I am very glad that the political backbone has stiffened up in opposition to Republican led efforts to strip bargaining rights or introduce draconian budget cuts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.
But I am troubled with what i am seeing in Colorado. Here our 'Democratic' Leadership in the office of the Governor, Senators and even some of the Mayoral candidates are taking a page from the Republicans and doing the same kind of things.
Our Governor, Former Mayor John Hickenlooper has introduced a budget that is as bad as some of these Republican Governors.
The only difference instead of saying "I'm the boss so shove it" he says
"Aw shucks, the budgets in trouble, we have to do tough things" like pass a budget that will lay off 3,600 teachers and public employees after campaigning on creating jobs. Sound familiar?
Our Democratic Governor says the budget is in trouble and this is the way it has to be. But that's not so, to quote Michael Moore,
COLORADO IS NOT BROKE there is just a problem with who is getting the tax breaks and who is getting the paying dearly with these budget cuts.
Colorado SB11-079, sponsored by Colorado Republicans Senator Nancy Spence and Rep. Tom Massey, unabashedly uses Colorado's budget crisis as a reason to privatize education. Their next step on capitalizing on fear and desperation is plain to see. Funny how these Republicans' past votes have acted only to exacerbate the desperation, huh?
22-44-402. Legislative declaration. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY HEREBY FINDS AND DECLARES THAT, AS FINANCIAL RESOURCES ARE IMPACTED BY THE ECONOMY, MAKING MONEYS AVAILABLE FOR CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT YET VITALLY IMPORTANT. SCHOOL DISTRICTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REVIEW THEIR BUDGETS AND SEEK COMPETITIVE BIDS FOR NONINSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES, SUCH AS CUSTODIAL, TRANSPORTATION, AND FOOD SERVICES TO DETERMINE IF COST SAVINGS CAN BE ACHIEVED BY OUTSOURCING THOSE SERVICES TO INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.
But obviously such a bill would cost the cash-poor districts some money to implement and sustain this unfortunately prevalent brand of conservative-hypocritical bureaucracy. Could it pay off in the long-run? Well, they don't know.
From the .pdf fiscal note from the Legislative Council Staff :
Governor-elect Scott Walker of Wisconsin doesn't want to build the high-speed rail line from Madison to Milwaukee that the federal government has granted his state $810 million for. Governor-elect John Kasich of Ohio doesn't want to spend the $400 million in federal grants his state is slated for a high-speed line connecting Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland. Governor-elect Rick Scott of Florida doesn't want to spend the $2.05 billion the feds have granted his state for high-speed rail between Tampa and Orlando. Add in the $3 billion in federal dollars for the Hudson River Tunnel that Gov. Chris Christie rejected and you've got a substantial pile of dough.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed third-party American Constitution Party (I'm sure glad they specified "American"!) gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo this afternoon. In what appears to be a recorded message for get-out-the-vote phone calls, Palin says Tancredo is the "right man for the job."
If he somehow wins, one can only hope he has the awesome staying power of Sister Sarah:
The Alaska governor's disastrous star turn as John McCain's running mate, followed by her lurching, controversial encore on the national scene, had already sealed her fate - except, perhaps, with the GOP's most far-right wing.
Still, the experts were unanimously stunned to hear her walk off the job with 16 months left in her term - shrinking her résumé even more and surrendering the best platform she has beyond her double-edged celebrity status.
The infamous Koch Brothers are finally getting the attention they deserve. Both worth $21+ Billion in mostly energy profits, their actions indicate the billions aren't quite enough and the Peons must not be allowed under any circumstances to share in the wealth of our nation.
Scanning the invitation (.PDF!) for their next planning session in January I thought I'd see Jon Caldara's name in the game. Alas, he's just a small-time, though useful, chump in their universe.
Jeff Crank though - loser to Doug Lamborn (and that musta hurt) in the 5th CD race - is a Colorado helper in their atroturf group Americans for Prosperity. Crank spoke on how to frame the debate on government spending at the last meeting. Though I'm sure the two wars and trillions in budget-busting tax cuts that George W. Bush inflicted on us were not issues worthy of his attention.
There were more Coloradans at the Aspen meeting, and I'm sure many plan to be at the next one: Obama has 2 more years in his term, after all.
Some names are expected, others surprising, all disappoint:
Colorado has a decision to make this year for the State Treasurer's race.
Do we stay with the current Treasurer, Cary Kennedy,
OR
do we elect political newcomer Walker Stapleton?
Let's take a look at the two candidates.
Cary Kennedy has a track record of helping the State of Colorado navigate Colorado through the difficult budget crises and working with across the aisle to solve problems with our budget.
She helped author parts of Referendum C in 2005 - which was supported by Republican Governor Bill Owens as a way to keep the state budget solvent.
Since becoming Treasurer in 2007, she has made the sound investments that have kept Colorado's Budget growing at a moderate 3% annually, at a time when other states are defaulting on their loans.
What kind of leadership does Walker Stapleton have to offer?
