Yesterday, right-wing news site Breitbart.com released a new video from conservative "gotcha" artist James O'Keefe, purportedly showing how easy it is for "non-citizens" to vote:
In the video, William Romero, an apparent non-citizen, is shown to be registered to vote in North Carolina. According to jury refusal records obtained by Project Veritas, Romero was recused for being a non-citizen. Yet when a researcher from Project Veritas went into the polling station, he found that not only was Romero still on the voting rolls but the poll workers were also more than willing to give him Romero's ballot.
The video finds that another alleged non-citizen in Durham County, North Carolina, was on the voter rolls--and apparently voted in 2008 and 2010--even though he had been categorized as "code 7" in jury recusal forms, which means he had been excused as a non-citizen.
In another crucial swing state, Florida, elections officials fear as many as 180,000 non-citizens may be registered to vote. In Colorado, during the 2010 midterm elections, 5,000 non-citizens may have voted...
As you know, we (and others) have repeatedly debunked this persistent claim that "5,000 noncitizens may have voted" in the 2010 elections in Colorado. The claim originates with Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who used this figure in congressional testimony, but it doesn't stand up to even casual scrutiny. As we noted and local media outlets realized last year, over thirty thousand Colorado residents became citizens during the period Gessler "analyzed," enough to easily account for the 5,000 "noncitizens" who "may" have voted in 2010.
As liberal blog Think Progressreports, O'Keefe appears to have made exactly the same error.
ThinkProgress spoke with [Zbigniew] Gorzkowski this morning. He verified that this information was indeed correct and he had been an American citizen since the late 1980s. Therefore, his votes in the 2008 and 2010 elections were not only perfectly legal, but encouraged as a civic duty.
In other words, the one instance in the video where O'Keefe purports to show that a non-citizen had actually voted, in fact shows that a citizen voted.
The episode does speak to a larger underlying problem with most accusations of voter fraud. It's what I call the "Scooby Doo routine". People like O'Keefe make wild voter fraud accusations like non-citizens voting, only to discover a much simpler explanation for the situation...
[William] Romero's family told ThinkProgress he became a naturalized citizen in early 2011.
What's more, Romero's family told ThinkProgress that they had began receiving harassing telephone calls two weeks before the incident in the video asking if Romero was a citizen. They confirmed to the caller - it's unclear whether they were speaking with O'Keefe himself or another individual - that Romero is indeed a citizen. Nevertheless, O'Keefe proceeded to ambush the family at their home and publish this video claiming he's not a citizen.
One member of his family, who was confronted in O'Keefe's video as he came home to care for his sick son, was incensed by the charge, calling it "completely absurd."
Bottom line: this story should help explain why, although Secretary of State Gessler has repeatedly thrown around accusations suggesting that "thousands" of non-citizens "may have voted," including spreading the 5,000 figure used in the Breitbart.com story above, he has never produced a documented example of this actually having happened.
Because Gessler would most likely end up looking like James O'Keefe.
(It ain't over 'til it's over, then started again, then over again. - promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)
Gov. John Hickenlooper's full statement on the end of today's special session.
DENVER - Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - Gov. John Hickenlooper today thanked the General Assembly for using the special session to successfully address unfinished business that died last week without debate or consideration by the House of Representatives.
Lawmakers this week passed a water projects bill that will create jobs in communities across Colorado and an Unemployment Insurance bill that will assist business in saving money and improving the program. Lawmakers also passed a law to cut red tape for businesses, and they appropriately had the opportunity to fully consider other important legislation.
"It was important for the General Assembly to finish consideration of important bills that died last week when the House recessed to avoid voting on civil unions," Hickenlooper said. "With the exception of civil unions, each of the bills we put on the special session call received an open debate and a final vote just like they deserved."
If you've ever fancied yourself as a member of Gov. John Hickenlooper's cabinet and you know a thing or two about energy, you might be in luck.
