Wayne Williams (Photo by Greta Anderson Johns)
Wayne Williams’ candidacy for mayor got a big boost in the last campaign finance cycle, which ended Feb. 10, with an infusion of $255,200, but $250,000 of that came from Colorado Springs Forward Political Action Committee. (CSF got into hot water not long ago for bypassing the rules of campaign contributions.)
CSF is a group of business people who’ve spent heavily in local races in the past.
In any event, television ads promoting Williams started running this week, featuring Mayor John Suthers anointing Williams as his preference to succeed him. Williams’ most recent campaign finance report shows he spent $140,000 on media in the last cycle.
So far, Williams has raised $406,785 and spent $220,896, according to his report. Reports were due Feb. 15.
Yemi Mobolade has raised $302,778 and spent $108,458. Mobolade is using Facebook to get his message out.
Yemi Mobolade
Former El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark has raised $227,269 and spent $27,264, and currently serving County Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez Jr. reports raising a total of $205,592; he’s spent $46,951.
A dozen candidates are running to succeed Suthers, who’s term-limited from a third four-year term.
Now that Suthers, who was long expected to endorse Williams, has made his choice publicly known, voters might be wondering who former City Councilor Richard Skorman will endorse. It’s worth noting that when Skorman ran for mayor in 2011, he got more votes than Steve Bach, but lost to Bach in the runoff. The point is, Skorman’s preference could carry weight with voters. We’ll bring you that news when it happens.
Sallie Clark
Speaking of Clark, she issued a release Tuesday, Feb. 14, noting the frustration of some Westsiders over how new development will impact the ability of the city to evacuate areas in case of wildland fire or some other catastrophe. She said: “As mayor, I will immediately convene citizen groups, stakeholders and staff to research best practices from across the country. One such example established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), is NFPA 1616, a standard for ‘Mass Evacuation, Sheltering and Re-entry Programs.’ According to NFPA 1616: Section 1.2 Purpose. This standard shall provide public officials, private stakeholders, emergency management personnel, and emergency responders the essential elements, common terminology, roles, evacuation, stages, sheltering, and re-entry phases.”
Glenn Carlson (Courtesy of the candidate)
City Council candidate Glenn Carlson has snagged an endorsement from Climate Cabinet Action, a national organization that helps local leaders run, win, and legislate on climate change. “This endorsement will provide these climate leaders like Carlson the tools he needs to run and win on climate – including funding and campaign resources,” the group said in a release.
Carlson hasn’t yet filed the latest campaign finance report, which should reveal how much money comes with the endorsement.
“There are 500,000 state and local elected officials across America, but state and local elections are often overlooked and underfunded. To solve this, Climate Cabinet scours thousands of down-ballot elections across the country to find the candidates – like Glenn Carlson – who are leading climate champions for their communities. Then, CCA helps these candidates run, win, and legislate on climate,” the release said.
The CCA called Carlson “a leader who will work to pass pro-climate policy the day he takes office.”
Darryl Glenn
Mayoral candidate Darryl Glenn — a former El Paso County commissioner, and City Council at-large candidate, his wife, Jane Northrup Glenn — will speak this Saturday, Feb. 18, at Interdenomination of Faith-CO as part of the church’s Black History Month Celebration.
From their release: “The Glenn’s will discuss the role of Christians in government and the importance of minorities pursuing careers as public servants as well as the importance of business and home ownership.”
There are 11 candidates running for at-large Council seats and two seeking the unexpired term in District 3.
The event will be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at 4875 Galley Road.
Speaking of Christians in office, Church For All Nations’ Culture Impact Team will host a City Council candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 22 at its auditorium at 6540 Templeton Gap Road.
Westside Watch newsletter is taking ads from candidates. In the latest issue, Scott Hiller, seeking the District 3 seat, says, “Citizens and visitors need to know how long it will take them to get out and have route maps for when communications go down. We need standards for development to ensure we have adequate ingress/egress in emergencies.” He also notes that he led a marine emergency survey team deployed by the Army Corps of Engineers after hurricanes Dolly, Edouard, Gustav and Ike, so he knows about emergency planning and response, he says.
Mayoral candidate Gonzalez Jr., a sitting El Paso County commissioner, also bought ad space in the newsletter. His message says, “I’ve fought for residents’ safety & will ensure Evacuation data is utilized.”
Clark, a Westside innkeeper, also bought space to promote her mayoral bid.
Have an item of interest for Sixty35 news magazine’s coverage of the election, send it to pzubeck@sixty35media.org.