Mount Virtus

Sleazy ads by the Democrats’ 527 group Accountability for Colorado? Say it ain’t so (from the Rocky Mountain News editorial page):

The sleaziest flier this season? Probably the one targeting Republican Kevin Priola, who’s running for the District 30 state House seat in Adams County. It claims a judge “issued a restraining order against Priola out of fears that he posed a threat and imminent danger to the victim.”

Come to think of it, a second anti-Priola flier may be worse. It says that the “judge found [my emphasis] that Priola posed a threat and imminent danger to the victim.”

In fact, requests for temporary restraining orders are routinely granted just to be on the safe side until a hearing can be held. In this case, the person requesting the order against Priola (as well as his father and their firm) was a delinquent tenant trying to thwart an eviction. And the stunt didn’t work - the order was soon dismissed by the court.

There was no “victim” and no one in “danger.” A judge “found” nothing of the kind.

Notice that these fliers never mention the gender of the person requesting the order - a male - no doubt in order to leave the impression that a woman had been harassed or stalked. For that matter, both fliers suggest that Priola would be interested as a lawmaker in making it harder for judges to issue restraining orders - a flat-out invention.

So who’s responsible for these travesties? A group called Accountability for Colorado, which is partly funded by wealthy activists Tim Gill and Pat Stryker. These two fat cats, respected members of the state’s establishment, apparently have no qualms joining with those who trash the reputations of the innocent. [emphasis added]

The “sleaziest” ad of Colorado’s political season is not only funded by Left-wing billionaires Tim Gill and Pat Stryker (leaders of the Colorado Democracy Alliance). The Colorado Education Association (CEA) also has given tens of thousands of dollars of automatically deducted member dues and contributions to Accountability for Colorado. Do you think they took a straw poll of members first? Do you think they will disclose to members how their money was spent - at least in time for them to get a refund (if they even know about the refund)?

If Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards) were passed, and groups like CEA had to collect money directly from members, do you think they’d be as likely to brazenly spend their money on groups with such a record of sleazy deception?

And if this story makes you mad, I recommend you find a way to support Kevin Priola.

Let me add my small blog voice to the growing crowd: The Los Angeles Times needs to release the video that supposedly shows Barack Obama “toasting a terrorist” (and not in the nuclear vaporization sort of way, either). As Little Green Footballs points out, the infamous figure in question is former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi.

RedState has the latest in the form of a Fox News report:

No one can credibly deny that the media establishment is in the tank for Barack Obama. If there’s nothing to see, a public vetting of the video would dispel the rumors. But the longer the Times clings to it, the more legitimate suspicion grows. And the Times‘ excuses for not releasing the video don’t hold much water. All appearances indicate they are covering for their preferred presidential candidate, and it’s a disservice to the public.

Michelle Malkin is right: continuing on this trend is bad for the newspaper business.

As reported in the Denver Post, this is the kind of story that Big Labor would rather sweep under the rug. A union attorney exposed for his racist, vulgar email messages sent to Ryan Frazier, a leading supporter of Amendment 47, and also (apparently) for practicing law in Colorado without a license. It wasn’t like the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) had much choice but to get rid of DeAngelo Starnes - otherwise a natural ideological fit.

It is not insignificant to note that UFCW has spent nearly $5 million on state issue campaigns this year - mostly to fight Amendment 47 (Right-to-Work) but also to spread lies about Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards) and Amendment 54 (Government Contracting Reform). Only the National Education Association has spent nearly as much money fighting these pro-worker and good government initiatives.

For snide commentary on Mr. Starnes’ ignominious showing in today’s Post, read the Drunkablog.

The Rocky Mountain News Stump blog reports:

Colorado spent more than $200,000 in printing costs and extra postage this fall because the deadline for withdrawing ballot measures comes too close to Election Day, according to a study from the University of Denver.

Amendments 53, 55, 56 and 57 were withdrawn by labor groups by an Oct. 2 deadline. But it was too late to keep them off the printed ballot.

DU’s Center for Colorado’s Economic Future offered some advice for the state legislature: rethink the law that allows ballot initiatives to be pulled as late as 33 days before the election.

