On Saturday, September 26, the Douglas County Democrats will hold an Oktoberfest celebration from 1PM until 5PM at the Barking Goat Tavern in Castle Pines North. The event is a benefit to raise money for the 2010 election year. Tickets (go to www.douglasdemocrats.org) are $20 for adults and $11 for children, and cover a delicious lunch of burgers, brats, veggie burgers and side dishes. There will also be a cash bar. Our special guest will be former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Andrew Romanoff, who has all but officially announced his campaign for US Senate. Candidates running for the school board will also be available for your questions. Raffle tickets purchased for $2 will give you the chance to win some great prizes, including tickets to the final Rockies home game.

The following Saturday, the Castle Rock Downtown Merchants Association will be holding their Oktoberfest, which they bill as the "quintessential Oktoberfest experience". You won't be seeing our presence among the booths that line downtown Castle Rock on that day, because there is a policy against political and religious organizations having booths at any of the Merchants Association's events during the year. This policy was instituted a few years ago, after, I am told, a fight broke out at their Oktoberfest over politics, which did not involve Democrats. This is not the first time that this organization has excluded members of their community......their original name did not include the word "Downtown" until Castle Rock merchants outside the downtown area complained that they were not allowed to join.

Well, there are any number of arguments that I could make against having this policy, including citing other family friendly events like the Douglas County Fair, where everyone is welcome and where we, as Democrats that are vastly outnumbered, have not experienced discord. The Merchants Association puts on the majority of the events in Castle Rock, so the Castle Rock Democrats are effectively excluded from having this kind of involvement in the town by this policy. The other two main entities that put on events, the Town of Castle Rock itself, and the Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, do not have such a policy, and neither the Mayor of Castle Rock, Randy Reed, nor Jim Mundle, the President of the Merchants Association, support the policy. Mr. Mundle's board members voted recently to let this policy stand, without any input from the community. The Merchants Association will take approximately thirty thousand dollars from the Town of Castle Rock this year, so if you are a Castle Rock taxpayer, maybe you should be finding out who is on the Board of the Merchants Association and let them know that this is not ok.

Fundamentally, it's just not a good business practice to exclude certain members of the community. We are all dedicated to having a County seat that is economically healthy and vibrant, so let's come together to promote this goal. We hope to see all of you at our Oktoberfest on September 26.