Restore the Balance rates Delta County municipal candidates

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Aaron Clay or Jim Brown

rtbdeltacounty@gmail.com

March 14, 2024

Delta, CO—A group of volunteers in Delta County is working to keep extreme politics out of local government.

Restore the Balance – Delta County, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization working to build “an

alternative to political extremism,” surveyed candidates running for the municipal elections in

Delta, Cedaredge, Crawford, Orchard City, Hotchkiss, and Paonia and recently released its

scores.

“We are happy to continue our efforts to promote civil discourse and reject political extremism

in Delta County,” said RTB-Delta County Chairman Aaron Clay. “Delta County residents deserve local government that is free from political partisanship and ideology.”

RTB-Delta County sent questionnaires to 34 municipal candidates running in the six municipal

elections running concurrently in April. The questionnaire consisted of nine questions and

addressed three primary categories: the candidates’ qualifications for office, their grasp of

important issues, and their ability to abstain from partisan politics and ideology.

Of the 34 candidates, 19 responded.

With the completed questionnaires, RTB-Delta County Election Task Force members reviewed

and evaluated the candidates’ essay-style responses based on RTB’s guiding principles, which promote nonpartisan, good-faith, civil discourse and reject political violence and extremism.

The task force members independently scored the candidates’ responses to each question, with 7 being the highest score. Candidates who didn’t respond to the survey did not receive a score.

The questionnaire, candidate responses, tabulations, and scoring rubric will be posted on

the RTB website.