Via the Denver Post today, another example of Colorado's liberal/Lefty activist blogger community with not enough to occupy their time and interest this slow news August: "Schaffer's 'if' stirs a ruckus." The only people who have stirred a ruckus are the usual suspects. Here is a voice of reason quoted in the Post story, basically saying "What's the big deal here?": ...Bob Loevy, professor of political science at Colorado College, said excessively long campaigns lead to extreme scrutiny of candidates' words. The Senate election is more than a year away. "My feeling is that he misspoke, the campaign manager corrected it and that's the end of it," Loevy said. My only quibble with the story is its failure to identify the undisputed … [Read more...]

Facile, inaccurate comparisons are common fare among the Left in Colorado these days. Case in point: Diarist GoBlue on the Dead Governors site, convinced by the fact he has the ultimate "gotcha," publishes a post that compares a Republican proposal that would allow small businesses to pool together to negotiate health insurance policies with a Democrat proposal that would require state and local governments to accept binding negotiated agreements. Memo to GoBlue: There is a vast difference between allow and require. There is no Colorado law, nor should there be, preventing voluntary associations of public employees to meet, express their interests, and air their grievances. Such arrangements already exist. Besides, if Governor Bill … [Read more...]

With stories yesterday and today, Face The State brings out the 1-2 punch, exposing the bonus Democrats get from groups that exploit Colorado's campaign law, and then highlighting an effort by some local governments to clean up the act. From yesterday: During the last election, the nation's largest unions utilized a loophole in Colorado's campaign finance laws that allowed them to give millions of dollars in anonymous political contributions to Democrat candidates—all while never revealing the name of a single individual donor. For the Service Employees International Union, the nation's largest union with more than 1.6 million members, this setup allowed its leadership to transfer portions of membership dues to small donor committees … [Read more...]

In today's Face the State report, at least one Colorado labor union leader is twisting numbers to recruit allies in their attack on a proposal that would "protect a worker’s right to choose whether or not to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment." This kind of statistical manipulation would make Media Matters proud. The rightness of Aurora city councilperson Ryan Frazier's cause is one thing, but the realities of deep union coffers suggest that passing a statewide Right-to-Work ballot initiative in 2008 figures to be an uphill battle. The question is whether defenders of freedom will let the truth become victimized in the political arena. I hope not. … [Read more...]

Yesterday the Dead Governors touted the coincidentally-timed release of an April survey of Colorado voters showing alleged opposition to a right-to-work initiative at 56 percent to 36 percent support. Not surprisingly, Jason Bane and company appear to be carrying water for leaders in the union coalition, who are worried about having to spend money to defeat right-to-work and thus are trumping the dubious results of the RBI Strategies poll: Without including the words “Right to Work” in the ballot title or language, there is little support among Colorado voters for this potential initiative. Predictably, the opposition to the initiative is strong among Democrats (65% are against). However, even a majority of unaffiliated voters oppose … [Read more...]

Earlier this year Colorado Democrats violated the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights by raising your taxes without asking your permission. Then, feeling a bit guilty perhaps, they are caught in a deceitful ad campaign to cover up their folly. Face the State observed the message coming on behalf of Senator Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, but I've also seen the message coming on behalf of Senator Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood. The occasional reminders may seem repetitive, but I want to make sure more and more Coloradans clearly see the danger of having handed the purse strings of state government over to the Democrats. To drive the point home, please read from the following: - June 18: "Consequences of supporting a property tax increase" - June 6: … [Read more...]