The LWVD Newsletter
December 2022 / January 2023
Updated with January Briefing Information | January Briefing
What's Up with the Mayoral Election?
Tuesday, January 17, 5:30 p.m.
by Zoom
 Kyle Harris is a journalist for The Denverite who is focused on the upcoming mayoral election in Denver, the responsibilities of the person who will fill this office in our “strong mayor” system and how the campaigning of the 24 (as of this writing) people who are aspiring to this office will roll out under Denver’s new Fair Elections Fund guidelines.
Kyle is interviewing former mayors and other city officials for his reporting to put this year’s contest in an historical context. He will help us understand “the power of the office, the reasons so many candidates are running, perhaps some of the sub-plots of the election, and even the challenges of covering — and for voters, considering — such a large field.” We might even hear a few tidbits of Denver mayoral history.
Kyle moved here from Chicago in 2005. He’s the former culture editor at Westword, where he covered the city’s arts and music scene. Before that, he covered city and state politics as the managing editor at the Colorado Independent.
Here are links to two of Kyle’s articles in case you would like to read them before the briefing:
"What does Denver's mayor do and how much power does the position have?"
"The Fair Elections Fund rollout is facing issues. City Council and the Clerk and Recorder's office"
Please join the LWVD for what promises to be an enlightening, and perhaps entertaining, briefing with Kyle Harris on January 17 at 5:30-7:15 via zoom. Go to our website lwvdenver.com to register.
Sue Stark, Co-Director of Program
Next Month
The Denver Preschool Program (DPP), initiated in 2007, will be the focus of our Tuesday, February 21, briefing. Elsa Holguin, CEO of DPP, will be our speaker. LWVDenver supported the 2006 ballot issue that passed by a narrow margin; a reauthorization vote in 2014 passed by a slightly greater margin. Members wishing to refresh their memories about the program can go to dpp.org to learn more. Please encourage families with children in Denver and organizations that work with families to tune in to our zoom briefing. Look for a full article on this briefing in the next VOTER.
Sally Augden
| United Nations Climate Summit - COP27
View from a LWVUS Delegate
Editor's Note: I belong to the Google Group "LWVUS Climate Change." Last year, Lora Lucero of LWVCNM provided her summary of COP26 to that group and we re-published it here. This year, Connie Sobon Sensor was one of the LVWUS delegates and provided her summary to the group, and with her permission we are re-publishing part her summary here. The full report can be read here. To see more about climate change, see the LWVUS Toolkit for Climate Action.
Hello from COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh Egypt! It has been an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to represent the League of Women Voters of the United States and to join in the activities and issues at this world climate conference. This is the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) convened to discuss and find solutions for the climate crisis that we are now living. The Paris agreement aimed to reduce carbon emissions with a goal of well below 2.0 degrees Celsius rise in temperature from preindustrial temperatures and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The focus is now on reducing dependency on and use of fossil fuels and building sustainable renewable energy sources as a replacement. The goal is to strengthen countries’ ability to deal with the impacts of climate change and support them in their efforts.
Listening to multiple perspectives on the issues and learning about new issues, and most importantly, solutions to the issues, was fascinating. Networking with the health-focused community based on my interest and commitment to healthy environments as a nurse and following US politics in my role as the Chief UN Observer for the LWV by joining briefings by groups of US mayors representing healthy cities and a briefing by the US Department of Energy Secretary Granholm, as well as following the daily the progress in negotiations for an outcome document, was both energizing and overwhelming. I had the opportunity to join a focused meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur Neem Alsalemon for Violence Against Women and Girls.
Navigating the logistics of COP was challenging for a first-time attendee. However, I feel I made a significant impact with participation and conversations. One day I joined a health community protest “1.5 to Survive" where we role-played giving CPR to our planet Earth. I advanced my video communication and reporting skills by doing short interviews of our League members who were with me and interviews with people from at least ten different parts of the world asking what message they wanted to send from COP27. In my role as an elected Director on the Global NGO Executive Committee at the UN, I think these interviews will promote inclusivity in our work and our perspectives. I look forward to sharing my stories with you in key take aways from the days I attended in person. For me, the pre-work started with the UNGA in September where I attended as many climate-related events as possible to gain insight and make contacts with others who were attending COP.
Note: The full report goes on to include summaries of each day she attended.
The last day, I signed on to a letter urging the inclusion of healthy environments as a human right and was pleased to see health is now formally included in the global goal on Climate Adaptation. This was a wonderful experience and I hope to continue the work of climate action and advocacy with all the League members as we continue to monitor our progress to renewable energy.
