Alien panel election has $500,000 price tag
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published September 4, 2008 at 6:35 p.m.
Peckman would have lone spot on '09 ballot.
A ballot measure on whether Denver should create an "Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission" could wind up costing city taxpayers $500,000, city officials said Thursday.
That's because as of Thursday there were no other initiatives or city offices to be decided on the April 2009 ballot.
"As we sit here on Sept. 4, you're the only game in town," Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell informed Jeff Peckman, chief proponent of the measure during a ballot review and comment hearing Thursday. That could change as other citizen initiatives come forward, he added.
Broadwell said it's his understanding that holding a mail ballot election would cost about $500,000.
Peckman said he would go ahead and pursue the measure, even if it's the lone ballot item. But in that case he added that he would try to persuade the City Council to simply approve the measure and spare the city the expense.
The 54-year-old Denver man said is confident he can obtain the 4,000 signatures necessary to place the measure on the ballot.
At Thursday's hearing, Peckman explained various changes to the measure. He has reduced the number of members from 11 to seven and said they could be from "anywhere in the universe."
Peckman said he got the idea for that provision after appearing on the David Letterman show and being asked to sign a release allowing the show to use his image, "anywhere in the universe . . . in perpetuity."
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September 4, 2008
6:44 p.m.
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solar_satellite writes:
Peckman is an idiot. His hare-brained proposal is the proper provenance of our useless City Council, but not a penny should be spent on a special election, much less upwards of $500,000! How is it that the DPRMN dares to cover the specifics of this moron's scheme, but doesn't deem the texts of statewide ballot initiatives worthy of printing?!?
September 4, 2008
8:05 p.m.
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LadyBird112 writes:
But solar, we taxpayers have 500 grand to waste on bullslt. Right.
At first glance of the headline I thought this was going to be another issue about illegals. Then I read the article and saw that it's just a bunch of bs. Are there 4,000 people stupid enough to sign the petition? Go back to Mars, Peckman.
September 4, 2008
9:14 p.m.
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solar_satellite writes:
LadyBird112: I am quite certain there are far more than 4,000 people in Denver who believe that aliens visit the Earth, and are stupid enough to sign a petition for Peckman's ballot initiative. I just hope that he doesn't succeed in getting them to sign! If he were to, it would be proof positive of a need to increase the number of required signatures.
September 4, 2008
9:29 p.m.
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LadyBird112 writes:
Solar, I'm afraid that you are right.
Now, I do believe that there is other life out there, in some form, I think it would be incredibly naive to say otherwise, but I highly doubt it's little green men that probe people in the @ss. And I sure as heck ain't gonna sign a petition about it either.
September 4, 2008
10:34 p.m.
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blacksho89 writes:
Mr. Peckman is not an idiot. He is, as my grandma would say, tetched. Or, in the modern vernacular, suffering from a chemical imbalance.
This makes him of a protected class, and by calling him an idiot you two have committed a hate crime.
Please report to the Ministry of Love for re-education.
September 4, 2008
11:43 p.m.
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LadyBird112 writes:
Hate crime, eh? Please report to either Sarcasm Dept. for a medal,
or to the Psych Ward for medication.
September 5, 2008
1:56 a.m.
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longpasttime writes:
When this guy crawled out from under his rock, I thought he was a flake. Now he's becoming an expensive flake. This bit of idiocy should be nipped in the bud before it costs us half a million dollars or more. Wasting money on an "extraterrestrial affairs commission" is simply stupidity on parade!
September 5, 2008
3:19 a.m.
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solar_satellite writes:
LarryWBryant (in the DP): "What Do the Transistor, Night-vision Goggles, and Fiber-optic Systems Have in Common?"
What they have in common is a well-documented, recent history of being developed by their (human) inventors; they were NOT back-engineered from alien artifacts! You have no compunction about falsifying history because you are completely obsessed with your idiotic fantasy. I heard your line of garbage fifteen years ago on Art Bell's Coast-to-Coast AM (to which I listened for self-mortification and amusement rather than with total, simpering credulity); it was and remains the purest BS. You people are a bunch of very flaky conspiracy theorists, without an iota of credibility!
Look out Denver, these nitwits only need 4,000 signatures to force a $500,000+ election on the voters! Their online petition already has 413 signatures (although many are not from Denver voters).
see http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_103...
(This article is very similar; you may find the comments there amusing)
September 5, 2008
5:23 a.m.
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roger44 writes:
There will be 4,000 people out there to sign, the kind of people who believe those commercials on TV.
September 5, 2008
7:13 a.m.
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elkman writes:
Stupid is as stupid does. If the elders of the city of Denver go along with this.....they get what they deserve.
September 5, 2008
7:31 a.m.
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DeimosJB writes:
Too funny. This is almost as comical as the guy that went around the DNC gathering signatures from the Democrat party faithful petitioning for Cinemax, E-Harmony, Netflix, Jihad Olympics, gift certificates to Radio Shack, and so on for the terrorists in Gitmo. See here: http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/28...
God bless the Democrats for their comic ability. Now if they would just stay out of politics.
September 5, 2008
9 a.m.
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Buckwheat writes:
Welcome to the political process.. Its' the American way. If this guy gets his 4k votes it will go on the ballot just like any other.. All part of the Democratic process, no matter how stupid anyone else might deem it to be. Whats' the saying? "One persons trash is another person's treasure".
