The LWVD Newsletter
October 2023 | Ballot Issue Briefing
Tuesday, October 3, 5:00 p.m.
 Please plan to attend a briefing we are co-hosting with Colorado Social Legislation Committee about the local and state issues that will be on the November ballot. The virtual event will be held on Tuesday, October 3 at 5:00 p.m. Lis Brown of the LWVD Voter Service Committee will explain Referred Measure 2P regarding the Denver Preschool Program, which was referred by Denver City Council. Geoff Withers, who serves with the LWVCO Action and Advocacy group, will present the two state ballot issues: Proposition HH - Reduce Property Taxes and Retain State Revenue, and Proposition II – Retain Nicotine Tax Revenue in Excess of Blue Book Estimate. See Lis and Geoff's summaries of the ballot issues below. There will be time allotted for questions.
By attending the briefing, you will learn more about the ballot issues and be a good resource for friends and family.
Zoom Link
| Denver's Ballot Issue on the November 7 Ballot
There is only one Denver ballot proposal on Denver’s ballot this November. It is referred Measure 2P: Denver Preschool Program. The proposal is for an ordinance removing the December 31, 2026 expiration date for the existing 0.15 percent sales and use tax that has been dedicated to funding the Denver Preschool Program for the past 17 years.The continuation of the existing sales tax will allow the Denver Preschool Program to continue without interruption. In essence, it removes the “sunset” provision in this program, so that the preschool program may be extended beyond 2026.
Diane Young | LWVD Board Votes to Support Referred Measure 2P
The LWVD has closely followed efforts to publicly fund the Denver Preschool Program (DPP). In 2006 voters approved a 0.12% sales tax to give preschool tuition credits to Denver families. That legislation had an eight-year expiration date, but in 2014 voters reauthorized DPP with a 0.03% increase, and in 2016 voters approved the 0.15% higher rate through 2026. In each instance, LWVD's position was supportive. In its 17 years, DPP, a non-profit corporation, has helped 65,000 Denver children attend preschool (double the national average).
In November, 2023, Denver voters will be asked to vote on Referred Measure 2P "Denver Preschool Program" 23-0513. Given DPP's past success and well-run administration, the Board of the League of Women Voters of Denver voted by consensus to take a position in support of Referred Measure 2P. For more information about this Measure, please see LWVD's Pro/Con brochure or this article in the Denverite.
Sue Stark, Co-Director of Program | Colorado's
Ballot Issues on the November 7 Ballot
Statewide Measure HH
Cuts property tax assessment rates and limits local government revenue, providing tax relief for property owners. Additional cuts for qualified owners with a homestead exemption; makes homestead exemptions portable to another property; and makes such portability retroactive to anyone who lost such an exemption by moving out of a qualified home. Allows state government to retain excess TABOR revenue to use for grants to schools, fire departments and other local governments if the lowered assessment rates caused a shortfall in property tax revenue.
Statewide Measure II
Allows the state government to retain excess revenue received from the increased tobacco tax that was approved at the 2020 election and use it for expanded Pre-Kindergarten schooling, it’s original purpose.
Geoff Withers | A Busy Fall for the Voter Service Committee
LWV Ballot Guides
As always, information regarding the state and local ballot issues will be available on Vote411.org as well as the LWVCO and LWVDenver websites. These are great resources to share with others. LWVD has ordered a limited number of paper guides that cover the two Colorado Propositions and the Denver Referred Measure. Contact Fran at the LWVD office if you’d like some paper guides to distribute at community locations.
Denver Decides Forum for School Board Candidates
LWVD will once again partner with Denver Channel 8 and Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation (INC) to hold forums for candidates for the Denver School Board under the Denver Decides umbrella. There are two district positions and one at-large position up for election this fall. The forums will be televised from the Channel 8 studios and appear live on Channel 8.
| Thursday, October 5 |
8:00 p.m. |
DPS Board Director - District 1 |
2 candidates |
| Thursday, October 12 |
6:00 p.m. |
DPS Board Director-At-Large |
4 candidates |
| |
8:00 p.m. |
Proposition HH |
2 speakers |
| Wednesday, October 18 |
7:00 p.m. |
DPS Board Director - District 5 |
3 candidates |
Tune in to Channel 8 or Facebook for the live events or view them on the web at a later date.
September Voter Registration Activities
LWVD Circulators have visited a variety of campuses in September. Here are some photos of the Anschutz Medical Campus Block Party. We partnered with service sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha for the event. The small pup was not old enough to register :)
Lisa Haddox, Voter Service Chair
| Join Us!
Saturday, October 7
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Montview Blvd. Presbyterian Church
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrate Latino culture, dance and history with the League of Women Voters of Denver. The event will feature folklórico dancers from ArtistiCO, Latino refreshments, and insights on the roots of Latino current day struggles from Latina historian Virginia Sánchez, author of Pleas and Petitions: Hispano Culture and Legislative Conflict in Territorial Colorado. Westside Books will have books available for sale.