Changing the law on the withdrawal deadline may not be a bad idea, but here’s an even better one. Seeing as how Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future (PCF) - which held the state and business leaders hostage with its ballot scam - has raised north of $10 million, why not send the bill to them? Sort of an extortion processing fee.

And while PCF has other money to burn, maybe they’d be willing to make a bid on Jon Caldara’s famous socks.

Another prominent, respected Colorado voice joins the chorus of those denouncing the nonsensical attacks against Amendments 47, 49, and 54. Former state treasurer Mark Hillman makes a couple of terrific points in his piece:

Amendment 49 (”ethical standards”) prohibits state and local governments from intercepting a worker’s paycheck to collect dues or contributions for unions, lobbyists or any other special interest. It simply requires all interest groups to ask supporters directly for their contribution, rather than use government payroll systems as their collection agency.

Groups from the National Rifle Association to the Sierra Club rely on voluntary contributions, so why can’t labor unions and other special interests?

And:

Then there’s the whopper by the “Coloradans for Middle Class Relief” that claims “a few rich owners” – “Big Bad Wolf” was already taken — want to pass these amendments so they can “cut wages and reduce health care for their employees.”

What stops those greedy owners from treating their employees like indentured servants today? The good old profit motive, of course. It’s tough to sell goods and services without productive, properly compensated employees.

The Denver Post called the union attacks dishonest, noting that Amendment 47 “does not in any way prevent unions from organizing and collecting dues from willing employees.” The Post also pointed out that the firefighter in the commercial works in a department where union membership is voluntary.

It’s nice to be able to cut through the white noise and lies of Protect Colorado Future’s outrageous political spin. Only eight more days. We can only hope for Ethical Standards (Amendment 49) and these other good ideas to prevail over the deception.

(Disclosure: I also happen to work for the Independence Institute, which is a chief supporter of Amendment 49.)

There is a ton to catch up on heading into the election’s final week: Palestra has the latest on vote fraud committed by Barack Obama staffers camping out in Ohio. Naysayers repeat the mantra that this fraud can’t possibly affect the election, because it’s on such a small scale. Focused so intently on potential direct impacts, they miss the point. The ever expanding, yet unknowable, scale of voter registration fraud has been part of feeding a public perception. Based on what we know about human nature and behavior, it will have some effect - how so, it’s too hard to say.

To further understand the concern, think instead about what this says: the bare minimum of electronic controls to cover his online donations, allowing for myriad kinds of shenanigans. Millions of dollars that came from … where? And as Beldar writes, this should create some anger among Democrats:

For a start, every honest Democrat should demand that everyone associated with the decision to disable the most basic anti-fraud mechanisms from the Obama-Biden campaign’s credit-card donations systems be publicly identified and immediately fired. Every honest Democrat should demand the immediate and full cooperation from the campaign — pointedly beginning with Barack Obama — in seeing them prosecuted and convicted.

And then, we have a media establishment that couldn’t care less, and in fact - has thrown its weight behind the Barack Obama campaign, giving the distortions an undeserved credibility. But as ashamed journalist Michael Malone points out, its coverage of the 2008 campaign has hastened its dive into oblivion.
Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards reported its 900th conviction of union leaders for criminal activity. From the press release:

During the month, OLMS obtained three convictions, seven indictments and court orders of restitution totaling more than $80,000. The office’s totals for fiscal year 2008 (which ended on Sept. 30, 2008) are 102 convictions and 130 indictments, with restitution of more than $3.2 million. The bulk of the cases involved the embezzlement of union funds.

“The triple-digit numbers of indictments and convictions obtained by OLMS in the 2008 fiscal year demonstrates that criminal activity in unions is still a major problem. This problem points to the critical role performed by OLMS in prosecuting those who steal from their members,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Standards Don Todd. “We are proud to have secured court orders of restitution of more than $91.5 million since 2001.”

Embezzlement yes, and cases of forgery and theft, too. The OLMS is one of the most effective federal agencies, helping to bring Big Labor’s bad seeds to justice and restoring millions of dollars to rank-and-file workers wronged by corrupt union leaders.

