Vote Levy for county commissioner

Here’s the good news about the race for the District 1 seat on the Boulder County Board of Commissioners: Regardless of who wins, local residents will be represented by someone with deep roots in the community, an accomplished professional background, and a wealth of ideas about how to make Boulder County a better place.

Because Cinda Kochen is a Republican running in what has long been a Democratic stronghold, some people might be tempted to dismiss her candidacy without a lot of thought. In our view, that would be a big mistake.

Kochen has lived in Boulder County for four decades, including time in Boulder and Longmont before settling into her current home west of Boulder. She’s been a teacher at various levels ranging from preschool through college. She’s a former vice president of the Boulder Valley Educators Association and has been involved in advocacy for various issues before the Colorado Legislature.

She’s also co-authored “The Baby Swim Book” and serves as chief executive officer of The Shower Scene, a business that sells environmentally friendly shower caps. And, in the interest of full disclosure, she’s a former member of the Daily Camera’s Editorial Advisory Board.

If elected, we believe that Kochen would be one of those “outside the box” thinkers producing creative solutions to problems that might not occur to anyone else. She has a lot of enthusiasm and certainly seems sincere about her desire to serve as a county commissioner.

She has the misfortune, however, of being matched against Claire Levy, whose resume and planned approach to the job are also very impressive. Levy, an attorney and former executive director for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, has lived in Boulder County for 34 years.

She’s been active in numerous civic and governmental organizations within the community, including PLAN Boulder County, the Boulder Arts Academy, the Boulder Ballet, the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Committee, the

Boulder County Housing Authority, and the Boulder Planning Board.

And she’s done more than advocate for issues before the Legislature; she actually served in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013. Having previous experience as an elected official, albeit at a different level of government, is significant. Levy has insider knowledge of how to get things done within the structure of a government organization, which isn’t as easy or intuitive as some people apparently believe it to be.

In an editorial last week, we expressed some concern about having three like-minded partisan commissioners making decisions without anyone to challenge their thinking. It’s possible that, if elected, Levy would serve on the board with two other Democrats. Democrats have dominated the board for many years.

Yet Levy seems like someone whose approach to governing would be pragmatic and not necessarily driven by party ideology. She also seems ready to tackle the nitty-gritty issues of county government that don’t always generate big headlines.

For example, she believes the county should take responsibility for road maintenance in rural subdivisions, a sticky policy question that some commissioners have preferred to sidestep in the past. And she seems attuned to the concerns of farmers in the county’s rural areas, expressing willingness to follow the science on issues like the use of genetically modified crops.

As far as intangibles go, Levy seems like she might have an easier time organizing her thoughts and translating them into plans of action than Kochen would.

We don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that Kochen would be a bad choice. She wouldn’t. We just believe that Levy would be a better choice.

We recommend that Boulder County residents vote for Levy for the board of commissioners’ District 1 seat.