Jeanette Scotland | Flower Bulbs are on their Way (Hopefully)
Our supplier in Holland scheduled our over 11,000 bulbs to leave the warehouse September 22, but we must realize it is a long journey. See the accompanying picture of our supplier of 30 years, Peter Esseveld, loading the truck with the bulbs before departing for the dock.The container must be loaded onto a ship (and last year the container remained near the dock for a week), make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean, go through customs on the east coast, get on a truck, head to Denver via Nashville, be transferred to smaller truck, and delivered to the City Park Greenhouse at 2500 E. 23rd Ave., where we have been fortunate to count, sort, and package our bulbs for over 30 years. If they arrive in New York on October 10 as they are scheduled, we will hopefully do our work the week of October 16. We cannot work on the weekends, and we must leave the greenhouse by 3:00 p.m. each day, which is why we try to start around 8:30 a.m.
 Many of you have been helping with this work for many years. It brings us together in a very different way. We’d welcome some new willing hands but know that you have to stand on cement in often a very hot greenhouse for at least a couple of hours. We buy in bulk for greater profit, so we need to count all the bulbs into small sacks before we can even begin to fill orders. Regardless, if you bought or sold bulbs, please plan to pick them up as soon as we give you the word. We also need people to deliver to those customers who purchased on their own without a connection to a Leaguer. The greenhouse isn’t a good place to store bulbs, and people like to get them in the ground. Sometimes customers are not pleased that our bulbs aren’t delivered until the middle of October, but our Dutch supplier, who lives most of the year in Colorado, always says it is not good for the bulbs to be planted when it has been hot, and we know how warm Colorado can be in October. Also, remind people our bulbs come directly from Holland. They have not been in a store through the summer.
I will contact those who have worked the last couple of years when I know more. In the meantime, please let me know if you would like to be included in the emails. As far as pickup is concerned, we will let you know through the Thursday Updates.
As many of you know, this will probably be our last year with the bulb sale as our major fundraiser. Our supplier is retiring, and we are not encouraged that we will find another.
Marty Sloven (MSloven25@aol.com)
Flower Bulb Sale Co-Chair | Board Member Highlight
Holley Murphy
Member-At-Large
Editor’s Note: We are continuing this series of articles highlighting Board members. We thought you’d like to know a little more about their backgrounds and what League means to them. We’ve also asked them for recommendations on books, movies, or activities.
Holley Murphy is an evaluation specialist for the League of Women Voters of the United States. In her role, she assists with evaluation projects across the nationwide Leagues and within the LWVUS office.
Since 2018, Holley has conducted research and evaluation in Colorado’s early childhood education field. She partnered with the policy and advocacy team during her time at Clayton Early Learning and brought a data driven approach to their team as Policy Analyst before moving back into evaluation. Her passion for evaluation is driven by the chance to make change based on what is and is not working. She hopes to use her love for policy and her skills in evaluation to help make voting more accessible for everyone.
Holley holds a Master of Arts degree in Sociology from Texas State University. Her hobbies include reading, cooking, gardening, and spending time with her husband and two young sons. She is a Texan at heart, loves living in Denver, Colorado and being a LWVDenver member.
She suggestsThe Guest List by Lucy Foley because she loves a well-located mystery!
| How You Can Get Involved in League
LWVDenver has several active committees, all of which would welcome new members.
Voter Service Committee
This committee, headed by Voter Service Chair Lisa Haddox (lisa.m.haddox@gmail.com), has many crucial functions: voter registration, including potential voters in our schools, as well as those in our Denver jails; and voter education, including analyzing the issues on the ballot, speaking to groups about these issues, and hosting candidate forums, although never supporting or opposing candidates. If you are only interested in being trained as a circulator to register voters, that opportunity is also available.
Program Committee
This committee, headed by Co-Director of Program Sue Stark (susanstark1947@gmail.com), plans the briefing calendar for the year, assigning individual briefings to volunteers who set up the speaker(s) and the topics to be covered. The Program Area is also in charge of advocacy based on our established positions, whether it is a letter to the editor, the City Council, the school board or a League representative speaking at a public meeting.
Membership Committee
This group is headed by Membership Chair Cassie Bishop (cassandrabish@gmail.com). They promote League membership, by both gaining new and retaining existing members. They plan events to introduce potential members to what we do, attend events where we can display literature and encourage new members to get involved.
Development Committee
This committee is the fundraising arm of League, planning fundraising events, promoting contributions, and applying for grants to promote our mission. The convener for this group is Gordon Butz (gordonbutz@me.com).
