The Party Political Platform for Aspen.

It's official.  Because it's on Facebook.

Andrew M.  Israel, aka AspenSpin, aka Andy Party aka The Political Virgin has declared his candidacy for Aspen City Council.  

The time has come for me to speak up.  I believe the political process in Aspen is broken.  I have personally lost trust in "the system" and it's my goal to be a catalyst for positive change in Fat City.

To quote Moe and Larry of the the 3 Stooges--- "can we fix it"--- "i dunno can we?"  Now is the time for me to try.   Most people know me as the #1 blogger in Aspen who skis every day and party's every night.  But I am very proud of my past professional, philanthropic and academic success.

I grew up in suburban Detroit.  It was sort of a Leave it to Beaver type childhood, with two grounded parents. I am the youngest of 3 brothers.  I earned a B.S. in Accounting  from Michigan State University,1980 and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, 1985.  I practiced as a C.P.A. in Michigan and Colorado for 3 years prior to attending The Wharton School. I am currently a licensed Real Estate Broker in Michigan and Colorado.  I spent more than 5 years working for The Taubman Company, a super-regional shopping center developer, owner and manager.  At Taubman I worked on projects such as Beverly Center in L.A., Cherry Creek in Denver and The Mall at Short Hills in NJ.  I had a wide variety of real estate experiences at Taubman, including leasing, management and strategy.

In 1992, I began a new phase in my career, managing money at Morgan Stanley in NYC.  In those days Morgan had a small but elite high net worth division.  I was chosen to join that group as one 200 professionals around the World .  I performed as a stock broker, investment advisor, money manager and hand holder to the top 1% of the 1%.  Billionaires only.  My timing was fortuitous and I developed a talent for picking and trading stocks and equity options.  I personally profited handsomely from the 90's bull market and managed to "retire" to Aspen in 2003.  Since then I have logged over 1100 ski days.    I served as a PSIA Level 1 Certified Ski Instructor for 3 seasons at ButterMilk and then founded AspenSpin in 2006.  AspenSpin a is a life-style blog that documents the over-the-top social scene in Aspen. The rest.... it's documented history on Facebook, twitter and AspenSpin.

The Party Political Platform for Aspen is quite simple;

1)  No 7 hour meetings.   Not only is a meeting that long and late ridiculous, its unproductive.

2)  Simplify the process. One set of codes and laws enforced consistently for everyone. 

3)  Promote financial stewardship and fiduciary responsibility as a core value in the City of Aspen.