SEO Header Title

Thus we were a bit startled when a press release came down the pike the other day indicating Denverites would be called to the polls once again, in just a few months, to choose among candidates and decide yea or nay (potentially) on ballot issues demanding their verdict.

On the first Tuesday of the eleventh month – Nov. 3, to be precise – those honoring that most sacred right and obligation of a democratic culture will at the very least be called to vote their preferences to fill several seats on Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education.

Voters, however, will not need to trouble themselves with a visit to their local polling place this year. Denver’s Clerk and Recorder, Stephanie O’Malley, has determined that, “With every city agency seeking ways to save money during these tough economic times, I’ve decided that an all-mail ballot election makes the most sense.” Under a recent change in state law, ballots will be mailed to voters starting 22 days prior to the election, instead of the 30 days prior requirement in force in past years.

Currently, the only posts to be filled in November are four DPS Board slots. There are seven seats on the Board of Education: five district seats and two at-large positions. The 2009 election will be for three district seats and one at-large (currently held by board member Joe Conrad). The districts up for election in 2009 are 2 (Michelle Moss), 3 (Jeannie Kaplan) and 4 (Kevin Patterson). Board members serve for four years and their terms are staggered, so no more than four board members are up for re-election at any time.

The two initiatives currently headed toward the November ballot are bound together loosely by a common thread. One is designed – in part – to protect residents from motor vehicles driven by unlicensed illegal aliens from other countries, and the other aims – in part – to protect locals from vehicles piloted by aliens from another planet.

Jeff Peckman first came to public attention in 2003 when he put forth Initiative 101, the “Safety Through Peace” Initiative, asking to “adopt an initiative ordinance to require the city to help ensure public safety by increasing peacefulness.” The measure, which called for government sponsored meditation sessions and relaxing music to be played in public buildings, made its way onto the ballot that year, but only 34 percent of voters called for its passage.

This time, Peckman is urging voters to approve creation of an 18-member Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission that would “ensure the health, safety and cultural awareness of Denver residents and visitors in relation to potential encounters or interactions with extraterrestrial intelligent beings or their vehicles.” If this initiative garners the 3,973 valid signatures required to make the ballot, and is passed by voters, the Commission would be funded by “grants, gifts and donations.”

The initiative urges the commission to obtain “relevant information about extraterrestrial intelligent beings on Earth, inform people of the implications of encounters with extraterrestrial beings or their vehicles,” and to “develop protocols for peaceful and diplomatic contact with extraterrestrial beings in the event of contact.”

Peckman said he does not see a clear and present danger from the presence of extraterrestrials, but “there is a clear and present need to know the full range of issues related to extraterrestrial visitations to our planet.” He believes that while his proposed commission would be the first of its kind in the U.S., voters are ready to consider it seriously.

“Polls over the past couple of decades – whether scientific or otherwise – have shown 60, 70 or 80 percent accepting that there is intelligent life out there in the universe, that we have been visited by life from elsewhere and that the government has been covering this up for 60 years or so. The vast majority are comfortable with this issue.”

Peckman believes the federal government has covered up its knowledge of extraterrestrial visitation due to “greed, a basic need for control, and continual support of the fossil fuel industries.” He says there is an assumption “these extra-terrestrial vehicles are not using Exxon jet fuel, they’re using energy from other highly advanced sources we could benefit from. It’s well known that the military has far more advanced forms of transportation, energy technologies and materials technologies than they are willing to divulge. These are being developed at our expense without any benefit to us.”

Peckman does not expect this to unlock the vault to the government’s most highly classified secrets. “It’s not even opening the doors to the federal X-files,” he stated, “but engaging the population on a local level and introducing them to information currently available in the private sector so they can draw their own conclusions.”

Visit www.extracampaign.org for info.

A somewhat less but still controversial proposal headed for the November ballot would make changes to Initiative 100, passed last year, that directed Denver police to impound the vehicles of individuals driving without licenses on city streets. Owners are required to post a $2,500 bond to release their impounded car.

Daniel Hayes sponsored Initiative 100, and is spearheading the effort to close some “loopholes” that he feels make the ordinance less than effective.

“We want to make it mandatory to tow vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers, which we failed to do last time. Denver found a loophole and found they didn’t have to do it. They’re towing folks for political reasons at this point. They towed a veteran’s car whose license had expired, and made a big deal out of that. In rewriting the law, we’ve put in safeguards against that. If your license has simply expired, and you go in and have it renewed, or if you simply didn’t have your wallet with you when you were stopped, and can produce a valid license, you’re exempted from the bond.”

Hayes insists that the law was not written to harass illegal aliens, but says, “They are one group of people that constitute about one half of the people who drive without a license. What makes it worse, is that the state law is designed so that if you’re a citizen, you’re treated different than if you’re illegal. They give them a small fine and slap them on the wrist. It’s all part of rolling out the red carpet for illegal aliens.”

City Councilman Doug Linkhart told The Profile that Council recently passed an amendment to the new law exempting rental car companies, lien holders and victims of auto theft from the bond requirement. Hayes explained that his initiative was drawn up before Council passed its changes, and mirrors much of their effort.

Looking into the future, local voters will have a chance to decide who should fill a variety of state offices in November 2010. The ballot at that time will include a number of Colorado congressional seats, as well as the posts of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state treasurer.

Denver residents will have to wait almost two years – until May 2011 – to shine the light on local government. The offices of mayor, city auditor, clerk and recorder and city council will come under scrutiny at that time. Mayor John Hickenlooper is expected to run for a third term – the last available to him under Denver’s term limit policy.                    

For more information, call the Denver Clerk and Recorder at 311, or visit www.denvergov.org/elections.