LWVCO Task Forces
At the state level, the League of Women Voters of Colorado has many task forces on specific topics of interest to League members. Here is a link to their website and the list of these task forces. If you click on a specific task force, you will find details about their studies and the contact person. We’d love to see Denver members join these task forces. Members of the Denver League are also members of LWVCO. | A Very Successful Kick-Off Briefing - In Person!
Pictured: Leaguer Sue Stark, Matt Fritz-Mauer (Denver Labor), Rocio Arnaz (Communications), Denver Auditor Tim O'Brien, Leaguer Cindy Sestrich
Forty Denver Leaguers gathered for our first in person briefing in over three years with Sue Stark welcoming us warmly and supplying quite a spread of food for us to enjoy. Our primary speaker, Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien, gave us a thorough picture of the many aspects of the auditor’s office. He is an articulate speaker with a warm sense of humor. A second speaker, Matthew Fritz-Mauer, is the Executive Director of the Denver Labor division of the auditor’s office, a section that very few of us had heard of, whose mission is to ensure Denver workers are paid what they deserve. Of particular interest was Auditor O’Brien’s request that we work to require some greater qualifications to run for Denver auditor which right now stipulates only an age and residency requirement.
Although not a professional copy, the evening was taped on Zoom and is available on our website and here. | VOTER Articles Welcome!
We welcome articles from all members. We publish the VOTER on the fourth Thursday, so the deadline to submit articles is the Friday before. Here are the next dates:
| Article Deadline |
Voter Publication Date |
| Friday, Oct. 19 |
Thursday, Oct. 26 |
| Friday, Dec 1 |
Thursday, Dec. 7 |
Please send your articles or ideas about articles to pzelarney@yahoo.com. | LWV Denver Units
A great place for meaningful conversations
Cheesman Unit
Meets the 4th Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., mostly in-person
Next in-person meeting is Tuesday, October 24 at 9:00 a.m. (call for location)
Leaders: Bobbie Heisterkamp (303-333-6818) and Mary Ann Thompson
Cherrington Unit
Meets Thursday following briefings at 1:00-3:00 p.m. in-person
Next meeting is October 19 (call for location)
Leaders: Peg Oldham (720-220-3988) and Andrea Mitchell
Highland/Woodbury Unit
In-Person Meetings on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1:00 p.m.
Next meeting is October 18 at Sassafras Restaurant, 3927 W 32nd Ave, (80212)
Leaders: Sally Augden (303-455-5800) and Mary Ann Feldman Lang
Observatory Unit
Meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 4:00 p.m.
Next meeting is October 24 (call for location)
Meetings from Nov-Feb will be on Zoom.
Co-Leaders: Diane Young (303-886-3365) and Jeanette Scotland (303-479-4368) | The Observatory Unit had a Potluck in September
A wide range of issues were discussed during the potluck and give a good example of discussions held in Units. Units are such a good place to dive deeper into issues and meet people. Consider joining one today!
Unit members had a lively discussion of the two state and one city ballot issues. Pros and cons were debated, and the group looks forward to the official pro/cons from both the state and Denver Leagues along with League's positions on the issues.
The Unit identified details of the current state legislature project for 16-year-old students being allowed to sign up to vote. ‘Student Voice Student Vote Act’ or HB20-1149, is not finalized, but would allow 16-year-olds in Colorado to vote in local school board elections and mill levy decisions. This isn’t a full voter right, but students would have a voice in the school districts that educate them. Signing up to vote at an early age might encourage young people to continue to vote through college and beyond as research has shown voting becomes a habit for many who start at a young age.
Terry Cookro, Unit Organization
| Please Renew Your Membership or
Become a Member Today
If you received this email VOTER and are not a member, please consider joining us. If it's time to renew your membership, consider doing it online.
Follow this link to join or renew at one of our membership levels and remember that it covers Denver, Colorado and National membership. Also, please consider renewing at the sustaining or benefactor membership level. Membership dues are tax deductible.
| Regular Individual Membership |
$60 |
| Sustaining membership (includes an additional donation) |
$125 |
| Benefactor membership (includes additional donation)
|
$300 |
Two regular members at the same address
|
$90 |
| Two sustaining members at the same address (includes an additional donation) |
$150 |
| Two benefactor members at the same address (includes an additional donation)
|
$450 |
Member needing assistance with paying dues
|
$5 |
| Part or full-time student |
$10 |
Members: Forward this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join! | Consider a Sustaining or Benefactor Membership
We appreciate all those who pay $60 to be a member. However, the LWV Denver can only keep $8 of that $60 and the rest goes to Per Member Payments to the LWVCO and LWVUS. For those who are able, think about paying a sustaining $125 membership that gives the LWV Denver $73 or a benefactor $300 membership that gives the LWV Denver $248 to use for our education activities, to support our office and to continue our voter service resources for the city of Denver. Thank you!
Bobbie Heisterkamp, Treasurer
| | 1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303-321-7571 | | | |