Connie Sobon Sensor
Chief UN Observer for the LWV
Other Resources
Lora Lucero of the LWVCNM continues to provide extremely useful posts to the LWVUS Climate Change group. In a recent email she challenged all of us in League with these questions after COP27:
1) How can we promote and elevate the work of our delegates at COP27?
2) Can the LWVUS provide a prominent spot on its website focused on climate change for the public-at-large?
3) Can we arrange interviews with our delegates and local media in our communities at home both during and after COP27?
She also suggested that we listen to a clip from Dr. Susana Hancock, one of the LWVUS delegates at COP27 and a climate scientist explaining her work:
https://twitter.com/SusanaHancock_/status/1590718342046035969?t=V5QLGHBjAm4Zl4LwZDUA3Q&s=03.
| Cherrington Unit visits the SAME (So All May Eat) Café on East Colfax
 A Cherrington tradition is to visit an organization each December and find out more about Denver’s  community of providers. Previous visits have included the Gathering Place, the Dahlia Campus, the African American West Museum, and Mango House. This year’s visit was to the SAME Café, 2023 East Colfax. SAME Café (www.soallmayeat.org) is a donation-based, fair-exchange restaurant that serves everyone without regard to ability to pay. Their mission is to create community through healthy food access. They serve a varying menu each weekday with two soup choices, two pizza choices and two salads. On the day we visited there was a guest chef from vegan restaurant, The Easy Vegan, and the choices were Winter squash soup/tofu ramen, green salad/kale Caesar salad, and roasted chestnut, cashew ricotta pizza/or fried potato pizza with onion, rosemary, and garlic. Our unit food critics all found their choices delicious.
 SAME CEO, Brad Reubendale (right with Pat Horoschak who has been involved with SAME for over 5 years), told us that the café has been in business for over 15 years. Founded by a single couple, they now partner with community produce growers across the state and donor organizations to provide healthy meals every day to 50-100 individuals. For example, they get their coffee from Pablo’s Coffee and the Denver Botanic Gardens donates from their food gardens each year. During the pandemic, they stayed open (providing takeout) and benefitted from many restaurants who had to dispose of their inventory prior to closing. SAME also has a food truck and can provide a catering service.
 There are five paid staff at the Colfax location; all other staffing is volunteer with some volunteers working a specific shift each week and others dropping in to help. At left is a volunteer who works two days a week in the restaurant and also does grant writing.
SAME has worked with dozens of similar organizations throughout the US to get their restaurants organized and operational. Recently, they’ve helped set up a SAME restaurant in Toledo, OH. They are in discussions with several libraries (including DPL) to provide SAME services in the library café spaces.
For more information visit their website or drop in for lunch (11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., M-F). Looking ahead, their annual fundraiser will be held on March 9 at the Space Gallery ($75 per ticket).
Andrea Mitchell, Cherrington Unit Member | Have You Considered Joining a Unit?
Although not all Leagues across the country have units, Denver League does. A unit is a small group of Leaguers who get together to discuss the most recent briefing and is a good way to be introduced to the League in general. Sometimes there are other activities. Cheesman Unit, for example, has had discussions on a common book. In December, we traditionally have Unit’s Choice, in which the units decide on a special activity, sometimes a field trip of sorts or maybe just a social occasion. Below are the activities planned this December. Consider joining one or more of the groups in December or start the new year off with a visit to a unit, whether available on Zoom or in person. Just let the Unit Leader know you’d like to attend. You are always welcome.
Cheesman Unit meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month at 9:30 a.m. For their Unit’s Choice, they are visiting the Denver Art Museum and having lunch at Ponti’s Restaurant on Tuesday, December 13. This is a Cheesman tradition. This year, they are also gathering checks for The Center on Colfax (an LGBTQ haven since 1972) and sending the donation in memory of the Club Q victims.
Unit Leader: Bobbie Heisterkamp, bdheistkmp@aol.com
Cherrington Unit usually takes a field trip for Unit’s Choice. See the article about their trip to the SAME cafe in this VOTER. They usually meet the Thursday after a briefing at 1:00 p.m.
Unit Leader: Peg Oldham, hamnpeg@msn.com
Highland/Woodbury Unit has recently switched from evening meetings to the third Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. at Sassafras American Eatery on West 32nd. For their Unit’s Choice, they are having a social potluck at the Augden’s home at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 28. They are a smaller unit and would love to have new members join them, as all of the units would.