The Governor's office announced today that Tanuj "TJ" Deora has resigned as Director of the Colorado Energy Office in order to accept a position in the private sector with IHS in Englewood. Full press release after the jump.
POLS NOTE: *Yeah, we know the title is cheesy, but would you rather see another "Bain of His Existence" pun?
Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has been taking some hard shots (again) from his time as CEO at Bain Capital, and information is now leaking out about how Colorado was negatively impacted by Bain's business model.
You might recall that prominent Republicans were growing concerned in January that the Bain Capital attacks - coming from GOP Presidential contenders Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry -- could severely damage Romney in the General Election. From The Hill on Jan. 11:
Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) warned that Republican candidates "ought not cannibalize" themselves and denounced a commercial funded by a pro-Gingrich political action committee that has been critical of Romney's record at Bain...
...Rush Limbaugh, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Michelle Malkin and the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal are among the other figures on the right to have lambasted the attacks as going too far.
Republicans were acutely aware of the harm that these attacks will cause Romney, and Democrats certainly aren't going to pull any punches as the Bain stuff gets more state-specific. Here in Colorado, two of the emerging Bain connections involve AMF Bowling and Alliance Entertainment - deals that led to both job losses and bankruptcies.
AMF Bowling In 1998 AMF closed its Colorado manufacturing plant in Golden, and 40-45 employees lost their jobs. Two years earlier Bain Capital had invested $22 million in AMF as part of a leveraged buyout. As the Baltimore Sun reported in October 2008:
AMF Bowling Inc., the world's largest operator of bowling centers, plans to close a Colorado plant and fire 40 to 45 employees to cut costs as Asia's economic turmoil reduces its revenue. AMF said it will move its AMF Century bowling-lane making and supplies business from Golden, Colo., and combine it with its main plant in Richmond, Va. AMF Century will keep five to 10 managers from the plant, which has 50 employees.
Just a few years later, in 2001, AMF filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. You don't need a Ouija board to see how this is going to be played out in TV ads: Bain Capital invests in AMF, Colorado jobs are lost, and AMF soon goes bankrupt.
Alliance Entertainment The other Colorado connection that has emerged is about Alliance Entertainment. Bain invested in Alliance in 1995 and doubled its investment after just six months. By 1997 Bain held a 7.35% stake in Alliance, the same year that the company closed facilities in Denver, Connecticut, California, New Jersey and Dallas as part of a "consolidation plan." Alliance Entertainment acknowledged that 851 people lost their jobs. You can probably guess what happened next...in July 1997, Alliance filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
These stories aren't quite as jarring as some of the others that are circulating, such as this note from today's Tampa Bay Times about Bain seeking millions of dollars in tax breaks for creating jobs in Puerto Rico - just before closing the Florida facilities and putting 850 people out of work (Bain, meanwhile, walked away with an 800 percent return on its "investment," a cool $242 million). But the severity of each individual story is less important than the overall narrative that is being spun: Coloradans lost jobs so Bain Capital, and Romney, could make more money.
The more examples that pop up around the country, the more that this storyline will stick in the minds of voters - all of which makes it much harder for Romney to campaign as the better "business" candidate.
9NEWS' Kevin Torresreports, though most following the story of the killing of civil unions legislation at the hands of Colorado House Republicans are already well aware of this sidebar:
When a Republican representative from Montrose voted against the bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples on Monday evening, many people dubbed him the "man who killed it." After his vote, Rep. Don Coram acknowledged he has a gay son, which prompted his son to question his father's decision...
For most of his life, Dee Coram ignored his father's politics and kept his distance. But when the civil unions bill popped up, Dee Coram decided to have a heart-to-heart with his father.
"He did say at that time if it goes to the floor, I will vote no. But at that time his stance was the committee should send it and let the House vote on it," Dee Coram said... [Pols emphasis]
"He was given an opportunity here to actually be a leader and I guess he didn't take that leadership role. It's disappointing to see something like this that he said should have gone to a house floor for a vote. Essentially, he prevented that from happening," Dee Coram said.
