Vote 2002
Three duke it out in HD33
Allen wants dramatic education overhaul
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by Staff (Editorial@boulderweekly.com)

Shawn Mitchell (R-Incumbent) is confident of a third term as the representative of Colorado House District 33, despite a "vigorous campaign" from Democratic opponent Vince Buzek. "I'm not going to be the one who's surprised," he says.

Mitchell expects opposition from the Democratic Party, but he sometimes wonders why the Libertarian Party puts up candidates against him, a fiscal conservative popular among Libertarians.

One reason for that popularity is Mitchell's advocacy of increased choice in education. "This next session, I will introduce a bill on school choice to give parents more control," Mitchell said. "It will be a universal public scholarship bill available to all families to make that choice." Mitchell says 'scholarship' is a euphemism for 'voucher'.

Mitchell's political role model is ex-President Ronald Reagan. "He combined a love of freedom with a genial, disarming personality to produce overpowering effect," Mitchell wrote in response to a Rocky Mountain News questionnaire.

Mitchell is a Mormon who graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Geography from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He earned his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

In an economic downturn, cuts in the state budget will have to be considered but Mitchell says he would be fair-minded and even-handed in making cuts across the board. Education would be exempted, he noted, because of Amendment 23's constitutional mandate to increase education funding every year.

"That will result in some painful cuts" in areas other than education, Mitchell says.

The state representative opposes lowering the DUI threshold from .10 to .08 blood alcohol percentage.

Vincent Buzek (D) has been a Broomfield councilman since 1999, and he advocates "common-sense representation" in state government as well as inclusion for all citizens.

Buzek supports increasing education funding to lower class sizes, and calls vouchers "nothing more than a concession to failure."

Urban growth is "not necessarily evil," Buzek says, "but these negative impacts of growth-including overcrowded schools and roadways-can and must be addressed by making growth pay its own way and by implementing growth management tools that allow communities to put in place meaningful comprehensive growth plans."

Spiraling health care costs are the greatest burden to senior citizens, single parents and low-income workers, Buzek notes. "Access to quality health care should not be a privilege but a right enjoyed by all," he said.

The state budget illustrates "the lack of common-sense representation," Buzek says, when a $800 million surplus has been whittled away to a nearly $1.2 billion deficit. The solution to the state's economic woes, he contends, is to support existing businesses, create new jobs and promote tourism.

Gun violence is a problem in Colorado, according to Buzek, and "reasonable background checks... and policies addressing gun safety are required to protect all citizens... as well as police officers charged with our safety."

Buzek supports forfeiture laws to hinder "drug dealers and career criminals."

W. Earl Allen (L) is running for office for the fourth time, and enjoying every minute of it. His first candidacy was for Congressional District 2, and since then he has run three times for the state House of Representatives in his home district.

Allen is a devout 7th Day Adventist and vegetarian who owns his own computer imaging company, AllMax, located in Broomfield.

Like Mitchell, Allen favors a voucher system to privatize and reform public schools. "I see the public schools being easily returned to the private sector, and poor people with children being educated by scholarships and private schools."

People need the freedom to raise and educate their children as they see fit, Allen says. "If you want your kids indoctrinated and brainwashed, and you want them brainwashed as an atheist, you send them to an atheist school. If you want them brainwashed as Christian, you send them to a Christian school."

Some of Mitchell's positions on tax issues and school choice please Libertarians, Allen acknowledged, but Mitchell is no Libertarian. "If he were a Libertarian, I would be happy to drop out. As a real Libertarian, I can take a position that he, with all of seven of his children in public schools, is unwilling to take.

"There are really only two things voters have to know: I'm not a lawyer and I am a Libertarian," Allen said. "We can do less and have more. Small government is beautiful."

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