Unit Leader: Sally Augden, saugden2@comcast.net
Observatory Unit has decided not to have a December activity due to COVID and other continuing health concerns. They are hoping to plan something in January. They meet the 4th Tuesdays of each month at 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Unit Leader: Jeanette Scotland, jscotland@gmail.com
| Another Way to Get Involved
Committees and Task Forces
The League of Women Voters of Denver Board is concerned that members who have joined in the last few years have not gotten involved at a level that will keep our organization sustainable. We used to have a group of local committees on various topics that were great opportunities for new members. Although those have largely disappeared, there are other opportunities, some opening quite recently. At the Program Committee meeting last week, we discussed making that a welcome place for new ideas. The task for this committee is primarily planning the monthly briefings. We are meeting on Zoom at 4:00 p.m. on the 4th Wednesday of each month. Please consider joining us. The Zoom link should be on our LWVD calendar. Call during office hours (303-321-7571) if you need help.
Many of you have stepped up to help in the area of Voter Service. This is a major part of our mission, and we can always use more help in voter registration, pros and cons, candidate forums, speaker’s bureau, etc. Contact Jeanette Scotland (jscotland@gmail.com) or Anne Duncan (anned47@msn.com) for more information.
We have had an active Public Safety Committee for the last several years, having presented several timely briefings. It has been basically inactive this year, but if you are interested, contact Barbara Allen Ford (barbaraaford46@icloud.com).
On the state level, LWVCO has been developing new Task Forces over the last few years on various topics. Some of these are quite recent, some have been active for several years. They are all detailed with a contact person on the LWVCO website under Advocacy. Here are the present Task Forces:
| Alternative Voting Methods |
Elections |
Housing |
| Climate Emergency |
Gun Violence Prevention |
News Access & Literacy |
| Education |
Healthcare |
Reproductive Rights |
Remember, democracy is not a spectator sport!
Marty Sloven
| My Days as an Election Judge 2022
Before the mid-term election this year, election judges in some states were subjected to threats by people who thought past elections were fraudulent. County Clerks’ offices in some parts of our state were inundated with requests for open records requests and questions that arose from the disinformation campaigns that broadcast myths about voting and counting the vote.
 So when the call went out to sign up to be an Election Judge, I was glad for the opportunity. Mary Ann Thompson (see photo), a Leaguer who has been an election judge at the Denver Elections Division for years, was my role model. I had served as a volunteer Poll Watcher in 2020 and worked with several other LWV members from around the state to write a whitepaper about Colorado’s model election process which has been called the “Gold Standard” for the country. At the LWVUS National Convention, I took a group of attendees from various states on a field trip to tour our completely transparent Elections Division Center. I knew the “guts” of how our elections work and I wanted to be an active part of making voting accessible for all eligible voters.
The Election Judge application process was straightforward and included information to run a background check on me. I was asked if I was registered as a Democrat, Republican or Independent. The Clerk’s office wants all political parties equally represented at every polling place. We went through several hours of on-line training (with a test at the end!) and a 4-hour, in-person training at the Division office. I was assigned to work at one of Denver County’s 37 Voter Service and Polling Centers (VSPC) at Augustana Lutheran Church.
With my thick election judge manual in hand, I showed up with my team an hour or more before the doors opened to voters. My main job was at the entrance, greeting people and discerning whether they were residents of Denver County. We were right on the border with Glendale which is Arapahoe County, so those residents were directed to the VSPC serving that neighborhood.
Every job is handled by a bipartisan team, assigned by a supervisor. A half dozen judges sat at a bank of computers where they could either check that the person was already registered, that their address was updated in the system or register new voters, including on November 8, Election Day. Every Denver resident was issued a copy of the same three-page ballot we all received in the mail or a provisional ballot if they had just registered. Individual privacy kiosks were available for marking ballots.
Not one person was turned away. A few needed extra assistance or language translation: the elderly man who wanted to submit his wife’s ballot and a woman with limited sight who needed her daughter to read the ballot aloud to her. Only a couple of grumblers complained about waiting in line – at most about 15 minutes, inside. The diversity in age, race and ethnicity was evident. A man who seemed to have learned to speak English as a second language stood at the entrance watching his wife vote, commenting on what a wonderful experience it was. A mom brought her two little girls who gave us their leftover Halloween candy. The majority of voters thanked us for being there as they deposited their ballots in a slotted lockbox. The twelve-to-thirteen-hour days were tiring, but I went home each night feeling energized and appreciative that I live in a state where voting is easy, efficient and accessible.
