Aaron Harber is the host of “The Aaron Harber Show” on PBS Television Station KBDI Channel 12 in Denver, Colorado. He also is a host and is the primary questioner on "Colorado Decides 2004" -- a joint production of KBDI, the Rocky Mountain News, and CBS4 -- KCNC Channel 4.  He is uniquely qualified and positioned to direct the TIPA based on his political experience as a candidate and elected statewide party officer, his background running businesses, his extensive role in the nonprofit sector, and his role in the world of media, both as radio and television talk show hosts and as a member of both the electronic and print Press.

Most importantly, Aaron has worked in a nonpartisan manner as a member of the Press and media for over a decade. As a result, he has established his programs as a place where representatives from all political parties know they are welcomed and guaranteed to be treated equally, fairly, and considerately.

Aaron Harber’s first stint in broadcasting was in 1992 as the host of the "The WatchDog" — a political issues, consumer affairs, and citizens' rights program on the Talk of the Rockies Network. In 1994, he became host of “Against The Rush” — a humorous but cogent response to Rush Limbaugh. The show was produced by USA Talk Network and broadcast on 51 stations by the Talk America Radio Network. Aaron gained national notoriety when he was sued frivolously for $20 million by Limbaugh, et al, for using the word “Rush” in the title of his show. With broad-based support across the entire political spectrum, Aaron won the First Amendment case in Federal Court. The talk industry’s leading publication — “TALKERS MAGAZINE”— selected Aaron out of 5,000 hosts across the country as one of America’s 100 “Most Important Talk Show Hosts In 1997" (along with such luminaries as Don Imus, Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlesinger, Howard Stern, and Bruce Williams). In 1997, he moved from Talk Radio into the television arena.

Aaron is the host of “The Aaron Harber Show” (previously known as “Spontaneous Combustion TM” – see www.HarberTV.com) -- an irreverent look at the issues of the day -- and has been selected as the host for “Blind Justice TM,” a critical examination of America ’s legal system. He serves as the on-camera Political Analyst for Tribune Broadcasting station KWGN ( Denver ’s “WB2" – part of the Warner Brothers Network) and as a Columnist for the State’s major political publication, “The Colorado Statesman ” He is a regular weekly columnist for the Denver Daily News. In 2000, he hosted the historic nonpartisan campaign series, “Election 2000" which was broadcast on over-the-air television (via Colorado Public Television KBDI/TV-12) as well as on the Internet, thanks to funding from the John S. and James L Knight Foundation and a partnership with The Denver Post Two years later, he hosted the “Election 2002” series on Colorado Public Television as a demonstration of how to promote nonpartisan election information broadcasting by PBS stations nationally as well as to provide citizens with extensive candidate access and election coverage. He serves as WB2’s Political Analyst for the 2004 Primary and General Election seasons and also is a panelist and co-host in KBDI Channel 12’s “ Colorado Decides 2004 ” series He is the founder and Executive Director of the campaign monitoring Truth In Political Advertising Project.

Although it is true the highlight of Aaron’s life was being a Bat Boy for the Chicago White Sox at age 15 (he won a Chicago newspaper essay-writing contest), it has not been completely downhill from there. Aaron began his business career days after being graduated from college, at the age of 22, when he started the Colorado Accounting & Tax Service with $1,500 he had saved from college jobs he performed while working his way through school. Since then, he has been involved in numerous businesses ranging from survey research to high technology (where he organized software companies) to venture capital to Talk Radio to movie and television production, among many others. A committed environmentalist and a staunch feminist, Aaron also is a strong pro-business, free-market proponent Unlike many other talk show hosts who give opinions about subjects they know little about, Aaron has extraordinary firsthand experience and knowledge about business, government, education, politics, the law, entertainment, and the Press. His media activities are widely recognized for their consistent fairness, objectivity, accessibility and nonpartisan nature.

As co-founder and chairman of the Women's Equity Fund, a nationally-recognized, venture capital firm helping women and men start new businesses and expand existing ones, Aaron promoted the concept of changing the access women had to business capital. He was chairman of Centre Entertainment, Inc. -- a film and video production and distribution company (“A Norman Rockwell Christmas” and “Legend Of The Spirit Dog”). He served as president of Wild Horse Productions, Inc. -- a company originally formed to make the feature film, “Wild Horses” for Animal Planet and Discovery Communications.

Aaron pioneered the concept of the Golden Run community in Erie, Colorado, as an example of a modified New Urbanism development imaginatively designed to create a walkable, economically sustainable, environmentally-friendly community for a wide range of citizens (see www.GoldenRun.com). Golden Run focuses on the needs of senior citizens as well as young families, the disabled, and people requiring special kinds and levels of care. The concept of Golden Run is the creation of a community where people can live, work, play, recreate, shop, and enjoy life -- all in an ecologically sound manner. Aaron also was a co-founder and served as president and chairman of Silicon Valley software company TeamOne Systems (in the Apollo, Digital, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun Microsystems markets) which tackled the national need to automate the writing of computer software. He also was elected as chairman of the innovative fiber-optic large-display company Mall TV, Inc. Additionally, he served as chairman of one of the nation’s original retail virtual reality companies, V-Space, Inc.