September 5, 2008
9:12 a.m.
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m156 writes:
Why can't we vote on this in November? I'm guessing there's a reason I just don't realize, but wouldn't it be cheaper to have it on the November ballot? Did he miss the deadline to get it included for November?
September 5, 2008
9:15 a.m.
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FrozenTootsies writes:
The "elders of the City of Denver" don't have much choice. The law sez if he gets the minimum number of signatures on a petition for his proposed ordinance, either the City Council must *pass* the ordinance into law, or put it on the ballot for the voters to decide. And the number of signatures required is low.
It's a bad example of democracy, probably curable by raising the number of signatures required for such petitions.
September 5, 2008
10:54 a.m.
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tromiano writes:
Would visiting aliens be illegal? And if they were pulled over while flying their saucers without a valid license, would the DPD have to impound their ships?
Their should be a stipulation in this moronic ballot initiative that anybody who signs it needs to pay $125 to the city when it fails - that will at least cover the cost of this asinine idea.
September 5, 2008
11:14 a.m.
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PriusGuy writes:
I'm afraid tromiano might have raised a valid point. Before we could put this law into effect, we'd have to acquire a very big chunk of land to impound the ships flown without licenses... some of the UFOs are likely to be quite large so they won't fit any ordinary scrap metal pile.
September 5, 2008
11:34 a.m.
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HoosierGuy writes:
Give me 400,000 and I will talk to the ETs for you.
September 5, 2008
11:43 a.m.
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SteveC writes:
Prius, How can they get a license if they're not from here? Do they get a two week grace period before having their ship impounded? What if they are only visiting relatives or sightseeing? How would they pay for the license, what is the currency exchange rate? Do they have to stay in hotels are are there going to be campgrounds for their ships, kind of like a KOA? Where are they gonna eat? WHO are they gonna eat? What about translators? Are we going to have to change all the landmark signs to include whatever language they speak? How do they go about becoming citizens? What country if any, do they get to become citizens of or is just going to be a citizen of earth? These and many other questions will need to be answered before we welcome these "people from another planet" to our own little chunk of spacerock. By the way, as of right now I lay claim to the phrase "People of another planet" anybody using that phrase from now on will have to pay me a royalty fee.
September 5, 2008
12:25 p.m.
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Danchan writes:
I would just like to point out that this guy is from Denver, not Boulder.
We catch a lot of flack up in Boulder for being a bit different. But we have not yet been silly enough to initiate a ballot measure concerning potential extraterrestrial beings.
I guess I'd have to go through city council records to be sure of that....
September 5, 2008
12:34 p.m.
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Willy writes:
But everyone knows Mork still lives in Boulder :)
September 5, 2008
1:24 p.m.
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tromiano writes:
PriusGuy, SteveC: THIS is why Peckman is pushing for this ET Commission! All these very real, valid questions need to be discussed so that when the time comes, our outer-space friends can feel welcome. Imagine: Denver will be the only city on Earth that can welcome ET immigrants. It'll be the Ellis Island of the 21st century!
Personally, I wonder if hospital ER's will be required to install a special probing room to treat any potential alien-related malady...ew.
September 5, 2008
1:44 p.m.
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TheDenverB writes:
I think we need to bring back the good, old fashioned tar-and-feather-and-leave-at-the-city-limits thing....
September 5, 2008
2:38 p.m.
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mokey writes:
Here's a good ballot measure...
Do you approve (yes or no) that the proponents of any ballot measure beginning January 1, 2009, reimburse the City and County of Denver the full or apportioned costs to hold special elections except for the election of a vacant public office.
September 7, 2008
10:11 p.m.
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Retread writes:
We all know they are out there, let them pay for their own panel!
September 9, 2008
9:29 p.m.
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LarryWBryant writes:
== Kudos for Peckman's Project ==
Signatures/comments from nearly every state in the union -- plus dozens from several foreign countries -- tell us that the "extra campaign" ( http://www.extracampaign.org ) has wide public appeal to Earth citizens from all walks of life. Who knew?
Has UFO-E.T. awareness actually progressed since the days of Roswell-1947? Have the hoi polloi actually begun to think for themselves and begun to ask the right questions of the right people?
Alas, judging from most of the readers' comments here at the Rocky Mountain News web site, some things detrimental to advancing serious UFO research (e.g., the unabated ridicule that reinforces the laughter curtain surrounding this subject) thrive like hydraheaded serpents every time a pioneer like Jeff Peckman dares point to the cosmic elephant sitting at the head of the dining-room table.
Trying to defuse one's fear of the unknown by resorting to ridicule and personal attacks might be a form of human nature, but it also exposes the attacker's severe limitations in the arena of public discussion and debate. Just as there's no silver-bullet solution in sight for the UFO enigma, so, too, have we no overnight remedy for humans' tendency to demonize those persons born far ahead of their time.
Peckman continues to show the kind of moxie-and-mettle that's precisely what's needed at this juncture in the politics of UFOlogy. If his campaign does succeed, we ought to create a new category within the Nobel Prize program: outstanding contribution toward advancing human awareness of, and interaction with, the extraterrestrial presence in and near our planet.
http://www.petitiononline.com/etaffai...