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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

CoDA’s “Educate the Idiots” Members Biggest Funders of Protect Colorado’s Future’s Campaign of Deception

If you haven't seen or heard it by now, Colorado's "progressive" Democrat coalition got a little more behind-the-scenes exposure yesterday than they would like. A series of slowly leaked documents by Face The State are uncovering the inner workings of the coalition - known as the Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA). The light of the day has given us some useful insights. We are starting to see what the Left's agenda for Colorado is, why they have coordinated the spending of so much money to take over the state legislature, the governor's office, and so much more. No document has received quite as much attention as this one:In a confidential internal memorandum obtained by Face The State (PDF), the Colorado Democracy Alliance outlines a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: "Educate the Idiots", AFL-CIO, African-American, agenda, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, Andrew Romanoff, behind-the-scenes exposure, Bill Ritter, Bridget Johnson, campaign message, campaign of deception, change we can believe in, children of color, Colorado, Colorado Democracy Alliance, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Ethics Watch, confidential, covert, Democrat, Democrat leaders, document, donors, dropouts, dues, education employees, Evan Dreyer, exclusive list, Face the State, freedom, GEDs, government ethics, Governor, Hispanic, hoodwinked, idiots, indignant response, individual rights, institutional members, issue committee, Joan Fitz-Gerald, John Stocks, leaked documents, Left, liberal structure, lies, members, memorandum, minorities, National Education Association, Native American, off the record, Okie Campaigns, operatives, progressive, ProgressNow, Protect Colorado's Future, represent, Rocky Mountain News, Rocky Mountain Right, SEIU, Slapstick Politics, smart people, special interest groups, state legislature, state Republican Party leaders, strategy group, teachers, The Daily Blogster, union elite, union leaders, union power, worker welfare

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Protect Colorado’s Future Afraid to Publicly Defend Its Hypocrisy and Lies

Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future has sought to oppose Amendment 47 (Right-to-Work), Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards), and Amendment 54 (Government Contracting Reform) with hypocritical attacks; sleazy, deceptive TV ads; more sleazy, deceptive TV ads; sleazy, deceptive mailers; and dishonest fabrications at "educational" forums. Now Face The State reports that Jess Knox, the spokesman for Protect Colorado's Future, is afraid to debate at least two of the issues (Amendments 47 and 49) in public. Hmmm, I wonder why? You figure it out. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: "Educational" forums, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, deceptive, dishonesty, Ethical Standards, fabrications, Face the State, government contracting reform, hypocrisy, Jess Knox, lies, mailers, Protect Colorado's Future, right-to-work, sleazy, spokesman, television ads

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Yes, This is My Crazy Boss, But He’s Right about Colorado Amendment 49

(Compliments of Jon Caldara's blog) It's kind of nice seeing all those major newspaper endorsements of Amendment 49 at the end, too. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Amendment 49, endorsements, Ethical Standards, Jon Caldara, major newspapers, YouTube

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Udall’s “Sweatshop” Connection

With the recent story of Boulder liberal Mark Udall refusing to return contributions from admitted tax cheat (and fellow Democratic Congressman) Charlie Rangel, the list of dirty money flowing into the Udall campaign continues to grow. Wait, but there's more. Over at Schaffer v Udall, I unearthed Udall's "sweatshop" connection. Yes, it looks very much like retired "sweatshop" owner Susie Tompkins-Buell organized a $50,000 San Francisco fundraiser for Udall in 2007. Charlie Rangel. Norman Hsu. Jack Abramoff. Susie Tompkins-Buell. All giving money to and/or organizing fundraisers for the Mark Udall campaign. Nearly all of the money kept by Udall. Reporters need to ask some hard questions, like should he at least consider returning the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: "sweatshop" connection, Boulder liberal, Charlie Rangel, Democratic Congressman, dirty money, Jack Abramoff, Mark Udall, Norman Hsu, reporters, San Francisco fundraiser, Schaffer v Udall, Susie Tompkins-Buell, tax cheat, Udall campaign

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bill Ritter, Labor Leaders Prepare to Subject Coloradans’ Votes to Blackmail

