Squirm Night: Inside Out in Aspen

Squirm Night Selfie 4/16/15 Vote 4 Andy. Aspen City Council I've been to a few squirm nights in Aspen as media. Last night was my first squirm night as a political candidate.

Yeah...I squirmed a little. It's an Aspen tradition,but getting humiliated on TV was really not on my bucket list. If I wasn't sitting at the table I would have been bored to tears.  But hey, live and learn.  

I want to thank the Aspen Times (Lauren Glendenning) and Aspen Daily News (Curtis Wackerle) for asking such riveting questions which created compelling TV.  Thanks to GrassRoots TV the oldest community television station in America for getting my good side only.  I especially want to thank Rick Carroll and Karl Herchenroeder for their TMZ-style expose about my facetious sex tape post on FB.  They put on the front page of the paper in the guise of a social media article, nice.

Squirm Night was the culmination of my campaign.  I am not a political animal by nature.  I noticed the veteran politicians side-stepped some of the difficult questions.  To quote Mick..."this is not the forum...".  It's not?  Why not?   I simply answered the questions honestly and openly.  

POW Day Selfie...Top 3 POW Day 4/17/15I got to lob a few grenades last night. Make a few points.  Let some steam out.  I've been trying to be nice to everyone...politically correct...if you will.  It doesn't suit me.

Back to my plan to become the puppet master in Aspen.

1)  Shorter more productive meetings.  I'm just gonna say it right here on the web...wake me up when its time to vote.  I bought an egg timer...and if elected I'm not afraid to use it.

2) Financial Stewardship at City Hall.   This is my BIG thing.  I understand the numbers and they are enormous.  Over $100 million per year flowing through the City of Aspen (CoA) a town with 6000 residents. Squirm Night allowed me to express my concerns about the current system of internal controls or financial checks and balances within CoA. I stated that one guy should not sign off on everything.  I am skeptical of the oversight...(BOOM, drops mic.)  I said it out loud at the 24 minute mark.

3) While I would prefer a simplified zoning code...I'm voting YES on Referendum 1.

4) I got to reiterate my distain for the marketing efforts and cronism at ACRA.

CLICK 4 VIDEO   SQUIRM NIGHT 2015 via GRASSROOTS TV

Better yet it dumped like a MOFO last night.   Over a foot up top.   It was a siiiiiiick POW DAY and a defiant Andy Party schralped several laps on Aspen Mountain...old-school style...no Gondola.   The gondy was down so it was Little Nell to 1a to Ruthies.  I had just packed away all my warm gear and my fatties on Wednesday...but I made due.  I layered up, borrowed some siiiiiick Rossi Soul 7's  and got my last face shots of the season.  I'm calling it a TOP 3 POW DAY for the season.  Day # 105 for me.

So I had to squirm a little to make my points.  But in return I got a really, really good powder day...after all...thats why I'm here.  

VOTE 4 ANDY for Aspen City Council.  Mail-in, Walk-in after 4/20/15 and Election day May 5.

The Morning CommuteJerry Untracked

 Old School Lift Lines

The Politics of Aspen

This was a recent letter to the Editor in The Aspen Times and The Aspen Daily News about the upcoming election in Aspen.  Please Vote on May 7.

GOOD CLEAN FUN.

Dear Editor

Now that all 4 current City Council members have indicated their intentions to run for Mayor and the sitting Mayor intends to run for City Council, Aspen’s May 7, 2013 election is shaping up to be a doozie.

I’m not really into politics; I’m into quality of life.  That’s why I live in Aspen.  I’m not sure yet who I’m voting for this coming May, but urge I all the candidates to consider the following issues:

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:  I’m a former numbers guy.  Just eye-ballin’ it…I see a tremendous amount of waste, over-spending and bureaucracy at City Hall.   I understand how Government works…departments get budgeted dollars…and then they figure out how spend them.   Someone needs to take a sharp pencil to the budget to ensure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely.   Wasting money is bad form.

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP:   Aspen is a clear leader in the Green Movement, as it should continue to be.  Our high profile position in the climate change debate has a direct relationship to the future viability of our town.  We need to continue to be innovative and progressive in this area…again without wasting money.   In Aspen proper, we need to preserve our parks and open spaces rather than tear them up with bulldozers.  Parklets will not cut it in Aspen.

SMART GROWTH:  Over the years Aspen has evolved into a nucleus of greed.  There will always be some people who view Aspen as an investment opportunity…rather than for her natural beauty and small town character.  Fine, then let developers build within the rules of the zoning code.  Smart growth is O.K. , but no more back room deals, no more offsets and special situations.   No more…”we’ll give you this, if you do that”.  No more lawsuits.   If speculators want to invest in Aspen, they should have a clear understanding, ahead of time, of what they can do with their property.  The biggest and best use is fine…but bigger than that… isn’t.

Between now and May 7, I expect there will be a lot of mud slinging from various camps and by many  of  the vocal, local gadflies, many of whom don’t even vote in Aspen.  Maybe that’s why the City of Aspen holds their elections during mud season?    Hopefully this time around things will be civil.   It’s easy to criticize, but much more difficult to build a consensus.

How ever the ballots are cast in May, I hope the next regime moves forward in a positive and constructive direction.   Good luck to all the candidates and here’s hoping for a good clean election.

AspenSpin

Aspen, Colorado