The O. Zone

More snow for Vail; post-campaign political ugliness continues

Today's is a good-news-bad-news kind of a blog. First the good: Vail is reporting eight inches of new snow this morning, with more expected throughout the day and a winter weather advisory in effect until 5 p.m.

I got out for Day 2 of my 2010-11 ski season Saturday at Vail and was amazed at the extent of the coverage. I haven't seen this kind of coverage on Vail Mountain in November since maybe as far back as the early to mid-1990s, when it seemed like every season started out this way. I have a picture of myself skiing knee-deep powder on Kangaroo Cornice on Nov. 6, 1991, when Vail was able to open early after a big Halloween dump.

Vail opened Chairs 10 and 17 over the weekend and will likely roll out some more terrain this week given all the new snowfall. The front side of the mountain (and Game Creek Bowl) is totally open, with great coverage. We'll keep you posted with any new announcements re the Back Bowls, Golden Peak, etc., as soon as we hear anything. Same with Beaver Creek, which opens for the season Wednesday.

Now here's the bad news. Just when you thought it was safe to turn your television back on and answer your landline without getting slammed by attack ads and robo-calls, the campaign ugliness continues. Check out my news story on incoming Secretary of State Scott Gessler and allegations against him from Aspen-area state Sen. Gail Schwartz.

Meanwhile, the ripple effects of two state races, including one just to our west in House District 61 (again, Aspen area) are still be felt from this month's contentious midterm election.

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams is plenty worried about the precedent set by former GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo's high profile gubernatorial run as a candidate for the American Constitution Party (ACP).

According to the Durango Herald, Wadhams last week again decried the September ruling by a Denver district judge allowing minor-party vacancy committees to pick any candidate they choose as long as they're a registered voter of the party.

The decision allowed the ACP to select Tancredo after the August primary in a last-minute bid to undercut Republican primary winner Dan Maes and take on eventual winner John Hickenlooper.

Wadhams and Republican attorney Richard Westfall, who sued to try to get Tancredo off the ballot, told the Herald they think third-party candidates should have to switch parties by Jan. 1 of the election year, with no exceptions for vacancy committees.

“We are already seeing the slow destruction of political parties through these stupid campaign-finance referendums,” Wadhams told the Herald, referring to restrictions on large donations to political parties. He added third parties can now pluck major party candidates who don't want to face a primary.

“I happen to think that strong political parties are essential to a healthy political process,” Wadhams said. His counterpart, Colorado Democratic Party Chairwoman Pat Waak, said she isn't as concerned, pointing out Tancredo and three-term state Rep. Kathleen Curry, a defector from the Democratic Party who made a strong state House run as an independent, are both well-known to voters – unlike most third-party candidates.

“I think these are two very unusual circumstances,” Waak told the Herald. “I just don't see this as something that sets a new standard.” But other observers argue it's now easier to run as an unaffiliated candidate.

Curry managed to get the State Legislature to change the deadline for defecting from a major party and running as an independent candidate to Jan. 1 of election year, and she's still legally challenging the fact that major party candidates can raise twice as much campaign cash because of primaries.

	24hr snow	mid dpth	snow cond.
A-Basin	n/a	n/a
Aspen	n/a	n/a	closed
BC	n/a	n/a	closed
Breckenridge	n/a	n/a	closed
Buttermilk	n/a	n/a	closed
Copper	n/a	n/a	closed
Crest. Butte	n/a	n/a	closed
Eldora	n/a	n/a	closed
Heavenly	n/a	n/a	closed
Highlands	n/a	n/a
Howelsen	n/a	n/a	closed
Keystone	n/a	n/a	closed
Kirkwood	n/a	n/a	closed
Loveland	n/a	n/a
Monarch	n/a	n/a	closed
Northstar	n/a	n/a	closed
Powderhorn	n/a	n/a	closed
Purgatory	n/a	n/a	closed
Silverton	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Cooper	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Granby	n/a	n/a	closed
Snowmass	n/a	n/a	closed
Steamboat	n/a	n/a	closed
Sunlight	n/a	n/a	closed
Telluride	n/a	n/a	closed
Vail	n/a	n/a	closed
WinterPark	n/a	n/a	closed
Wolf Creek	n/a	n/a	closed
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