The story from 9NEWS' Kevin Torres makes it clear that Rep. Don Coram and his openly gay son Dee Coram are still close even after this vote, and that Dee never expected his father to be a "yes" vote on final passage of civil unions. We can see where, under less politically volatile circumstances, Rep. Coram might indeed have agreed with his son that the bill deserved a vote in the full House. But with the issue exploding in the face of Republican House leadership and national media coverage, "politically volatile" became a quaint understatement.
To us, this story once again illustrates the terrible pressure that was put on "reliable" Republicans by their leadership to fall in line and ensure that the civil unions bill died by whatever means necessary. After what happened at the end of the regular session, there was no need for niceties--it's not like Republicans could look any worse. There's little question GOP Speaker Frank McNulty had conferred with the Republican members of the House State Affairs Committee prior to assigning the bill there, to ensure that they wouldn't give him any surprises like Rep. B.J. Nikkeldid during the regular session. The reason one is appointed to the State Affairs Committee to begin with is that leadership is confident of their loyalty.
So when the time came, Rep. Coram "did his duty"--when in different circumstances, we can't help but think in his defense, he might have acted differently? Obviously we don't know he would have, but the story as told by his son obligates us to leave a small window of doubt.
And if that's how it all went down, you have to feel kind of sorry for both of them.
When was the last time a sitting president greeted Denver on the airwaves of a Spanish language radio station?
This was the first question that popped into my head when I saw KBNO Fernando Sergio's Facebook post that he'd be interviewing President Obama Tuesday morning at 10 am.
Obama spoke to Colorado Hispanics ... in English. And what did he say?
Campaigns, political consultants, wonks and analysts use a single word for a community that factors heavily in determining their fates in this upcoming presidential election. Whether it's "Hispanics", or "Latinos", one word is used to identify an extremely diverse community, represented by entire spectrums of social, geographical, professional, cultural, socioeconomic, and generational identities. Hispanics, contrary to what our oversimplified nomenclature might suggest, are not monolithic as a cultural group. So, as an interviewer, which questions do you ask? And as a candidate, how do you connect?
Obama chose the right venue - a locally respected and established radio station, chatting with a familiar and well-known host.
Fernando Sergio's interview followed the expected talking points, and Barack Obama responded articulately and personably, off-script and on.
(Like the Taiwan legislature, except with cowboy hats - promoted by Colorado Pols)
I've been reading about fights breaking out at GOP conventions and thinking that the GOP needs to sign up for anger management therapy.
Most of the fighting seems to be between Ron Paul supporters and Mitt Romney supporters. According to the Daily Paul website, "In Oklahoma, in a scene that has been called "contention at the convention", a Romney supporter (believed to be almost 80-years-old) punched a Ron Paul supporter in the head. Police were called after the punch was thrown over a disagreement on a vote."
Grand Junction isn't immune. I was told that a fight broke out at a recent Grand Junction Republican meeting (May 9.) Evidently two factions of the party were fighting over who would be the spokesperson for the Romney campaign locally. According to my source, Grand Junction police were called to break up a fist fight between Jerry Huntsinger (author and civil war re-enactor) and Garry Brewer (husband of Barbara Brewer, Mesa County Assessor). Evidently Marjorie Haun and Jennifer Baily were witnesses to the fisticuffs.
As the Obama campaign this week began a concerted attack on the presumptive GOP nominee for his tenure at the private equity firm he managed, strategists in both parties say the Republican has yet to give a confident, detailed explanation of his Bain Capital tenure that silences questions about his biography as a businessman. So far in 2012, Romney - who is centering his presidential campaign on economic leadership - has rarely if ever managed to speak about Bain in any but the most defensive of terms.