A Barack Obama presidency would mean a rollback of this agency’s good work. Here’s a flashback to a Wall Street Journal report from five months ago (subscription needed to read entire article):

Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and the Obama campaign.

Barack Obama is the Jimmy Hoffa presidential candidate, much like Bill Ritter is Colorado’s Jimmy Hoffa governor.

Joanne Kelley reports on the Rocky Mountain News Stump blog:

Supporters of Amendment 49 filed a campaign finance complaint over $2,800 of “in-kind” contributions a teachers union committee made to a group fighting the ballot measure.

The complaint alleges the Colorado Springs Education Association’s issue committee made contributions to a group created to address statewide ballot issues when the teachers’ committee was created to promote issues in its own district.

“I find it disturbing to see the teachers union funnel resources earmarked for local education issues into a fight against statewide political issues they don’t happen to like,” said Colorado Springs resident and former school board candidate Reginald Perry, who was named on the complaint filed with the Secretary of State’s office.

But a spokeswoman for the Colorado Education Association said the law allows the teachers union committee to support or oppose both state and local ballot issues.

“The (teachers) committee has the same purpose as Protect Colorado’s Future,” said Deborah Fallin of the Colorado Education Association.

The same purpose. Really? The purpose of the teachers union committee? “Promote ballot issues in School District 11.”

The purpose of Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future? “Support initiatives #57; #62; #73; #74; #75 and #76. Oppose Amendments 47, 49 and 54.”

They sound different to me. It’s sad that words cease to have plain meaning to the likes of the Colorado Education Association. And it’s sad (but not surprising) that the group fighting Ethical Standards would break campaign finance laws to get out its deceptive messages.

There’s something you ought to know about my boss Jon Caldara: He is perfectly comfortable with shameless attention-grabbing. Did you see the “Amendment 49 - Ivory Tower Explanation” sock puppet video? Well, now the sock puppets make an encore appearance:

A bid for the used socks (ew!) on Ebay goes to fund the Amendment 49 campaign. You all can do better than $14.08 (the current bid).

For the sakes of the poor sock puppets, please….

Update: Blue Collar Muse answers more liberal efforts to shift blame from ACORN, and provides a boatload more evidence. And Palestra documents more sinister voting activity connected with the Obama campaign in Ohio.

It’s hard to keep up with all the evidence pouring forth.

A liberal denizen of my comments section likes to repeat the claim that ACORN’s repeated acts of voter registration fraud are harmless, that I shouldn’t waste my time writing about it, and that he is so bored by the topic that he just has to keep commenting on it. Yes, the same ACORN under FBI investigation that prominently endorsed the deceptive issue campaign Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future.

But then you look at New Mexico, and you see where voter fraud - so hard-to-prove - resulted directly from ACORN voter registration fraud…in the very closely decided Democratic primary:

The GOP’s review was conducted in House District 13 and only included 92 ballots. That means roughly a third of the ballots examined found by the GOP were fraudulent. The New Mexico GOP released 10 of their suspect ballots. They ballots did not contain required identification information such as Social Security numbers, drivers license numbers or birthdates.

“This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORN’s voter registration fraud,” said State Representative Justine Fox Young (R.-Albuquerque). “No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms don’t translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.”

The original news report is here.

Then there’s Ohio: Read the rest of this entry »

The radical shift in polling numbers after the explosive news about the sex/bribe scandal of Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney - who replaced the infamous Republican Rep. Mark Foley - ensures that Florida Congressional seat shifts back to GOP hands.

But where are the national media’s incessant demands to find the facts about what Democratic leaders knew and when? I guess the question answers itself. The liberal media establishment doesn’t want to drive its favored party into the ground and harm the chances of its chosen candidate (read: Barack Obama).

Mark Foley at least had enough shame to do the decent thing and resign over his illicit messages to Congressional pages (and as I said then of Republican leaders, “if they knew and withheld the information, they are guilty of abetting this crime and should be treated accordingly”). Tim Mahoney is standing pat, and we don’t know enough about what Democratic leaders knew. Rank-and-file Democrat activists should demand more of their elected officials and their party leaders.

