won’t be an automatic recount. A candidate could request a recount, but they would have to pay for it, so I don’t think there will be one. In relegating Watson to third place, District 8 passed on a chance to snag the brightest and most inspiring candidate (IMHO). When I was editing the hours of candidate tapes, I always came away impressed by Watson. I think he could have provided a “new skool” kind of leadership that we haven’t seen before, actually inspiring the diverse population of our district in exciting, creative ways. I hope he continues to be active in politics. He might be better as a state legislator than on City Council. Greg Rasheed got only 7.7% of the vote. Despite his best intentions, I don’t think voters considered him to be a serious candidate. His “radio” personality sometimes made him seem superficial. His “youth” platform seemed limiting. He had the highest “internet responsiveness” score, but most voters apparently aren’t wired. You gotta love the guy anyway. Will losing candidates throw their support behind run-off candidates? Will the voters follow? Does anyone care? I was talking to my barber on Monday about the election. I asked if he had gotten a ballot. Yes, he said, a little sheepishly, he had gotten one, but he had thrown it away. And so it goes.

The Disappearing Disclaimer (re: Flag This!)

This appeared briefly on the Madison website at the bottom of the home page this past Saturday. It may relate to the use of the Denver flag at the top of that page. It seems to be gone now. (Hard to read, you say?)

Recall this from the City Marketing Office:

If the City has not granted permission for use of the flag, we will ask those using the City flag to cease and desist use or, alternatively, print the following language near the depiction of the flag: "Use of the City flag is done without permission of the City and County of Denver. The City and County of Denver is in no way associated with this business (or individual as the case may be) and the City in no way endorses, approves, nor sponsors the products and services referenced in this publication."