WANNA RUN FOR OFFICE IN LONGMONT?
FIRST HIRE A LAWYER AND ACCOUNTANT

As if it isn’t difficult enough already to find qualified people to run for city offices, I wonder if it’s a mistake to keep adding to the red tape that we expect them to cut through in order to be elected. Is it reaching the point of having to hire a lawyer and an accountant in order to run for the office of dog catcher?

Upon volunteering to serve as mayor or councilperson, who wants to risk being fined up to $4,000 by an “election committee” for failing to promptly file some sort of a report required under the city’s convoluted Longmont Fair Campaign Practices Act? That’s right, listed in the newly revised version just adopted by this council is a penalty calling for a fine of $400 per day for up to 10 days. However, a candidate can accept coin or currency (contributions) in excess of the limits set by this Act and escape with a $50 fine. “Encouraging withdrawal from a campaign,” whatever that is, calls for a fine of $499. Beware of misuse of the city’s indicia (official insignia which you may or may not need), that’s a $499 fine. And get this: “Any violation of this Act not otherwise set forth herein, $100.” That covers an awful lot of possibilities. Read this legalese for yourself in Ordinance O-2009-12; I’m not kidding.

Also: If the current Longmont City Council members are serious about keeping partisanship out of city politics -- as stipulated in the City Charter -- then they should have deferred to us (the electorate) the right to choose who we think is suitable to serve on their newly created “election committee.” This panel is being endowed with awesome power and authority over our elections and processes, including conducting a court of law, and each member should be voted on by the people. I do not want to see it packed with the usual ideological activists from either side of the aisle.
That will be hard to avoid, and that’s why the council should stay out of it. Take applications, let the people decide.