"Congratulations Sandy Gutierrez!!!" ~Citizen for a Green Pueblo (2)
The sole purpose for the Civil Service Board is to prevent nepotism, & one way to do that is by reinforcing the structural elements of our city's meritocracy. Pueblo City shoucld have shittons of applications for shittons of jobs. But when only 1 local adult applies to be Police Chief, or only 1 person in all of Pueblo got their signatures in for Water Board, or only 1 adult got their signatures in for Civil Service Board, that's a failure of the city as a whole, but it falls specifically on the head of the Civil Service Board (& Human Resources).
The 3 main reasons Pueblo City has uncontested races is because:
1) many Puebloans weren't taught civics & democratic principles from District 60's universal public schools;
2) the government & media aren't covering local politics comprehensively, &;
3) Puebloans aren't educating themselves, & are therefore dying of ignorance in the postmodern Internet information age.
Nevertheless, power defends power. Of course it does.
Never forget, the Water Board & Civil Service members serve 6 year terms, perhaps paid. I've heard that the School Board works for free. But 6 mfk'n year terms! And this is Dan's 2nd term, at least. Maybe a 3rd. A 3rd term would be 18 fkn years!!! Jesus fkn Christ. Goddamn.
In 2017, out of a Pueblo City of 107,000, in a Pueblo County of 165,000, when only 1 person applied to be the Police Chief, or only 1 person got their signatures in for Water Board, or only 1 person got their signatures in for Civil Service Board, that does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
When only 2 out of last 23 water board & civil service boards elections were competitive, and therefore, had any meaningful purpose, does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
Last year, when the majority of Colorado's voters wasted their vote on Shitlery Shitton, they also voted for Amendment 71, blowing initiative all to hell. To get an initiative on the ballot - any initiative - the petition initiator & her monied friends will now have to get signatures from 2% of registered voters in all 35 state Senate districts, all throughout the State. Amendment 71 also requires a 55% majority, up from a simple majority. Amendment 71 blows Initiative up, all to pieces. Initiative in Colorado is dead because of Amendment 71, & 65% of Pueblo voted for it. Colorado's forefathers bequested the citizens of Colorado the gift of referendum, initiative, & recall in their beloved 1876 Constitution, and the majority of the voters who voted in November 2016 decided that all power should go to the government, and that the people do not have a right to circumvent the government by petition amongst ourselves.
After Amendment 71 passed in 2016, Colorado is now left with only Referendum & Recall.
Only Referendum & Recall.
65% of the Puebloan people, 50,265 adult souls voted to murder initiative, 2nd degree murder, plus a charge of a crime of violence, leaving the State of Colorado with only Referendum & Recall. 65% of the people of Pueblo killing one of Colorado's iconic triple threat of direct pure people's democracy - People's Initiatives - does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
A people's democracy? Is there any other kind?
How come the people of Pueblo (City & County), Colorado, USA keeps on rubber-stamping these Judges right back into power? Not just the good Judges, but all Judges, literally all. Every single fkn Judge. This has been going on for decades, but we only need to look at the three (3) 10th-Judicial-District-Judge-races in 2016 to get a snapshot of the problem.
In 2016, 46,805 people in Pueblo County (69% of the total registered voters) voted to retain Judge Flesher, 44,182 Puebloans (65%) voted to retain Judge Mattoon, and 47,257 Puebloans (70%) voted to retain Judge Schwartz.
69%. 65%. 70%. These numbers make it seem like the people of Pueblo absolutely adore & worship Judges Flesher, Mattoon, & Schwartz. They swoon at Flesher's Schwartz's Mattoon. They can't get enough of that Mattoon. Classic Mattoon.
Flesher, Mattoon, & Schwartz might be local enough to be known, then what about the 10 Court of Appeals retention elections in 2016?
