Letters: June 25, 2020

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Harber for Regent

Have we ever had a candidate for CU Regent with the lifetime of community commitment Aaron Harber has demonstrated? Neither of his opponents has even begun to approach his record of caring. While they try to mesmerize voters with the refrain, “I am the most qualified,” consider Aaron’s singular accomplishments at AaronHarber.com/Bio. 

Inspired by his late mother, Adrienne Harber, Aaron’s volunteer involvement and leadership are amazing. He served on boards for the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Eco-Cycle, and the Boulder Chamber Orchestra. He was an Attention Homes relief house parent. He was the first male elected to the Boulder County Women’s Resource Center and helped create the Boulder Safehouse (now known as SPAN). He headed the Chicano Film Project and was the first president of the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre of Colorado. He served on the Boulder Human Relations Commission and the Colorado Complete Census Count Committee. He was a Bixby School auctioneer and a lunch-server there and at Peak to Peak, where he also was an Accountability Committee member. 

He and his daughter were Boulder Valley Guide Dogs for the Blind Puppy Club raisers. He was the first public member to chair the Colorado Attorney General’s Collection Agency Board, protecting consumers. He served on the Prostate Cancer Education Council, the Colorado Media School Community Board, and Boulder Valley School District Mill Levy campaigns. He helped create the Women’s Equity Fund. On the Campaign Cabinet, he helped raise millions to renovate CU’s Macky Auditorium. At Rocky Flats, he marched and helped Joe Daniel, Keith Pope, Allen Ginsberg and Daniel Ellsberg publish A Year Of Disobedience.

Aaron knows our community best and has demonstrated an extraordinary level of caring. Vote for the candidate who has been here for all of us and will represent us best: Aaron Harber. 

Wallace Orr/Boulder

Romanoff for Senate

On June 30, Coloradan Democrats and Independents will have the opportunity to vote in the Democratic primary for a candidate to oppose Republican Cory Gardner in the race for the U.S. Senate. Cory Gardner has earned the nickname “Cardboard Cory” for his refusal to attend town halls in Colorado. He has also supported Trump at every step. Thus, for any Coloradan seeking a senator willing to listen to voters and to make independent, considered decisions, this primary election is critical.

John Hickenlooper and Andrew Romanoff are the two primary candidates. The two most critical issues that divide them are climate change and health care.

Hickenlooper believes in an incremental approach to solving both problems. He has accepted money from the fossil fuel industry and would not ban fracking now. Romanoff states that we have “run out the clock” on climate change; we have to ban fracking as part of acting comprehensively and immediately.  

As for health care, the story is much the same. Hickenlooper wants to go slow and build on the Affordable Care Act. But we don’t know how he would get from there to comprehensive coverage. Romanoff wants to pursue Medicare for All. He wants the coverage to start at birth and to include, ear, eye, dental and mental health care. It takes only the current pandemic to underscore how critical it is. Other industrialized nations do it and exceed U.S. health outcomes.

Romanoff emanates energy, compassion, idealism, work ethic and intellect. He is a strikingly articulate orator, who will energize Coloradans of all stripes to go to the polls and vote for him over Gardner in November. And he will elevate debate in the U.S. Senate to persuade his colleagues to do what is right and necessary to protect our people and our planet. 

Joan Woodward/Grand Junction