Jon Huang interviewed Bernard Byers and Carrie Geitner — Byers in person and Geitner by phone. Both are running for county commissioner for District 5, with Geitner as the incumbent. Jon’s questions are in bold and the candidates’ answers are verbatim.
Meet Bernard Byers
By Jon Huang
Bernard Byers is a Colorado Springs native who lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and three teenage kids. He currently works as a bank manager at Premier Members Credit Union. For additional information on Bernard, visit https://www.bernardbyersford2cc.com.
What are your thoughts on running as a Democrat in a Republican heavy district?
I think it’s unfortunate that we have to label ourselves as Democrat and Republican and independent … where we can’t just label ourselves as people who want to help the community. I have a lot of friends that are independent. Some of my best friends in the world are conservative leaning, people that I trust with my life. So I don’t really look at myself as a Democrat. I just looked at myself as a person who wants to get involved. I know not everybody’s going to look at me like that, but I hope that resonates with people who look into me and the things that I’ve done.
How do you intend to reach those that consider themselves more traditionally Republican?
The best way is to understand and sympathize with their point of view because I think that’s important if you want to be in leadership. To be perfectly honest with you, that’s another issue with politics right now, is you become so close minded to other people’s points of view, and we only listen to the extreme versions of what a person’s talking about, and I think that’s a real detriment.
It doesn’t do us any favors if we just listen to the extreme viewpoints. We should be able to find a commonality and find a working relationship with all of our neighbors, despite our political affiliations, so I hope they look at me as a person that will work with others to achieve success for all.
What do you see as the top three issues in your district?
I know water is a big topic right now. I’ve talked to a lot of people about this. I want to become more informed, and I think that we should be spending time to see where all the water’s flowing. So just having basic studies on what we can do to make it better, and I don’t know if that’s being done right now. I think education is a really important part of being in public office, and I’m not sure how much that’s happening.
I’m big on finding ways to help with mental health. I’ve had some close people in my life, even recently, unfortunately, lose that fight with mental health. I want to be able to find ways to enhance the resources for those folks that are struggling. I think that affects so many other things … that affects the unhoused situation. It affects drug abuse, affects substance abuse, it affects finances. I think if we can at least help our citizens out with that and enhance those resources and put a magnifying glass on the services that are out there, then we don’t have to worry about families kind of going through what some people that have been close to me are going through.
I personally believe in just bringing some form of integrity. One of the first things I look for in a candidate is a person that I can believe in, a person I know is going to be honest and reputable, and a person who’s just going to do right. I can have all the data and I can have all the money and I can have all the resources, but if I’m not a person people are going to believe in … then none of it really matters.
How would you define responsible development?
There is a ground swell of people that believe that the area is being overdeveloped. I believe that it is worth investigating. I think that’s part of the reason there is much of a fight for the water is because of the development. I think we need to take a look at all of that stuff. We need to make sure that we’re being responsible with where our resources are going and the developments that are getting in.
What do you think is the role of the planning commission? How should the county commissioners work with the planning commission?
I think there needs to be a collaborative relationship between the county commission and the planning commission. I think they need to work together to make the best-informed decision for everyone. I don’t know how much that is happening right now. Again, I think one of the key points you can take away with me is I want to be informed on everything. I want to be informed on how processes are done. I want to be informed on who are the experts in these certain things in the planning commission … in regard to infrastructure and how we’re developing the city.
What is your take as far as campaign contributions and donations?
I haven’t taken any, and I have not asked for a single one. I am not soliciting any of those campaign contributions at all. I’m actually trying to run this campaign as close to zero as possible. I’m doing that by design. I don’t want money to be the focus of my campaign.
What are your perspectives on crime and law enforcement?
I think a lot of that goes back into what I was kind of talking about with mental health. I personally believe that stuff is all connected with mental health. I believe that finding ways to help with a mental health crisis can help alleviate crime, can help first responders really focus on items that they really should be focusing on. I think that influences crime, that will help decrease crime, that will decrease a lot of the issues that we’re seeing and having.
