I was at the Jefferson County Republican Party Central Committee meeting this evening. Fortunately, there wasn't a lot of drama (but a wonderful deal of hot dog, chips, and bottled water for $2). Special guest speeches were made by state senate minority leader Josh Penry and Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams. I was told the Arapahoe County GOP meeting was at the same time, which may have prevented us from being greeted by more ambitious politicos. Don Ytterberg was elected by acclamation to be the new chairman. Tina Francone was elected by acclamation to be the new secretary. The only contest was for vice-chair - as current vice-chair Art Onweller lost to outgoing chair Renee Nelson. God bless her, Renee has been a fantastic leader for … [Read more...]
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...]
Rocky Mountain News Supports Amendment 49 for Basic “Fairness”
The editors of the Rocky Mountain News slam the deception of Protect Colorado's Future (previously covered here and here), and give a major thumbs up to Amendment 49 on Colorado's ballot:As you may have guessed, we support Amendment 49 - just as we previously supported various versions of this policy at the local level. It would block state and local government agencies from deducting dues or fees from employee paychecks for unions or other membership groups.... The free deduction and collection of dues is a special benefit denied to most other worthy civic organizations. Should Amendment 49 pass, unions and other organizations benefiting from free collections would simply share the same fundraising challenges that other groups … [Read more...]