WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

ARE YOU LISTENING

HOWARD DEAN?

POST THIS ADVERTISEMENT WHERE DEMOCRATIC LEADERS CAN SEE IT!

I am an optimist, which is why after 10 years of living in Grand Junction, I am still trying to contact the local Democratic Party and offer to volunteer.

Maybe someone will contact me this time. I have never had a phone call returned nor an E-mail reply in 10-years of tryng. I have no problem signing up for E-mails from the State party, or the National party, but where I live my offers of help seem to fall into a deep dark hole.

Now, who am I, and why might I be an asset to the local party?Name: Claudette J. KonolaRegistered: DemocratAddress: 460 Morning Dove Drive Grand Junction, CO 81504Home Phone: 523-0481Office Phone: 434-5318Office Fax: 434-5317E-mail: Konola@Bresnan.net

I've been a Democrat since I voted for McGovern in my first election at the age of 21. Probably before that, but I couldn't register to vote. I did "agitate" to get 18 year olds the right to vote during the Vietnam era because I was appalled that men could be drafted into the military, but couldn't register their opinions at the polls. I consider myself to be both a liberal and a feminist, despite the fact that both words seem to attract degoratory comments from the politically correct. I believe that George W. Bush is the worst president that I have ever witnessed in my life-time, and that amazes me because I used to think that nobody could be worse than Nixon.I do have some skills. I think you can tell that I am able to write from my opening comments. Additionally, I am a professional, working for a not-for-profit that makes a secondary market for community development loans. (Check out www.crfusa.com.) In that capacity I have been a key-note speaker in front of hundreds of conference attendees on the topics of economic development and effective management of community development loan funds.

I am a past two-term president of the Denver Business and Professional Women--sadly at the time when Gale Norton was our young careerist. I had a long career as a banker in Denver, with my last position being as a Vice President of USBank managing corporate cash management, correspondent banking, and a portfolio of middle market loans. (That's loans to companies with annual sales in excess of $100,000,000.) Matt Smith once asked me to be his campaign treasurer, until he learned that I was a Democrat, then he recruited Norm Franke instead.

I was Tresurer of the Women's Bean Project, a not-for-profit that hired homeless women to teach them job skills. In that capacity I wrote budgets and analyzed finances for the board, a nd wrote grant requests. I assisted the organizers of the local butterfly gardens in their first budgets when they were organizing. I helped the Riverside Task Force get their 501(c)(3) status and wrote their first successful grant application.I'm articulate; I can write; I can deliver speeches; I understand the business world and finance; I am not above licking stamps (thank heavens that is no longer necessary;) I manned the phone banks during Gary Hart's first campaign for Senate;I am willing to do what I can in order to take back the House in 2006, and the presidency in 2008.

I'm listed in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Business and Finance--Surely there is some role I can play in the local Democratic Party. Will someone please contact me?Claudette J KonolaGrand Junction, CO