How Squarestate Works
SquareState

Connect with Squarestate


Gotta Tip???
Go to the archive
Advertise on Squarestate
Online Voter Registration!





Search




Advanced Search


B******t, response in triplicate, investigations, and policy wonks go to war

by: MikeD1970

Sun Aug 08, 2010 at 07:39:15 AM MST


The last few days have been interesting to say the least in the Democratic senate race.  Starting with the New York Times Financial writer Gretchen Morgenson's article, it only got more heated.

Bennet campaign spokesman Trevor Kincaid showed his Rahm Emmanuel ties by launching into a rather blunt response.

Fox News spoke with Bennet's press person, Trevor Kincaid. When asked if Bennet was going to issue a statement or hold a presser about the Times article, Kincaid said, "First of all the New York Times article is b******t." Kincaid went on to say the NYT reporter (Gretchen Morgenson) had obviously never attended a Denver Public Schools board meeting. As of this writing, the Bennet campaign has not issued an official response on the information contained in the article.

Somehow I'm guessing Mr. Kincaid has never been to a DPS school board meeting either, but it made for a headline grabbing fact-free response.

MikeD1970 :: B******t, response in triplicate, investigations, and policy wonks go to war
The Bennet campaign did eventually respond, along with new DPS superintendent Tom Boasberg.  They give a slighly more tactful response than Kincaid.  The problem?  As Michael Booth points out:
Bennet's campaign Friday released talking points that mirrored Boasberg's.

Even odder, a former DPS board members jumps into the fray, echoing the same talking point, but claiming them as her own.  Thumbs up to the Bennet folks for keeping everyone on message, but epic #FAIL for what is obviously planting language for Boasberg and the board to use.

Trying to grab whatever earned media he can, Bennet launched into a round-the-clock tour of the state -- by plane, train, and automobile (well maybe not train, but his campaign did put out a picture of him talking to a greyhound bus driver).

This briefly exits the campaign realm and enters public policy, as a member of the Colorado Legislature calls for investigations into what happened at DPS.  Win or lose for Bennet Tuesday, it seems like a lot of people are going to be asking some very uncomfortable questions about what exactly Bennet, Boasberg, and the Board did and what the long term effects entail.

Back in the campaign corner, apparently the Romanoff folks got tired of the Bennet campaign calling b******t on everything without backing up their claims, so the launched what looks like one of the most citation filled sites in the history of politics: Thebennetway.com.

Romanoff has been categorized as a policy wonk who "lives and breathes this stuff" -- the guy who stayed up late actually reading every bill on his desk.  It shouldn't be a surprise then that the Romanoff camp's response to attacks on their ads reads like the supporting documents of a bill.  Presented in a "WWBD" (What would Bennet do) style, it outlines "the Bennet way" at Anschutz, DPS, and in Washington.  Presumably the site helps keep many of Romanoff's attacks in the news this final weekend, and it pops up in google for the increasingly small amount people who haven't actually voted yet.

So that sums up about 72 hours of the closing days.  Is there anything interesting left to happen on Monday?

Tags: , , , , , , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email
b******t
stay klassy trevor.

Sorry Michael Bennet, but I'm a real person too

Whatever Michael is paying Trevor
it's too much.

------------------------------
"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003


The Message on the DPS Bonds Is "No Free Lunch"
The idea looked like a low cost, high return one when it was proposed.  Like most of the funny money schemes from Wall Street, it failed.  Let this be a lesson for all our voters and their elected officials. Nothing is free, and high returns accompany high risk. Maybe we all need to follow Treasurer Kennedy's example:
...Cary has proven that she takes her responsibilities seriously. She kept the state out of investments tied to the subprime market, rejected proposals to invest state dollars in risky stock portfolios, and seven months before the banking crisis hit, in a remarkably prescient move, she diversified a 33% chunk of Colorado's investment pool that had been in the hands of one bank. Under Cary's diligent watch, our state's investments have maintained positive earnings and posted a 3% gain this last fiscal year. She has protected Colorado's strong credit at a time other states have been downgraded - proof that her sound financial management and careful planning make all the
difference.

I don't think that this issues is as much a political one for Senator Bennet as it is a lesson to us all that the experts are often wrong when it comes to complex financial instruments.  The board should have rejected the proposal and found another way to fund its retirement program.


Amen.
I would NOT have voted for this proposal, and I would have asked voters to lobby the other board members against it.

Why no one paid attention that Bear Stears had crashed the month before is beyond me.  When the market finally did buckle, however, my colleague Jeannie Kaplan started pressing for more information.  Wade Norris' diary (under development now) will show how she tried to ask for information even before then-Superintendent Bennet was tapped for the appointment.

Jeannie Kaplan did the honest, responsible thing by raising questions, against much opposition, even though it would mean she would have to admit her vote was wrong.  She did that.  She admits it was wrong and has been trying to make things aright, which is a quality that is sorely lacking in the political spectrum today.

I am proud to stand by Jeannie Kaplan.


[ Parent ]
I applaud Andrea Merida and Jeannie Kaplan.
Andrea and Jeannie are heroes.

It is reprehensible that pro-Bennet forces have been trying to smear these two women who stand up for truth and justice and who are true champions of all the stakeholders in the school district they represent.  It's the old attack-the-whistle-blower strategy.  Must keep these "troublemakers" in their place.  


------------------------------
"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that." --- Britney Spears, September 2003


[ Parent ]
This Had Little to Do with the Primary
And a whole lot to do with insufficient fiduciary responsibility on the part of the past Denver School Board.  Neither Sen. Bennet nor Supt. Boasberg had the final say. The board did.  However, Mr. Boasberg and his board allies are going to have some very deep explaining to do...and not the "only we understand" kind of response. Enron shareholders heard that 9 years ago.  It is time for major changes.

[ Parent ]
Squarestate.net is owned by Open Communications Colorado, LLC. and is not responsible for the opinions expressed outside of our own.
Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?


Resources
Online Voter Registration!
Blog Roll
Abandon Your Car
American Indian Movement Colorado
Argusfest
The Bell
Big Media
Colorado Capitol Watch
Colorado Confluence Colorado Ethics Watch
Colorado Independent
Colorado Progressive Jewish News
Coloradopols
Congresspedia
Coyote Gulch
CritterThink
DemNotes
Denver Direct
Denver Voice
El Centro Humanitario
El Seminario
Great Education Colorado
La Voz
Lefty Blogs
Liberal Latina
Mario Solis-Marich
Mariowire
Outta the Cornfield
Pocho Blog
Politics West
Rocky Mountain Activist
Scholars and Rogues
Steam Powered Opinions
TriLakeDems
Ultimate Politics
Union Staff for Union
Democracy

Wash Park Prophet
WeatherDem - the blog
Wide Streets

Get Involved
Deep Green Resistance
Occupy Denver
Occupy Everywhere

What We Listen To
KUNC 91.5 FM
AM 760: Boulder's Progressive Talk
KCFR 1340 AM
KGNU 1390AM or 88.5FM
KRFC 88.9FM
Citizen Radio
MicCheckRadio
Democracy Now!
Progressive Voice
Colorado State Legislature

Reference
CoMaps.org
General Assembly
Prospector
Secretary of State
Tax Tracks
TRACER
WikiLeaks.org

Powered By
SoapBlox



Active Users
Currently 3 user(s) logged on.

SquareState.net is owned by Open Communications Colorado, LLC
Powered by: SoapBlox