Opinion: Priorities First takes us way out of context, and other tales from the election

Over the past week, Fort Collins residents received in the mail various pieces of literature urging them to "Vote no on 2B," the Fort Collins municipal broadband initiative.

The Coloradoan routinely collects election mailers in order to review their claims and investigate who's paying for them. While most of the mailers sent out by broadband opposition group Priorities First Fort Collins state the group's positions in its own words, three lines of orange-highlighted text on one mailer stood out to us:

"'An additional $17 on utilities customers' monthly bills for the life of bond repayments is a pill no resident should have to swallow for a misguided decision ..." Coloradoan Editorial Board."

While that line appeared in our Oct. 22 endorsement on the broadband issue, Priorities First omitted an important piece of context: The Coloradoan Editorial Board endorsed the city's efforts to move forward in establishing a 1 gigabit fiber-optic broadband network. In fact, all but one board member supported the effort in a vote on the direction of our endorsement.

So, we'd like to say, we were taken way out of context.

The line cited by Priorities First is a reference to the worst-case scenario should the service fail to gain enough users to be self-supporting. But with that number estimated at 28 percent of residential customers currently hooked up to Comcast or Century Link, and Longmont realizing a 51 percent "take rate" for its gigabit internet service only three years in, there's reason to believe Fort Collins' service could achieve similar results.

Priorities First, bolstered by donations of $125,000 from the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association and $75,000 from Citizens for a Sustainable Economy, a nonprofit associated with the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, has produced a series of TV, internet and mailed ads stating its position. That's well within the group's prerogative.

But apparently in this case, Priorities First couldn't have said it better themselves. We just wish they would have tried.

Why our PSD Board endorsement came on Nov. 1

Here's a great conspiracy theory: The Coloradoan Editorial Board, in a subversive effort to bury the message of an endorsement not fully supported by the board or otherwise sway the race between Poudre School District Board of Education candidates John Clarke and Kristen Draper at the 11th hour, intentionally waited until the Thursday before the election to publish its endorsement of Clarke.

Here's what really happened: the flu. News Director Eric Larsen, who drafts the Coloradoan's editorials after receiving the board's direction, was put out of commission for multiple days the week of Oct. 20-26 while fighting off the flu bug. That pushed the editorial board's entire endorsement schedule back a week, since none of the Coloradoan's reporters or content coaches are involved in writing editorials.

So, there was something nefarious happening. But thankfully nothing that a little rest and a long-overdue flu shot won't fix going forward.

This is the viewpoint of the Coloradoan Editorial Board, made up of six community members and Coloradoan News Director Eric Larsen and Watchdog Coach Rebecca Powell. The board meets weekly to set the topic and direction of the Coloradoan's Sunday editorials. News reporters are not involved in the editorial board process.