For over quarter of a century, Aaron has served as president of American Research Corporation, where his work included strategic research, business advisory services, organizational consulting, public opinion polling, and computer software. He has managed complex software development projects, served private and public sector clients domestically and internationally, and participated in many state and federal government projects. A sample of his customers include Bank of America, Motorola Corporation, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Atari, Inc., Memorex, SPRINT, Case Western Reserve University, Environment Canada, Rockwell International, Knight-Ridder’s VIEWDATA Corporation, Unisys, Public Service Company, Hughes Aircraft, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, Tandem Computers, and Security Pacific National Bank, among many others. Aaron is the founder of the Democracy & Media Education Foundation -- a national effort to change American politics by encouraging Public Broadcasting System stations to provide extensive nonpartisan coverage of election races and ballot issue contests to mitigate the effect of paid commercial political television advertising. His innovative theory “to use television to fight television” is the basis of the Foundation’s potentially radical change in the USA ’s political system. Aaron won election to the Princeton University Board of Trustees. He also worked internationally after being elected Vice-President and then President of the 3,000-member International Tandem [Computers] Users' Group, and led the group to its independence as an autonomous and self-sufficient organization via a committee structure he designed. While registered as an Investment Adviser with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, he donated his financial and tax advisory services to men and women starting businesses as well as to charitable organizations on a pro bono basis.

Aaron's extensive community involvement also has included doing fundraising for the University of Colorado, (including the Mackey Auditorium Renovation Campaign Cabinet) serving as the first president and chairman of the Nancy Spanier Dance Theatre of Colorado, working as a Volunteer Probation Counselor for the City and County Court of Denver, and serving on the board of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra. He was co-director and treasurer of the Chicano Film Project, which produced the heralded film, "Los Inmigrantes" He worked as a volunteer for ECO-CYCLE and as a Relief House Parent for Attention Homes (an alternative to jail for young offenders). Almost three decades ago, he was the first (and then only) male ever elected to the Board of Directors of the Boulder County Women's Resource Center. He has served as the moderator and facilitator of numerous panels as well as a keynote speaker at various national events.

Aaron was elected Secretary of the Colorado Democratic Party in 1983. He was elected as a Presidential Delegate to the 1984 National Convention in San Francisco and also was elected to the Convention’s original Credentials Committee. He was a candidate for Secretary of State in 1982 and later won his party's nomination in 1990. In both 1996 and 2000 he won election in a statewide party race to the Electoral College In addition to his original election in 1984, he was elected as a Presidential Delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in Chicago (1996) and Los Angeles (2000). Aaron has served as parliamentarian and secretary of numerous political assemblies and conventions, at the county, congressional, and state level. He was elected as chair of State Senate District 17 and as Vice Chair of House District 31, and has held many other elected party positions -- ranging from Precinct Committeeperson to Caucus Chair and Secretary to County, Congressional, State and National delegate. He currently holds no partisan positions due his work in the Media and is committed to being seen as an objective, non-partisan, albeit entertaining, member of the Press.

Despite his history of political activism, Aaron is known for his fairness and the equal access he has provided Republicans to all his radio and TV shows (including his unique broadcasts from the Republican National Convention in 1996). He has broadcast his show “live” from places as disparate as the Democratic Leadership Council to the White House Press Room to the conservative Heritage Foundation. His political views include elements from both major parties and from some minority parties. His philosophy is to consider as many views as possible and come to rational, thoughtful positions not bound by any particular partisan, “blind-faith” ideology. He believes in offering people a “helping hand” and assisting them in becoming independent – not dependent. He is a strong believer in protecting the Environment.

A staunch supporter of the concept of public disclosure, “sunshine” laws, and Open Records Acts, Aaron fought a precedent-setting battle against the State of Colorado in 1982 in which the Secretary of State ultimately was required to release public information in its most usable form (i.e., electronic). A decade later, in 1993, he won a case against another government entity (the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District) which had tried to use the law and the cost of litigation to hide important public information. And in 1994, at the request of the Sierra Club, he agreed to intervene in a case against the NCWCD filed by the Sierra Club by supporting the Club’s position as a co-plaintiff.

Colorado Governor Roy Romer appointed Aaron to the Colorado Department of Law's Collection Agency Board (“CAB”) in the Office of the Attorney General in 1988. Aaron served there under both Democratic and Republican Attorneys General and promoted many improvements on behalf of consumers. He was elected in 1989 as the first public member ever to serve as chairman of the CAB. In 1990, he was appointed by the Governor to serve as a business representative on the State's Complete Count Committee for the 1990 U.S. Census . He current also serves as a member of the national Prostate Cancer Education Council. Additionally, Aaron has chaired numerous domestic and international events and is known as an extraordinary public speaker, moderator, and facilitator. He also mediates crises and advises numerous organizations. His favorite activity is problem-solving in a “win/win” mode.

Aaron was born in Chicago, Illinois , and was graduated first in his class from Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, where he gave the valedictory address. He received his undergraduate degree (A.B.) from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (concentrating in Economics) and received a master's degree in Public Administration (M.P.A.) from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government (concentrating in Ethics), where he also examined campaign finance laws and election practices in all 50 states.

Aaron is a Single Parent who is totally devoted to caring for his young daughter, Holly. They live on a 320-acre farm, which Aaron has farmed and managed for the better part of two decades, and have created a special home for their four dogs, each who was retired for medical reasons from Guide Dogs for the Blind -- for whom Aaron was a volunteer Puppy Raiser for many years. The real boss of the house, however, is “Herrmann,” the cat. Aaron’s hobbies are running, playing basketball and tennis, and eating.

 



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