Mount Virtus

This was forwarded to me a little while ago. Someone named Kathy from Evergreen apparently (and doubtless with good reason) is not happy with the responsiveness of Congress to her concerns about Obama Care and a rapidly growing and spending federal government.

She took a mechanical form letter from Colorado Democrat U.S. Senator Mark Udall’s office and interjected her own thoughts in italics. I gathered a screenshot and pasted it below (click “fullscreen” and use the “Zoom” for greater reading ease): (more…)

Last Saturday I reported that thousands of Colorado state employees who never signed up to join a union were barraged with membership cards from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) — one of the union partners in the “Colorado WINS” coalition brought to life by Governor Bill Ritter’s 2007 executive order.

Well, apparently, AFSCME somehow reversed their membership and non-membership lists, and in the process annoyed a lot of state workers and wasted tons of paper. As to where they found the home addresses, the State of Colorado says it didn’t hand them out. And I guess AFSCME isn’t telling.

Click the play button below (or follow this link) to hear a 10-minute podcast as state employee and “The Biggest Loser” Dave Ohmart explains what went down, as well as how Colorado WINS has been working to make itself at home in state government and what may be on tap for its 2010 legislative agenda:

Read a state official’s explanation on the Colorado Loses website.

If you live in the Denver metro area, Ryan Frazier, a Republican candidate for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, is advertising a volunteer opportunity for you that does not involve stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors or waving signs. Rather, it’s a way to help those in the community who are struggling during these difficult economic times:

Please join us on Monday, November 23 from 9:30am – noon as we volunteer our time at the JeffCo Action Center. We will be helping to sort and box food in their warehouse 8035 W. Colfax Avenue in Lakewood. The JeffCo Action Center needs to know how many of us to expect, so please RSVP by clicking here or emailing Marc Massey at marc@frazierforcolorado.com by noon on November 20.

(more…)

Update, 12:30 PM: If you have the same experience as I did, you’ll find the voice mail in Senator Bennet’s D.C. office to be full. Then go ahead and call the regional office near you. You’ll likely talk to a tired-sounding staffer who will take your message in opposition to the Baucus health care bill and the vote to proceed, along with your ZIP code. It’s that simple. Now is the time to speak up.

Writing over at Red State, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) shines light on the deceptive approach he believes Harry Reid and the Senate Democrat leadership will take to ram their government health care takeover through:

To begin debate on this new version of Obamacare, Reid will play a shell game. He needs 60 senators to “vote to proceed” to an unrelated piece of legislation, and once he clears that hurdle he will strike that bill’s text and insert his new health care bill. But don’t be fooled by senators that will say they oppose a government takeover but just wanted to allow debate on health care, they are not being honest.

The simple fact is this: Any senator that votes to proceed to the Reid-Obama bill is voting for a government takeover of health care.

Fellow Coloradans, please call the office of appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennett — already having great reason to fear his own chances of being elected in 2010 — at 202-224-5852. Tell him to oppose the “vote to proceed,” or it will be considered a vote in favor of government rationing, higher taxes and further encroachments on our liberty. (more…)

Update, 11/18: Count out another one, too. Ali Hasan left a comment following my earlier speculation that included his name as a possible candidate: “Sorry Mount Virtus, but I won’t be getting into SD16 at all – I got my eyes on a different race. Honestly, Don Ytterberg ran a great campaign and he would be a terrific candidate for this race, especially since Gibbs’s 2008 win mostly came off of his 75% vote total in Summit County, which propelled his victory – a non-Summit Dem puts this race in the R column, imo.”

Last night I noted Democrat state senator Dan Gibbs’ announced decision not to seek re-election in 2010, and started the speculation about which Republicans might be enticed to step up to the plate. After all, this key seat very well could help decide which party assumes majority status in Denver’s upper chamber starting in the 2011 legislative session.

One name I touted as a potentially strong candidate, former state representative Rob Witwer, told me that he is at too important a point in the lives of his four young children to take the leap back into the legislative fray.

“There’s no way I can do two jobs, run for office and still make it to Cub Scouts, little league, birthday parties and all the other events that I want to be there for,” said Witwer. “These years will go fast, and I would love to be involved in public service again someday — but that’s a ways off.”

As a dad of two small young ones myself, I certainly can appreciate that. (more…)

Earlier this month I did a little research on the Obama administration’s multimillion-dollar Recovery.gov website and found that one Jefferson County, Colorado, job was created for every $1.1 million spent.

And now we find that dollar figure in fact may be low! Why? Among other reasons, $6.4 billion of stimulus money has been spent in phantom Congressional districts — including, as Mike Robinson points out at Rocky Mountain Right, on Colorado’s imaginary 64th Congressional district.

Because it comes from the government’s own website, and there’s reason to believe the figure is if anything on the conservative side, all Jeffco Republican candidates would be wise to repeat the $1.1 million per job point about the wastefulness of their opponents’ party.

Someone can double-check and continue to update those figures, too. However, taking the research deeper won’t be easy. For all the millions spent on the Recovery.gov website, David Freddoso is right: it’s pretty much useless.

Which is better than you can say about a lot of the current administration’s policies.

