Dot Miller Wright or wrong?

Dot Miller (Wright) President of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. Before becoming president of the Chamber she attended college in upstate New York, ran her own business for short while, was an event planner, and worked at Oppenheimer Fund. Since taking her position of President of the Arvada Chamber of Commerce in 2008 Dot Miller has worked hard to increase membership and make the Chamber viable and by most accounts financially strong. The Chamber claims to have 629 members representing 29,469 full-time employees. Or so they say, how many of those "members" are actually businesses? That we may never know, but based on the intensity of recent recruitment efforts by the Chamber at local service clubs, many of the memberships are probably not businesses at all. Dot Miller Wright should not only be associated with the Chamber of Commerce however, her talents are much deeper than that; she is also an Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth, involved with Arvada Colts,  Ralston House Board of Directors, HOTA (Historic Olde Town Arvada) Board of Directors, Jefferson County Business Resource Center Board of Directors, Jefferson Economic Council Ex-Officio Board Member, Foothills Animal Foundation Board of Directors, Dot Miller Wright was also the Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel Chair for the Fire Departments latest tax increase with Ken Fellman who tried to steal land from the Catholic Church. These are just a few of Mrs. Wright's many activities. Clearly, she is very busy. 

Now let us take a look at the Chamber of Commerce. I have a very dear friend who called the Arvada Chamber of Commerce the Chamber of Communism. That seemed like a bit of a stretch at the time, and quite frankly it still does. The question should be raised however, what does the Chamber of Commerce actually do to promote commerce. Not much it appears. Sure they spent $60,000 publishing, printing, and mailing, a business directory which should get to your house in the next week or so depending on how affluent your zip code is. I challenge anyone to actually try contacting some of the people in the directory. One will quickly discover that it is utterly useless. The phone numbers get you nowhere and half of the time the people listed as contacts are no longer at the companies or won't return phone calls. This publication unfortunately, like so many things we do here at the City is complete trash. It is a publicity stunt to make the Chamber and the City appear as though they care about business in Arvada; they don't. So back to the original question, what does the Chamber of Commerce actually do for comerce, other than organize a lot of golf tournaments to make money, and charge membership to make money, or have luncheons to make money? Hmmm, starting to sound almost like a business. In fact the Chamber of Commerce in Arvada has historically done so little for business that the City of Arvada deemed it necessary to perform the tasks that should have been done by the chamber. This ladies and gentlemen is how Arvada Economic Development Association. 

Ereka O'Hara and Bob Dyer

Let us go a bit deeper into this cesspool, last year the president of the Chamber was none other than Ereka O' Hara. Who is Ereka O' Hara? She happens to be Councilman Bob Dyer's Wife, furthermore she was previously appointed by the Mr. Dyer to the Arvada Arts Council for the Arts and Humanities. Yes if you are on City Council you can appoint your spouse to all sorts of powerful positions. And now of course Ereka has been selected as woman of the year. Do you know what she did while she was Chairman of the Chamber she re-established the Government Affairs Committee, Community Affairs Committee, and Community Development Committee. What any of these committees have to do with commerce is far beyond comprehension, but at least if Ereka sits on the Government Affairs Committee she can have lunch with her husband from time to time on the taxpayers dime. Does that Rhyme? How quaint.   My problem is not with these people individually, Ereka, Bob, and Dot Miller have done a great deal for our community, and we should all thank them for their commitment. But that doesn't mean we need to agree with what they do. 
Last year the Chamber of Commerce supported (financially and otherwise) opposition to amendments 60, 61, and 101. Which would be fine if they weren't the chamber of commerce. Many entities and people were opposed to these atrocious amendments. But unlike the Chamber and City, we didn't spend tax payer dollars opposing citizen ballot initiatives. The City of Arvada lost a lawsuit regarding tax money being spent on ballot issues. That is illegal for those of you who don't know. And the front page of the Arvada Report print version cost money to print, tax money. Is it really appropriate for the Chamber of Commerce to oppose tax cuts? Tax cuts that would have benefited most businesses? Really? Regardless of whether or not the amendments were wrong for Colorado this action by the Chamber was reprehensibly inappropriate. Perhaps the Chamber of Communism is appropriate.