Don’t believe the progressive sounding name or its seemingly innocuous mission – if it gets its way, Colorado Springs Forward will move Colorado Springs backward.
Almost three years after its incorporation corporate-funded special interest group, Colorado Springs Forward (CSF), appears hellbent on stacking our local government with individuals friendly to their interests and the interests of their megadonors, not the overwhelming majority of this region’s residents. Despite its claims to be a “broad-based alliance” pursuing the interests of the community, Colorado Springs Forward and all their hand-selected candidates for the April 4th City Council elections have a regressive vision which will do virtually nothing to move this community into the 21st Century in an effective or just manner.
On January 9th of this year, two full weeks before the public even knew for sure who would be running for City Council, Colorado Springs Forward sent out an exclusive invitation for a fundraiser for their hand-selected slate of candidates. Rather than taking the time to evaluate the full slate of candidates running for City Council, CSF had their candidates hand-picked and ready to run, leaving no room for other candidates to vie for an endorsement.
Colorado Springs Forward has over the past few years, and this election especially, shown that its true purpose has been to funnel as much dark money to candidates and issues supported by this community’s wealthy establishment as possible, all under the pretense of turning Colorado Springs into a so-called “City for Champions”, a massive development project pushed by the group being touted as the project to move Colorado Springs forward. Their more sinister, and less well-understood venture is to change the governance of the Colorado Springs Utilities board so that it is appointed by the mayor or City Council and no longer directly accountable to taxpayers. All of this indicates that CSF is dedicated to consolidating power and money even more in our community so that our local government can be more easily controlled by them and their megadonors.
Unsurprisingly, CSF has been either silent or hostile to addressing real issues facing the Pikes Peak region like homelessness, lack of affordable housing, sustainable development, deteriorating public schools, economic inequality, or tackling this region’s spiraling mental health crisis. For a group that claims to have the interests of the whole community in mind, it is glaringly obvious that CSF is singularly focused on ensuring that Colorado Springs works for them and their wealthy megadonors to the detriment of the overwhelming majority of this region’s inhabitants.
Unite Colorado Springs remains dedicated to advocating for all of this region’s inhabitants, not just the wealthy establishment. Rather than hand-selecting candidates for City Council and then asking our members to support them, we did the exact opposite; we sought direct feedback from you, everyday citizens of Colorado Springs at our free public community meetings about what issues matter to you and what qualities you wanted to see in City Council candidates. Then, after a full assessment of all the candidates and their platforms, we endorsed candidates who we believe will address the issues important to you in the most effective and just manner possible. Unlike CSF, Unite Colorado Springs is fully supported by and accountable to the Colorado Springs community, not shadowy megadonors with personal agendas. And unlike CSF’s hand-selected slate of candidates for City Council, the candidates Unite Colorado Springs has endorsed will listen to and fight for every member of the Colorado Springs community, not just wealthy campaign contributors or corporate funded special interest groups.