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Archive for the 'Dave Munger' Tag

Quote of the Day

May 24th, 2011, 10:24 am by

Conceptual rendering

“When the hell are we going to make a decision?”

– Councilman Bernie Herpin said during yesterday’s City Council meeting while discussing a proposal to add Olympic rings to the north and south entryway signs along Interstate 25 before the U.S. Women’s Open, which will be in July.

Despite what appeared to be a sense of urgency to get the Olympic rings on the signs on either side of the city, the proposal has gotten bogged down with questions, including who will incur the estimated $5,000 cost and whether the decision is being rushed.

To complicate the issue, the city decided at the last minute to include a proposed $18,000 appropriation for a “sports/patriotic-themed mural” on a downtown building facing I-25 that’s owned by developer Chuck Murphy.

That came as a big surprise because while council members had discussed spending taxpayer money to add the Olympic rings to the entryway signs, they hadn’t discussed paying for a mural — at least not in public.

The council is scheduled to take up the issue at today’s formal meeting.

At least one council member — Angela Dougan — doesn’t want the city to shell out any money.

“I’m not willing to take money out of my own personal pocket, and I don’t believe any of the council members have donated their personal money,” she said yesterday. “I cannot support something that is going to take tax dollars out of our taxpayers’ dollars.”

Dave Munger, a former mayoral candidate who is the president of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations, stepped up yesterday and said he would try to lead an effort to raise the money privately.

Mayoral campaign drop-out blasts Bahr and others in rabid e-mail

March 23rd, 2011, 1:37 pm by

Mitch Christiansen

In a rambling and rabid e-mail sent last week, one-time mayoral hopeful Mitch Christiansen lashed out at nearly everyone in the race but the candidate he endorsed after dropping out.

Christiansen called Richard Skorman and Dave Munger “two of a kind” and then made a homophobic remark.

“Munger will not beat Skorman. He does not have the backing of the Gil foundation (homos),” Christiansen wrote in the e-mail to Sheryl Glasgow, a businesswoman who contacted Christiansen after hearing that he had endorsed Steve Bach for mayor and accepted a job from him in return, which Christiansen denied.

(Read more about Glasgow by clicking here.)

In the e-mail to Glasgow, Christiansen also ripped into mayoral candidates Buddy Gilmore and Brian Bahr as well as two of Bahr’s campaign workers, brothers Kyle and Nathan Fisk.

Christiansen said there was “no way” he could endorse Gilmore.

“He has been feasting at the taxpayers’ expense and wants to bring in more DOD. I do not like his constant name dropping of people he knows in Washington, DOD, green jobs, which make no sense – you lose 4 good jobs for one green job. 20 years from now they might be viable,” he wrote.

Christiansen said he couldn’t even support Bahr in a run-off “as I would not vote.”

“He is an absolute immature idiot, a rank amateur. We have a rank amateur in the white house do these people want another one to occupy city hall. All Bahr is trying to do is buy an election as a stepping stone to higher office,” he wrote.

Christiansen blasted Kyle and Nathan Fisk.

Kyle Fisk is Bahr’s campaign manager, and his brother also works for the campaign.

“The Fisk brothers along with Bahr are the sleaze operators in this entire campaign,” he wrote.

Kenneth Paul Duncan doesn’t stand a chance, Christiansen wrote.

“Duncan will not get more than a handful of votes,” he wrote.

Christiansen told Glasgow, who owns and operates Turf Master Industries, Inc., that he dropped out of the race to prevent Skorman from winning the election.

Glasgow had contacted Christiansen after hearing that he had endorsed Bach.

“Being the point blank person I am, from what I have heard, you have endorsed Steve Bach and accepted a job from him. That news is not being well accepted by your friends and colleagues,” she wrote in an e-mail.

“Certainly it is fine to drop out of the race and certainly it is fine to accept a job with Steve. However endorsing him immediately after, looks deceiving when people now believe the two scenarios are seemingly connected,” she wrote.

Christiansen denied that he had accepted a job from Bach, calling it “absolute bull!”

“If that is what people want then I should have stayed in,” he wrote. “However Bach is leading and I was a strong 2nd yet I don’t think I could have caught him. I made the decision to endorse Steve so we have a better chance of winning. Yes I will be working with him to have him bring out more direct issues and solutions as I have done. I have told him I would do that.”

