The day Marilyn Marks has been waiting for has finally arrived. "Judge James Boyd of the Ninth Judicial District Court will hear the case March 22-23 and is expected to make a ruling on whether the digital ballot images should be released so Marks can review them for what she says are auditing purposes." reports Carolyn Sackariason. "In the meantime, lawyers on both sides are arguing whether officials with Maryland-based True Ballot Inc. — the administrators of the election and the tabulators of the results — should be deposed. The city's motion for a protective order asking the judge to disallow testimony from True Ballot staff should be denied, argued Marks' Denver-based attorney, Robert McGuire, in a filing last week."
You're not going to believe this but the competition for "Best Picture" at the Academy Awards will be decided for the first time this year in a Instant Runoff election no unlike the one that has plagued Aspen no end. "So what’s the big deal?" blogs the Con Man. "In Aspen, Colorado, where I hover—home to an IRV election in 2008—the new system of ranking voters has left an election still fundamentally flawed and unresolved, with lawsuits from citizens and city officials determined to defend themselves till the final credits against all charges. Litigation about the Aspen Mayoral and City Council elections is still looming as we speak..... Trust me, this is the first year that the penguins from PriceWaterhouseCoopers are guaranteed to earn their money. Before, the winner—the one with the most votes—simply won. Now there’s the possibility of gaming the system.
TV Aspen Channel 19 News Director Jim Laurence reports that Aspen Mayor Mick Ireland expressed his views on the local economy.
Posts filed under 'Aspen City Council'
Like the blue folk of “Avatar,” Hollywood is facing an Oscar scandal of massive proportions without a clue as to what happens in the end.
I know because I live in a town that is still trying to recover from Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), the method of misbegotten democracy just adopted by the Academy Awards in this exponential age of ten nominees for “Best Picture.” In the old days—starting in 1946 and persisting until last year—the movie that came away with the most votes won in a simple exercise of plurality rule. To win “Best Picture” this time around, a picture like “Avatar” has to achieve more than 50 percent of the vote—and that could take multiple rounds of voting.
So what’s the big deal? In Aspen, Colorado, where I hover—home to an IRV election in 2008—the new system of ranking voters has left an election still fundamentally flawed and unresolved, with lawsuits from citizens and city officials determined to defend themselves till the final credits against all charges. Litigation about the Aspen Mayoral and City Council elections is still looming as we speak.
Not unlike the City of Aspen, the Academy has gone to a ranking system, with movies gauged by Academy members from 1 to 10. If any movie wins a majority on the first ballot, the party’s over and the new (or old) king of the world can pop the champagne.
Continue Reading February 10th, 2010
I can't help but share this Christmas Eve communique from Elizabeth Milias's Denver lawyer. I can only imagine that Elizabeth, a former Pentagon spokesperson, insisted that the word should go out on the eve of Christ's birth that she has been wronged by the heathens.
Enjoy....
Continue Reading January 3rd, 2010
"When Aspen Public Radio reporter Mitzi Rapkin broadcast a series of stories on the Aspen Election Commission controversy this fall," reports Curtis Wackerle, "she found her professional credibility called into question by Elizabeth Milias, one of the subjects of her story.
"Milias, who was on the Election Commission, sent what she described as a “nastygram” to Rapkin’s boss, Aspen Public Radio Executive Director Andrew Todd, where Milias told Todd that “it’s tough to get good help these days.”
Continue Reading December 11th, 2009
Nobody wants to see the Wheeler Opera House grow and prosper more than me. A first-class venue in the heart of town could mean the world to everyone from Theatre Aspen to artists who might find a reason to matriculate anew in Aspen.
The problem for me from the start has been that the Wheeler would have to literally raid their kitty to make the $30 million expansion happen--and the kitty was long ago approved by voters for maintenance and operations -- NOT expansion.
Continue Reading December 9th, 2009
12/2/2009 9:31 AMIt is cold and grey and snowing this morning, what could be better?
Aspen city employee bazzar at the Old Youth Center behind the jail today, local Christamas shopping chance for low budget shoppers (me, this year), Also
Red Brick Art Center objects de art on display
Thursday and Friday this week, another opportunity I will be visiting.
Morning appearance at KSNO - talking about this blog and an upcoming Home Rule Charter Amendment to raise the mayor's salary to $15 per hour in return for renewable energy production by the mayor! This comedy video should be available by Christmas. Thanks Jim and Don for the laughs!
12/1/2009 11:53 AM
Again, warm weather and racing brought 2,000 Aspen fans to the site of the women's slalom Sunday. America and didn't make the top 30 cut. Ms. Vonn (of vail) having trouble with the hard ice condition that DQ's about one third of all racers. A one third DQ rate is pretty high but not unheard of on our slopes.
Unfortunately, budget cutbacks had the Hunter creek bus running on an offseason schedule until mid December. Council has authorized me to see if we can get that bus running at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. (offseason time) for this weekend.
Klaus Obermeyer birthday at the Sundeck on December 2 (tomorrow). Klaus will undoubtedly be skiing down the mountain faster than I will after the event!
Today may be the last warm day for running up Buttermilk as cold and (hope) snow are expected Wednesday and Thursday!�
December 3rd, 2009
Of course, it goes without saying that Marilyn Marks and campaign treasurer Elizabeth Milias are not about to go away just because the Aspen City Council pulled the plug on the Election Commission. A technicality is all it took, but the ramifications are far-reaching:
(1) Marks and Milias burned their political capital and then some in a misbegotten attempt to reform a system that should simply be thrown out as unworkable....
Continue Reading November 24th, 2009
Herewith key excerpts from the email correspondence between Marilyn Marks, Election Commissioners Elizabeth Milias, Chris Bryan, and Kathryn Koch--and others.
Continue Reading November 23rd, 2009
My distaste for Marilyn Marks is no secret and it includes my disdain for anyone who unrepentantly disregards the truth. Much as I detest what she stands for, I have tried to keep my criticism tied tightly to things she has done that disgrace the body politic, as in the ongoing Election Commission fiasco, whereby her cries of the common good were swallowed whole only by those determined to get fooled again and again.
All of that is prelude to saying Marilyn Marks plays dirty--and I'm going to tell you how.
Continue Reading November 20th, 2009
Of course elections are sacred and should be sancrosanct. Perhaps it was inevitable that Marks and Milias, in their insatiable narcissism, should finally leach the election process of any and all impartiality and fairness. We should not be surprised They are indeed the pine beetles of Aspen, ready to chew and chaw their way through our beautiful trees with only a burp and a belch to show for the forest empty of all color and life.
Continue Reading November 13th, 2009
In all the booshwa surrounding Marilyn Marks attempt to re-write history by voiding the Aspen Mayoral election—and getting herself appointed and anointed in the process—nothing has been quite so disturbing as her relentless attacks on the press.
She’s called Curtis Wackerle of the Aspen Daily News “biased.” She is now both attacking and refusing to talk to Mitzi Rapkin of Aspen Public Radio News despite Rapkin’s meticulous reports about the attempts of Marks and Mini-Me Elizabeth Milias to control the Election Commission (EC). She has from all appearances provoked the Aspen Times into absolute silence about the EC controversy, an absolutely amazing omission by any measure and nothing less than a chilling precedent. If you believe her blogging, then everything in every story about her is at least 75 percent “false” with the other 25 percent “totally false.”
Continue Reading November 4th, 2009
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