The anti-Bain message is an attack Romney has faced in every race of his political career, sometimes managing to control the damage - and other times, like his 1994 Senate bid, watching his campaign go up in smoke as a result...
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a top Romney endorser and potential running mate, argued at a Bloomberg View event in New York City that the GST Steel attack is unfair because "that's capitalism."
The story of the closing of the GST Steel mill in Kansas City following its acquisition by Bain Capital is being pushed today by both the Barack Obama campaign (video above), as well as Priorities USA Action, with ad buys including here in Colorado. Like Politico says, Mitt Romney has yet to produce a coherent narrative for his time at Bain Capital, which the Obama campaign promises includes many more examples like that of GST Steel. Since this is one of Romney's principal weaknesses, they're going to want a better answer than "that's capitalism."
Because that kind of feeds the Obama campaign's stereotype.
UPDATE: FOX 31's Eli Stokols begins to tally the damage:
On Monday morning, as supporters of civil unions rallied on the Capitol's west steps, Dan Ritchie and Greg Stevinson, two reliable, deep-pocketed GOP donors, stood with them.
Sources have told FOX 31 that Stevinson, along with Charlie Gallagher, another big GOP donor, are so upset with McNulty's handling of the civil unions bill they may not donate to his GOP Majority fund this fall [Pols emphasis] - this as the Democrats' main money man, Tim Gill, who made a point of showing up for Monday's hearing in person, is likely to write even larger checks to help Democrats win back a House majority.
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Last night House Speaker Frank McNulty used a "kill committee" to end the hopes of civil unions legislation in the 2012 Colorado legislative session. We continue to be baffled by McNulty's political rationale behind this move; while McNulty's maneuvering to prevent the bill from reaching the House floor may galvanize a portion of the GOP base, he also handed Democrats a ginormous stick with which to pummel Republican candidates in the fall.
We were reminded of a telling statement from Public Policy Polling in April when they released new survey results showing that a whopping 62% of Colorado voters support civil unions (compared to 32% opposition). As PPP noted in their April memo:
We already see Colorado shading bluer and bluer at the Presidential level and this is one of the issues where Republicans seem to be stuck behind while the electorate is moving forward.
There was no way that McNulty and friends were going to come out of the Special Session looking good after last week's end-run around the House floor to prevent a vote on civil unions, but there was a way to reduce the damage. McNulty should have let the bill go to the floor and let any Republican 'YES' vote become available for the public record.
What happened instead is that McNulty turned a single issue -- civil unions -- into a broader narrative of Republicans refusing to even give legislation a fair up or down vote. While that 62% of Colorado voters who support civil unions will no doubt be reminded again and again of McNulty's tactics as we approach November, the GOP is also going to lose a lot of votes from people who may have been indifferent to the issue but really don't like seeing the Democratic process being tossed in the trash. A loss of votes in November from opposition to civil unions was probably inevitable. Losing voters because McNulty's maneuvering was altogether avoidable.
It was this kind of behavior that ultimately led to Republicans losing control of the legislature in 2004, and it's a good bet that history will repeat itself come November.
As Tweeted by GOP state Rep. Spencer Swalm yesterday evening:
Which links to an opinion article that makes some interesting suppositions about Republicans and the Hispanic vote--commentary on the question of whether Republicans need to worry about about the Hispanic vote at all. The article Swalm linked to says while there is a danger in alienating Hispanics, it's overblown and much more gradual a threat than represented in the media. It's a very interesting opinion, not least to fellow Republicans now attempting to reach out to Hispanic voters. But you'll probably want to consider the source: Rep. Swalm directed his Twitter followers to this article, posted at a website called VDARE.com.
Originally established in 1999 by the Center for American Unity, a Virginia-based nonprofit foundation started by English immigrant Peter Brimelow, VDARE.com is an anti-immigration hate website "dedicated to preserving our historical unity as Americans into the 21st Century." Now run by the VDARE Foundation, the site is a place where relatively intellectually inclined leaders of the anti-immigrant movement share their opinions. VDARE.com also regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites...
