The announcement from Salazar’s office:

Salazar Names Land Conservation Leader Will Shafroth Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has named Will Shafroth, a land conservationist executive and founding director of the Colorado Conservation Trust and Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The appointment does not require Senate confirmation.

“Will and I have worked together on natural resource conservation issues for more than 15 years,” Secretary Salazar said. “We share a passion for working with a broad range of interests, including ranchers, conservationists, businesspeople, public officials, and recreationists, to find common ground and forge common sense solutions. Will Shafroth is a great addition to our team and will provide invaluable leadership on land and wildlife conservation initiatives.”

Shafroth was a founder and executive director of the nonprofit Colorado Conservation Trust from 2000 to 2008. The group increased the pace and effectiveness of land and wildlife habitat conservation in Colorado, raising $18 million in private contributions, spurring the investment of $35 million into conservation projects, and leveraging $200 million in public funds. He played a significant role in developing an agenda for the conservation community in Colorado and developed local, state and federal conservation policies. His efforts helped preserve 30,000 acres of wildlife habitat and open space.

Shafroth was a member of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation advisory board in 1999 and 2000; a member of the Land Trust Alliance Board of Directors from 1999 to 2008 and chairman of the board from 2004 to 2007; and chairman of the Resources Legacy Fund (Sacramento, Calif.) from 1999 to 2006.

From 1994 to 2000, Shafroth also served as the first executive director of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, helping to develop strategic plans, grant programs, and financial policies. Great Outdoors Colorado is a statewide land conservation program that Secretary Salazar helped create when he was then executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

As the executive director for Great Outdoors Colorado, Shafroth oversaw the granting of $250 million for 1,600 projects that preserved 300,000 acres of wildlife habitat, ranchland, and open space. Great Outdoors Colorado also established parks, trails, environmental education centers, a statewide cattlemen’s land trust and a network of youth conservation corps. The initiative built diverse partnerships with ranchers, sportsmen, conservationists, businesspeople and government officials, including state administrators and legislators.

From 1991 to 1994, he served as assistant secretary for Land and Coastal Resources in the California Resources Agency, where he developed and implemented policies on wetlands, oceans, agricultural lands and rivers. He helped negotiate the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and develop offshore oil transportation policy. Shafroth oversaw budget and legislation for the Department of Fish and Game, State Parks, State Lands Commission and four boards and commissions.

From 1982 to July 1990, he was western regional director of the American Farmland Trust, where he was responsible for fundraising, policy development, public education and conservation real estate transactions. He helped to develop local and state legislation and preserved farms and ranches in six states.

A graduate of Harvard University, Shafroth received a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1991. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara (1980).

Shafroth is a 4th generation Coloradan. His great grandfather served in the U.S. House, as Governor and U.S. Senator between 1896 and 1919 and was in the Senate when the National Park Service was created and Rocky Mountain National Park was established. An avid outdoorsman, Shafroth enjoys biking, hiking, fishing and canoeing. He is married and has three children.

Shafroth lost a three-way primary to Jared Polis, who went on to succeed long-time CD 2 Rep. Mark Udall, who won his blistering U.S. Senate race against ex-Rep. Bob Schaffer.

Polis, a philanthropist millionaire from Boulder who ran several successful Internet ventures, garnered 39 percent of the delegates. A third Democratic hopeful, conservationist Will Shafroth of Boulder, is trying to petition his way onto the primary ballot. He attended Saturday’s assembly, gathering signatures and addressing the gathering of approximately 800.

By winning the highest number of delegates, Fitz-Gerald earned the top line on the Aug. 12 ballot. Shafroth needs at least 1,000 signatures of registered CD2 voters by May 29 in order to make the primary ballot.

Two Republicans, Scott Starin and Rich Mancuso, have also announced their intentions to challenge for the seat that’s heavily favored by most analysts to remain in Democratic control.

The Polis campaign claimed an 8-percent bump in delegates from the Boulder County assembly March 15, in which Polis earned 30 percent of the delegates. Boulder accounts for more than 50 percent of the delegates in CD2, which also includes a number of rural Western Slope counties.

“You can make numbers say anything,” Fitz-Gerald campaign manager Mary Alice Mandarich said. “Going into this assembly there was virtually no change from where we had finished after all of the county assemblies. The thing (the Polis) campaign needs to look at is they spent a lot of resources on the CD2 assembly, and we feel very comfortable with where we ended up for being outspent the way we were outspent.”

Fitz-Gerald has decried the amount of money being spent on the CD2 race, one of the costliest in the country, including more than $600,000 of Polis’s own money injected into his campaign.

“We are the Democratic Party,” Polis told the crowd Saturday, according to a Polis campaign release. “But this election is not about us, it’s not about my opponent, it’s about the very future and soul of our country.”

A focal point for the Polis campaign is a plan to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. Co-authored by Polis and endorsed by a number of other candidates nationwide, the plan can be found at www.theresponsibleplan.com.

For Fitz-Gerald, Saturday’s result means the focus is now entirely on the primary. Mandarich said she isn’t sure if Fitz-Gerald will even attend the state Democratic convention in Colorado Springs May 17 since there is nothing at stake for the CD2 candidates. Fitz-Gerald may be out going door-to-door in the various districts, she said.