In the 2016 General Election (Trump v. Clinton v. Stein v. Johnson), for the Appeals Judges: 45,812 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Ashby, 44,933 Puebloans (67%) voted to retain Berger, 43,076 Puebloans (65%) voted to retain Bernard, 46,041 Puebloans (69%) voted to retain Dunn, 45,315 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Furman (related to Mark?), 45,563 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Hawthorne, 48,438 Puebloans (69%) voted to retain Hood, 42,253 Puebloans (63%) voted to retain Jones, 45,392 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Navarro, 47,177 Puebloans (70%) voted to retain Roman, & 44,474 Puebloans (67%) voted to retain Judge Terry as their Appeals Court Judge.
68%, 67%, 65%, 69%, 68%, 68%, 63%, 68%, 70%, & 67% are some extraordinary numbers, especially since they ran against NOBODY.
Do the people of Pueblo (county & city) really love these 10 Judges - Ashby, Berger, Bernard, Dunn, Furman, Hawthorne, Jones, Navarro, & Terry - serving as Appeals Court Judges as the 2016 election numbers imply?
Have the people of Pueblo ever met a Judge they didn't like? Here's a 1 question civics test that will kick you in the dick/pussy:
Out of the list of 11 Appeals Judges listed above, which 1 doesn't fit? If you, average Puebloan adult voter, dear reader, love your fkn Judges so goddamned much, then you would have recognized the incorrect Appeals Judge listed as soon as you read his or her name. STFU. You don't know which Appeals Judge I made up. Hint: he/she's actually a Supreme Court Judge. There's probably a bunch you & I could teach each other, if we truly valued each other, & our education, democracy, & collective futures.
Only a handful of Pueblo's city elections in the postmodern era (after 2000) break the 50% turnout threshold. If an election, any election, doesn't have over 50% of the people participating in it - the majority of eligible electors - then that's not a democracy. "Demos" means "the people", and if the Demos, the majority, stayed home, then the minority are the ones who voted. Therefore, absent the majority, we have a "tyranny of the minority", a "rule by the few", an oligarchy situation on our hands.
The oligarchy of Pueblo's government oppressors are being decided by the oligarchy of Pueblo's minority (bourgeois wasps) voters.
Most of Pueblo's elections have been sham elections/sham democracies. The majority of the people of Pueblo have been boycotting elections for decades. Pueblo's democracy stays home. In elections with less than 50% turnout (aka "tyranny of the minority"), or for individual plurality "winners", neither one have democratic legitimacy, and therefore, they shouldn't carry the confidence of the people. How can we have a democracy when we, the majority of the Puebloan people - the democracy - stayed home?
5 Reasons Why Pueblo Has A Piss Poor Democracy:
It's Stephanie Dunn, & that's the best picture of her on the Internet.
The reason why so-called "strong mayor" advocates aren't calling for the police chief to be popularly elected is because they don't actually believe in the principle of popular democracy. Their reasons for supporting "strong mayor" is a different reason, probably obedience to some authority figure's opinion. We should have a popularly elected City Manager/Mayor/Executive Dictator. We should have a popularly elected Police Chief too. All executive heads should be elected. The Water Board Chair & It's Executive Director, The Civil Service Chair & It's Executive Dictator, The President of District 60 Pueblo City School Board & the Superintendent, & The President of City Council & It's Executive Director should all be popularly elected as well. God I'm such a fan of democracy, the Head Coach for the High School football & basketball teams should be popularly decided as well. Colleges too. The dogcatcher... does Pueblo even have a dogcatcher? If not, we need to get one, but first, let's vote on who should handle that responsibility. Everybody & everything should be voted on. Every city issue decided by "the city-state" should be every person's decision. We have the technology to do it. Post a question on TV screens all over the stadium or auditorium, then vote, like they do at some Sports Bars, and get feedback immediately. If the public has to pay somebody's salary, then we the people should have collectively agreed upon that. All people & all decisions to the people! All power to the Pueblo commune! We the people can make decisions for we the people. Every generation must win their own freedoms. Let's create ourselves a direct & pure democracy. Let's create a direct democracy so pure, that no amount of bullshit can sully it.
