Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

Home Archives for Ben

By 1 Comment

Front Range County Sheriffs Refute Campaign Lies against Amendment 49

Readers of this blog are now well familiar with the orchestrated deception by a group called Protect Colorado's Future (PCF) against Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative. In addition to numerous Colorado newspaper editorial boards, respected public figures like former U.S. Senator Hank Brown and former state treasurer Mark Hillman have refuted the lies. Many of PCF's false claims center around purported negative effects on the ability of law enforcement and public safety workers to do their jobs. Who better to refute the lies than respected law enforcement officials whose jurisdictions already have an Ethical Standards policy in place? In today's Denver Post, three Colorado county sheriffs took their turn at batting down the … [Read more...]

By 1 Comment

Believe “Nonsense” Against Colorado Amendment 49? “Don’t Be Stupid”

The Rocky Mountain News today provides the most systematic deconstruction of the grossly misleading, multi-million dollar Protect Colorado's Future campaign against 49:There's no obligation for political campaigns to be fair, let alone balanced, but there are times when messages go beyond the pale. Case in point: the advertising, largely bankrolled by labor unions, to defeat Amendment 49, the "ethical standards" initiative. Muzzle workers and endanger public safety? "In what way? The amendment doesn't say unions can't collect dues. It just says government can't collect dues for them." Threaten public employees' paychecks? "Nonsense." Silence small business? "Bizarre." Backed by multinational corporations? "What a joke." Or as … [Read more...]

By 1 Comment

My Shameless Boss Sells His Used Socks on Ebay (for a Good Cause)

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.... … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Sen. Ken Salazar Repeats Discredited Anti-Amendment 49 Talking Point

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 … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Slapstick Politics Covers Colorado: Still Very Much in Play for McCain-Palin

Update: Gene Kinsey provides photos and first-hand reporting of Sarah Palin's Monday rally in Grand Junction. Short on time for in-depth blogging this morning, I'd point you to Slapstick Politics' coverage of unfolding national campaign events here in our fair state: Colorado "Gone" For John McCain Despite Appearances By Sarah Palin? Battleground Colorado: Sarah Palin Interview; "First Dude" A Rockstar; Biden "Blitz" John McCain Concedes Colorado By Campaigning in Denver, Durango On Friday Don't buy the lies from the Left or the media hype. The race isn't over in Colorado. Mid-October polling in this state traditionally tilts slightly to the Democratic side. It did for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Last time I checked, … [Read more...]

By 7 Comments

Teachers Union Twists Facts to Cover for Anti-Amendment 49 Violation

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 … [Read more...]

By 1 Comment

Parents for School Choice Backs Libby Szabo, Holly Hansen, Shawn Mitchell

Denise at Colorado Charters has shared information on three candidates officially backed by Parents for School Choice, a group that puts its support into races that make a real difference on behalf of charter school families. In other words, these three candidates are strong supporters of charter schools, while their opponents have an anti-charter school record: Libby Szabo, Holly Hansen, and Shawn Mitchell. Speaking of Shawn, here's a creative video highlighting his record and candidacy: … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Barack Obama Would Play Jimmy Hoffa by Getting Union Bad Guys Off

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 … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

My Young Free Market Friends Showcase New Online Political Activism

The Saturday edition of the Rocky Mountain News featured the proverbial quadrennial story about the energized youth vote. Do we have reason to believe that more young voters will cast their ballots this year? I don't know. But one of my young free market friends astutely suggests that the state of the economy has re-engaged many of them:Wesley Dickinson, a 30-year-old Denver engineer, thinks the economy is forcing people near his age to confront politics more so than at any time since the 1970s economic downturn created a generation of Reagan Republicans. Since then, people have been able to live relatively comfortably and didn't care so much about what the government did; that no longer is true, he said. "They haven't had to worry … [Read more...]