Former Jefferson County School Board President Jon DeStefano, of Bailey, was elected Chairman of the Park County Democratic Executive Board during their special re-organization meeting Sunday.

Members of the Park County Democratic Central Committee elected several relative newcomers to their Executive Board at the meeting. Elected precinct leaders currently make up the Central Committee, and those members select county party leaders to two-year terms.

DeStefano, 61, has lived in Park County for three years and has been a resident of our mountain area since 1979. He was elected as a Republican four times to the Jefferson County School board and served over 12 years until his move to Park County with his wife, Peggy, in 2004.

After growing disenchantment with the direction that the Republican Party had taken under George Bush, DeStefano registered as a Democrat at the time of the move. He said that “regardless of political party, government must serve the people and not big corporate interests. It has to be about serving the government and the public interest regardless of which party is in power.” While in Evergreen, DeStefano helped organize Republicans for John Kerry.

In Park County, he said, providing balance is especially important. “We’ve seen what happens in Washington when the system gets out of balance and oversight is nonexistent,” he said. “Balanced government protects the public.” A high priority in the county party for 2008 is to field a group of high-quality Democratic candidates to run for, and win, local elected offices.

DeStefano also noted that bi-partisan efforts to deal with local environmental issues help the entire community. Such “non-political” elections as the elected IREA electrical co-op board cry out for more awareness and community involvement,” he said. “We’re all in this together.”

Soren Frederiksen, of Bailey, was elected 1st Vice-Chairman after serving the past two years as Secretary of the county party. Frederiksen, 47, has lived in Park County since 2003, is married to wife Cindy, and shows Keeshond dogs as a hobby. A Computer Security expert, Frederiksen is involved with efforts to start a bipartisan organization called Clean Campaigns Colorado. The group hopes to increase public participation in the political process and reduce the influence private interest groups have had on statewide elections. He has also been involved in a number of other state political initiatives and campaigns.

(Photo by Kay Smith, courtesy of Park County Democrats)

Dennis Obduskey, 51, of Bailey, was elected 2nd Vice-Chairman. Obduskey began his active involvement with the Park County Democrats last winter. A resident of the area since 1998, a Colorado Native and lifelong Democrat, Obduskey previously did volunteer work in the 2004 elections in Jefferson County and is involved with the Progressive Democrats of America. In 2005 he took part in lobbying Colorado legislators in Washington DC against further American involvement in Iraq and at one time worked as a Denver intern for US Senator Gary Hart. Obduskey is a travel department manager for a money management firm in Denver and also does ad-hoc work as a technology consultant.

Barbara Woelk, 65, was elected party Secretary. She and her husband, Alfred, chose to retire in Colorado and moved here from the northeast United States in 2005, having visited here many times over 30-plus years. Woelk is a lifelong Democrat who at one time served as an intern in Washington DC for Pennsylvania US Senator Joe Clark. An active retiree, she is involved in Park County Vision 20-20, a community group working to “preserve and enhance the rural quality of life in Park County by taking a proactive stance on community-wide issues that impact communication, the environment, and human services.” A skier and golfer, she and her husband have lived abroad for 15 years in Austria, Germany and France. She is retired after working 25 years in the New York and Connecticut banking industry.

Sheila Canfield-Jones, 52, was elected Treasurer. She and her husband, Gary, moved to the Bailey area in 2000. A life-long Democrat who moved to our mountain area in 1982, Canfield-Jones most recently worked on the Congressional campaigns of Ed Perlmutter and Bill Winter this past general election. She became involved with the Park County Democrats shortly after moving to Bailey and served as a mountain-area coordinator for John Kerry for President in 2003-4. She, too, is working with the Clean Campaigns Colorado bipartisan group. A supporter of political diversity, she practices it with her two dogs – a St. Bernard named Leonardo and a Pomeranian named Buddha.

Also at the meeting, the board acknowledged the efforts of Steve and Kimberly Plutt, of Lake George, who have been long-time party activists and helped support the Democratic base despite being in the minority here. Steve stepped down as Vice-Chairman to pursue other union activities while Kimberly stepped down as Treasurer but intends to remain active at the Precinct level, she says. “They’ve had a tough job,” DeStefano said, “and we really appreciate all of the work they have done.”