City Desk ~ An insider’s view of the policies and politics of Colorado Springs city government

Archive for the 'Phil McDonald' Tag

« Previous Entries

Former mayoral candidate runs against Lathen for county commissioner

November 10th, 2011, 10:19 am by

Former mayoral candidate Phil McDonald is setting his sights on El Paso County.

McDonald, a small business owner and married father of three, is running for county commissioner against Amy Lathen.

“I decided to run for County Commissioner because the voters of District 2 deserve better,” McDonald said in a statement.

“They deserve a commissioner who will be truthful and respectful, who will work cooperatively with other county officials, and who will be as frugal with taxpayer money as the voters are with their personal budgets,” he said. “As a small business owner, I see first hand how government can stifle business growth. I will remove those obstacles, so we can grow jobs.”

During the crowded race for mayor, McDonald dropped out and endorsed Mayor Steve Bach.

Will Bach return the favor?

Stay tuned.

McDonald filed a candidate affidavit to run for county commissioner Nov. 8.

“I am committed to being part of the solution to the problems in El Paso County, protecting our water rights and getting government out of the way of our citizens. I love El Paso County and look forward to serving as your District 2 County Commissioner,” he said in the statement.

According to McDonald’s press release:

McDonald is a Colorado Springs native, attending Mitchell High School and Adams State College. He has previously worked in the medical field and in El Paso County law enforcement. He has been active in coaching youth sports for the Police Athletic League, the City’s Park and Recreation system, and District 11 schools. McDonald and his wife Pamela currently own and operate The Uniform Shop, providing school and team uniforms, scrubs, and hospitality wear. He has also started the brand Lightning Athletics, which has grown since its inception. The McDonalds have three boys and live in the Rustic Hills neighborhood that Phil grew up in.

 

Posted in: Elections • Politics • • • • • | Post a Comment »

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.

Posted in: Elections • • • • | 1 Comment »

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.

Posted in: Elections • • • • • • • • • • • | 10 Comments »

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.

Posted in: Elections • • | Post a Comment »

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.

Posted in: Elections • • • | 2 Comments »

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.

Posted in: Elections • • • • • • • • • • | Post a Comment »

Mayor calls no-tax pledge ‘vague,’ says he wouldn’t sign it

January 28th, 2011, 1:23 pm by

He didn’t call it silly.

But Mayor Lionel Rivera said a pledge to “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes” wouldn’t bear his signature if he was seeking public office.

“If that pledge means that I cannot refer a measure to the ballot and let citizens decide for themselves like the TABOR charter amendment allows, then no, I would not sign it. Of course not,” he said.

“Why would I deny the citizens even a choice of voting by not referring something?”

The no-tax pledge is the brainchild of conservative radio host Jeff Crank and Americans for Prosperity Colorado, a group that Crank oversees.

It has been signed by at least 10 mayoral and City Council candidates.

The mayoral candidates are Steve Bach, Brian Bahr, Mitch Christiansen, Tom Gallagher, Buddy Gilmore and Phil McDonald. The council candidates are Tony Carpenter, Angela Dougan, Sean Paige, and Daniel Reifschneider.

The pledge asks candidates to promise “to the taxpayers of Colorado Springs that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Rivera called the pledge “vague.”

“I can’t raise taxes. Only the citizens can,” he said. “That’s what TABOR allows. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s what TABOR tells you to do.”

Rivera stressed that voters should have a choice and pointed to the public safety sales tax and the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority as examples of tax increases that voters have been willing to support.

“The citizens always should have a choice, and they tell us what they want,” he said.

Posted in: Elections • • • • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Utilities plays tour guide, offers firsthand look at Southern Delivery System

January 14th, 2011, 5:22 pm by

not the actual tour bus

Three mayoral candidates – Stephen Bach, Phil McDonald and Kelley Pero-Luckhurst – were among the nearly two dozen people who toured the future route of the Southern Delivery System today with officials from Colorado Springs Utilities.

