A New Chapter Starts...

This will be my last post for awhile...don't worry, I will still be keeping abreast of what's going on in our community...will still be watching the City Council and reading the local blogs, and will still be voicing my opinion on things. It just won't appear here...until the next election cycle begins. As stated prior, I have bigger plans (on a local level) for my involvement in politics and where the chapter of my life that has been this blog ends, my plan for the future is where the next chapter begins.

But, some parting thoughts to hold you over until I can get writing that next chapter...my thoughts on what I've learned, seen and experienced these last few months...

I've learned that one person CAN have an impact...a BIG impact, on the community around them. It's true that what starts as an idea and a dream, can quickly turn in to a reality with a just little effort, a little know-how and a lot of desire. I have the Internet to thank for that!

I've learned that people actually care what I have to think and say. Who am I? Just someone who loves their community and wants it to stay that way so my kids can grow up in the best possible environment.

I've learned that anonymity can bring out the best and worst in people. Sometimes people are afraid to speak up and give praise for fear of retribution from employers, friends or family (which is fine, I can totally understand that) and the only way they feel free to express their thanks and support is by remaining anonymous. Yet others are compelled to spew hatred and say things they would never dare say in person but feel free to do so when they can't be identified (similar to a jihadist executioner wearing a hood?)

I've had an amazing outpouring of thanks from longtime friends, and people who I met for the first time when they approached me to thank me for everything I've done (letters to the editor, this blog, etc). But I can't take all the credit. My husband Bryan has supported me throughout this endeavor - serving as my proofreader, asking my opinion on different issues which has served as inspiration for many of my posts, and reminding me to dismiss the insults and personal attacks thrown my way. There are many other people too; fellow bloggers and political activists who have helped provide guidance and support in the form of emails, blog comments and phone calls. I'm happy to say that I have developed several friendships that I'm sure will last many years, and have met many people whose knowledge and experience I hope to learn from and act on in the years to come.

I've had more than a few people ask me about the thoughts of running for City Council in '09 - I live in Ward 2, the council seat currently held by Karen Benker. My heart says I'd love to...the passion I feel towards being responsible for change in my community is enormous. My mind says, "are you crazy?" - I don't know that I can praise Gabe enough for having the guts to run for office. The last time I ran for office was in the 7th grade, for student council (I won by the way!) and I've never dare try anything like that since! So the answer for now is, we'll see. I feel like I may be able to have more of an impact working behind the scenes - organizing volunteers, exposing important local issues and helping to identify local candidates to run for office. But you never know...2 years is a long way off and maybe by then I'll be ready to put myself out there.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has inspired me, advised me, thanked me and otherwise motivated me. There's not room enough to name everyone by name, but you know who you are, and I hope that if I haven't already, that I can thank you personally. It's nice to know so many people in this town appreciate what I've done, and that just maybe all of my work made a difference.

Changing My Focus...

Some of you know of my plans for the near future. They're largely still in the planning stages, but to shed a little light on them, I'm planning to start a Longmont Chapter of New Generation Republican Women. NGRW is an initiative of the National Federation of Republican Women, to get Republican women under 40 involved on the local level. These are my goals for the group:

1. be active in the community (by doing things like sponsoring a Relay for Life Team or entering a float in the Parade of Lights).
2. be educated about local political issues (and use that education to write letters to the editor and speak at council meetings) .
3. endorse and otherwise support candidates for local office as well as identify potential candidates and help with their campaigns.
4. be a social group for like-minded women.

The left has been organized for years and its time that we come out of the shadows and start to be seen (and heard) and to make young women proud to be Republicans and make them want to be active.

I've already registered the domain name http://www.ngrwlongmont.org/ and have put in a request for free hosting on the BoulderCountyGOP.com servers, so I may even have a place to park the domain here in the next few days. Once I have that, website development will start, and I'll be on my way getting this train rolling! If you're interested, please drop my an email to stephanie.baum@comcast.net and I'll put you on the list!

Once the new site is up, this blog will go in to hiatus until the next campaign season. ..

The 4-Way Test

As a former Rotarian, I try and live my life by the 4-Way Test. The 4-Way Test is a way to apply ethics and integrity to everything you think, say and do. It is a measure by which all Rotarians should strive to conduct their lives socially and in business.

Sadly, I'm human and on occasion I let emotions get the best of me and I act before considering the 4-Way Test. I don't know that there is a Rotarian in the world who can live a life perfectly within the test, but it is to serve as something to strive for.

I've come to learn that something that I have written about isn't the truth - at the time I wrote it, I believed it to be the truth, but now I know otherwise. I've already written about my correction regarding the Benker Bloc photo, but additionally, I had written a post about Richard Juday's promise to not accept campaign donations, and doing just the opposite. When I wrote the story, it was from reading a story, written by him, on his own campaign website. I read this story when the current campaign season was well underway, so I think it's reasonable to assume, when you read a candidate's personal website, in the middle of a current campaign, that the information included therein would be accurate. But alas, it has come to my attention (from reading his website today) that his writings were from his last campaign. I don't know if his site conveniently wasn't changed from his run in 2005, with the hope that people might read and trust those words as fact for this campaign too, or if he was just neglectful of his website. As a tech person, who spends a great deal of time maintaining websites, my opinion is that Mr. Juday was careless with respect to the fact that a candidate who uses their site as such an important vehicle of their message has a duty to ensure that what is written is representative of the facts of their platform and ideology. Nonetheless, I feel it's my responsibility now to promote the truth.