Introducing the top-line results from the 3rd edition of the survey of Colorado’s political temperature. Participation dropped to 281, but results still demonstrated some remarkable consistency. As always, thanks to those of you who took the time to help out!

Coming later in the month will be an analysis of some key crosstabs and correlations. But for now here’s a quick rundown of the survey’s top-line results:

• In the U.S. Senate race, with Ryan Frazier dropping out of the race, momentum has grown behind Ken Buck as the candidate with the most support and behind Jane Norton as the strongest candidate — an interesting dynamic given the credible rumors circulating at Rocky Mountain Right
• Josh Penry was on track for his best showings in both support and perceived strength, before he withdrew from the governor’s race–reducing his lead in one column and erasing it in another
• Ryan Frazier (7th Congressional), Cory Gardner (4th Congressional) and J.J. Ament (State Treasurer) have built strong leads in their respective races
• Demographically speaking, the group of participants in this poll was slightly more Republican, older, male, married, and white than the September sample
• Distaste for the “public option”, Bill Ritter’s management of state fiscal policy and Colorado Supreme Court partisanship grew even stronger
• Confidence remains high that incumbents Ritter, appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, and Congresswoman Betsy Markey all will be defeated in 2010, while incumbent status within the Republican Party and national party interference are viewed with even less respect

For more details, read the release below (click “fullscreen” for easy viewing): (more…)

New RMA member Don Johnson reports that Democrat state senator Dan Gibbs will not run for re-election in his mountain district in 2010. A good opportunity for the Dead Guvs to pine that state lawmakers aren’t paid well enough.

Suddenly, SD16 has to look a lot more appealing to Republicans. Last time around Gibbs beat Don Ytterberg (now the chairman of the Jefferson County GOP) by a nearly 3-to-2 margin. But the political environment makes the seat a lot more competitive for Republicans in 2010, and I don’t see any scenario where they can win back the majority without it. If the rumors haven’t already started to circulate, allow me to ask:

Will first-term Rep. Cheri Gerou in HD 25 make the leap? Might someone coax former Rep. Rob Witwer to give it a go? Perhaps Muhammad Ali Hasan might consider self-financing a bid for SD 16 (or even running to replace Christine Scanlan in the House if she makes the leap to replace Gibbs)?

Let the speculation begin…. Or maybe I’m way off base here. You tell me.

(H/T Gene Kinsey) It appears President Obama could have used some world leader greeting etiquette refreshers before giving a deep, subservient bow to the emperor of Japan: (more…)

Because I’m finally getting around to putting out a press release (below the fold) with the important details — click on “Fullscreen” for easy readability: (more…)

Last year at this time I was in the middle of writing a 20-part blog series on “What I’m Thankful For.” While I have no plans in reprising the series for 2009, I have created a new permanent page on the site with links to each post — from “The Legacy of My Grandparents” to “Vision” and everything in between.

Eleven days until the official Thanksgiving holiday, and it’s never too early to start reflecting on the need for more gratitude in each of our lives.

Chuck Plunkett is one of the more liberal members of the Denver Post‘s editorial board, but he’s a straight shooter. And his Friday posting on the state of Colorado’s Republican primary for governor — “Whither Tancredo?” — is full of spot-on insights, such as:

Party insiders say the problem is that the campaign [Scott] McInnis has structured to date has created a vacuum that conservatives abhor.

And: (more…)

Reports indicate that thousands of Colorado state employees received AFSCME (American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO) union membership cards in the mail yesterday. Many of them are wondering just why they received them, as they never signed up to join any union — especially not one that is spending plenty of member dues money to shill for the unpopular Obama Care socialized medicine fiasco.

AFSCME is one of three partner unions (SEIU and AFT are the others) that joined together to form the Colorado WINS organizing coalition but a few days after Bill Ritter signed an executive order opening the doors of state government to unionization. According to Section 12, page 9, of the Colorado WINS organizing agreement (PDF):

All members of Colorado WINS shall be members of SEIU, AFT and AFSCME.

As commenter (and presumably Colorado state employee) Eldon wrote on this post of mine: “I received a afscme membership card today. What the H— is this. I never joined any union, and voted against the union. Is this happening to anyone else??” Eldon, did it look like this?

And did it come with a letter like this? (more…)

So yes, my Representative Ed Perlmutter voted for the costly, restrictive monstrosity known as Pelosi Care (HR 3962). But how does he justify his positions? How did his office respond to last week’s House Call on Congress rally? And how were citizen-journalists from the People’s Press Collective received when they came to discuss Perlmutter’s position on the legislation? Go straight to PPC, or watch the videos below: (more…)

Our current survey of Colorado’s political temperature has inspired more than just a series of click-in-the-box responses.

Having read one of our test issue statements — It is important for Republicans to employ a “big tent” policy when considering candidates for office. — Karen Kataline decided to deconstruct the term “big tent” in a thoughtful new essay for Backbone America:

Our party is and has always been united not by our ethnicity but by our ideas. As members of minority Republican groups, our role is to welcome others into the party rather than to seek special favors or victim status as the parade of minority groups on the Left have consistently done.

Go ahead. Read the whole thing. Then go ahead and take our latest survey. Maybe you’ll be inspired, too.