Mount Virtus

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

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • The Westfield Gardener
Home Archives for law enforcement

3/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bad Legislation Parade’s SB 180 Would Harm Taxpayers, Employee Rights

Today brings a chance to review another member of the bad legislation parade down at the Colorado State Capitol. Senate Bill 180 (PDF) would override the local will of voters and impose collective bargaining on all local police and fire departments. After making it through the Democrat-controlled State, Military, and Veteran Affairs Committee, the bill is on the slate to be heard by the full senate any day now. From the Denver Daily News:Concerns are being raised that collective bargaining leads to overtaxing government budgets through increased payroll costs, which ends up hitting taxpayers hard. The last time the issue raised so many conservative eyebrows was in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order authorizing state … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: automatic, bad legislation parade, bargaining, Bill Ritter, budgets, coercion, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, committee, communities, compensation, concerns, conservative eyebrows, costly, Democrat, Democrat-controlled, Denver Daily News, equipment, fire departments, fire fighters, full senate, gem, hard truth, higher salaries, impose, law enforcement, local will, Lois Tochtrop, member, negotiating, override, overtaxing, paid, payroll costs, police departments, police officers, policy, political activities, political power, procure, public servants, public services, Pueblo, review, SAFE, safety equipment, Senate Bill 180, services, slate, State Capitol, support, taxpayer premium, taxpayers, Thornton, tools, uniform, union dues, union fee, union officials, union representation, Unions, voters

10/30/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Sheriffs Debunk Lies about Law Enforcement against Amendment 49

Read and hear more about what the sheriffs had to say here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Amendment 49, Colorado, debunk, Ethical Standards, law enforcement, lies, sheriffs, YouTube

10/30/2008 By Ben 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...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Arapahoe County, audio, body armor, Boulder County, Boulder Daily Camera, county sheriffs, David Weaver, deceptive attacks, Denver Post, Douglas County, El Paso County, Ethical Standards, Hank Brown, Jeff Shaw, Jefferson County, John Cooke, law enforcement, letter, lies, Mark Hillman, modern equipment, multi-million dollar ad campaign, orchestrated deception, Protect Colorado's Future, public safety workers, refuted, Rocky Mountain News, Sheriff, similar theme, Ted Mink, Weld County

10/16/2008 By Ben 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...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: 850 KOA, Amendment 49, audio, Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado, deception, deceptive flyers, Ethical Standards, firefighters, Fort Morgan Times, freedom of choice, government restriction, Grand Junction Sentinel, Hank Brown, Ken Salazar, law enforcement, letter, Mike Rosen Show, nonsense, paychecks, personal choice, Protect Colorado's Future, public employees, Rocky Mountain News, special interest group, spend, talking points, teachers, U.S. Senator, vital services, well-heeled

10/6/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Real” Public School Teacher Speaks Out for Colorado Amendment 49

The Rocky Mountain News today takes a closer look at Protect Colorado's Future and its use of "real" people in advertisements to foist its deceptive messages on the public:Firefighter Joel Heinemann says he would rather run into a burning building than face a movie camera. Yet it's his face Coloradans are seeing in television ads and home flyers urging a "no" vote on Amendments 47, 49 and 54. Heinemann is a "messenger," one of about a dozen firefighters, police officers, nurses and teachers who volunteered to enter the political limelight to speak against three ballot initiatives they believe are anti-union. Of course, it's also important to note that Joel Heinemann is president of the Littleton firefighters union, and that Denver … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: "real" people, advertisements, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, anti-union, body armor, Boulder Daily Camera, burning building, Coloradans, deceptive messages, Denver, Denver Post, deputy sheriff, endorsements, episode, Ethical Standards, firefighter, firefighters union, Fraternal Order of Police, host, Independence Institute, Independent Thinking, Jeff Shaw, Jefferson County, Joel Heinemann, Jon Caldara, law enforcement, Littleton, lobbying, Michael Alcorn, movie camera, opposition, politically active groups, President, Protect Colorado's Future, public school teacher, public servants, Rocky Mountain News, safety equipment, safety issues, scare tactics, teacher, television ads, unethical business, union contract, YouTube

5/16/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Charity Golf Event to Aid Local Law Enforcement Families in Need

Do you live along Colorado's Front Range, want to contribute to a good cause, perhaps even enjoy playing a round of golf? Then please check out the Jefferson County Sheriff's Cup Golf Tournament, scheduled to take place on Monday, June 9, at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Golden. Proceeds go to support the Employee Assistance Fund to aid members of the Sheriff's Office who face serious financial need because of illness or death in their family. What a great cause - giving back to help those who sacrifice to protect and serve us in Jefferson County. A friend who is serving as a volunteer fund-raiser for the Tournament brought this to my attention, and I'm glad to help advertise for him. I not only have another friend who serves in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Labor, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: brother, charity, golf, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, law enforcement, Rolling Hills Country Club, Sheriff's Cup Golf Tournament

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • The Westfield Gardener
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

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
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

Colorado News

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • E!! The True Conservative Story
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

Copyright © 2025 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in