Chamberland takes BOCC position away from Starr

Curry still in the mix

Republican Phil Chamberland declared victory Tuesday night in the race for District 3 Gunnison County Commissioner, defeating three-term incumbent Jim Starr on Election Day to take a four-year stint as a Gunnison County commissioner.

Chamberland pulled in 3,418 votes, or more than 54 percent, of the 6,247 votes cast in the commissioner’s race.
With Chamberland’s election, the Board of County Commissioners will now have members from both sides of the political aisle for the first time in nearly a decade as Chamberland’s counterparts, Hap Channell and Paula Swenson, are both Democrats. However, Chamberland aligned himself as a moderate Republican candidate who shares many of the current commissioners’ views.
“I’m ecstatic, but I am humbled by the broad base of support that I got,” Chamberland said after a celebration at Maxwell’s Restaurant in Crested Butte. “I had a lot of business owners that were supporting me and that makes me want to work really hard to try to create something and get something done that will help people, especially in the business community.”
Since moving to the Gunnison Valley in 1994, Chamberland has served on many area boards and commissions, including the Gunnison Fire Protection District, the county Planning Commission and the Gunnison Valley Hospital Board, as well as his current position with the Gunnison County Sno-Trackers snowmobile club.
“I thank Jim [Starr] for the service he’s done. He’s been an asset to the community and I’m sure he will continue to be an asset to the community,” Chamberland said. “I can’t imagine that he won’t continue to be involved. But the bottom line is that I’m humbled and honored by it all and I’ll be the hardest working commissioner out there.”
And Starr confirmed that he isn’t going anywhere. He has been serving on the Board of County Commissioners since 1999, most recently as chairmen, and will end his third four-year term as a county commissioner in January. But he says he will continue to be involved in the community.
“It’s been a real privilege to serve the folks of Gunnison County as a county commissioner,” Starr said. “You can be sure that I’ll remain active in the areas that are important to all of us and I congratulate Phil and wish him the best.”
“I’ve tried my best to represent the will of the majority of people in the county and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish and continue to think the people and the beauty around us are the best we can have. Thanks, everyone, for all of the support they’ve shown me,” said Starr.
The District 3 county commissioner’s seat will change hands in January.

Waiting on Curry
The race for Colorado House District 61 is a nail biter. Incumbent Kathleen Curry, an independent, appears to have a chance to take the seat over Democrat Roger Wilson and Republican Luke Korkowski. Initial reports have Wilson winning the seat.
Curry was a write-in candidate and the five counties where the race is on the ballot are taking their time tabulating all the write-in votes. As of Wednesday afternoon, results have Wilson garnering 462 more votes than Curry’s write-in total. Korkowski was 603 votes behind Wilson. Here’s where it gets tricky. There are approximately 1,500 so-called “under votes” where the House District 61 space was either left blank or had a name written in but without the box being checked off.
Curry had filed a lawsuit with the state to make sure all the under votes get counted. The Secretary of State’s office has said they should be included only on a recount. The judge is expected to rule on Curry’s argument Thursday.
Curry believes if the under votes are tabulated, she has a chance of winning the election. “We think there are a lot of people who didn’t check the box but wrote in my name. If those votes are counted, it may change the end result.”
By the way, Curry killed it in Gunnison County. She received 2,904 write-in votes compared to Korkowski’s 1,591 and Wilson’s 1,538 votes.

Proposed Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101
In a resounding defeat, Gunnison County voters and the electorate statewide shot down three ballot initiatives aimed at slashing taxes and putting a stop to all types of government borrowing.
People of all political persuasions across the state had denounced the initiatives and the outcome of Tuesday’s election showcased a widespread rejection of the proposed Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101.
Amendment 60 went down in the county with 5,046 votes against and just 1,180, or less than 19 percent, of the votes going in favor of the measure. Of the 6,267 Gunnison County voters who placed a vote on Amendment 61, more than 78 percent, or 4,900 people, rejected the proposal.
Amendment 61 was the only question on the ballot to get more voter participation than the Gunnison County Commissioner’s race.
Proposition 101 would have reduced vehicle registration fees and specific ownership taxes. It was also defeated by nearly 75 percent of Gunnison County voters. In all three cases, the rejection of the measures by Gunnison County voters was even more dramatic than in the rest of the state, where only about 70 percent of the voters were opposed.

Congressional and Senate races
Gunnison County voters threw their support behind Michael Bennet for U.S. Senate with 3,402 votes, while Ken Buck garnered 2,373 votes in the county.
Gunnison County voters parted ways with the majority of district-wide voters in the race for U.S. Congressman for District 3. Gunnison County voted for John Salazar but Scott Tipton won the race. Gunnison County voters gave the incumbent more than 60 percent, or 3,756 votes to Tipton’s 2,292.
Gunnison County voters also overwhelmingly supported state senator Gail Schwartz as she won back her seat; she took 57 percent of the county votes to 42 percent for Bob Rankin.
For complete election results, go to http://www.gunnisoncounty.org/elections_results.html.