Pete Lee: a Life Built in Colorado!

The Early Years

My wife, Lynn, and I have lived in Colorado Springs for over 30 years and in Cheyenne Canyon for the last sixteen. We raised three children, Amanda (28), Rob (17) and Brian (16).

While working in personnel at the Holly Sugar Corporation, a Fortune-500 company, I was admitted to the Colorado bar. I practiced law for twenty five years, first with a firm and later as a solo practitioner. I focused on representing individuals and small business owners in commercial and real estate transactions, employment, equal employment opportunity, franchising and litigation matters. I also practiced law in the criminal justice system. At various times during my career, I also worked as a real-estate agent, a college instructor and a small-business owner.

Over the years, I developed a strong commitment to preserving our natural resources and gained a passion for Colorado winter sports.

Family Life

Lynn and I first met on a Colorado Mountain Club hike on Mount Sneffels in 1987. She was a special education teacher for 14 years in Widefield, taught classes for gifted children during the summers and regularly worked in our children's schools. We both coached soccer with Park and Rec.

Our children attended public, private and alternative schools by our choice. Amanda and Rob graduated from local high schools. Amanda then graduated from college and works for Urban Peaks in Denver. Rob is attending UCCS and working part time. Brian is finishing high school.

More recently, Lynn volunteered as a victim advocate in a juvenile Restorative Justice program at Workout, Ltd. She is now a trained facilitator for victim offender conferences, working for the Manitou Springs Restorative Justice Council and the Youth Transformation Center. Lynn is also a silk painting artist affiliated with Commonwheel Artists in Manitou Springs.

Throughout our eighteen year marriage, we have shared our love of the mountains, particularly hiking the local trails, rafting the rivers, backpacking the "fourteeners", running annual marathons on Pikes Peak, skiing in Summit County and most recently, in Winter Park. Some of our special memories were acquired during backpacking trips to the Grand Tetons, the Swiss Alps, Alaska, and the Grand Canyon.

Pete's Community Service

Throughout my working career, I have volunteered for many local community based organizations. They are listed on my resume, but significant among them are service on the board of Pikes Peak Mental Health, the Manitou and Pikes Peak Restorative Justice Councils and the Youth Transformation Center. These experiences have taught me about the challenges facing our fellow citizens.

Some of my most rewarding experiences were as a board member and board chair for Workout, Ltd. A local juvenile justice program, Workout found jobs for young people with legal troubles and returned 80% of the teens wages to their victims. Using hard work as a teaching tool, Workout helped more than 10,000 kids and returned $2 million to our community over 30 years. The re-arrest rate for these kids has been less than 7%.

Public Service

I am a concerned citizen with a passion for our community and a desire for public service. Far from a professional politician, I subscribe to Thomas Jefferson's view of "citizen public servants" bringing their real-world experience to a public office for the benefit of the community. That is the spirit in which I am running this first campaign.

Having lived the last 30 years in this community and having worked for hundreds of clients, serving a wide variety of people and organizations, I have come to know the needs, hopes, difficulties and aspirations of our citizens. I have talked to leaders, administrators and advocates about healthcare and access to it, public education, dropout and graduation rates, criminal justice, prison crowding and recidivism, water, roads and infrastructure, employment and training, and environmental concerns.

I am now ready to dedicate my fulltime efforts to improving our community by creative, open minded thinking, by drawing upon the best ideas from whatever sources or philosophical arenas and working toward a practical and effective resolution of our communities challenges.

Formal Education

I attended college at Ohio Wesleyan University where I received a BA in 1970 with a double major in English and Politics & Government. I was elected to two academic honorary societies.

I started attending the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania until I took a leave of absence in 1971 to attend law school in the evenings while working full time for Superior's Brand Meats, a multi-state meat-packing company.

I received a JD and the Bancroft Whitney Award for Civil Procedure at the University of Akron Law School in 1975. I moved to Colorado after graduating from law school that summer.