(I still can't believe Ken Salazar supported this guy - promoted by Zappatero)
This past week, on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday, Colorado's Supermax Federal Prison had a full fledged riot. Two inmates were shot and killed. The prison remains on full lockdown.
Why did this happen? Racism in prisons? Gang violence? Perhaps these were mitigating circumstances, but the sad truth is that those who work in the Prison have been sounding the alarms about this type of incident happening, not due to these circumstances, but due to understaffing and budget cuts. Alberto Gonzales took a tour while he was the A.G. and gave a 6 month temporary budget increase as part of a 'sweep it under the rug' approach. Now that budget fix has expired and they are having issues again.
It has led to less safety for the guards, the inmates and the community.
Colorado state house member, Rep. McFadyen has been listening and advocating for the guards in that prison environment. The issue here is that the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had been cutting funds for new prison guards, in a slick way - by reducing funds for new hires. So when a guard retires, they don't replace him or her, but spread the workload among remaining guards sometimes for up to 6 months, leaving the prison less safe.
Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Rep. Buffie McFadyen and discuss the issues with the privatization of prisons and issues with the "Supermax" prison (home of Moussoui, Ted Kascinski, Eric Rudolph and the other most dangerous terrorists in the world.)
Tonight on 10/14/07 Rep. McFadyen will be on "60 Minutes" discussing these issues. This interview also gets at the heart of the problem of privatization and for profit motives.
Colorado state Rep. Buffie McFadyen on Monday called on the state to cancel a private-prison agreement after auditors found that a former top prison official was working on behalf of the company selected to build the prison.
Auditors said the former official launched a prison-consulting business five months before he retired from the department.
McFadyen - one of the legislature's leading critics of state contracts with private prisons - also assailed Geo Group Inc. for seeking a guarantee that the state fill a set number of the 1,500 beds in its proposed facility in Ault.
Even shadier are the antics of one Nolin Renfrow:
The calls for rescinding the contract stem from a November 2006 state auditor's report. At that time, auditors concluded that Nolin Renfrow helped Geo Group prepare its bid to construct and operate the Ault prison.
The audit said Renfrow, the state's former director of prisons, had private business activities that "arguably present a conflict of interest and result in a breach of his fiduciary duty and the public trust."
Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government, said Renfrow took paid sick leave - earning $14,000 - to pursue his private business work on behalf of Geo Group. According to the auditor's report, Renfrow's company could earn as much as $1 million if Geo Group builds the prison.
I'm guessing that's $14,000 the taxpayers of Colorado are never going to be seeing again. The articles allude to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation looking in to these dealings between Renfrow and Geo Group.
The GOP is thought to be considering a reward for Mr. Renfrow. Bilking taxpayers with "sick leave" while steering government contracts to self-serving corporations privatizing rightfully public institutions is the name of their game.
If Renfrow was working at the Federal level, I think he'd be up for a Medal of Freedom.
TIME's Joe Klein gives a huge profile on the Democratic surge in the Rocky Mountain states.
We get quotes from Colorado politicians like Ritter, Salazar, Hick, and even Buffie McFadyen.
Buffie's money quote:
"Bet you never thought you'd find a politician named Buffie out in Colorado. I tell folks it's short for buffalo." McFayden (sic), a force of nature, explained that her district had 12 prisons and a solid Republican majority that voted for her because "the right's gone so far to the right, you can't recognize them anymore. When the wingers accuse me of being a liberal, I say, Sure, if you mean that I'm in favor of staying out of people's private lives and balancing the budget and I'm against stealing."
Gov. Schweitzer of Montana also gives us his electoral wisdom when it comes to winning in '08:
"The Democrats can win the presidency hitting singles out here in the West, or they can keep on trying to home runs down South"
Me, I'm with Schweitzer on this. I favor ignoring the South in Presidential Electoral politics all together, with the only exception being Virginia (and maybe Florida).
It's a pretty long article, so try and read it all.
DENVER - Rep. Buffie McFadyen's campaign is considering filing a criminal complaint against a GOP political action group over a series of negative ads denouncing the Democratic legislator for voting for fee increases.
Trouble is, none of the measures actually do that, and at least one of the so-called fee increases that The Trailhead Group is citing actually was a penalty increase for motorists who exceed the speed limit in construction zones, the Pueblo West Democrat said.
"If I hadn't just left a memorial for someone who died because of an accident in a work zone, this would be funny," McFadyen said. "But it's not. If that bill were in front of me today, I would vote for it. It's good public policy."
The bill McFadyen was referring to, HB1151, doubled traffic fines for drivers who exceed the speed limit through construction zones as a way to protect Colorado Department of Transportation road crews.
The measure was approved on a bipartisan vote last year and signed by GOP Gov. Bill Owens, who created The Trailhead Group that is running the negative ads.
It gets worse for Philp, Trailhead's bumbler-in-chief:
Philp couldn't explain why the ads highlight HB1151 and two other measures that don't actually raise taxes, impose fees or hikes utility rates.
"We could have chosen more compelling examples, and in the future we'll do that," Philp said. "But we had a long list, and we apparently chose fairly randomly which ones to select."
What the hell does that mean, Mr. Philp? Enough adverbs? These guys are spending millions on ads lambasting Democrats from Western Slope to Eastern Plains, and all he can say about his false attacks is we "apparently chose fairly randomly"? Do these guys ever think?
Buffie sums up the hypocrisy:
"The bills they're criticizing me for were carried by Republicans, passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature and/or signed by a Republican governor," McFadyen said. "I find the criticism disingenuous and malicious."
What a difference a week makes. Week before last we were wading - and don't we look back on that in regret for complaining. Well, the march towards November continues:
The total is a little deceiving - yesterday was walking Penrose, Colorado - a community where 1-2 acre lots are common and Democrats are not so common. We had spent the morning at the Fremont County Dems rally in Florence - Jay Fawcett was there, Buffie McFadyen and Anna from the house races and then many of the local candidates. Jay was excellent but I must give kudos to Buffie. It's the first time I had heard her in a local setting and she was incredible. Working the room by name and hitting all the issues of the area. I can see why she is such a great candidate in her district. SquareState members should look at her closer - they would really like what they see.
State Representative Buffie McFadyen, a Democrat from Pueblo, is not happy with the Department of Corrections. And it would appear she has good reasons to be that way.
A state representative is calling for an audit on the bidding for the state's new private prisons for men, saying both finalists have serious problems, and one has been aided by a former state prison official…
Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, said in her letter to the Legislative Audit Committee that Nolin Renfrow had been DOC's director of prisons until he retired recently. She said he quickly went to work as a consultant for The Geo Group, formerly Wackenhut, on a private prison proposal that has become a finalist.
"It is reasonable to assume Geo may have had, or has, what could be considered proprietary information. At the very least, Renfrow may have given his client, Geo, an unfair bidding advantage," McFadyen wrote in her letter.
But that’s just the tip of the proverbial ice berg.
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