Panelists

Dr. John Straayer

Dr. Straayer is a Professor of Political Science at Colorado State University, where he specializes in Colorado legislative politics.  As Director of the Political Science Legislative Internship Program at CSU, he has overseen over 900 legislative internships.  Dr. Straayer's publications include The Colorado General Assembly (1900-2000) and State of Change: Colorado Politics in the 21st Century.

 

Kathleen Curry

Representative Curry served as a State Representative in the Colorado General Assembly from 2004-2010.  As the state's first and only Independent member of the Colorado legislature, she Chaired the Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee.  In addition to passing 81% of 91 pieces of legislation that she sponsored, she restructured the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to include public health, wildlife and local government representation.

 

Molly Mugglestone

Molly Mugglestone is a political and media relations consultant with her own business- MDM Public Affairs Consulting, LLC.  She focuses on political advocacy, issue based campaigns, media relations, public relations and organizational development in her consulting.  Her main client is Protect the Flows which is a coalition of over 500 businesses in the 7 Colorado River Basin states that depend on the health and vitality of the river. They advocate for increased conservation and using water better and smarter so that the river will be here for generations to come for all to enjoy.   Molly has taught at WSCU for the last 6 years and currently teaches POLS 282- State and Local Policy.   She loves to engage students in thinking and learning about the political process and how to find and use their voice for change

Desiree Westlund Cindric

Desiree is Program Director at FRESC- Good Jobs, Strong Communities where she oversees FRESC's broad program and policy work with emphasis on transit equity, including linking working families to affordable housing, quality jobs, and healthy communities via transit.  FRESC's community   organizing and leadership development work with public housing residents in Denver's La

Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood resulted  in the creation of a model community-government partnership to address the challenges of redevelopment.  FRESC also achieved Denver's first comprehensive set of community benefits on the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) redevelopment of the old Gates Rubber factory that included commitments to build 200 units of affordable housing, and prevailing wages for infrastructure construction jobs.