Other ares of the 4-Way Test have been a struggle for me this campaign season. Being fair, building goodwill and being beneficial to all have tested me. I feel I've tried to be fair, but in an election, shedding light on the shortcomings of one candidate probably wouldn't be considered being fair and certainly isn't beneficial to them. But I guess I justify that by needing to help inform the citizens of our town so that they can make an educated decision of who to vote for. I think what I write is beneficial to the masses and I think it's only fair to everyone to know the facts.

The struggles I have had to adhere to the 4-Way Test only strengthen my admiration for Gabe, who has done an EXCEPTIONAL job of running his campaign with the highest level of integrity and ethics. He HAS lived the 4-Way Test these past few months, because that's how he lives his life.

From the "OOPS" File...Richard, What Were You Thinking?

I've got to say, if *I* were running for council, on an anti-bigbox, anti-Home Depot (anti-lots of things) platform...I'd make pretty darn sure that the picture on my website didn't show me standing in front of a shopvac (I presume that's what it is...whatever it is though, the brand is unmistakable) made by RIDGID (an exlcusive brand from HOME DEPOT)!! I mean, I'm just "a girl" (or as Juday's fans like to call me, a "breeder" or an "educated idiot") but I know enough to know that Ridgid is only sold at Home Depot (well, unless you buy Ridgid Pro, a brand that has a slightly different logo and is sold by a handful of stores that sell exclusively to contractors)! If Juday is so anti-big box then why didn't he by a Craftsman at Sears (or does he consider that a Big Box too?) or one of any number of brands carried by Ace Hardware or Home Budget Center? Hello? Richard? Can you answer that one?

Correction in my Letter to the Editor

I wanted to post my response to the correction to my Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Times Call this morning. I've sent this over to the TC but due to their publishing guidelines, I'm not sure that it will (can) be printed in a timely manner, therefore I'm posting it here.

Dear Editor,

I wanted to thank you for the correction to my letter printed on January 25, noting that the picture was in fact of the 3 candidates I mentioned simply smiling but the story that accompanied the picture noting that "they smiled for the camera and held up four fingers" - I guess the mental picture of that action left a stronger impression on me than the actual photograph. A clear example of the power of the pen to fool the eyes. I wrote the piece well after that morning in November when the impression was made, and I wisely recycled that paper so I had only my memory to rely on, which of course isn't perfect! Please forgive me for the inaccuracy but know that it was a result of the compelling words of your reporter in an excellent account of what transpired that evening, and the imagery that those words elicited.

The Final Stretch...

Just a week left for voters to let themselves be heard. I'm feeling confident that Gabe will win this one - support for him seems to be overwhelming. BUT, I felt the same way last November. I just wish that I had realized that Gabe being elected wasn't the slam dunk that I thought it was and had gotten more involved earlier so we wouldn't be in the position we're in right now...knowing that at best the council will be dominated by the Benker Bloc (who, in case you've been in a coma for the last 3 months, ran on an anti-Union platform - which "worked" because due to the November Election, LifeBridge Church pulled their annexation request) for the next 2 years. A bloc who, while yes, is all Democrat, they are more than that - they are extreme left-wing, zero-growth, pro-big government group that their more centrist fellow party members have also come to fear. This vote isn't about Democrat versus Republican, it IS about Radical Left-Wing versus the rest of us. Hopefully our message will be heard loud and clear this time.

More Interesting Rhetoric from Cached Pages...

Here's a quote from one of the infamous cached (removed) pages on Richard Juday's campaign website...

"Even the staff at the Longmont Home Depot, where I shamefacedly pick up cheap lumber and screws just four minutes from my house rather than make a 20-minute drive to Boulder to buy 'em at McGuckin, are enthusiastic about the small-town atmosphere and merchandise variety at McGuckin. Where are you going to find a huge Soss hinge, and a 5/16" left hand drill, and the diaphragm for an irrigation system's vacuum breaker, all in one store? You guessed it. But that's not where McGuckin makes its profit; they need to sell lumber and screws in order to maintain the inventory of those other esoteric items."

Can anyone guess why I highlighted certain items in red? BECAUSE McGUCKIN'S DOESN'T SELL LUMBER!!! Juday tries to make a point that he'd rather drive to McGuckin's to buy his lumber but he doesn't want to make the drive. And that McGuckin's makes their profit from selling lumber. Obviously he's never "really" shopped at McGuckin's. I'm sure he's been there, and picked up a few items - everyone has, it's become a tourist destination. And it DOES have the reputation of having one of everything - they have a stock of over 200,000 items. But if you've REALLY shopped there you know that you pay 2 to 3 times what you'd pay elsewhere for those little odds and ends that you can't find in every store. THAT'S were they make their money...In fact they are NOT a traditional hardware store and they AREN'T in competition with Home Depot or any other "Big Box" because they have created a niche. I've been shopping at McGuckin's since it was a small, traditional hardware store, in a little strip mall on Baseline next to the barbershop where my brother got his haircut as a little boy, a few doors down from the original location of Safeway. That was about 30 years ago...and it was JUST a hardware store...there was no lumber yard. They sold tools and snow shovels and screws and such. But they had an idea, to move to a bigger location and try and offer a little bit of everything. It kept the original McGuckin Hardware name but it's MUCH MORE than a hardware store, and yet still doesn't carry lumber. They carry housewares, gardening supplies, sporting goods, etc. But if you were going to build an addition on your house, McGuckin isn't where you'd want to shop. You might have wanted to go to Sutherland Lumber for your wood, but I don't think Juday would know that because I don't think he has ever REALLY shopped for lumber in Boulder...