We the people of Pueblo City can rule our own homes.
We've been doing it since 1954.
The 3 main reasons Pueblo City has uncontested races is because:
1) many Puebloans weren't taught civics & democratic principles from District 60's universal public schools;
2) the government & media aren't covering local politics comprehensively, &;
3) Puebloans aren't educating themselves, & are therefore dying of ignorance in the postmodern Internet information age.
Nevertheless, power defends power. Of course it does.
Never forget, the Water Board & Civil Service members serve 6 year terms, perhaps paid. I've heard that the School Board works for free. But 6 mfk'n year terms! And this is Dan's 2nd term, at least. Maybe a 3rd. A 3rd term would be 18 fkn years!!! Jesus fkn Christ. Goddamn.
In 2017, out of a Pueblo City of 107,000, in a Pueblo County of 165,000, when only 1 person applied to be the Police Chief, or only 1 person got their signatures in for Water Board, or only 1 person got their signatures in for Civil Service Board, that does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
When only 2 out of last 23 water board & civil service boards elections were competitive, and therefore, had any meaningful purpose, does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
Last year, when the majority of Colorado's voters wasted their vote on Shitlery Shitton, they also voted for Amendment 71, blowing initiative all to hell. To get an initiative on the ballot - any initiative - the petition initiator & her monied friends will now have to get signatures from 2% of registered voters in all 35 state Senate districts, all throughout the State. Amendment 71 also requires a 55% majority, up from a simple majority. Amendment 71 blows Initiative up, all to pieces. Initiative in Colorado is dead because of Amendment 71, & 65% of Pueblo voted for it. Colorado's forefathers bequested the citizens of Colorado the gift of referendum, initiative, & recall in their beloved 1876 Constitution, and the majority of the voters who voted in November 2016 decided that all power should go to the government, and that the people do not have a right to circumvent the government by petition amongst ourselves.
After Amendment 71 passed in 2016, Colorado is now left with only Referendum & Recall.
Only Referendum & Recall.
65% of the Puebloan people, 50,265 adult souls voted to murder initiative, 2nd degree murder, plus a charge of a crime of violence, leaving the State of Colorado with only Referendum & Recall. 65% of the people of Pueblo killing one of Colorado's iconic triple threat of direct pure people's democracy - People's Initiatives - does not bode well for the health of Pueblo's democracy.
A people's democracy? Is there any other kind?
How come the people of Pueblo (City & County), Colorado, USA keeps on rubber-stamping these Judges right back into power? Not just the good Judges, but all Judges, literally all. Every single fkn Judge. This has been going on for decades, but we only need to look at the three (3) 10th-Judicial-District-Judge-races in 2016 to get a snapshot of the problem.
In 2016, 46,805 people in Pueblo County (69% of the total registered voters) voted to retain Judge Flesher, 44,182 Puebloans (65%) voted to retain Judge Mattoon, and 47,257 Puebloans (70%) voted to retain Judge Schwartz.
69%. 65%. 70%. These numbers make it seem like the people of Pueblo absolutely adore & worship Judges Flesher, Mattoon, & Schwartz. They swoon at Flesher's Schwartz's Mattoon. They can't get enough of that Mattoon. Classic Mattoon.
Flesher, Mattoon, & Schwartz might be local enough to be known, then what about the 10 Court of Appeals retention elections in 2016?
In the 2016 General Election (Trump v. Clinton v. Stein v. Johnson), for the Appeals Judges: 45,812 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Ashby, 44,933 Puebloans (67%) voted to retain Berger, 43,076 Puebloans (65%) voted to retain Bernard, 46,041 Puebloans (69%) voted to retain Dunn, 45,315 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Furman (related to Mark?), 45,563 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Hawthorne, 48,438 Puebloans (69%) voted to retain Hood, 42,253 Puebloans (63%) voted to retain Jones, 45,392 Puebloans (68%) voted to retain Navarro, 47,177 Puebloans (70%) voted to retain Roman, & 44,474 Puebloans (67%) voted to retain Judge Terry as their Appeals Court Judge.
