Dear Gilpin County Independents,

I am your neighbor John Pineau. We have lived here for 30 years, our kids were born and raised in Gilpin, I am the President of the Gilpin County Bar Association, and a proud, flag-waving independent voter. It appears that on November 5, Gilpin County, and Colorado as a whole, will go to Harris and Walz. Seems reasonable given that the alternative is to put someone in the White House who was held in contempt of court 10 times and convicted of 34 felonies.

In 40 years of working in the courts, I have never seen that many felony convictions and contempt of court in one trial. It might be a record, and certainly is for a President. If elected, would he have to break from his duties to meet with his probation officer, or, if incarcerated like Tina Peters, will he have to seek work-release, or a furlough, then show up wearing an ankle monitor? Or what about the 38 countries, including our closest allies, Canada and Great Britain, who do not permit felons to visit? If we are being honest (as we independents are), most of us would not allow a 34-time felon to babysit our kids, much less lead our country. And that does not begin to acknowledge what the hardcore Republicans who know Trump best have to say.

For example, Vice President Dick Cheney, "In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again." Or Trump's Chief of Staff, United States Marine Corp General John Kelly, "The depth of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else.  He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life." Or just this morning, I saw from Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of our ally Australia, "When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he's like the 12-year-old boy who goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team, 'My hero'. It's really creepy." And the list goes on, and on, and on.   

Again, Gilpin and Colorado will likely go to Harris and Walz.

But is that enough?

The Republican party chose Trump and they chose to make him their leader. Yet many Republicans, including those in Gilpin County, carefully remain silent about their choice. They support him in private. They support him among his cohorts. They support him financially. They are complicit, but silently deny him in public in the hopes of gaining our votes, while escaping responsibility for attempting to elect the greatest "threat to our republic". They will continue to play this dangerous game until it no longer works. And so, a teachable moment has arrived. The lesson to be taught is that attempting to elect an actual convicted felon can never happen again and is the worst decision a political party, Republican or Democrat, could ever make. To permanently implant this lesson on November 5, we must conclusively vote down Republicans at every level.  

Fortunately, in Gilpin County, the current blue alternatives are fit and reasonable. Through prudent and thrifty management, County Commissioner Sandy Hollingsworth has eliminated debt and left our county with a $30,000,000 surplus, of which $4,000,000 has been designated for emergency wildfire/disaster response. Raised in a military family, Ms. Hollingsworth has been actively open and responsive to all of us by maintaining a constant and steady dialogue with Gilpinites from all walks and stripes.

Forty years ago, Jeff Aiken was speeding to hospitals along our highways saving lives as an EMT and his energetic service to our community continues to this day as Central City Alderman, strong supporter of the Sheriff's Department, addiction counselor, devoted opposition to sexually oriented businesses, and a strong adherence to guiding principles that favor our continued quality of life over short-term financial schemes.

A message must be sent. A lesson must be taught. Vote blue from top to bottom.

Respectfully,

John Kenneth Pineau

Gilpin County