Disappointment in Dem’s race for governor

I’m angry.

I can’t idly sit by. I’m angry at the mailer I received from a partisan group supporting public school teachers that shamefully impugns the record of Congressman Jared Polis, candidate for governor. Their attack centers on his having provided startup funds for a handful of schools (I’m guessing it is three) that were successful and continue as charter schools to serve our most vulnerable students, mostly from immigrant families and those employed in the service sector industries, the very children most likely to be underserved by any school system. Believe me — these are not those charter schools for children with curricula designed for upper-class families that compete for public funds. Polis would be thrilled if the legislature and school boards would provide funding that leaves no students behind. They didn’t — he stepped to the plate. I stand in support of public school teachers. I also support Jared Polis for our next governor.

Tom Parsons, Breckenridge

Insider politics within party structures creates difficult decisions. From the Democratic candidates for governor, Donna Lynn is likely the most levelheaded and competent, yet she has no chance of being elected. Mike Johnson is running a good campaign, but the run to the finish is between Cary Kennedy, who has a strong following, and Jared Polis, who has a boatload of money. On the Republican side, Walker Stapleton seems the anointed candidate. On all sides, the question is about who can carry the statewide vote. Personally, a contest between Polis and Stapleton is a depressing affair. Four years of either in the spotlight seems daunting.

Robert Porath, Boulder

The Teachers for Kennedy PAC began negative TV ads against Democratic candidates for governor Jared Polis and Mike Johnston on May 30, exactly one week before primary election ballots were mailed to registered voters across the state. The group is expected to spend over $1.1 million dollars helping Cary Kennedy. However, it would be a breach of campaign-finance law if any campaign and PAC, or what’s officially termed an independent expenditure organization, communicate with one another during an election.

It is an insult to voters’ intelligence that we are supposed to accept Teachers for Kennedy did not coordinate their well-timed major media buy with the candidate’s campaign. It’s possible, but improbable. How can any candidate allow to be filmed in carefully choreographed sets and close-ups and not ask who is videotaping them and for what purpose? It requires a leap of the imagination to believe that neither Kennedy nor her campaign inquired as to why she was being filmed?

Our state’s campaign-finance laws appear to be nothing more than the paper they were printed on.

Jeffery Moser , Aurora