And here's a little more from Steve Sailer, the author of the article Swalm linked to:
I noted that the Republican Party has been digging itself an ever deeper electoral hole by tolerating (when not exacerbating) the lax immigration policies of the last four-plus decades. These caused demographic changes that are indisputably and inevitably deleterious to the GOP.
Yet, I pointed out, there remains a logical possibility that the country can avoid one-party Democratic rule even as far out as the middle of the 21st century. If all else remains equal, I calculated, Republican candidates could win in the 2048-2052 era simply by 1) increasing the GOP's share of the white vote, from McCain's 55 percent to 70 percent, and by 2) raising the white turnout level back to that seen in 1992... [Pols emphasis]
Imagine that the GOP starts finally advocating and delivering on policies that are beneficial for America's white majority, and in response the Republican Party drops a stunning three-fourths of its black support. Instead of losing among blacks 95-4, the GOP would then lose 98-1.
Big deal!
To recap, the plan for victory in the multicultural future is to get more white people to vote GOP, thus offsetting the nonwhite voters they alienate! Why didn't we think of that? This has got to be the simplest explanation for why the GOP opposes immigration we've ever seen, complicated only by the fact that it is absolutely horrifying. If you recall, Jim Welker lost his seat in 2006 after forwarding a piece about "black moral poverty" during Hurricane Katrina, and "gay diseases."
It should go without saying that these views belong well outside the mainstream--which means somebody should be asking Rep. Swalm if he realizes who he Tweeted.
UPDATE 8:10PM:The special session civil unions legislation, HB12S-1006, dies in the House State Affairs Committee on a party-line 5-4 vote.
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UPDATE #5: LGBT philanthropist and major Democratic funder Tim Gill is personally attending today's hearing on civil unions legislation, reports Nic Garcia of Out Front Colorado. -----
UPDATE #4: With all eyes fixed on the Colorado House today, the Los Angeles Timesreports:
Colorado legislation permitting civil unions for same-sex couples was assigned Monday to a conservative "kill" committee, supporters of the measure said, virtually ensuring that the bill will never reach the House floor for a vote.
The action by Republican House Speaker Frank McNulty occurred on the first day of a special legislative session called by Colorado's governor to address the bill.
"The Republicans chose to send it to a committee where it won't get a fair hearing and will likely be killed," Brad Clark, executive director of Denver-based One Colorado, a statewide gay and lesbian advocacy group, told The Times...
"Why does it go to one committee one week and another the next?" Clark asked Monday. "If the bill does fail, all of our focus will be on November and holding the House leadership responsible. These kinds of political shenanigans have consequences."
While Republicans focused our efforts on putting Coloradans back to work, Gov. Hickenlooper and his Democratic allies in the legislature brought these efforts to a grinding halt by pushing a last-minute, divisive attack on our traditional views on marriage for short term political gain.
Make no mistake about it. Gov. Hickenlooper has called this Legislature into an expensive special session for the sole purpose of dividing Coloradans. Instead of using his authority and his bully pulpit to unify Coloradans behind a pro-growth agenda of economic recovery and job creation, he is using his authority to tear Colorado apart. Again. That's where his priority is...
They can't defend their record of failed policies, so they have chosen instead to push and promote same sex marriage. And that's unfortunate. Because the hardworking families of this state don't have the time, the inclination or the patience to pay for these election year political stunts.
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UPDATE #2: Republican Rep. Dave Balmer, while reiterating that he would be a "no" vote on civil unions, nevertheless condemns Speaker Frank McNulty's actions to kill civil unions legislation in the House in an email to supporters today:
I do not support abrogating the House Rules to pass or defeat any bill. The House Rules have their underpinnings in our State Constitution. I have served under three Speakers, and I've never seen the rules changed to advantage or disadvantage any specific bill. I never saw Speaker Romanoff bend the rules, so we must follow the Rules now. Bills should proceed to their normal committees of reference.
