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November 27, 2014 VOLU M E 51 | I SS UE 1 5 | 5 0 ¢
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com A D A M S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Democrats suffer whiplash in vote tallies 1936 was last strong year for Adams County Republicans By Vic Vela
vvela@colorado communitymedia.com A lot of things have happened since 1936 — Hawaii and Alaska becoming states and the inventions of canned beer, color television and the Slinky, just to name a few. But prior to this month, Republicans doing really well in Adams County elections is something that had not happened in 78 years. “Before the Depression and the Franklin Roosevelt era, Adams County up until that point been a Republican county,” said longtime Republican Adams County politico and historian Bob Briggs. “The whole aspect of the Depression changed that and the Democrats have been in control since then.” Here’s a fact that really puts the election results from Nov. 4 into perspective: Until recently, a Chicago Cubs World Series appearance had been a more modernday historical moment than there being a majority of Republicans holding elected offices in Adams County.
That salt-in-the-wound reality is something county Democrats continue to ponder now that the votes from Nov. 4 have all been counted from an election where many Democrats lost races few thought were even possible to lose. “I never saw Democratic candidates out there doing anything, any sort of campaigning, and they took their wins for granted,” said Adams County Republican Party Chairman Gary Mikes. “We passed them up and by the time they realized it, they were done.” The results from Nov. 4 are striking: • Republican Beth MartinezHumenik defeated former Democratic state Rep. Judy Solano for an open state Senate seat that had been held by term-limited Democrat Lois Tochtrop. The win gave Republicans a one-seat majority in the chamber. • Democratic state Rep. Jenise May — who sits on the Legislature’s important Joint Budget Committee and who easily won her seat in 2012 — lost to JoAnn Windholz. What’s more stunning about May’s defeat is that Democrats considered her seat so safe, they pegged her to head an opera-
tion aimed at getting more Democrats elected to the House. • Democratic Attorney General candidate Don Quick lost Adams County by four points to opponent Cynthia Coffman, who won the election. Quick is the former district attorney for Adams County. • Of the 32,222 Adams County voters who cast ballots in the 6th Congressional District race, they overwhelmingly supported Republican Congressman Mike Coffman over Andrew Romanoff by a margin of more than 11 points. • Republican candidates won two county commission seats and, for the first time since 1936, they will hold the offices of sheriff, assessor, treasurer and clerk and recorder at the same time. All of this in a county where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 26,000 registered voters, about a 10-point advantage. And Adams is a county that is right up a Democratic candidate’s alley — a diverse, blue-collar county where many middle-class workers and families reside. “Anytime you have losses like
that it’s going to be alarming, sure,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacio. “We’ll take a long look at the numbers and we’ll figure out where the next steps are.” But gleeful Republicans think they know exactly where Democrats went wrong in Adams County. “The ruling Democratic elites forgot about the middle class, forgot about the people who work for a living, and that’s the only way to explain what happened in Adams County,” said Republican Frank McNulty, a former state speaker of the House of Representatives.
Voters frustrated
Current House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, who is term-limited and who will not be returning to the House in January, said what happened in Adams County earlier this month “surprised” him, but that he also understands the challenges the county faces and why voters may have taken out their frustration on Democrats. “You look at the issues around Adams County, there’s a lot of working-class families,” he said. “The state is in an economic recovery, but it hasn’t impacted some communities across this state.” Ferrandino said Democrats
have been effective in recent years in passing bills at the Legislature that would help middle-class families like those that live in Adams County. “We made higher education more affordable, child care assistance for families ...,” he said. “Those things need to be even more of a priority now.” State Rep. Joe Salazar of Thornton survived the Republican wave, but barely. Salazar’s seat was widely considered to be safe, yet he only managed to eke out a 221vote win over Republican Carol Beckler in a race that wasn’t decided until several days after Election Day. “I didn’t think it was going to be this close,” Salazar said. “I became nervous in September that I needed to do more in my district and we ran a very strong ground campaign, and thank God I did. I didn’t take my voters for granted.” Salazar doesn’t think the vote results were a referendum on Democratic policies, because he believes Democrats “have very good ground to stand on,” when it comes to legislative accomplishments that help middle-class families. Rather, Salazar chalks up the Vote continues on Page 18
Prospecting supply store helps folks pan for gold By Tammy Kranz
Contributing writer POSTAL ADDRESS
NORTHGLENN-THORNTON SENTINEL (ISSN 1044-4254) (USPS 854-980) OFFICE: 8703 Yates Dr., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Adams County, Colorado, the NorthglennThornton Sentinel is published weekly on Thursday by MetroNorth Newspapers, 8703 Yates DR., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WESTMINSTER, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 8703 Yates Dr., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legal: Fri. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 5 p.m. G ET SOCIAL WITH US
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Johnny Walker of Westminster looks and acts like you think a modern-day prospector would. Wearing a weathered hat, and sprinkling expressions like “I’ll be plum-tickled” in his dialogue, Walker is full of knowledge of the trade. “I’m the fourth generation, and my grandson is quite the pan shaker himself,” he said with a grin, leaning over to pet his beagle, Hunter. He added he can trace his family’s arrival to Colorado from Missouri to 1870. “This was all Spanish territory at that time,” he said. His ancestors traveled to the Rocky Mountain area to trap beavers and pan for gold. Walker owns Clear Creek Prospecting Supply, 1006 W. 104th Ave. in Northglenn, and he teach others all about the hobby he has done his entire life. “Sixty years worth of experience doing all this, what am I going to do, take it to the grave?” he said. And there’s lots of gold to be found in the Denver area. “Every single drainage ditch in Denver has gold in it,” Walker said, adding more gold is showing up recently. “Since the flood last year, people walk in with two to three times than you would expect normal to be. It brought down a lot of gold; it washed down the hills.” Mike Clark of Arvada stopped by the prospecting store to show Walker some of his findings from the past two weeks of panning. He estimated that between May and October, he found about $250 worth of gold. Clark took up panning about 18 months ago after he retired as
Johnny Walker, owner of Clear Creek Prospecting, demonstrates the proper way to pan for gold inside his shop in Northglenn. Gold panners shouldn’t shake the pan, he said, but swirl it around first. Photos by Tammy Kranz a welder and boiler maker with the railroad. “It gave me an outlet to spend time outdoors — you’d be amazed at the wildlife you can see by the rivers,” he said. “And I found a hobby that paid me to do it.” Many patrons, like Clark, return to the store with their haul to see if they found any goodies. According to Coloradoprospector.com, the state has more than 774 different types of minerals. “Rock identification in Colorado is a little more than challenging,” Walker said. Gold continues on Page 18
Johnny Walker holds up a glass vial he sells to prospectors to hold their gold – if a person filled this vial up with gold flakes, Walker said the value would be $500.