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Joan Fitz-Gerald Profile in Colorado Daily Warns About Hammons



Fitz-Gerald: First, Feb. 5



By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 9:56 PM MST



It isn't exactly a Pentagon war room, but Congressional candidate Joan Fitz-Gerald and friends will spend some major near-term time eyeing the maps plastered all over the walls of her campaign headquarters.

Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat from Coal Creek Canyon and the former Colorado Senate President, is running for Colorado's 2nd Congressional District (CD) seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, currently holds the 2nd CD seat, but he is running for one of Colorado's two U.S. Senate positions in 2008. To date, no Republican has formally announced a 2nd CD candidacy, but Bill Hammons from the Unity Party of America has announced.

Most of the 2nd CD political attention is currently focused on the contest for the Democratic nomination. Boulder Internet entrepreneur and former state Board of Education member Jared Polis, Boulder land conservation professional Will Shafroth and Lafayette educator Larry Johnson have also entered the race.

But the Democratic candidates must qualify for the Aug. 12 primary before they entertain notions of earning a two-year stint in Washington.

Fitz-Gerald and Polis will battle it out in the state's caucus-assembly process. Registered Democrats and Republicans will hold precinct caucuses on Feb. 5; caucus attendees will select delegates to go on to county assemblies; and Democratic county assemblies will select delegates for the party's 2nd CD assembly on May 11.

Candidates must earn at least 30 percent of delegate votes to automatically qualify for the primary, so it is possible that both Polis and Fitz-Gerald could qualify. Shafroth and Johnson will bypass the caucuses and attempt to gather enough valid petition signatures to qualify.

So, objective “1A” for Fitz-Gerald might be attempting to make sure that her supporters attend their caucus. The 2nd CD includes the following counties: most of Boulder, western Adams, Broomfield, northern Jefferson, southwestern Weld, Gilpin, Clear Creek, Grand, Summit and Eagle.

Hence the roomful of maps, as Fitz-Gerald and her campaign workers must attempt to earn support in as many caucuses as possible if they want adequate representation at the assemblies.

Objective “1B,” perhaps, will be money, since the 2nd CD race could be one of the most expensive congressional contests in the nation. Fitz-Gerald said Tuesday that potential supporters are receiving phone calls from her campaign regarding objectives 1A and/or 1B, and in certain instances the caller is the candidate herself.

“The response has been very positive, and people are kind of amazed that they're talking to a real person who is the person that's running,” said Fitz-Gerald.

The non-prioritized objective “1C” might be the issues, and Fitz-Gerald said she is spending a great deal of her campaign-trail time trying to learn what the people in the district believe are the biggest issues facing the country in 2008.

She said Tuesday that she is currently hearing more about economic issues - such as wages, safety of private pensions and Social Security, housing or cost of living - than any other categorical topic.

“They don't see their wages rising, they see their expenses going up, and I think a lot of their concern about the subprime (mortgage) crisis is reaching home,” said Fitz-Gerald. “They're very, very worried about whether or not they can pay for life in the coming years.”

Fitz-Gerald said she currently isn't hearing as much from 2nd CD residents about military/geopolitical issues as she used to.

“I thought with the death of (former Pakistani Prime Minister) Benazir Bhutto that I would hear more concern about Pakistan,” said Fitz-Gerald. “But I think (Monday's) news of the bombing of a hotel in Kabul (Afghanistan) is certainly bad news, internationally.”

She said the Kabul bombing will force the U.S. to pay more attention to Afghanistan, “which is where we should have put our focus to begin with,” as opposed to what she called an incredibly costly U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

“The kind of money that we've put into this effort in Iraq has drained our financial resources,” said Fitz-Gerald.

The 2nd CD includes a great deal of mountainous terrain (some in Boulder County), and it also has a serious domestic issue - the growing devastation of pine forests by pine beetles. Fitz-Gerald said she recently took a campaign swing through the heavily affected Grand and Summit counties, and said there should be a federal role in getting ahead of potential future problems.

“We need some FEMA money in here to put fire breaks into our forests, to allow us to prepare for the eventuality of when these dead, standing trees get hit by a dry lightning strike,” said Fitz-Gerald.

She said she has met with Summit County realtors to discuss what the beetle kill could do to property values and with mountain fire departments for obvious reasons. Also, she said a catastrophic fire could lead to the degradation of water sources, including mountain reservoirs that supply water for mountain and Front Range communities.

“It's a big, big issue,” said Fitz-Gerald.

But back to objective 1A - the Fitz-Gerald camp has set up shop in an Adams County office not far from 72nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard in Westminster. Fitz-Gerald said the HQ has easy access to U.S. 36, proximity to a large number of potential delegates, and a location near the neighborhoods of Old Westminster.

“I think when people are running for Congress, they sometimes lose sight of the neighborhoods and the people in the neighborhoods,” said Fitz-Gerald.

Campaign staff also passed out a list including the 2nd CD assembly delegate breakdown. Of the 872 delegates, 376 will be from Boulder County, 219 from Adams, 63 from Jefferson and 59 from Broomfield.

Staffers acknowledged that the numbers might look good for Polis since he is from Boulder, but they also said the Fitz-Gerald campaign is certainly not ceding the assembly to Polis and said “30 percent plus one” is good enough to get on the primary ballot.

They also mentioned that recent history suggests that an assembly victory doesn't always equal a primary victory. For example, Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Mike Miles beat current U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar at the 2004 state assembly but lost in the primary.

So, Fitz-Gerald said she is focusing on the caucus-assembly process but is also working on building a base for Aug. 12. The campaign released a one-minute video Tuesday, 2nd CD Democrats should expect phone calls, and Fitz-Gerald said she will continue to press the flesh.

“People really do want that person-to-person contact, and I feel pretty strongly about it, because it's the people's House,” said Fitz-Gerald. “It's the level of the federal government that's closest to the people.”



Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126, or at valenty@coloradodaily.com.



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