Getting a firsthand look and better understanding of the 62-mile underground pipeline makes a heck of a lot of sense for the next mayor of Colorado Springs.

Not only has the project has been mired in political controversy for years, but it’s going to cost ratepayers billions of dollars.

“Participants will see key areas of interest along the alignment and learn more about how this critical regional project will supply water to the SDS partner communities for decades to come,” according to Utilities.

Utilities started offering the tours last fall.

Each tour, which includes a sack lunch and probably a healthy serving of propaganda, costs about $2,000, depending on the size of the group. The biggest cost is the bus.

“It’s kind of like taking a public meeting on the road, if you will,” Utilities spokeswoman Janet Rummel said this week.

“Even though we’ve had numerous public meetings over the last several years during the permitting process, it’s understandable that a project this complex and of this significance, that people would still have questions,” she said.

So far, Utilities has opened the tours up only to a select group of people, such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Corporation and HOAs.

But Rummel said Utilities has reached out to a “wide variety” of organizations that expressed interest in the project and had the “means” to get the information out to their members.

Rummel said anyone is welcomed to participate in the tour.

Upcoming tour dates are Feb. 3, Feb. 25 and March 9.

To participate, call or e-mail Kathy Wood at 668-8083 or kwood@csu.org.

Posted in: Elections • Utilities • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Candidates pledge not to raise taxes even though they can’t

January 11th, 2011, 12:05 pm by

Jeff Crank

Never mind that TABOR requires voters to approve all tax increases, but eight of 22 mayoral and City Council candidates have signed a pledge not to raise taxes if elected.

“This pledge represents a new era in Colorado Springs,” Jeff Crank, a local radio talk show host and state director of the Republican advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Colorado, which put out the pledge, said today in a statement.

“For too long candidates have claimed to be fiscal conservatives only to get elected and support tax increases,” Crank said in the statement.  “While candidates may claim that they are fiscal conservatives, this pledge gives them the opportunity to show the citizens of Colorado Springs that they will act like fiscal conservatives when they get elected.”

Five of nine mayoral candidates have signed the pledge. They are Stephen Bach, Brian Bahr, Mitch Christiansen, Buddy Gilmore and Phil McDonald.

Three of 13 council candidates have signed the pledge. They are Tony Carpenter, Angela Dougan and Sean Paige.

According to Crank’s statement, the pledge has been sent “to all candidates” over the last several weeks.

“As additional candidates for mayor and city council of Colorado Springs file their candidacy papers, they will be asked to sign the AFP Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” according to the statement. “AFP will work diligently to get an updated list of pledge signers to the media and to our 6,000 AFP activists in the city of Colorado Springs.”

Granted, elected officials can raise money by repealing tax credits and tax exemptions, which Republicans characterize as a tax increase.

But they can’t vote to raise taxes.

Posted in: Elections • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Skorman plans formal announcement tomorrow; Bach on Wednesday

January 3rd, 2011, 4:43 pm by

Richard Skorman

Trying to keep up with all the mayoral candidates and their schedules can be a little dizzying.

I’ll do my best to keep you informed.

Former Colorado Springs Councilman Richard Skorman plans to formally announce his candidacy for mayor Tuesday.

The event will be from 5-6 p.m. in the Carnegie Reading Room at the Penrose Library, 20 N. Cascade Ave.

Commercial real estate broker Stephen Bach plans to formally announce his candidacy for mayor at 11 a.m. Wednesday. His announcement will be at Dwire Hall at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. There will be free parking in Lot 3, according to information that Bach posted on Facebook.

Businessman Phil McDonald is holding a signature-gathering party and fund-raiser at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Bambino’s Italian Eatery and Sports Bar, 2849 E. Platte Ave. Wednesday is the first day that mayoral and at-large council candidates can pick up nomination petitions from the City Clerk’s Office.

Mitch Christiansen, a licensed general contractor and real estate broker and consultant, will formally announce his candidacy for mayor on Wednesday. The announcement will be at 10 a.m. at the Penrose Library downtown.

Posted in: Elections • • • • | Post a Comment »

« Previous Entries