The House Rules don't just belong to us (the 65 current Representatives). They belong to all Representatives who served before us and all those who will serve after us. More importantly, the House Rules belong to the People of Colorado.
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UPDATE: The Colorado Independent'sJohn Tomasic:
Swamped by reporters after making the assignment, McNulty said that Gov. John Hickenlooper called the special session to advance "gay marriage" in Colorado but that Republicans were focused on job creation. He said Hickenlooper was spending tax money to run the special session on an election-year campaign issue meant to trip up Republican candidacies...
Talking to reporters after McNulty finished, [Minority Leader Mark] Ferrandino lamented the action taken by the Speaker.
"The majority, including 46 percent of Republican delegates to the party convention this year have supported this bill. This is not a controversial issue here. He sent it to the kill committee. It should have followed the same process as it followed during the regular session."
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It was announced moments ago that GOP Colorado House Speaker Frank McNulty has assigned the legislation to authorize civil unions in Colorado, now numbered as House Bill 12S-1006--a principal focus of the special session of the Colorado General Assemblygetting underway this morning--to the House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.
For those of you who don't know, the State Affairs Committee is the traditional "kill committee" in both chambers of the Assembly, composed of the most loyal representatives to the Speaker or Senate President--meaning it's where a bill is sent when leadership wants to ensure it is killed.
That is now the fully expected fate of the civil unions bill at 3:30 this afternoon.
(Just in time for the HD-19 primary - promoted by Colorado Pols)
Journalists, like Denver Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard, speculated that House Majority Leader Amy Stephens' primary fight against Rep. Marsha Looper might play a role in the fate of the civil unions bill.
Stephens would want to show voters in her El Paso County district that she's the uncompromising conservative that she claims to be, versus Looper, who reportedly supports civil unions.
If this turned out to be true, you'd expect House Speaker Frank McNulty and Stephens to start bragging, especially in the Colorado Springs area, about how Stephens stepped up to the plate and batted away the civil-union proponents.
And that's exactly what McNulty did on the Jeff Crank Show on KVOR Saturday. KVOR broadcasts from, you guessed it, Colorado Springs.
Reporters should take note of this exchange, as they explain what in the world happened to the civil unions bill today:
Crank said that he was hearing rumors that Stephens was for civil unions. But Crank complimented Stephens and McNulty for putting their political lives on the line to stop civil unions.
McNulty responded to Crank with this:
McNulty: "Well, thank you. And it's absolutely true that Amy Stephens was the rock that we came back to throughout the debate. It wasn't easy, and there were times when the pressure was great, when you have advocates for [civil unions] piling into the gallery, and you're looking up there wondering what's going to happen next. And Amy is so strong in her faith, and is absolutely rock solid, and she just has a measure of calm about her in crisis and that's one of the things that we relied on. And our goal is to head into this Special Session."
May 9th marked the end of the 2012 General Session of the Colorado Legislature. We said in January that this session was about creating jobs -- and the conservation community delivered by creating an estimated 2,500 jobs and keeping thousands of tons of hazardous electronic waste out of our landfills with the passing of the bipartisan Electronic Recycling Jobs Act. We helped Colorado continue to develop innovative jobs by securing funding for renewable energy and passing legislation to increase electric vehicle stations.
Where Colorado's water, air, land and public health was threatened, conservation groups joined together to defeat more than a dozen bills that would have rolled back Colorado's progress on renewable energy and oil and gas drilling rules.
Overall, we've got to call this a good outing for Gov. John Hickenlooper on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley yesterday. Beginning with a detailed and convincing round of praise for President Barack Obama and his decision last week to support same-sex marriage, Hickenlooper does a great job explaining the issues around the special session of the legislature he called, broad support for civil unions in Colorado, and as close as Hickenlooper ever gets to criticizing GOP Speaker Frank McNulty publicly.