He said his decision to drop out was based “upon what is best for this election” and the Republican Party.

“People better get over this nonsense of not going after a fellow republican,” he wrote. “They had better get after Bahr as he is another Rivera.”

Christiansen said Bach is the best choice.

“Bach has conservative convictions as I have, maybe not as strong but at least he is real,” he wrote. “And for everyone’s info the biggest portion of his money donations come out of the Broadmoor area. (Steve) Shuck is not the big player just a contributor.”

Last week, Christiansen announced that he was dropping out of the race and backing Bach.

On Monday, Christiansen called himself a “stand in” for Bach at an event hosted by the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council.

Laura Carno, Bach’s chief of staff, said Bach appreciates Christiansen’s endorsement but that he’s not an official spokesman for the campaign.

Bach is running “a clean, issues-oriented campaign,” she said.

“Mr. Christiansen’s endorsement of Steve Bach does not indicate that Steve has co-opted any of Mitch’s views,” she said. “He speaks for himself.”

Porn, gays and abortion part of Focus on the Family candidate survey

March 9th, 2011, 9:00 am by

Questions involving pornography, gays and abortion are part of a survey the political arm of Focus on the Family sent to all the candidates seeking office in the April 5 election.

Other questions involved Memorial Health System, FREX and the newly revived Human Relations Commission.

Each of the nine men running for mayor answered the survey, revealing more about where they stand on social issues.

For example, the candidates were asked whether they would support a proclamation in support of PrideFest, which Mayor Lionel Rivera has declined to do.

Only two of the candidates – Dave Munger and Richard Skorman – said they would.

“Traditional marriage and families are the cornerstone of society,” wrote Brian Bahr, who wouldn’t issue such a proclamation if elected mayor. “If we are to survive as a society, we must strengthen marriages & families.”

Mitch Christiansen called “any gay exhibition” a “detriment” to the city.

“My wife and myself made many trips to (San Francisco) in past years. Due to vulgar display of homosexual behavior we have not nor will we return for a visit,” he wrote. “Our friends come to visit us as we will not travel there.”

Although the question was whether or not the mayor should issue such a proclamation, the candidates running for City Council got the same question, too.

“Sodomy should not be ‘celebrated’ by public officials speaking on behalf of the city,” wrote Douglas Bruce, who is running as part of a slate. “The city must avoid pushing controversial issues that endorse or force on us distasteful, unhealthy, and aberrant behavior know as the ‘gay agenda.’”

All the candidates were also asked if they supported health benefits that included the same-sex domestic partners of city employees.

Of those running for mayor, only Munger said he did.

The rest said no, including Skorman, a former councilman who supported the idea in the past.

“I supported originally, but I actually favor an employee plus one benefit if it can be cost neutral,” wrote Skorman, a former board member of the Gill Foundation.

“That would allow any true partner of an (employee) to buy into the city’s insurance as long as they shared a bank account and a lease or mortgage,” he wrote.

Mayoral candidates have spent more than $500,000 on the campaign trail

March 8th, 2011, 9:26 am by

The battle to become Colorado Springs’ first strong mayor is proving to be a costly competition.

Altogether, the nine mayoral hopefuls have spent at least $537,000 in campaign-related expenses, according to reports filed Monday with the City Clerk’s Office.

Most of the money has been spent on advertising, political consultants, yard signs and mailers.

But other expenses include liquor for fund-raisers, pizza for volunteers and gas to get around the campaign trail.

Homebuilder Brian Bahr, who gave his campaign $100,000 plus a $100,000 loan, is leading the pack with nearly $174,000 in expenditures since August.

Bahr, president of Challenger Homes, still has nearly $58,000 cash on hand.

Steve Bach, a commercial real estate broker, has burned through nearly $119,000.

Bach has about $38,000 left in the bank.

Retired businessman Dave Munger, president of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations, has racked up nearly $104,000 in expenses – including about $65,000 on a slew of advertising in recent weeks.

Munger, who lent his campaign $67,660, is running on empty.

Although fundraising efforts continue, Munger has only about $6,500 cash on hand.

