Author: LYNN BARTELS Special to Colorado Politics
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BARTELS: Kathy Packer packs it up after spending 31 years at Colorado Secretary of State
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When Kathy Packer started working at the age of 18, Dick Lamm was governor of Colorado, Federico Peña was mayor of Denver and Secretary of State Natalie Meyer was her boss. “Natalie was a very classy, professional lady, always very poised and put together,” Packer recalled. Packer would go on to work for seven more secretaries of…
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BARTELS: Nevada’s secretary of state joins Wayne Williams for clerk tours
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Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams teamed up with his counterpart from Nevada Monday to visit county clerks in Broomfield, Clear Creek and Arapahoe the day before the primary election. Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske was interested in touring counties using the latest equipment from Dominion Voting Systems. Her state uses an older…
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BARTELS: Turnout varies in primary, but county, Colorado election officials busy
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Fremont County Clerk Katie Barr isn’t sure whether her county is headed to its lowest primary election turnout in years or if there’s going to be a rush of ballots on Tuesday. “It’s really slow,” she said. “I don’t know why people aren’t participating in the primary this year.” Larimer County Clerk Angela Myers told…
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BARTELS: Elbert County: shopping while voting
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Twin airbed mattresses are on sale for $7.97 at the Wal-Mart in Elizabeth and as an added bonus, Elbert County shoppers can drop off their ballots for Tuesday’s primary election. The local Wal-Mart and the Elbert County clerk have teamed up to make it easier for citizens to vote. So far, no one’s voted…
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BARTELS: Colorado Common Cause hands out awards, lauds bi-partisanship
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The invite from attorney Martha Tierney took me by surprise: “Friend, I would be delighted if you would join me at my table in support of Colorado Common Cause for a Champions for Democracy luncheon and fundraiser.” As a journalist, I tangled over the years with Tierney and Common Cause on several issues, including…
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BARTELS: Williams Williams lives up to ideals behind the Truman Scholarship
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Wayne Williams was a junior at Brigham Young University in 1985 when he was awarded a Truman Scholarship, given to students because of their “leadership potential and interest in government and public service.” Did they get it right? Well, Williams would go on to become chairman of the Colorado Springs Housing Authority and the El…
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BARTELS: Honoring “The Lady of the House”
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Lawmakers past and present showed up Tuesday to pay tribute to Lee Bahrych, the former chief clerk of the state House who loved the Capitol as much as she despised the pranks rowdy lawmakers were prone to pull. Former staffer Donna Acierno recalled how Bahrych once got so annoyed with Rep. Scott McInnis she…
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BARTELS: In memory of Lee Bahrych, former chief clerk of the state House
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Lee Bahrych, who served as chief clerk of the Colorado House of Representatives, retired from the state more than two decades ago but her legacy lives on today. It was her idea that when a former representative passed away, their families be invited into the House chamber when the memorial was read and adopted. When…
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BARTELS: Deputy SOS Suzanne Staiert: “That sense of duty toward country”
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Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert told a group of new U.S. citizens Wednesday there’s a reason she feels such a bond with them when she attends naturalization ceremonies. ‘My father and mother met on a U.S. campus. My father’s Iranian, my mother’s American,” she said. “When we were very young we went over…
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BARTELS: “You are now citizens of the greatest country …"
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By Lynn Bartels and Julia Sunny In a ceremony marked by elation and emotion, 79 people from 33 countries lifted their right hands Wednesday and become citizens of the country they love. “I am so grateful to be in the United States,” said Rachel Kalonda, 48, who is from the Congo. “I feel so…