Lead Testing & Politics
I got to meet Jared Polis today, at a lead testing event his campaign sponsored in Northglenn. He's doing the same thing tomorrow (Friday) in Boulder. I came in prepared to be overloaded with politicking and whatnot, but the event was not about that at all. Mr. Polis ran the testing himself and most of the discussion was over what toys were causing the detector to go off. We had a few small items that tested high, but fortunately, we won't be re-doing our Christmas shopping. The event was really lightly attended.
I don't live in the district Jared Polis is running in, so my opinion's sort of moot, but my main problem with him is his work with Colorado Amendment 41, which has been a mild legislative disaster. He's running chiefly on a platform of getting the Democratic party to act as a more forceful counterweight to Bush, which is fine, but again is sort of a moot point; Bush will be out of office when Mr. Polis would take office, if he is elected. His campaign website does discuss the disturbing (to me) trend of the use of mercenaries contractors in place of US soldiers in Iraq, which is an excellent point, though I'm not sure what Congress can do to convince the Defense Department that this is a bad policy. All that said, my personal impression of Jared Polis is that he's a class act.
The event was really lightly attended, which is surprising given the coverage around lead in toys. The testing is quite easy, the detector will work through cardboard, so you don't even have to unwrap toys that have already been wrapped for Christmas. The Polis campaign is doing a great public service here, and people really should take advantage of it.