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SECONDS COUNT! Responds to Allegations |
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SECONDS COUNT! NEWS RELEASE
* FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: David Wagner 303-440-1005 (Eve.) 303-666-9400 ext. 201 (Day) *
SECONDS COUNT! RESPONDS TO ALLEGATIONS
Boulder, CO––October 18, 2000––The SECONDS COUNT! committee, which backs Boulder’s municipal Question 2A, is issuing this statement to clarify its position on two complaints filed this week by opponents of 2A, the so-called Safety First organization (John Spitzer and Susan Osborne, co-chairs; Crystal Gray, treasurer.)
First, no member of the SECONDS COUNT! committee has seen, been provided a copy, or even been informed of the complaints by any member of Safety First or any official or agency of any level of government. We do not know with certainty with whom the complaints were filed or their intended purpose. Our knowledge of the complaints’ existence comes only from what we have read in the press and witnessed during the televised City Council meeting October 17, 2000. We would like to believe Councilmembers who so willingly expressed their opinions about the first complaint know more than we do. Since six Councilmembers—Toor, Mock, Havlick, Morzel, Corson, and Poinsatte—are listed on Safety First’s letterhead, they well may.
We understand the first complaint, apparently filed Monday, October 16, 2000, alleges theft and defacement of Safety First campaign signs on private property. The SECONDS COUNT! committee and all its members (Warren Hultquist, Chair; Kathleen Calongne, Research Director; Eric Rinard, Advertising/Media Director; David Wagner, Issues Director; Jack Lacy, Treasurer) deny any knowledge of the removal or vandalization of any Safety First sign posted on private property, whether in compliance with Boulder’s sign code or not. Furthermore, we discourage such activity by our supporters or anyone else.
In particular, the committee members deny involvement in any scheme or conspiracy to “steal the election” by removing Safety First signs on Sunday, October 15, as charged by John Spitzer. We have reason to doubt his claims. Residents on some streets where Mr. Spitzer accuses the committee of stealing signs in a “clean sweep” tell us no Safety First signs disappeared. At least on Mapleton and Table Mesa, signs remained. We also note that many SECONDS COUNT! signs have been vandalized or stolen, though we didn't waste the valuable time of city officials reporting these petty incidents.
One SECONDS COUNT! member, David Wagner, has publicly acknowledged removing four Safety First signs illegally posted on the public right of way along 55th Street and discarding them on the evening of October 11. He had previously contacted the City to request their removal without result. According to John Spitzer, these signs were recovered by a Safety First supporter who was following Mr. Wagner at the time. Again, Mr. Wagner explicitly denies setting foot on private property to remove the four signs.
The Boulder Revised Code declares signs posted on the public right of way to be illegal (5-4-15 BRC 1981) and public nuisances (10-11-21 BRC 1981). Such nuisances encroaching on the public right of way may legally be removed by either the city or any resident of the city (8-6-4 BRC 1981). While the city manager is charged by the Code to remove them, private citizens are also expressly permitted to do so. Thus, although Mr. Wagner’s action attracted political criticism, it was not unlawful.
The second complaint, said to have been filed Wednesday, October 18, 2000, evidently questions anonymous contributions to the SECONDS COUNT! campaign. The committee reaffirms that the twelve anonymous contributions listed in its Statement of Contributions and Expenditures filed with the Boulder City Clerk October 17, 2000 were indeed made in cash. No member of the committee knows their source.
John Spitzer’s complaint is also said to question $396.71 contributed by the SECONDS COUNT! petition drive. These funds were collected during the spring and summer of 1999. Some were contributed into a collection can at a booth maintained by the committee at the Bolder Boulder race exhibition at Folsom Field. Some were given directly to petitioners by persons declining to identify themselves. The committee of petitioners turned the remaining balance over to the SECONDS COUNT! issue committee when it was formed in April 2000. The committee discussed appropriate reporting with Boulder’s City Clerk prior to filing its report and complied with her instructions.
Anonymous contributions are a perfectly legitimate expression of an individual’s right of free political speech. Mayor Toor himself was elected with an unusually high number of anonymous contributors. But despite overwhelming support from the public, some negative reactions are so extreme, it is easy to understand why some individuals might conceal their support for Question 2A. A frail, 98-year old lady was intimidated recently when a Safety First supporter knocked on her door to accost and berate her for having a SECONDS COUNT! sign in her yard. Committee members are regularly libeled and slandered. Ironically, we receive anonymous hate mail. A supporter of our campaign for better emergency response had his tires slashed to the accompaniment of a gloating note, also anonymous. Who would want to subject themselves to such abuse? And why is the anonymity of a supporter exercising his or her free speech right suspicious, when the craven acts of our opponents who hide their identities are not?
The SECONDS COUNT! committee supports a vigorous and fair public debate on Question 2A, conducted within the letter of the law. We regret that under Mr. Spitzer’s leadership, Safety First ignores the public safety issues surrounding traffic devices that delay emergency response. Because they cannot refute the case made by supporters of 2A, Safety First is instead conducting an entirely negative campaign, concocting false claims of crimes, misrepresenting easily verifiable facts, distorting simple statistical and financial information, and slinging political mud of the most reprehensible kind. We urge our opponents to forswear their witch hunt and participate in civilized political debate. If they are in any way responsible for the repeated theft of SECONDS COUNT! signs from private property, we demand they cease at once. We ask them to join us in actively discouraging such conduct.
SECONDS COUNT! is a November 2000 ballot initiative by Boulder, Colorado citizens to prohibit traffic devices that delay emergency response. SECONDS COUNT! is online at http://www.secondscount.org.
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