“Having gone through the caucus process, this is our foundation to move forward knowing we can move though any county districts and there are a number of people truly committed to Joan,” Mandarich said. “That was the reason we chose to go through the caucus in the first place, to build the foundation and the ground game moving into the primary.”

Shafroth has said that’s the same reason he’s going the petition route, because he feels it will ultimately put him in front of the highest number of potential voters, so he can hear their concerns and respond accordingly. He compares it to the vetting process going on between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama right now.

“In the same way for me it’s been a great experience because going door to door can be kind of tough,” Shafroth said. “These people are not easy on you. You have to have your message down … and be at your best.”

He added that attending an assembly where the majority of delegates had committed to Fitz-Gerald or Polis was somewhat daunting.

“I felt very warmly received by most of the people,” he said. “It was a little odd being in front of 800 people, all of whom had shown up to support somebody else. Having said that, I felt welcomed by my fellow Democrats in this process. Most people were fine and understood this is what Mark Udall did 10 years ago.”

Read more to see her responses to your questions about her campaign and other issues of national importance to Coloradans.Rules: Please be civil and respectful. Comments containing personal attacks, rude behavior, and/or offensive language will be deleted by the moderator, per Colorado Confidential’s comment policy.

Join Joan Fitz-Gerald, second congressional district candidate and former Colorado Senate President, for a live 30 minute Q&A on Monday, March 31 at 10 a.m. MDT. Fitz-Gerald will take your questions on her campaign and other issues of national importance to Coloradans.

In the meantime, read Colorado Confidential’s continuing coverage of the three-way CD-2 primary race to succeed Rep. Mark Udall.

Colorado Confidential talked to Dave about this first in the state — and possibly first in the nation — virtual congressional campaign debate.What inspired you to organize and host an online debate?

The original online debate was for the Boulder City Council when there were 22 candidates. I was trying to think of a way to run a debate when giving each candidate two minutes/questions meant two questions/hour. I came up with the online debate to solve that problem. But in discussing it with others, we started to realize that there are some big advantages in this format. So that led to now trying it for the CD-2 primary where it is being because of the unique advantages of this format.

What do you hope to accomplish?

I hope to accomplish three major things with this format:

1. The time constraints force a fast from the gut answer so this is a more accurate picture of the candidate’s approach to the job than the position papers they post which have been reviewed by numerous people.
2. Looks, presentation, facial expressions, etc. — those things in a live debate actually count for more than the actual words spoken. In this debate all that people “see” is what they write. So it distills the discussion down to way they say (or write actually).
3. A couple of the questions are ones I have come up with and I try to bring out the type of representative we would get as opposed to asking questions on specific policy issues. This delivers useful information to help us decide to vote for – and it’s information that is not available elsewhere.

You mentioned that the technology for the debate was fairly easy to develop, can you explain how others might be able to do this?

I’m just running this through my blog and the questions are sent to the candidates via email and they reply to me via email. So anyone can do this. No need to get fancy. With that said, if this becomes popular I will write an open source program to more fully automate it.

Are you personally supporting one of the CD-2 candidates?

I have not decided which of the three I am going to vote for. I do tend to lean toward a given one on any given day, but it keeps changing. However, if I did support one, I would not say anything until this debate is over.

Did you have any trouble garnering the cooperation of the candidates? If so, how did you overcome it?

All three candidates agreed to do it when first asked. They were all very gracious and professional both on accepting and on agreeing on when to have it.

Are you planning to host online debates for any other campaigns (congressional or local)?

I hope to do this for the Senate race here in Colorado and for any races in this area that are competitive. But I think we need to show it is useful, effective, and fair in the upcoming debate before asking others. I also hope to do it again for the CD-2 candidates just before the primary.

1. I also asked the Democratic presidential candidates if they would do this but only received a standard request for more details from one and nothing from the others. With that said, Hillary, Barack, John – if you read this – I would love to do one between the three of you.
2. I am also happy to answer questions or assist for anyone who wants to do this elsewhere.

Will those future debates be limited to Dem candidates only? Would you consider GOP primaries? Or general election campaigns?

I do hope to do them for the US Senate general election. I had several people suggest I do this for the CD-5 and CD-6 primaries but I don’t know the areas well and I don’t know the issues that drive the Republican base so I don’t think I would do a good job.

Leading up to the actual debate, what’s the one thing that surprised you most about coordinating this event?

The most surprising thing was how easy it was to set up. The Boulder City Council election was the opposite with a million questions, complaints, requirements, etc.

How large an audience are you projecting will participate?

Audience size is an “it depends” question. For the Boulder City Council election (which generated less interest) had about 2,000 visitors the night of the debate. But the S/M/T of the days before and the day the ballots were due those debate pages also had about that many visitors/day. And about 700/day for the two weeks in between. This is a much larger election and interests more people, but with Will deciding to go the petition route, most people figure the caucus election becomes a lot less interesting as Joan and Jared should both easily get the votes they need. So I’m hopeful it will get 5,000 visitors Tuesday night – but that’s just a wild ass guess.

