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Archive for the 'Mitch Christiansen' Tag

Bach prays for a ‘miracle’ for former mayoral candidate Christiansen

May 23rd, 2011, 8:40 am by

Mitch Christiansen and his wife, Sue, with their daughter and two of their grandsons/Photo by Daniel Chacon

Colorado Springs Mayor-elect Steve Bach is holding out hope that Mitch Christiansen is still alive.

Bach issued a statement this morning in relation to a deadly boating accident Saturday believed to have involved Christiansen and his wife, Sue.

“Suzi and I are saddened at the news of the death of Sue Christiansen and the missing status of her husband Mitch,” Bach said.

“We continue to pray for a miracle for Mitch,” he added. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Christiansen family at this difficult time.”

Mitch Christiansen filed papers to run for mayor in the April 5 election, but he dropped out weeks before and endorsed Bach.

Confusion and blame abounds over canceled Tea Party debate

April 21st, 2011, 3:03 pm by

Sit back, Colorado Springs, the runoff election is going to be a bumpy ride.

A proposed debate between Steve Bach and Richard Skorman is at the center of the latest controversy, and accusations are flying over who is to blame for its cancellation.

It started Thursday morning when Mitch Christiansen, a former candidate for mayor who is endorsing Bach, sent a news release via email claiming that a debate planned for May 9 had to be canceled.

In the email, Christiansen identified himself as a representative of the El Paso County Tea Party.

“The Tea Party, in conjunction with Citizens Project, have cancelled the planned May 9, 2011 mayoral debate at the Stargazers (because of) coordination and schedule issues between the Tea Party and Citizens Project and the failure to respond by Richard Skorman to accept the debate,” he wrote.

“The biggest disappointment was the failure of a cooperative venture between Citizens Project and the Tea Party,” Christiansen wrote.

But Kristy Milligan, executive director of the Citizens Project, and Camille Blakely, a spokeswoman for Skorman, said Christiansen got his facts wrong.

“I have spoken with Mr. Christiansen and clarified that Citizens Project did not agree to co-sponsor the May 9 debate with the Tea Party,” Milligan said in an email. “While Citizens Project appreciates having been invited to develop a unique collaboration to inform voters, our long-standing relationships with our existing organizational and media partners, among other factors, precluded our participation in this event.”

Blakely said she had never heard of a joint Tea Party/Citizens Project debate.

“The debate Mitch Christiansen has been discussing is sponsored by the Tea Party and Americans for Prosperity and is clearly a partisan event put on by Christiansen, who has endorsed Bach, and two supporters of our opponent,” Blakely said, also in an email.

“We will not attend this event,” she said.

“We had committed to a Citizens Project debate, sponsored by Citizens Project, KRDO and The Independent that was supposed to be held this weekend and was cancelled due to Bach saying he was unable to attend,” Blakely added. “It looks like the Citizens Project debate may be rescheduled for May 5, and we’ve indicated to Kristi Milligan that we will be able to attend.”

In a brief interview, Christiansen said he didn’t want to talk about it.

“I’ve had enough of it on there,” he said, apparently referring to email communication, “so no comment.”

Picture of Skorman triggers ‘homophobe’ accusations

March 28th, 2011, 1:31 pm by

This is the picture that Buddy Gilmore e-mailed to the more conservative mayoral candidates

What is it about gays and Colorado Springs?

Last week, former mayoral candidate Mitch Christiansen referred to the Gill Foundation as a bunch of “homos” in a private e-mail in which he shared his perspective on the election.

Today, Christiansen shared with the Gazette a separate, 3-week-old e-mail that mayoral candidate Buddy Gilmore sent to Christiansen and the other, more conservative candidates.

The March 6 e-mail included a picture of candidate Richard Skorman wearing a shiny gold suit at the Carnivale Parade in Manitou Springs with the following line: “Fast forward: 2012 Colorado Springs Gay Pride Parade?”

“Buddy: Remove me from your email lists immediately!” Christiansen told Gilmore today in an e-mail.

“I do not want to be included in your position and beliefs as a homophobe,” he wrote. “It’s too bad you have to take this position in this election.”

Gilmore said he didn’t mean any harm.