Susan Stark |  | | A group of Leaguers, primarily from the Development Committee, worked to get out our annual fundraising letter, which should be arriving soon through the mail. Pictured here: Anne Duncan, Rona Shor, and Bobbie Heisterkamp. |  | | The group in action. Pictured: Anne Duncan, Sue Stark, Rona Shor, Gordon Butz, and Marge Fisch. | | |
A Generous Bequest
The League of Women Voters of Denver has received a generous $5000 bequest from the estate of Josephine Carpenter. Many of you knew Josephine, a long-time, dedicated Leaguer who led our strong Natural Resources Program Committee for many years as co-chair and then as chair. That committee was ahead of its time on many issues that are in the forefront of environmental issues today and always prepared a well-researched briefing every year.
Josephine was a quiet leader but a strong one. She was a pleasure to be around. She served on the board in the 1990s and represented our League at a National Convention.
We appreciate Josephine thinking of the League when planning her estate.
Marty Sloven | Board Member Highlight
Terry Cookro, Unit Organization
Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh in a series of articles highlighting Board members. We thought you’d like to know a little more about their backgrounds and what League means to them. We’ve also asked them for recommendations on books, movies, or activities.
 I started with the League in the late 1970s when I lived in Grand Junction and have been an intermittent though not active member since. I paid my dues to support the League. My mother, what I learned about Eleanor Roosevelt, and the early Presidential debates inspired me.
Outside of the League, I’m a volunteer at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Space Odyssey, I write, am an avid reader, and enjoy the arts and nature. I’m also a part-time employee for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an environmental law specialist.
In 1973, I came to work one summer as a park naturalist at Colorado National Monument after finishing college in Ohio. The next year, as a grad student in New Mexico, I got summer work out in the bush of the Brooks and Alaska Ranges. My first full-time job was with the Energy Research and Development Administration in Grand Junction. Soon I moved to the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver to do research and eventually retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some career highlights include:
1. I had a small part in editing the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 1994, Executive Summary, World Meteorological Organization, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No. 37, Feb. 1995.
2. I did an archaeological study of rock fragments in ancient ceramics to determine which pots were from Greece and which were from Italy for an archeologist at the University of Texas.
3. As a member of the United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) IGCP Project 20 Tin and Tungsten Working Group, I went with the team to study tungsten-bearing rocks in Japan and Korea.
I hope to make a contribution to the LWV Denver as Unit Organization board member. So many with this League have done impressive work and it has been a pleasure to meet such dedicated people.
Book recommendations: Following Atticus and Will’s Red Coat by Tom Ryan; Dana Crawford, 50 years Saving the Soul of a City by Mike McPhee; and the works of Alexander McCall Smith. There are so many good books out there.
| Upcoming Office Hours
The office will be closed from Tuesday, December 20 through Tuesday, January 3. | Welcome New Members
Mary-Katherine Fleming, brooksmk@me.com
Jane Hill, wvjaneh@gmail.com
Kathryn Matsey, kjmatsey@msn.com
Bonnie Saliman, Bonniesaliman@gmail.com
Eliana White, elliew1860@gmail.com
Shirly White, shirly.lee.white@gmail.com
| Please Renew Your Membership or
Become a Member
If you received this email and are not a member, please consider joining us. If it's time to renew your membership, consider doing it on-line.
Follow this link to join or renew at one of our membership levels and remember that it covers Denver, Colorado and National membership. Also, please consider renewing at the sustaining membership level. Membership dues are tax deductible.
| Regular Individual Membership |
$60 |
| Sustaining membership (includes an additional donation) |
$125 |
Two regular members at the same address
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$90 |
| Two sustaining members at the same address (includes an additional donation) |
$150 |
Member needing assistance with paying dues
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$5 |
| Part or full-time student |
$10 |
Members: Forward this VOTER and encourage your friends and neighbors to join! | Consider a Sustaining Membership
We appreciate all those who pay $60 to be a member. However, the LWV Denver can only keep $8 of that $60 and the rest goes to Per Member Payments to the LWVCO and LWVUS. For those who are able, think about paying a sustaining $125 membership that gives the LWV Denver $73 to use for our education activities, to support our office and to continue our voter service resources for the city of Denver. Thank you!
| | www.LWVDenver.org
info@LWVDenver.org | | 1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303-321-7571 | | | |