A NOVEL WAY TO GET EVEN WITH YOUR POLITICAL ENEMIES

Politics in Longmont are getting more political by the minute. Latest example is the work of the City Council’s handpicked Election Committee, which met for the first time on Oct. 12 to determine which complaints out of several filed by a disgruntled councilwoman against her political enemies were worthy of pursuit. They accepted two for further action. Unfortunately, by the committee’s lawyer telling the committee members--who at the next step will serve as both judge and jury--that they should assume “that all facts stated in the written complaints are true,” this quasi-judicial process takes on the markings of a kangaroo court. Bolstering that assumption are two more items: the committee’s willingness to accept amendments to complaints already filed (where do the accusations end?); and the possible prejudice of an Election Committee member who intimated that she may have already made up her mind about one of the complaints, a complicated political issue involving a poll, saying the complainant’s name was used “as many as five times.” Keep in mind that the Longmont citizens who are defendants in this process are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The complainant promises to keep using this special committee to file even more charges. Who’s the next victim of Longmont’s repressive Fair Campaign Practices ordinance?