Just thought it would be useful to bring readers’ attention to a gaping double standard that once again rears its ugly head.

I find this story out of California quite disturbing. The Los Angeles Times reports that a Republican contractor has been targeted with serious allegations of engaging in voter registration fraud - a stupid, repugnant, and unethical activity (H/T Volokh Conspiracy):

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed….

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party — a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states — has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.

The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.

The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.

This story smells bad for some incompetent Republican leaders, but does not rise to the level of the ACORN scandals for four reasons: Read the rest of this entry »

Colorado U.S. Senator Ken Salazar made the mistake of letting his name appear on a letter recently published in the Fort Morgan Times, a letter that repeats at least one special interest group lie:

Amendment 49 targets public employees, including law enforcement officials, fire fighters and teachers, who provide vital services for all of us. Amendment 49 will interfere with the personal choice of working Coloradans over how they want to spend their hard-earned paychecks.

This echoes the deceptive flyers distributed by the well-heeled committee Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future (the issue committee known for its perpetual deception), in which they falsely state that Amendment 49 dictates how firefighters and other public employees can spend their paychecks.

In his recent appearance on 850 KOA’s Mike Rosen Show, though, former U.S. Senator Hank Brown set the record straight:

Here’s the transcript:

I notice some of the negative ads that want a vote against 49 claimed that it somehow restricts various public employees. Not the case at all. Simply, absolutely wrong. I think as the Rocky Mountain News said in its editorial, “Such claims are nonsense”. And they are nonsense. There’s no restriction on employees here, only restrictions on government.

It’s not just Hank Brown and the Rocky Mountain News who have cleared the air with the truth. Similar observations have been made by editors at the Grand Junction Sentinel and Boulder Daily Camera, too. A look at the ballot language confirms that Amendment 49 provides only “restrictions on government,” and doesn’t in any way restrict how government workers can spend their money. (In some cases, it actually gives workers more freedom of choice in this regard.)

What a shame to see Senator Ken Salazar regurgitating a discredited talking point pushed by special interest groups that thrive off our taxpayer-funded government payroll systems. Just a little more reason why we need Amendment 49 to provide ethical standards for our state and local governments.

I ran across this satire site someone created, called Lobbyists against Amendment 49. But seriously, why would many of Colorado’s political lobbying groups be against Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative? Likely because they have grown quite accustomed to the special privilege of the government serving as their banker, collection agent, and bookkeeper for free. That’s a gig I wouldn’t want to end either.

Unfortunately, I think the people of Colorado may be of a different opinion. While appearing recently on 850 KOA’s Mike Rosen Show, former U.S. Senator Hank Brown explained the problem pretty concisely:

Here’s the transcript:

Taxpayers have to pay for the cost of transferring the money, collecting the money, accounting for the money, and reporting it. So they [lobbying groups] love to have government pick up their costs for it, and I think the biggest factor here is they know that if it’s done through the payroll system people have a much more difficult time being able to reclaim their money, if they don’t want to pay.

Lobbyists against 49: not exactly a good way to build a broad coalition. I’ll stick with good government, thank you very much.

Update: Audio embedded

The campaign for Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative, has released a new 30-second radio ad featuring former U.S. Senator Hank Brown:

Here’s the text of the ad:

Both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post urge you to vote Yes on Amendment 49. 49 stops government from being the bagman for special interests and lobbyists. This is Hank Brown, and I’m thrilled that nearly every newspaper across Colorado agrees: Yes on 49. The Pueblo Chieftain, the Grand Junction Sentinel, the Colorado Springs Gazette, and yes, the Boulder Camera, just to name a few. Join me and Bill Owens in voting Yes on 49. 49 keeps lobbyists in line. Paid for by EthicalStandardsNow.com.

I’m not sure if there is any other initiative on this year’s Colorado ballot that has received such a wide range of major newspaper endorsements.

(Full disclosure: I also happen to work for the Independence Institute, which has backed the Ethical Standards Now campaign.)