(Boulder, CO) - PLAN-Boulder County encourages consideration of a handful of top contenders in the upcoming city council special election to fill the open seat left by the passing of Tom Eldridge, although the group's board declined to endorse a specific candidate.

"We are encouraged by the large field of candidates interested in running for the city council," stated Pat Shanks, Chair of PLAN-Boulder County. "Although we declined to endorse a specific candidate, there are five candidates in particular that we encourage voters to look at carefully."

Specifically, the Board of PLAN-Boulder County concluded that five candidates warrant particularly serious consideration: newcomers Eugene Pearson, Susan Peterson, and Angelique Espinoza, and the more experienced Ken Wilson and Matt Appelbaum. Pearson and Peterson are both very supportive of PLAN-Boulder principles, and would bring fresh perspectives and high energy to the council position; it is clear that the city will benefit from their ongoing engagement in local politics. If experience were the only criterion, Ken Wilson and Matt Appelbaum would be the candidates of choice. Both demonstrate a grasp of the details and the people involved in city governance. Wilson's experience on the water resources board is a notable asset, and Appelbaum's institutional memory would provide a useful perspective. Angelique Espinoza looks like a promising political leader, but little information was available to us about her because she has been busy dealing with a family emergency.

"There are many important growth and environment issues pending before the city council, which will greatly influence Boulder's future," noted PLAN-Boulder County board member, Thom Kruger. "So we encourage everyone to learn about the candidates, find someone you believe in, and be sure to vote."

During regular municipal elections, PLAN-Boulder County makes endorsements on city council candidates based on a rigorous inquiry by the board into candidate qualifications. To that end, PLAN-Boulder County distributed an in-depth questionnaire focused on growth and environment issues to the 14 city council candidates. The speed of this special election, however, truncated a fuller process because of the large field of candidates and the short time between candidate announcements and the issuance of ballots. As a result, after meeting to consider the results of their candidate questionnaire and additional available information, the PLAN-Boulder County board concluded that the amount of information available was inadequate to fairly evaluate all candidates.

PLAN-Boulder County endorsement requires a two-thirds majority of the board, based on the criteria that a candidate stands firmly for PLAN-Boulder County's principles, understands municipal issues, is experienced in city government (either in elected office, on city boards/commissioners, or with activist groups), and shows a clear ability to assume a leadership role on the council. While many of the candidates demonstrated some of those qualities, the full mix of attributes was not clearly embodied in any one candidate enough to garner the necessary majority vote of the board. Consequently, the board declined to endorse any specific candidate, but decided instead to provide the information we have recently collected to our membership and the public.

The candidates' responses to PLAN-Boulder County's questionnaire are posted on the group's website at www.PLANBoulder.org. In addition, this same information will be sent out on the People's Advocate e-mail list (to request inclusion, please email Advocate@PLANBoulder.org).

Concluded Pat Shanks, "The board of PLAN-Boulder County would like to thank all the candidates for their civic spirit and thoughtful responses to our inquiries. We look forward to an exciting general election season in the fall."