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S-curve backers pad coffers

Naomi Havlen
Aspen Times Staff Writer

The group campaigning to keep Aspen’s “small-town entrance” has raised just over $20,000, according to a campaign finance report filed Tuesday.

But two other political groups that were required to turn in reports on contributions and expenditures to the city clerk missed yesterday’s 5 p.m. deadline. The Trolleys for Aspen Committee and the Efficient And Safe Entrance Committee (EASE), which supports the modified direct alignment, failed to file reports detailing their finances.

According to the city municipal code, the city attorney handles enforcement of deadlines for campaign contribution reports.



“It is a big deal if they don’t file,” said City Attorney John Worcester on Tuesday, just after the deadline had passed. “I’ll have the city clerk call them in the morning.”

According to its contributions report, the Citizens for a Small Town Entrance collected $3,195 during the last half of October. During the first reporting period, which spanned September and the first half of October, the group collected $16,910.




The group’s expenditures report says that the Citizens have spent $13,729.97 during their campaign on everything from newspaper ads to design work, T-shirts, buttons and postage for mailings.

The city’s municipal code prevents political organizations from accepting any contribution within a period of seven days prior to an election, which is why the deadline was set for Tuesday, a week before the Nov. 5 election.

Aspen City Councilman Tony Hershey’s organization, People Against Silly Trolleys, neither raised nor spent any funds during the first or second reporting periods, according to a report Hershey turned in Tuesday.

The pro-trolley group did turn in its contributions and expenditures during the last reporting period that ended on Oct. 15. The group reported it had raised $825 in contributions from five people. EASE also reported its contributions by the previous deadline, saying it had collected $700 from four contributors.

[Naomi Havlen’s e-mail address is nhavlen@aspentimes.com]