This election voters in Aspen will choose from a full list of candidates. A history of several candidates running for local office isn’t uncommon in Aspen. In fact, it’s the norm. This year, two people are running for a two-year mayor’s term. Seven are running for two open council seats. Council terms are four years. As Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports.
Bill Stirling was mayor of Aspen for eight years from the mid 1980’s to the early 90’s. In one race, he decided to meet the public outdoors.
"I announced my candidacy from a bench in the mall and just put a placard out that said, ‘My name is Bill Stirling, I’m a candidate for mayor, come talk.’"
Stirling, who now owns a real estate company, says he ran in five elections. And in every one, he had opponents.
"The first time I ran there were four people running for mayor and I was the last one to enter the race," he says. "The mayor pro tem was running, another council member was running and another citizen was running."
Back then, downtown businesses were craving a boost after dealing with slow sales during a recession. That issue drew candidates into the race. Stirling says a plan to build the Little Nell hotel was controversial.
"The Little Nell proposed to build a hotel of a couple hundred rooms that was going to go up the ski slope. When I first ran, I ran against that proposal."
Managing growth and preserving views are issues that come up every election. The issue attracting candidates this election, Stirling says, is a proposed charter amendment. It’ll be on the ballot, asking voters if they want a say in development projects that go outside city code.
On Friday, City of Aspen Clerk Linda Manning held a drawing for how candidates’ names will appear on the ballot.
To make the selections, Manning grabbed two people off the street. Visitors Stephanie Fegan and her friend were at Peaches Corner Cafe, across from City Hall.
"We were just eating breakfast," says Fegan.
"We want it to be a random process, as far as how someone’s name is going to appear on the ballot," says Manning. "Especially when you have two names. We don’t want staff to determine the order of names on the ballot. We want it to be a random process."
It’s not uncommon to have so many names on the Aspen ballot. We examined records dating back to the municipal election of 1995. Each race for mayor and council since then has had a healthy number of candidates. The lowest was eight in 1997. The most was in 2009, when 13 people were on the ballot. That year former mayor Mick Ireland beat opponent Marilyn Marks. Marks later sued the city for access to the ballots.
"We just think it’s great that we have so many citizens who want to be a part of Aspen’s government," says Manning. "There’s lots of representation from the community. We just want as many people as possible to become involved."
Aspen isn’t alone with a stacked ballot this year. Sam Mamet is with the Colorado Municipal League.
"For some of our larger cities that have elections next month. Fort Collins and Colorado Springs come to my mind. They’ve got a large number of people running for council."
About a dozen cities and towns across the state are holding regular municipal elections this spring. Mamet says the people drawn to run share several characteristics.
"They are people in the community who have civic pride, they’re interested in public service, they’re interested in trying to solve various problems, they get wrapped up in a particular issue."
Running for office, he says, is the easy part. Governing is challenging. Former mayor Bill Stirling knows that first hand. He faced a recall election his final year as mayor. Still, he deeply believes in the process.
"In a small town, we’re the very backwater of our republic. And so, if democracy can’t work here, I don’t know where it can work."
Ballots go in the mail on April 13th. The election is May 5th.