Posts Tagged ‘Erik Hansen’

Taxes in any form are unpopular but when coupled with a new bureaucracy ushered in by disgraced county officials under the auspices of a ‘fee’ they are sure to raise residents’ hackles.  Such is the case with the new Adams County “Stormwater Utility” that is raising taxes on county residents and, adding insult to injury, [...]

Removed from last week’s election by more than a week we can sit with calmer heads and evaluate what went wrong with local elections and rededicate ourselves to restoring good governance to Adams County.  While the election results were far less than ideal, there is a glimmer of hope. The two races for Adams County [...]

By Kevin Raines - In November, two county commissioner seats will be up for election in Adams County, and the current occupants of those seats will leave public office. This is a very, very good thing. In fairness, not every recent scandal can be traced directly to departing incumbents Skip Fischer, Alice Nichol, and their buddy Larry [...]

By Kevin Raines - In the movie Apollo 13, there’s a great scene about crisis control.  As the emergency begins, systems are failing and gauges are dropping and there’s a tinge of panic building in the air.  Ground control members are calling out problems nonstop when Gene Kranz steps in and changes the direction of the [...]

A great deal of ink on paper and in the virtual world has been spent on the trials and tribulations of Adams County’s corrupt elected officials (coincidentally all of whom are Democrats).  Residents have had enough and a host of them are stepping up and running for office in an attempt to clean up the [...]

In one fell swoop Adams County has set back relations with the cities within its borders 20 years in a move that threatens to return more criminals to the streets instead of remanding them to jail.  The inability of the county government to properly control its finances now is set to harm the very citizens [...]

The Metro North Chamber of Commerce and MetroNorth Newspapers held their City Council Candidate Forum recently and while the event did not provide too much notable, there were some interesting comments by some of the candidates.  As much as anything it was interesting just to observe some of them as they answered and in doing [...]

With corruption running rampant in Adams County government, citizens will have their chance in November 2012 to implement much needed reforms.  On the ballot will be a question asking voters to increase the Board of Commissioners to five members from the current three. Commissioner Erik Hansen forced the Democrat members of the board, Alice Nichol [...]

Politics are about to become very local as the list of those seeking an office at the Thornton civic center is finalized.  The list has some notable incumbents, fascinating new comers and some old retreads trying for a new office. Here’s a quick look at the candidates in each race: Mayor This is the big [...]

Forced to take action after numerous scandals rocked county government, the Adams County Board of Commissioners adopted a series of reforms in an attempt to restore the public’s trust.  While the reforms are certainly a step in the right direction, questions still remain and show there is much work to be done. The seven reforms [...]