With the aid of Governor Bill Ritter, the labor leaders behind Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future - the group with a rap sheet of deception, hypocrisy, and avoidance of public debates - are preparing to practice extortion, subjecting the votes of the people of Colorado to blackmail:Business and labor leaders planned to meet Tuesday night to discuss a compromise in which four contentious union-backed measures would be pulled from the state's November ballot, according to sources. Labor, in return, would receive financial support from businesses to fight a union-restricting measure. It's the last sentence that is key. What labor leaders are doing goes beyond the simple give-and-take of negotiation. They are demanding money … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 49, audio, bad principle, Bill Owens, Bill Ritter, blackmail, business leaders, Colorado, compromise, deception, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, economy-busting initiatives, Ethical Standards Now, extortion, forced extraction, hypocrisy, Independence Institute, Jon Caldara, KOA, labor leaders, negotiation, political money, private sector, Protect Colorado's Future, public debates, rap sheet, underhanded activities, votes

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

More Deception From Foes of Colorado Amendment 49, Amendment 54

In a campaign characterized by hypocrisy, deception, and cowardice, the opponents of Colorado's Amendment 47 (Right-to-Work), Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards), and Amendment 54 (Government Contracting Reform) are at it again. The People's Press Collective documents the latest misleading campaign flyer from Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future, noting: "You won’t be surprised that they’re still abusing Colorado’s real heroes as puppets for their elaborate LIES." Indeed. At this point, I'm not sure how low the opponents of good government and worker freedom would have to go to take me by surprise. The campaign isn't over yet, though. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: abuse, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, campaign flyer, cowardice, Culture of Corruption, deception, Ethical Standards, good government, government contracting reform, heroes, hypocrisy, misleading, Peoples Press Collective, Protect Colorado's Future, right-to-work, surprise, worker freedom

2/7/2026 By Ben 5 Comments

Liveblogging the First Presidential Debate

… [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics, World Events

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Introducing Ben’s Guide to the Colorado Ballot 2008

Due to the unrivaled success of providing a guide to Colorado's 2006 ballot measures, and an even larger slate of Initiatives and Referenda to consider, I give you Ben's guide to the Colorado ballot for 2008. The author is solely responsible for the opinions contained therein. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, property rights Tagged With: 2008, ballot initiatives, Colorado, legislative referenda

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Newsbusters: Soldier’s Family Told Barack Obama Not to Wear Bracelet

Do you remember in Friday's presidential debate where the Obamessiah had his little "me too" moment, and showed off the deceased soldier's bracelet given for him to wear? Well, to his credit, Warner Todd Huston at Newsbusters dug a little deeper and found that the family asked Barack Obama not to wear the bracelet:[Father Brian] Jopek began by saying that his ex-wife was taken aback, even upset, that Obama has made the death of her son a campaign issue. Jopek says his wife gave Obama the bracelet because "she just wanted Mr. Obama to know Ryan's name." Jopek went on to say that "she wasn't looking to turn it into a big media event" and "just wanted it to be something between Barack Obama and herself." Apparently, they were all shocked it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics Tagged With: Barack Obama, bracelet, Brian Jopek, debate, Newsbusters, Obamessiah, soldier, Warner Todd Huston

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Jon Caldara and Denver Post Agree on Amendment 49: Stop the Presses!

As of today, the Denver Post becomes the fifth major Colorado newspaper to line up in support of Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative (H/T Ethical Standards). One line from the Post's lead editorial shows how truly remarkable a development this endorsement of Amendment 49 is:It prevents state and local governments from collecting dues for labor unions or other groups that use such funds to elect or lobby the very public officials who hire them and set their salaries and benefits. It's a modest but important ethical rule that will help keep partisan politics, with its echo of the 19th century "spoils system," out of the merit systems that regulate most state and local government jobs. We usually don't agree with the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Amendment 49, bipartitsanship, cats, consensus, Denver Post, Detroit Lions, dogs, endorsement, Ethical Standards initiative, Independence Institute, Jon Caldara, lead editorial, remarkable development, Super Bowl, world peace

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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
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