Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my support for Sandy Hollingsworth for Gilpin County District 3 Commissioner. Sandy has experience. As current Commissioner she knows county work. Decades in governance and public service have taught her how government differs from a business, and where profitability and social value may overlap.

Sandy has a foundational understanding of political processes and economics. She is working now to conserve our watersheds and our natural resources. She is engaged with legislation to improve train safety and establish potential local service. She has the networking in place to make our county “the richest” again for all citizens who live here. But what do we want to be rich in, gambling money?

Sandy has moral fiber. Have you seen those commissioner candidates with dollar signs lighting up their eyes (“I’ll take the million dollars!”). They parrot “no new taxes” but would give Black Hawk the ability to raise my business tax up to 10%. You don’t save money by borrowing it while surrendering yourself into servitude, or building on the cheap, putting lipstick on the pig to cover you short-term for political points. Unlike the poor limping Community Center which has needed constant maintenance from the get-go (Sandy has ensured the county is funding delayed capital improvements), what we build should last 40 years into the future.

Sandy has empathy. She is responsive, available to answer questions. When I have e-mailed her with a bit of disconcerting county gossip, she gives me unbiased, balanced information. One of Sandy’s priorities is the safety net of the food bank, modernized to last, for people needing food for their families.

Politics that divide us with rude jokes and distorted facts belong in our colorful historical past, along with those harmful mining activities which left the earth in shambles, and that pesky white male privilege which is entwined in the Romantic myth of a Western way of life. Why would we go back to them? Let us vote to keep Sandy Hollingsworth County Commissioner and continue the way forward.

Jane Wyss

North Gilpin County