Businessman Richard Skorman, a former councilman, had spent nearly $88,000 as of Feb. 23.

Skorman’s latest campaign report has not been posted on the city’s website.

Skorman’s campaign spokeswoman, Camille Blakely, said the report was turned in about 4:45 p.m. Monday and that Deputy City Clerk Cindy Conway “said it wouldn’t be scanned until this afternoon.”

When asked whether she could send the report via e-mail, Blakely hesitated but then said she would try.

Defense contractor Buddy Gilmore has spent nearly $45,000. Gilmore is almost entirely funding his own campaign.

With about $75,500 left in the bank, Gilmore could launch a massive effort to reach voters as ballots start to arrive in the mail.

The four other candidates, including Councilman Tom Gallagher, are in a different class when it comes to campaign spending.

The four, who have raised little – if any – money, have spent about $8,500 altogether.

Quote of the Day

February 18th, 2011, 1:50 pm by

“While your campaign undoubtedly contributes to citizen engagement, at this time it appears to us that it has not reached sufficient critical mass to include you on the panel that evening.”

– Robert Todd, chairman of Middle Market Entrepreneurs, which is organizing a mayoral forum March 1 for business leaders, wrote in a letter to the three mayoral candidates who will were not invited to be on stage “due to time constraints.”

The forum will feature only six candidates: Steve Bach, Brian Bahr, Tom Gallagher, Buddy Gilmore, Dave Munger and Richard Skorman.

The candidates who were left out are Mitch Christiansen, Kenneth Duncan and Phil McDonald.

“Don’t you find it strange that I have not been included in this forum?” Christiansen wrote in an e-mail to Paul Kleinschmidt, director of Taxpayers for Budget Reform, LLC. “I was told that I was not a viable candidate.”

Despite the snub, the candidates who were not invited to sit on stage were offered, among other things, two complimentary tickets to the event, table space and the opportunity to suggest questions to ask the other candidates.

Skorman lured into mayor’s race by $96,000 salary, opponent says

January 6th, 2011, 1:22 pm by

Richard Skorman

When Dave Munger was considering running either for mayor or City Council months ago, among the people he approached for advice was former Councilman Richard Skorman.

“He said, ‘I think you ought to think about running for mayor,’” Munger said today.

When Munger eventually decided he would seek a mayoral bid instead of a seat on City Council, Skorman was among the people he consulted again.

“He said, ‘Good for you. Now I can tell people who want me to run that I don’t need to, and I’ve got a guy I can support.’ He even offered to give me some funding and to give me his endorsement,” Munger said.

According to Munger, Skorman withdrew his offer in November, after voters approved a switch to a strong-mayor form of government.

The new system of government gives the mayor a lot more power.

And a lot more money.

Nearly 16 times the current salary of $6,250 a year, to be exact.

“After the strong mayor passed, (Skorman) called me up, which was good of him, and said, ‘Well, now it’s a strong mayor, I can afford to run. Now that it’s going to pay $96,000, I can afford to run,’” Munger said.

That’s not what Skorman said when he announced he was exploring a mayoral bid.

“The recent death of his mother, for whom he was primary caregiver, and the willingness of his wife, Patricia, to take over management of the family’s (North) Tejon Street businesses made it possible for Skorman to consider a citywide campaign,” according to a news release that Skorman’s campaign sent out Dec. 8.

Munger divulged the details of his conversations with Skorman after he was told that Skorman said Munger is better suited to run for City Council.

“I think he would be an excellent council member,” Skorman said Tuesday.

“I would love to have him there. I think that would be a good place for him to start. Maybe four years from now he can be the mayor,” Skorman said.

Of all the mayoral candidates, Skorman and Munger are considered the most moderate, likely appealing to the same voters. Political insiders believe the pair will split the vote and give one of the more conservative candidates a better shot at winning the mayor’s race.

That prompted The Gazette to ask Skorman, who has better name recognition in the city, whether he had talked to Munger about the possibility of dropping out of the race.

“I hope Dave doesn’t drop out. I hope he runs for City Council,” Skorman responded.

Skorman said Munger’s candidacy “does and it doesn’t” pose a risk to his campaign.

