Democrats now have a candidate in the divisive Senate District 7 on the West Slope, though he’s probably way?too far behind to pose any serious threat come November. From the Grand Junction Sentinel:
The leader of the Garfield County Democrats will take on the winner of feuding Republicans to make a run for the Colorado Senate District 7 seat. Dana Barker, a 77-year-old retiree from the Parachute area, announced his candidacy by filing to the Colorado Secretary of State?s office Monday.
Barker said representatives from the Mesa County and Garfield County Democrats had recently convened a vacancy committee to consider who could run against the winner of the August Republican primary between Josh Penry and Matt Smith. He said it was only when the vacancy committee found out they were less than a day away from the state filing deadline that they quickly ran through a list of possible candidates and decided on him for the state senate seat.
Barker said after he formulates his policy positions and publicly announces his candidacy later this month, he has some fund-raising to catch up on. He said he has ?$100 in the bank and $89,900 more to go.?
According to filings with the Colorado Secretary of State?s office, Barker?s opponents have raised tens of thousands of dollars since announcing their candidacies. As of the end of May, Josh Penry?s election committee had raised $39,523.81 and Matt Smith?s committee had raised $21,497.56, according to filings with the Colorado Secretary of State?s office.
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There is no chance–zip, zero, zilch–of a Democrat winning SD 7. Matt and Josh may pummel each other into oblivion, but even if they do, no Democrat–especially a no-name septuagenarian from one of the less than dozen Garfield County precincts that are in SD 7–can beat Matt or Josh. The fogey has a better chance of dunking on Nowitzki in the NBA Finals than beating the boys from GJ.
I doubt if he is running to win, he’s running to make the R’s spend more money and keep the Dem’s platform alive in the public arena. I applaud his pluck, especially at his age. Running for office is no cake walk.
The Democrats have a candidate in every Colorado Senate and House Disrict this year. We may not win them all, but voters will have a choice for a change! Maybe the 7th voters will be delighted to elected someone not beholden to the Oil & Gas industry? Aren’t they yet tired of being stomped on and property rights taken?
P.S. 7-11 knows nothing of Dana Barker,yet redicules his age. Thank you Dana for stepping up. My check is in the mail!
Dana! You go!
I had the pleasure of meeting Dana a couple of months ago at one of Garfield County’s democratic lunches. Even though the voter registration is against him, the district would be lucky to have him as a senator.
Barker has been very involved with oil and gas issues, especially the surface rights initiative that the energy companies are bogging down in court to shorten the time frame for signatures. All Barker has to say is: “Who will defend Mesa County’s water shed quality from gas exploration–The likes of Kathy Hall and Josh Penry… or someone like me?” and he’ll have an audience. It’s a long shot, but with many of the Republicans in Mesa over 50, there is the chance they will desire sage wisdom over ambition.
And for the Republican primary winner, it will be very difficult to go for the throat on “Grampa Barker.”
If Barker thinks he can win that seat with only $90,000 he is kidding himself.
Barker is an environmentalist whacko, to put it mildly, and contrary to what you High Country News subscribers would like to believe, being a treehugger is bad, um kay. He and his fellow greenies are not going to be able to convince Mesa and Garfield counties, which are raking in the dough from severance taxes and increasingly well-paid oil and gas workers, that they should give up all those tax dollars and jobs. Get a grip, you dirty hippies.
Yep, we will all be dirty if gas exploration isn’t done correctly in Mesa County’s watershed. Have you ever washed in fracing fluids?
A little harsh SD 7-11, but I did laugh my ass off, um kay?:)
you run a candidate in every race, the dems learned that when the e-mail sex whacko won the clerk’s spot in Arapahoe county with no dem alternative.
Yes, Demento, even when they’re too old to serve, let alone campaign. You go, Dana. Maybe you can pull a Jack Swigert.