The Denver Post recently ran criminal background checks on the major-party nominees for state legislature, and they found a “slew” of mostly Republican candidates with pretty impressive rap sheets - including several with violent incidents in their past.
Selling something you don’t own in the first place (say, an iconic bridge in Brooklyn) is a form of fraud, but that’s not stopping GOP state House challenger Bob Boswell from selling Colorado’s 50th District seat to highest bidder more than seven weeks before Election Day.
In a letter to Colorado lobbyists dated September 13th, Boswell opened with “Well, we’re getting down to the nut-cutting,” and went on to declare “I am going to win this race. The opportunity for you to align yourselves and your clients with the next Representative of House District 50 is now.”
This diary is serving to host a chain of emails specifially between School Board Member Jeanne Kaplan,Michael Bennet, Tom Boasberg, Theresa Pena and the rest of the school board. This is to expose the notion that the calls for an audit of the 2008 DPS banking derivative investment are being driven by 'politically motivated board members' - which the email chain below will prove to be factually wrong. In fact it appears Tom Boasberg's and Theresa Pena's opposition to providing an audit is politically motivated to protect themselves and Michael Bennet.
I have redacted the names and emails of everyone except former Superintendent Michael Bennet, current Superintendent Tom Boasberg, school board President Theresa Pena, and Jeanne Kaplan - however the names of the other board members are in the public record.
Everyone reading this diary on other sites will be redirected here to see the full list of emails.
The purpose of the emails is to get information on details of the finances pertaining to the Bank Derivative investment by the board in April of 2008.
The time line of these emails begins a full 15 months before there was even a primary and more astoundingly, 7 months before Michael Bennet was appointed to the Senate.
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.
((guess this won't help win any popularity contests over at TOPB) - promoted by wade norris)
This Friday's New York Times investigation: "Payback Time: Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt" casts a laser focus on Michael Bennet's investment into a 'risky' derivative swap by as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Pasts attempts by the Bennet campaign to deflect questions about this investigation are now laid bare and there are guilty parties involved.
Now, Colorado Democratic Representative Mark Ferrandino, Chair of the State Budget committee is calling for a bi-partisan audit by both the Colorado State House and Senate of this investment that has already cost Denver Public Schools 25 million dollars and counting. Listen here on local Progressive Talk show host Mario Solis-Marich's Friday show at about 1/3rd through the podcast.
Felicia Sonmez of Washington Post's "The Fix" compares two Senators facing primaries: John McCain and Michael Bennet, talking about what is working and what isn't.
McCain took an early, aggressive approach to his primary opponent, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R), hammering him relentlessly...by the time Hayworth went up with his first television ad in July, McCain had spent more than $15 million slamming him and had already begun pulling away in the polls.
Sonmez's point is that this tactic clearly works: McCain was at risk of losing his seat but now Hayworth is falling back.
So if you've spent any time on twitter in the last day you might have noticed a handle "Romanofflies" that tweeted anyone imaginable with a link to this site:
In case you hadn't noticed, there is a Senate primary in Colorado - pitting a Conservadem - Michael Bennet vs a people powered candidate, Andrew Romanoff - who has taken the Obama pledge to take no PAC money.
(Conservadem is not my label, Rachel Maddow gave Senator Bennet that name for joining Evan Bayh's coalition of conservative democrats)
Despite millions of corporate dollars being spent by Michael Bennet, Andrew Romanoff has taken the lead in polls with the Primary on August 10th.
Pundits have written that Romanoff's win will send a message throughout politics, that we the grassroots voters, can reverse theCorporate Stranglehold on Congress .
(when Romanoff loaned his campaign $300 K, Bennet supporters said it was a publicity stunt - and now? - promoted by wade norris)
Michael Bennet loans his campaign $300,000.
Frankly it's a bizarre move for the campaign that has touted it's fundraising as a reason to vote for him (Bennet supporters are quick to say that Bennet is the only one who can raise the money needed to win).
(There are other primaries to discuss - believe it or not! - promoted by wade norris)
This week I got the chance to interview HD 12 candidate Jake Williams.
HD 12 is in the County of Boulder including the towns of Lafayette, Longmont and Louisville.
In addition to his record of public service, Mr. Williams has the depth of knowledge necessary for solving the tough issues facing Colorado, such as fixing the budget, creating more jobs, and improving government.
Mr. Williams explains these views and the fundamental difference in philosophy on governing between himself and his primary opponent.
Recently in the Colorado Democratic Primary, Senator Michael Bennet accused former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff of voting to "privatize Social Security."
Upon further review of the record, it seems that Senator Bennet is taking a page from the Karl Rove playbook. Rove was infamous for attacking a rival's strength and where his own candidate was vulnerable.
Case in point - let's take a trip back to the fall of 2009, when I first wrote about the letter Senator Bennet signed that would have gone a lot farther towards privatizing Social Security...
(Crossposted at Square State, Firedoglake, Huffington Post, and anywhere else possible, so that everyone will know just what Senator Bennet will do to get elected.)
