Posts Tagged ‘Val Vigil’

Running for political office is an expensive endeavor, even at the local level.  Delving into current Adams County Commissioner candidates’ donor records reveals big contributions from special interest groups and even from the same disgraced politicians we are trying to rid ourselves of. Every election year I write a story about campaign contributions to the [...]

With Election Day over and a new mayor and members of council seated on the Thornton City Council dais, it is time to get down to business – literally and figuratively.  The economy continues to cast a pall on everything but there are other issues we would like to see council tackle. In no particular [...]

The City of Thornton has a new Mayor-elect in Heidi Williams, a city politics outsider who appealed to residents looking for a change from the good ol’ boys.  In fact, Williams did not only defeat Councilmembers Goodman and Vigil, she absolutely trounced them. Goodman and Vigil, both political retreads with decades long history in the [...]

As misguided and oftentimes ridiculous as the various ‘occupy’ protests are, their desire to stop the influence of money on public policy is not entirely off the mark.  Looking down at a city level, Thornton residents need to be aware of the efforts of outside special interests to influence our local politicians. Those down at [...]

Normally watching someone blow leaves and lawn clippings isn’t particularly amusing.  However given that it is election time and video surfaces of a candidate littering his street with refuse from his yard, it makes for a good Friday Funny. Val Vigil is currently a Thornton city councilmember representing Ward II and is running for mayor [...]

It is a longstanding tradition of print media to endorse candidates and issues.  These endorsements are quite telling about a publisher’s bias and none are more so than this year’s endorsements by the publisher of Mile High Newspapers and MetroNorth Newspapers. The very premise of the so-called ‘unbiased media’ providing political endorsements is counter-intuitive and [...]

Voters in Thornton received their ballots yesterday and will be casting them in a number of key local races.  None of these is more significant than the one for the political head of the city.  Three candidates are vying for mayor of Colorado’s sixth largest city but only one is worthy of your vote. We [...]

Those who served and are serving in our nation’s military are some of the finest citizens our nation has to offer.  It is no wonder that politicians pander to – and often exploit them – for their own benefit.  Sadly that is happening right now in the current local election cycle. It is a recurring theme played [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]