NOT AGAIN
RUNNING CIRCLES
Arapahoe sheriff reflects on mass shootings
NEWS | PG 3
S O U T H
ROMEO & JULIET DANCE!
Glendale 180 finally makes a turnaround
Star-crossed lovers raise funds for Colorado Ballet
CORRIDOR | PG 7
FLEURISH | PG 14
M E T R O
VOLUME 36 • NUMBER 15 • MARCH 1, 2018
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Ginsburg demands stricter gun control, education funding
Businessman Noel Ginsburg, a Democratic candidate for governor, makes his pitch to about 100 invited guests last week in the Greenwood Village home of Paul and Nancy Oberman. Photo by Peter Jones
Democratic gubernatorial candidate makes stop in Greenwood Village Less than a week after a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school, Noel Ginsburg stood squarely with the students who have seemingly started a movement in the tragedy’s wake.
“The gun lobby is incredibly powerful. It’s killing people in our nation,” the Democratic candidate for governor said. “And we should be—not behind these kids—we should be in front of them delivering the same message.” Ginsburg, a Denver manufacturing and publicservice executive, visited the Greenwood Village home of longtime friends Paul and Nancy Oberman on Feb. 20 for an informal meet-and-greet and a cam-
paign stump that touched on a number of issues, but inevitably returned to gun violence. “These young kids who are standing up to our country and speaking honestly, truthfully, passionately really tells me that the future generation is why we should all be hopeful,” the candidate told a group of about 100 people in the Landmark residences. “It should also be why we take responsibility for where the country is today because it’s what we’re leaving to them that really matters.” Ginsburg, a self-described moderate and political outsider, is one hopeful in a
field of Democrats—including U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and former State Treasurer Cary Kennedy—who are seeking their party’s gubernatorial nomination. The first-time candidate, who has worked for both Democratic Govs. Roy Romer and John Hickenlooper, stressed the divisiveness and hyper-partisan nature of contemporary U.S. politics, particularly in context of the Trump administration. “I never could have imagined that the last election could have brought our country where it is now,” the Democrat said. “But I can tell you I feel blessed and fortunate to be able to be running now. … There couldn’t be a more important time. There couldn’t be a time where I think our democracy is probably at greater risk than it is right now.”
Ginsburg presents himself as equal parts businessman and community activist. His resume boasts the founding of both a company called Intertech Plastics and CareerWise Colorado, a nonprofit paid-apprenticeship program designed to provide young workers with both valuable experience and debt-free college credits. “It’s working for the businesses and it’s working for the students,” he said, noting he would plan to form a statewide version of the program, if elected. Ginsburg has also chaired Mile High United Way and the Denver Public Schools Foundation. He was the founding chair of the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation. The businessman frequently returned to educaContinued on page 2