Reply from LWV-Estes Park
Kathy Long
Good afternoon, Mark,
First, I’d like to thank you for reading our newsletter and for reaching out to me for clarification. I will do my best to answer your questions here.
As you can see from the statement you quoted from the newsletter, the League is a nonpartisan organization because we neither support nor oppose any candidate for office or any political party.
The League is also a political organization that sometimes takes a position on public policy, but only after extensive study and consensus.
It is unfortunate that important issues around public policy have become partisan because partisanship, especially the extreme partisanship we are currently seeing in our country, makes it difficult for our leaders to come together to find common ground for addressing important social issues.
Both Amendment J - Freedom to Marry and Amendment 79 - Abortion Rights Amendment for all Coloradans were studied and approved by the Colorado and National Leagues. Hence, our local League also supports these issues.
As you may already know the League of Women Voters is a 104 year-old organization whose mission is to: ”Empower voters. Defend democracy.” Gaining the right for women to vote was a 70 year struggle and the 19th Amendment was adopted in 1920 after years of disappointment.
Protecting the League’s nonpartisan reputation is very important to us. I'd like to clarify that the League believes that issues are nonpartisan. No party has a claim on any particular issue. At times a party or candidate agrees with the League's stance on an issue -- this doesn't make the issue or the League partisan. An issue doesn't become partisan because a person or party endorses or supports it.
Nonpartisan = not associated with nor supporting or opposing a political party (yes, LWV is nonpartisan!)
Political = involved in politics (yes, LWV is political!)
The two are not mutually exclusive. The League’s past president has written about “Remaining Nonpartisan is Hyper-partisan Times.” This link will take you to her blog.
Here's a blog from LWVUS on the topic.
And if you’d like, I am happy to meet with you in person to discuss this further.
Thank you very much,