To submit a question for the candidates, click here.

Read more to see what he had to say on health care, water rights, global warming and where campaign fundraising lands in Dante’s “Rings of Hell.” Rules: Please be civil and respectful. Comments containing personal attacks, rude behavior, and/or offensive language will be deleted by the moderator, per Colorado Confidential’s comment policy.

Join Will Shafroth, candidate for Colorado’s 2nd congressional district, for a live 30 minute Q&A on Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 10 a.m. MST. Shafroth will take your questions on his campaign and other issues of national importance to Coloradans.

In the meantime, read Colorado Confidential’s continuing coverage of the three-way CD-2 primary race to succeed Rep. Mark Udall.

“Our numbers reflect amazing momentum and the strong support of a collective voice for the progressive reform and change that my candidacy represents,” said Polis.

The campaign wouldn’t release its fourth quarter 2007 funding total, saying only that they’ve cracked the million-dollar mark. But if it is only a little over $1 million, it would seem to reflect a substantial slowing in Polis’ fundraising draw. He announced at the end of the last quarter that he’d raised $825,259 in total. So exceeding $1 million would mean he raised about $175,000 for the fourth quarter, which is not a lot by the blistering standard set in this very expensive race.

Polis spokeswoman Dayna Hanson said she couldn’t say what the total for the quarter was, only that it is at least enough to top $1 million in total fundraising since April, when the campaign began.

CD-2 opponent Will Shafroth announced today that he’s raised $237,000. The third candidate, Joan Fitz-Gerald, hasn’t reported fourth quarter totals yet.

Money isn’t going to be a problem for the Polis campaign, because he has plenty of his own if he needs it. But dwindling fundraising returns might also spell dwindling popular support.

Final totals for the campaign won’t be available until the figures are filed with the Federal Election Comission on Jan. 31. The reports usually become available to the public about two weeks later.

It brings his total for the campaign to nearly $750,000 since his candidacy announcement in April. Though Shafroth is the lesser known of the three candidates for the office, he’s shown that he can go toe-to-toe with them on the fund-raising circuit.

The other two candidates are former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and businessman-philanthropist Jared Polis. Neither of these two has yet released fourth-quarter totals. The deadline for reporting to the Federal Election Commission is January 31, 2008, and the reports are usually available to the public two weeks later.

In a release about the contributions, Shafroth said:

With 484 total contributors:
99 percent of the contributors were individuals
45 percent of the donors gave $200 or less
97 percent of the contributors were for the primary.

The Shafroth campaign is now reporting about $520,00 on hand. The CD-2 race is proving to be one of the most expensive primaries in the nation.

Shafroth said his personality is better suited to building consensus than Democratic primary opponents Jared Polis and Joan Fitz-Gerald.

But in an interview Shafroth also admitted that his name recognition is not as good as either Fitz-Gerald, the former president of the Colorado State Senate, or Polis, a former State Board of Education chairman who used his personal fortune to help Democrats regain control of the Colorado General Assembly, the governor’s office and a majority in the Congressional delegation.

Shafroth, meanwhile, ran Great Outdoors Colorado from 1993 to 2000, directing lottery proceeds into land conservation and recreation projects. Since 2000 he has directed the Colorado Conservation Trust, a private foundation that Shafroth said has collected $17 million to help preserve agricultural lands, wildlife habitats and open space.

Shafroth said his decision to petition on to the primary ballot did not signal a fear that he would have failed to get 30 percent of the delegate votes needed to get on the ballot at May’s Democratic assembly. He said going door-to-door will help his name recognition and allow him to discover what issues matter most to voters.

“I’ve been in the Democratic system in Boulder,” Shafroth said. “That’s where 50 percent of the delegates will come from. I think I could have done that (gotten 30 percent of the assembly votes).”

Udall, who is vacating his 2nd CD seat to run for the U.S. Senate, petitioned his way on to the Democratic primary ballot when he first ran for Congress, Shafroth said.

Still, Shafroth is the only candidate in the primary who has never before run for office. Fitz-Gerald was elected to the General Assembly, Polis to the state ed board.

In a race where money will talk, Shafroth is confident that he can raise the $1.25 million to $1.5 million he says it will take to be competitive.

“I have outperformed my fundraising goals in the past two quarters,” he said.

He chalks some of that up to a lifetime working as a dedicated environmentalist, which he says is the bread-and-butter issue of the 2nd CD. But with all three candidates running on green platforms, supporting women’s reproductive rights, demanding health care reform and opposing the war in Iraq, Shafroth is counting on the race coming down to a cult of personality.

Polis’ push for ethics reform through Amendment 41 angered some who thought the amendment was poorly written and extended far beyond lobbyists giving free tickets and buying free meals for legislators.

Fitz-Gerald was a powerful leader, but her personal style was occasionally confrontational with Republicans and even with some members of her own party.

“I’m not part of the system,” Shafroth said. “And this is a great year for people who haven’t been part of the system.”

In a deep-pockets primary with better-known opponents, that may be Will Shafroth’s only hope.