“I thought it was funny – great suit and a great picture of Richard campaigning,” Gilmore said in an e-mail

“I did think it would look great in the annual Gay Pride Parade, as it is typically a very colorful parade. No different than talking about Brian and his Superman suit showing up during Halloween,” he said.

“We have all tried to poke fun at each other during the campaign and keep things light-hearted. It certainly wasn’t meant to be anything more than that,” he added.

Gilmore also took a swipe at Christiansen.

“Mitch sent me this picture earlier this morning, and I’m not sure why he is trying to make an issue out of this,” he said. “I guess he’s not through lashing out.”

Quote of the Day

March 24th, 2011, 1:42 pm by

“You violated my right to privacy!”

– Sheryl Glasgow wrote today in an e-mail.

Glasgow, who owns and operates Turf Master Industries, Inc, said she was in “total shock” to see excerpts of an e-mail that she sent to former mayoral candidate Mitch Christiansen last week reprinted in The Gazette.

Glasgow wanted to find out who had sent the e-mail to the newspaper, but I informed her that all good reporters protect their sources.

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.”

Quote of the Day

March 9th, 2011, 3:01 pm by

“Mitch is Mitch. If he was polished, I’d think he’d blow everyone out of the water. I mean, I do. He’s not well-spoken. He’s so gravelly. A lot of people just chalk him up as being kind of a grumpy old candidate, a grumpy old man.”

Phil McDonald, who dropped out of the mayor’s race, said about mayoral candidate Mitch Christiansen.

McDonald, who is endorsing Steve Bach for mayor, said he has “concerns with some of the other conservative candidates,” except Bach and Christiansen.

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.

Threat of boycott prompts change at March 1 mayoral forum

February 22nd, 2011, 6:10 am by

Mitch Christiansen, left, is among two mayoral candidates who had called for a boycott of a March 1 forum. Christiansen is standing next to Tom Gallagher.

All nine mayoral candidates will be able to participate in a March 1 forum for business leaders after all.

Initially, only six candidates were invited to sit on stage.

But after two of the excluded candidates started calling for a boycott, the group organizing the event reconsidered.

“The Middle Market Entrepreneurs and citizens of our region recognize the importance of the upcoming city elections, and we do not want the criteria from earlier this month to become a distraction,” Chairman Robert Todd said Monday in an e-mail. “Accordingly, we are inviting all mayoral candidates to participate on March 1.”

At one point, there were 11 mayoral candidates, and “only six met the election filing and other criteria established” for participating in the forum, Todd said in the e-mail.

“Since that time,” he said, “two candidates have withdrawn from the race, and the other three have met those criteria.”

The threat of a boycott prompted the change, said mayoral candidate Phil McDonald.

“After we sent out an e-mail to all candidates asking them to boycott the March 1st Middle Market Entrepreneurs forum, all mayoral candidates are now welcome to attend,” he said via Facebook.

Reservations are required to attend the forum. Click here to register.

Act fast because the event is almost sold out.

Mayoral candidates call for a boycott of March 1 mayoral forum

February 21st, 2011, 11:32 am by

Mitch Christiansen, wearing the yellow shirt, is one of two mayoral candidates calling for a boycott of the March 1 mayoral forum.

Two of three mayoral candidates excluded from a March 1 mayoral forum for business leaders because of time constraints are calling for a boycott of the event.

“It makes us look like we’re on a lower tier, that we’re not qualified,” Mitch Christiansen said in a telephone interview this morning.

“Think about that. Why the heck shouldn’t we be on that stage? I mean, we’re just as qualified,” he said. “That’s just absolutely ridiculous.”

Phil McDonald, who was also excluded from participating in the forum, said he was on KVOR on Saturday morning asking for all the mayoral and City Council candidates, as well as the media, to boycott the event.

“I’m proposing another event March 1st inviting ‘everyone’ to attend,” he said Saturday via Facebook.

“Details to follow in the next few days after I speak to all the candidates,” he said.

In addition to Christiansen and McDonald, Kenneth Duncan was also excluded.

“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 the forum, said in a letter to the three candidates.

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.

According to an invitation to the event, the forum has multiple sponsors, including the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corporation, Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Coalition for a Prosperous America, El Pomar Foundation, Operation 6035, Peak Venture Group and The Gazette.