Custer County

Overview

• Cities: None
• Towns: Silver Cliff, Westcliffe
• Unincorporated Areas:
• School Districts: Custer County C-1, Freemont RE-2
• State House: HD 60 (Republican)
• State Senate: SD 35 (Republican)
• Congressional: CO 3 (Republican)

County Officials

County Executive

Assessor, Treasurer, County Clerk & Recorder, Surveyor, Coroner, other elected positions.

Publications

Newspapers

• Wet Mountain Tribune (since 1883)
• Sangre de Cristo Sentinel (since 2013, and unapologetically right-wing)

Local Blogs

• Venable Views (ultra-right-wing. Calls Commissioner Donna Hood "Cruella"
• Arthur von Boennighausen's Blog (A self-described longtime moderate Republican, he voted for Hillary in 2016 and Obama in 2012, but is pro-2017 County Commissioner recall)

2017 Recall

November 7th, 2017, all 3 Custer County Commissioners faced a recall election. The Commissioners were Bob Kattnig, Donna Hood, and Jay Printz. All 3 are registered Republicans.

For recalls, Custer County requires signatures that total 25% of the number of total ballots cast in the respective position's previous election. Kettnig's recall needed 470 signatures, 582 for Printz, and 735 for Hood. Signatures were due by September 7th, but all three were turned in on August 14, 2017. Signatures were certified (763 counted for Kattnig, 745 for Printz, and 778 for Hood) on August 31, 2017, officially triggering the recall election.

The group behind the recall, Take Back Custer County Recall Committee, consists of three primary people: Marjorie Ann Barthrop, Marjorie Ann Willson, and Mike Haga. All three are registered Republicans, according to the Pueblo Chieftain. All three are said to be of Westcliffe, but only Willson is registered in Westcliffe. A Marjorie A. Barthrop is found registered in Arapahoe County (Centennial). Cannot find reliable registration info for Mike (or Michael) Haga.

In 2016, a recall attempt against Bob Kettnig failed to get enough signatures (all that were needed were 396 valid signatures within 60 days). According to the Custer County Clerk, it was the first time a recall has been attempted. The reasons given for attempting to recall Kettnig were reasons including "incompetence", "misogyny", and misrepresenting owning a ranch rather than just 20 acres of land.

As the 2016 recall effort did not succeed to ballot, the 2017 recall will be the first recall for the Custer County Commissioners to go to ballot.

Running for Succession

Bill Canda, Christopher "Kit" Shy (then-incumbent defeated in 2016), and Sandra Attebery (defeated in 2016) are running as a slate to replace each commissioner should any recall be affirmed by the majority of voters per district. There are others who have filed or announced intentions as well, via a website catered to Custer County conservatives (Sangre de Cristo Sentinel, which has an annual online subscription for $29).

Candidates for Succession

Seat	Name	Party	Endorsements/Info	Contact
District 1	Bill Canda	Republican	UNOPPOSED 2017 TRACER Filing
District 2	Sandra Attebery	Republican	Ran for District 2 in 2016 (TRACER Filing) Husband Lynn Attebery previously served as County Commissioner for District 2
District 3	Tommy Flower	Republican
District 3	Christopher L. (Kit) Shy	Republican	Ran for District 3 in 2016 (TRACER Filing) 2017 TRACER Filing 2012 TRACER Filing 2004 TRACER Filing
District 3	John G. Johnston	Unaffiliated	Ran for District 3 in 2016 (TRACER Filing)

Former Candidates

Seat	Name	Party	Endorsements/Info	Contact
District 1	Dan Fisher	Unaffiliated	Announced, but neither filed nor was on the ballot.
District 2	Richard Posadas	Republican	Announced, but neither filed nor was on the ballot.

Key Players

Publications

Sangre de Cristo Sentinel

• Began in July 2013.
• Pushing for recall effort.
• Pushing for the slate (with no disguising of their bias) of Bill Canda, Christopher "Kit" Shy, and Sandra Attebery.
• In January 2017, the commissioners they want recalled voted for the Sentinel to become the newspaper "of record", by way of the county paying the Sentinel to publish important legal notifications to citizens.

Wet Mountain Tribune

• Was the only publication in the area. The publication began in 1883.

2017 Recall Results

District	Incumbent	Party	Margin FOR Recall (Total)	Result	Notes
District 1	Bob Kattnig	Republican	7.18% (53.59%)	RECALLED
District 2	Jay Printz	Republican	-4.74% (47.63%)	RECALL FAILED
District 3	Donna Hood	Republican	10.94% (55.47%)	RECALLED

Successor Question Results

(Winner bolded.)

District	Winner	Other Candidates
District 1	Bill Canda	N/A
District 2	Sandra Attebery (Recall failed; Did not take office)	N/A
District 3	Tommy Flower 47.89%	Christopher L. (Kit) Shy 40.08% John G. Johnston 12.03%