Sound the alarm on Bill Ritter's re-election chances. Hard-core Democrats are swearing they're going to abandon ship, at least if you take the Dead Governors at their word. But really, Ritter's sagging popularity is not exactly newsworthy for those who have been paying attention the past couple months or so. The real reason I gave a link to Colorado Pols was the unintentional humor behind a new union political group aimed at challenging (or at least threatening) Colorado's incumbent Democratic governor:A group calling itself Labor Initiatives Against Ritter - or LIAR - has filed the paperwork needed with the Internal Revenue Service to begin raising money for political purposes. Mark Johnson, an International Brotherhood of … [Read more...]
RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Legislative Session, Rep. Kent Lambert
Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 27th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. We hope to dedicate this episode to a review of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the recently concluded legislative session in Denver. Our special guest will be Representative Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, vice chair of the Republican Study Committee of Colorado. If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. … [Read more...]
Limited Government Week: An Awareness Raiser To Rally Behind
No day, week, or month passes that isn't officially commemorated for some reason. Take April, the month we're in for a few more days: What have you done the last 27 days to honor National Poetry Month, Stress Awareness Month, or even Fresh Florida Tomato Month? That's what I thought ... In the meantime, there are important causes that definitely deserve greater awareness, like this one: Limited Government Week. If you can get down to Colorado Springs anytime in the next few days, you may find one or more valuable events to attend. The highlight is a Tuesday dinner with keynote speaker Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (an excellent book). For more details on the week's activities, go … [Read more...]
Is Dennis Apuan Still Boulder’s Own Representative in El Paso County?
Face The State follows up on a Complete Colorado lead about Democrat State Representative Dennis Apuan. He is the lead sponsor of a resolution honoring fallen soldiers (PDF), but he also has been arrested as an anti-war protester. Jeff Crank, former Republican Congressional candidate and current Colorado Springs radio host, wants to know why Apuan is hiding from his 2003 arrest. The following response was fired back from the Democrats' press office:Statement from Rep. Dennis Apuan (D-El Paso) Date: Fri, Mar 6, 2009 "Six years ago, long before I was an elected official, I participated in a peaceful prayer vigil at Peterson Air Force Base. With a group of religious leaders, I peacefully expressed my opposition to the use of … [Read more...]
Last Chance: Sign Up Now for Leadership Program Retreat
Today is absolutely the last day you can sign up to attend the annual Leadership Program of the Rockies retreat in Colorado Springs on March 6-7 - featuring speakers Bill Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Mike Rosen, Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ), and more. What are you waiting for? … [Read more...]
Unions Lobby State Democrats to Slow Down School Building Inspections
Who's in charge at the Colorado State Capitol these days? Big Labor:A bill whose only aim was to make it easier for local school districts to get their new buildings inspected was blindsided today on the Senate floor by union-led opposition, with all but two of the chamber's Democrats voting to kill the measure. Three of the Democrats who voted with the majority against Senate Bill 64 [PDF]--Sens. Bob Bacon, of Fort Collins, Rollie Heath, of Boulder, and Evie Hudak, of Arvada--had voted in favor of it in the Senate Education Committee only two weeks earlier. What changed their minds? The bill's sponsor, the GOP's Sen. Keith King, of Colorado Springs, says it was the fact that the Journeyman Plumbers and Gas Fitters Union began lobbying … [Read more...]
Coloradans, You Can Make a Difference for School Financial Transparency
Update, 1/29: More coverage on Colorado Spending Transparency and Ed News Colorado, as well as a kind link from the Open Records blog. This morning the Colorado Senate Education Committee got a bit of a surprise, it might seem, with a slew of concerned citizens coming forward to testify in support of Senate Bill 57 (PDF) (sponsored by state senator Ted Harvey) - which would bring something akin to full-fledged financial transparency to Colorado public schools. It's unusual to see more than 15 average citizens come forward to testify for a piece of legislation - and rarer yet, to have many of them do so quite eloquently. Most were from the metro Denver area, a couple hailed from Weld County, and one of them drove three hours over the … [Read more...]
Complete Colorado: Mayors Asking for $2.25 Billion in Federal Pork Handouts
Complete Colorado is breaking a story about 10 different Colorado mayors requesting a total of $2.25 billion in federal pork. The biggest ask (go for the gusto, right?) comes from Colorado Springs at $1.25 billion. But the most interesting request hails from the People's Republic:The city of Boulder asked for $6 million to "...[p]rovide funding to convert 60 hybrid electric vehicles to Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles with Vehicle to Grid technology. The cars are part of the City of Boulder, Boulder County, and the University of Colorado fleets." The retrofit of each vehicle, therefore, would cost $100-thousand dollars a piece. I haven't seen a cost-benefit analysis, but how much is really gained by switching to the Plug-In Hybrid Electric … [Read more...]
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...]
Average Colorado Springs Voters Reject Anti-Amendment 49 Deception
What do people think of the deceptive Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future ads against Amendment 47 (Right-to-Work), Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards), and Amendment 54 (Government Contracting Reform), when a few pertinent facts are included with them? KRDO in Colorado Springs bothered to ask the man on the street (follow the link for video):"There's nothing exactly covering union dues, union this or union anything," says Colorado Springs voter Todd Landsborough. "You know what's interesting, is this thing right here, you can put that in the garbage can. I mean it's totally misleading."... "I'll probably go online and write them a letter, ‘I think you guys are phony as hell,'" says [Colorado Springs voter Andy] … [Read more...]