68%, 67%, 65%, 69%, 68%, 68%, 63%, 68%, 70%, & 67% are some extraordinary numbers, especially since they ran against NOBODY.
Do the people of Pueblo (county & city) really love these 10 Judges - Ashby, Berger, Bernard, Dunn, Furman, Hawthorne, Jones, Navarro, & Terry - serving as Appeals Court Judges as the 2016 election numbers imply?
Have the people of Pueblo ever met a Judge they didn't like? Here's a 1 question civics test that will kick you in the dick/pussy:
Out of the list of 11 Appeals Judges listed above, which 1 doesn't fit? If you, average Puebloan adult voter, dear reader, love your fkn Judges so goddamned much, then you would have recognized the incorrect Appeals Judge listed as soon as you read his or her name. STFU. You don't know which Appeals Judge I made up. Hint: he/she's actually a Supreme Court Judge. There's probably a bunch you & I could teach each other, if we truly valued each other, & our education, democracy, & collective futures.
Only a handful of Pueblo's city elections in the postmodern era (after 2000) break the 50% turnout threshold. If an election, any election, doesn't have over 50% of the people participating in it - the majority of eligible electors - then that's not a democracy. "Demos" means "the people", and if the Demos, the majority, stayed home, then the minority are the ones who voted. Therefore, absent the majority, we have a "tyranny of the minority", a "rule by the few", an oligarchy situation on our hands.
The oligarchy of Pueblo's government oppressors are being decided by the oligarchy of Pueblo's minority (bourgeois wasps) voters.
Most of Pueblo's elections have been sham elections/sham democracies. The majority of the people of Pueblo have been boycotting elections for decades. Pueblo's democracy stays home. In elections with less than 50% turnout (aka "tyranny of the minority"), or for individual plurality "winners", neither one have democratic legitimacy, and therefore, they shouldn't carry the confidence of the people. How can we have a democracy when we, the majority of the Puebloan people - the democracy - stayed home?
5 Reasons Why Pueblo Has A Piss Poor Democracy:
- Few of Pueblo's elections have had more than a 50% turnout rate;
- 1 applicant for Police Chief;
- Virtually all Water Board & Civil Service races are non-competitive, so therefore, irrelevant (21 of 23);
- 65% of Pueblo voted to murder "The People's Awesome Power of Initiative" with Amendment 71;
- Insane overwhelming over-the-top support for bullshit "Judge Retention" Elections;
The reason why so-called "strong mayor" advocates aren't calling for the police chief to be popularly elected is because they don't actually believe in the principle of popular democracy. Their reasons for supporting "strong mayor" is a different reason, probably obedience to some authority figure's opinion. We should have a popularly elected City Manager/Mayor/Executive Dictator. We should have a popularly elected Police Chief too. All executive heads should be elected. The Water Board Chair & It's Executive Director, The Civil Service Chair & It's Executive Dictator, The President of District 60 Pueblo City School Board & the Superintendent, & The President of City Council & It's Executive Director should all be popularly elected as well. God I'm such a fan of democracy, the Head Coach for the High School football & basketball teams should be popularly decided as well. Colleges too. The dogcatcher... does Pueblo even have a dogcatcher? If not, we need to get one, but first, let's vote on who should handle that responsibility. Everybody & everything should be voted on. Every city issue decided by "the city-state" should be every person's decision. We have the technology to do it. Post a question on TV screens all over the stadium or auditorium, then vote, like they do at some Sports Bars, and get feedback immediately. If the public has to pay somebody's salary, then we the people should have collectively agreed upon that. All people & all decisions to the people! All power to the Pueblo commune! We the people can make decisions for we the people. Every generation must win their own freedoms. Let's create ourselves a direct & pure democracy. Let's create a direct democracy so pure, that no amount of bullshit can sully it.
We the people of Pueblo City can rule our own homes.
We've been doing it since 1954.
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