Boulder County Commissioner, District 1

Shane Hampton–Libertarian

facebook.com/ShaneHamptonForCountyCommissioner

The accidental candidate: Twenty-two-year-old CU student Hampton is running for commissioner purely because the Libertarian Party needed a candidate on the ticket, and “it sounded like a cool idea.”

On fracking: Hampton believes county open space should be open for fracking, pointing to a 5,000-acre parcel set aside for prairie dogs that “isn’t doing anybody any good.”

On GMOs: Likewise, Hampton supports GMO crops on county open space, claiming that they “have saved farmers’ lives” since they don’t have to spray them with potentially harmful pesticides.

Errata: Hampton also has concerns that have nothing to do with county jurisdiction, such as creating a rental agency to prevent students from getting ripped off by “slumdog landlords.” He admits the idea isn’t very Libertarian but offers no apologies. “I’m willing to go against my political affiliation on that one,” he says.

Elise Jones–Democrat

elisejones.org

The Big Issues: Jones won a hard primary in which the central issues have been headline grabbers all year—she’s opposed to fracking and supports Longmont voters in being able to ban the practice, she’s opposed to GMOs on county open space, and she wants Boulder County to be a leader on energy, pointing to a summer of wildfires and heat waves as evidence that climate change needs to be tackled on the local level. She’s a proponent of deeper investment in wind and solar energy sources.

One you might have overlooked: Aside from the big ticket items, Jones is also concerned about poverty in the county, which she calls an “invisible issue.” “A quarter of kids under age 5 live below the poverty level in Boulder County, which is really unacceptable,” she says.

FasTracks: Like nearly everyone in Boulder County, Jones is frustrated with RTD’s FasTracks system, but says, “We’re not there yet” in terms of choosing to leave the consortium of communities paying into the transportation project. “If we leave now, we’ve just paid for other people’s transportation infrastructure,” she says. “I’m still committed to making FasTracks work, but if that fails, there could be options in the future about giving up, but I’m not ready to give up yet.”

YS Endorsement: Elise Jones

In another instance where voters are lucky that the only serious candidate in this race is also a very well qualified one, Elise Jones is the clear choice in the BCC District 1 race. We’re confident that her reasoned consideration of the issues and her dedication to environmental values will serve county residents well.