Arkansas Valley Values
(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)
I spent last evening in La Junta, where I emceed the annual “Tri-County Dinner” sponsored by the Democratic Parties of Otero, Bent and Crowley counties. It was a great night, with nearly 200 folks showing up to support Democrats in the heart of the Arkansas Valley.
I kicked off the evening by talking about the “talk of the town” lately, another Arkansas Valley native - Dick Wadhams, the freshman Chair of the Colorado Republican Party. I reminded folks that the values that Wadhams has become known for — personal attacks instead of issues debates — are not values he learned in Las Animas; they’re Washington DC values. More important, Coloradans rejected those values when Trailhead became the poster child for those kinds of attacks last year, and they’ll reject them again in 2008. Instead, folks will choose Arkansas Valley values — hard work, pragmatism, and a debate on the real issues affecting Coloradans.
The highlight of the night, though, was definitely not my work as an emcee. Instead, it was the great oratory skills of our Speaker of the House of Representatives, Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff echoed much of what I had talked about - the need for pragmatism in governing, and the need for Democrats to keep an open mind about ideas to solve problems that exist. The Speaker spent a lot of time discussing the things that our Democratic legislature has been able to get done, as well as explaining the challenges ahead.
He also talked about the importance of the Southern Colorado community getting engaged in the political process. Efforts to defeat the US Army’s efforts to take an immense chunk of historically and archeologically significant land in Southeast Colorado to massively expand the Pinion Canyon training grounds have mobilized Democrats and Republicans from across the counties of Southeast Colorado. The Speaker spent the evening at a table filled with Pinion Canyon activists, and I’m sure he heard even more about how important this issue is to Southeast Colorado.
Several awards to county party activists in Crowley and Otero counties were distributed, the silent auction was a huge success, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen was on hand to address the crowd about transportation and energy issues as well. They even were nice enough to make sweatshirts for the Speaker and myself with our names on them in honor of the dinner. It was extraordinarily flattering.
I don’t have photos up yet, but I did take a few (and had a few sent to me this afternoon as well), so I should have some up by tomorrow afternoon.
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One more quick note - I did a Q&A with Colorado Confidential over the weekend regarding Convention planning and how to become a Convention Delegate for Denver 2008. It was a little long, so they split it into two parts. Here are the links:
Part One: http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1888
Part Two: http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1892