Regents: Incumbents hold seats, will welcome Sharkey in January

Bosley

Carrigan

Sharkey

Voters on Tuesday, Nov. 2, returned incumbents Steve Bosley and Michael Carrigan to the University of Colorado Board of Regents, which also will welcome one newly elected member, Sue Sharkey, early next year.

In the at-large contest, the closest of the election's three regents races, Bosley, a Broomfield Republican, had 785,303 votes, or 52 percent, while challenger Melissa Hart, a Denver Democrat, had 666,836 votes, or 43 percent. Denver Libertarian Jesse Wallace had 84,031 votes, or 5 percent (87 percent of precincts reporting, as of this morning).

"I consider it an honor with great responsibility that people will let me continue this important job," said Bosley, a CU-Boulder alum first elected to the board in 2004. "We've had two years already with this difficult economy, and I'm anticipating several more. We'll continue working with the president and the leadership teams on the campuses to do whatever we need to do to balance the budget."

In District 4, Sharkey, a Windsor Republican, garnered 137,858 votes, or 63 percent; challenger Robert Bishop-Cotner, a Windsor Democrat, had 80,359 votes, or 37 percent (91 percent of precincts reporting, as of this morning). They were vying for the seat being vacated by Tom Lucero, R-Loveland, who is term-limited.

"I love the University of Colorado and love what it represents to our state," said Sharkey, whose three adult children include one current CU-Boulder student and one alum. "I'm really proud and honored to have been elected to his position. I'm glad the campaign is over, and I'm looking forward to getting busy and doing the work I really wanted to do, and that's to serve on that board."

In District 1, Carrigan, a Denver Democrat, won 119,762 votes, or 70 percent, while Alex Maller, a Denver Republican, won 52,347 votes, or 30 percent (92 percent of precincts reporting, as of this morning).

"I'm honored to be re-elected and I look forward to serving another six years with Regent Bosley and the other regents," said Carrigan, who graduated from the CU School of Law. "We have tremendous challenges ahead, but I'm confident that we will find a way to preserve CU's affordability and excellence."

Sharkey will be sworn in in January. She began attending meetings of the regents a year ago when she began running for office.

"One of the things I've been very impressed with, from the public perspective, is how they interact with one another and the respect shown," Sharkey said. "I'm sure there are some pretty strong, differing opinions on that board, but the differences are handled in a respectful way."

The election results mean the board will maintain its current 5-4 split favoring Republicans over Democrats.

"I hope (our relationships) will stay the same and that we'll continue to focus on what's best for CU and make every effort to find common ground and support our administrative leaders," Carrigan said.

Said Bosley, "I think Sue will be a very quick study. Every indication I see, from talking to her, is that she's going to be doing a lot of listening."