“I know that I have good name recognition, that I have the ability to put a real grassroots campaign together,” he said. “I’m not sure that Dave and I are going to necessarily draw from exactly the same voters. I’m going to go out there and do my best. If he still wants to keep running for mayor, then we’ll get to be good friends on the campaign trail.”

By the tone of things, that remains to be seen.

Munger said he has “terrific respect” for Skorman, saying he did “some great things” when he served on the City Council.

But “we would approach governance very differently, I think,” he said.

“I think I’m very much about collaboration. I know Richard is famous for 8-to-1 votes and taking principled stands. But I think I’ve got a recent record of being able to get important things done for the community with majority support,” Munger said.

“I’m committed to running for mayor,” Munger added.

Mayoral candidate avoids fine, but there’s a good reason

December 6th, 2010, 10:30 am by

Dave Munger

Don’t blame Dave Munger for being late.

A time stamp from the City Clerk’s Office shows that Munger, one of seven candidates running for mayor, filed his first report of campaign contributions and expenditures a day late last month.

The city is supposed to impose a $50 penalty each day a report is filed late.

When asked whether Munger had been fined, City Clerk Kathryn Young said he hadn’t.

But it wasn’t Munger’s fault.

“Mr. Munger’s treasurer e-mailed the appropriate forms for filing to me on November 1.  An attempt was made to deliver the report but found my office closed and was turned away by the guard,” Young said in an e-mail.

Last year, Young started closing her office to the public on Mondays and Fridays.

While employees can be seen inside – or at least they used to be until someone installed privacy film on the office window – the door to Young’s office is locked.

Young blamed the city’s budget cuts on her decision to close her office two days a week.

“I did not retrieve the e-mail until Tuesday morning, November 2, at which time the reports were printed, stamped in, and posted to the website,” Young said in the e-mail. “There was no late penalty imposed because they were not late.”

In a related matter, another mayoral candidate, Kenneth Paul Duncan, hasn’t filed any reports on campaign contributions and expenditures since he declared his candidacy in August.

“If a candidate has no contributions or expenditures, there is no legal requirement to file a report,” Young wrote. “However, disclosure of a zero report is advised.”

Quote of the Day

September 23rd, 2010, 1:10 pm by

“Maybe they don’t think I have a chance and so it wasn’t important to them. But that’s kind of odd because I feel like I have as good a chance as any of the other three.”

— mayoral candidate Kenneth Duncan, who says he wasn’t invited to participate in a forum today with the three other mayoral candidates: Brian Bahr, Buddy Gilmore and Dave Munger.

Top Realtors host mayoral candidates today

September 23rd, 2010, 10:44 am by

The top producing real estate agents in the Pikes Peak region are hosting a forum this afternoon with mayoral candidates Brian Bahr, Buddy Gilmore and Dave Munger.

“Each one of (the candidates) will talk for 15 minutes, talk about themselves and the issues that are important to them” and then answer questions, coordinator Peggy Carmack said.

The forum was organized by the Peak Producers, a nonprofit comprised of “top producing real estate agents.”

It will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Empire Title, 5755 Mark Dabling Blvd, Suite 110.

Carmack said about 40 people signed up to attend the forum, and the room where it will be held accommodates “probably 50 to 60” so a few people could show up unannounced.

Carmack said she expects the audience to ask an array of questions, not just about real estate.

“We have a lot of movers and shakers in this group,” she said.

Tour forces Paige and Lathen to ride same bus

September 9th, 2010, 1:00 pm by

Talk about too close for comfort.

Yesterday, Colorado Springs Councilman Sean Paige demanded an apology from El Paso County Commissioner Amy Lathen over an op-ed piece that Lathen wrote about medical marijuana.

As luck would have it, the two were forced to ride together in a bus today.

Not only that, but at one point they sat directly across from each other, according to a source.

How did that happen?

Paige and Lathen — along with mayoral contenders Brian Bahr, Buddy Gilmore and Dave Munger — are touring facilities with Colorado Springs Utilities to learn more about the city’s complex water supply system.

Which makes one wonder: Did anybody talk?

Well, probably.

Utilities spokesman Dave Grossman said about 50 people signed up to take the tour.

“There’s a lot of folks involved,” he said.