I am blogging the election at
Boulder City Council Election where my main effort is interviews with all the candidates. However, I am also trying to shed more transparency on the groups that endorse candidates as they have tremendous influence on people's votes.
To that end, I have sent the following to all of the groups:
Hello;
I write the blog Liberal & Loving It and as with the last City Council election, I am blogging on this election. You are at the forefront of citizen organizations advocating for improving our government in Boulder and that increased transparency has led to better government.
I am asking your support for greater transparency in the election process. The recommendations your organizations make in large part determines who is elected. As such, this means you are a major part of determining who we will have on the city council. Therefore, I am asking you to please answer the following questions which I will then post on my blog.
I think this information will help the voters better understand the basis for your recommendations. And that increased transparency will give us better educated voters. I think that is something we can all agree is a very important thing.
- Do you evaluate all candidates or just some? If just some, what are your criteria to pre-select the candidates you will consider?
- What are the steps in your process? (ie, questionaire, candidate presentation, etc.)
- If you give them a questionaire (if any), can you provide a copy? And can you provide the answers you received from each candidate?
- Who are the people in your organization that vote on who you select?
Finally, if you have a web page that is your central point for your endorsements, etc. in this election, please give me that and I will add a link to it from my blog.
I look forward to your answers. I think all of you will find it interesting to see how the other groups handle this very important effort.
Thanks - dave