SkiCo CEO Says It Ain't So
August 30th, 2006 at 05:48am Post Staff 43
Editor:
I would like to take a moment to set the record straight. Over the last year, Aspen Skiing Co. has been the target of accusations and innuendo regarding the February 2005 referendum on Snowmass Base Village. There have been unsubstantiated claims that SkiCo "engineered" the election by displacing international workers and replacing them with U.S. citizens in our Club Commons employee housing project in Snowmass.
These allegations are completely false. From town of Snowmass Village public records and SkiCo personnel files, we were able to establish the following facts: At the time of the referendum, approximately 60 of the 154 residents of Club Commons were U.S. citizens. This average is consistent with prior years. There was no displacement of foreign workers. Only 23 residents of Club Commons chose to vote. Compare this to the 65 percent turnout of residents as a whole. Of registered voters, 1,155 turned out for the Base Village referendum. Fifty-five percent of voters were in favor of Base Village. The election was decided by a margin of 10 percent, or 122 votes. The 23 Club Commons votes had no impact on the outcome of the election. Of the 23 employees who voted, 14 of them are still employed by SkiCo. Twelve of these 14 employees have been employed for more than one season. These men and women are citizens of Snowmass, not "transient workers" as some have claimed. Residents of Snowmass, including our employees, expressed their right to vote in record numbers. We presented them with our position on Base Village. We all know those opposed to Base Village did the same. We do not know how they voted once they entered the booth.
Let's move forward. Stop the untrue claims and allegations. If you really care about Snowmass, show up. Participate. Express your opinions. Back them up with facts and offer constructive solutions. Let's move forward with integrity and honesty.
Pat O'Donnell President/CEO Aspen Skiing Co.
2 Comments Add your own
1. alpha6 | August 30th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
"Let's move forward with integrity and honesty." Righttttt....
Let’s see, from what I know about how things work in the business world, WestPac investments didn't just walk up yesterday and offer to buy the base village...
Ten to one says that the deal was already cut at the time of the vote, pending the outcome of the vote.
Business is Business and money is money....if integrity and honesty were a part of them and we were all Japanese, you would be seeing a lot of Seppuku going on in the corporate world.
2. flower77 | September 1st, 2006 at 8:24 am
I would like to see the statics of how many second home owners and seasonal workers that changed their residency status to vote in the election.
I personally know at least 15-20 couples that did so , and most of them where Aspen Ski Company employees that were encouraged to do so. The Ski Company handed out information on how to change their residency status and the time line to do so , so that they could vote on the issue.
So , don't try to say the Ski Company was not trying to rig the vote.
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