Matthews: Representing a new start

An incumbent runs on his record. In this election, even a cursory examination leads to the conclusion of indecision, flip-flopping at critical times and a shallowness of understanding the complexities of the issues. It is one thing to be a nice guy with a big heart and steadfast of the broad concepts. It is quite something else to seek a leadership role when the past has demonstrated a total lack of leadership ability.

Simply put: With a huge budget to manage and a near complete turnover of upper-level city staff, this is no time for waffling. The city government faces huge challenges in the coming years. The City Council must provide policy guidance, but it cannot do so based on old ideas and decision-making that was devoid of objectivity to say nothing of a lack of facts.

For those reasons, it is time to fill the two remaining seats with people who represent the new and not the old. People who are unencumbered with pre-set notions are more objective than those who are set in their ways. Voting for Emily Kolbe and Christine Benedetti represent a new start — a reset as you would have it — to launch Aspen into a direction consistent with the future and not hide bound by the past.

Dee Matthews

Aspen