It's an interview that won't lend itself to McNulty's desired spin.
CBS4's Shaun Boyd should let her viewers know that Mitt Romney is misrepresenting an interview Boyd had with Romney when he was in Denver May 10.
In an interview last week, a radio host asked Romney: "I saw that you got a little testy with one reporter who wanted to talk about marijuana and same-sex marriage yesterday. Has this been a real curve ball for ya?"
Romney replied: "She asked two or three questions about same-sex marriage and civil unions and then about medical marijuana, and I finally laughed and said, You know, there are some really big issues out there, like if Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon, how to change leadership in Syria, and what it's going to take to get this economy moving again, one after another. Why don't you ask about those? We finally got around to that."
Two problems here, one is that Romney never mentioned Syria in his response to Boyd.
But more importantly, Boyd asked Romney about civil unions and marijuana, and she still had over half of the five-minute interview remaining.
Romney interjected after about two-and-a-half minutes and asked Boyd why she was asking him insignificant questions, which, as Boyd pointed out, aren't insignificant in Colorado anyway.
Listening to Romney's recounting of his interview with Boyd, when he says Boyd "finally" got around to economic issues, you'd think Boyd used most of her time on civil unions and marijuana, when in reality, there was plenty of time left for other important issues.
(We're not going to need this planet later, are we? - promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl)
A press release from the group, Colorado Conservation Voters, declares a successful year on the environmental lobbying front.
Colorado's conservation community praised a productive 2012 legislative session, which they entered with priorities to create jobs and clean up our air and water. Conservationists accomplished precisely that, highlighting two major bipartisan bills passed with wide majorities and signed into law: the Electronic Recycling Jobs Act (SB 133) which creates 2,500 jobs and the Electric Vehicles Act (HB 1258) which will kick start the electronic vehicle market in Colorado. Conservation groups also turned back harmful legislation which threatened our clean air, water and public health and secured funding for renewable energy which has brought thousands of jobs to Colorado.
That's great news, of course, to a tree hugger like me, but the part I found most interesting was the list of anti-conservation bills thrown at the legislature by the repubs. I don't know if this list was published anywhere other than the CCV website, so I will provide it here, after the jump:
That's so GAY!" giggled Rand Paul in several places during a special showing of The Avengers. After each reiteration, Paul turned to his viewing companions, elbowed their ribs, and gazed expectantly at them, awaiting the flurry of appreciative chuckles he was sure were deserved by his wit. Favorite targets included Captain America and the Incredible Hulk, both of whom are believed to be heterosexual. Paul was also observed nodding rapidly and repeating, "Am I right, or am I right?"
...OK, not really, but Paul did bring political discourse down to a seventh-grade level at Iowa's Faith and Freedom Coalition Meeting when he said, "The president recently weighed in on marriage and you know he said his views were evolving on marriage. Call me cynical, but I wasn't sure his views on marriage could get any gayer."
Paul followed up this high point of his oratorical career by complaining, "He said the biblical Golden Rule caused him to be for gay marriage. I'm like, 'What version of the Bible is he reading?'"
In this country, elections are the usual method for resolving important public policy issues. However, given Gov. Hickenlooper's decision to convene a special session to deal with what he must believe is a civil unions "emergency," he has apparently come to the conclusion that such issues may now be properly resolved in response to a cursing, screaming mob making death threats in the chambers of the Colorado Legislature...
The governor attempted to cover his call for a civil union special session by including in the agenda a number of bills that had wide bipartisan support and which could have been dealt with during the last day of the regular session. Given that a three-day special session is going to cost taxpayers more than $70,000, this is a very costly smoke screen to circumvent the usual legislative and electoral process. Has he forgotten that we have an election this fall and that if voters don't like what was done on civil unions they can elect new representatives? [Pols emphasis]
Moreover, it is not as if that this rejection of what is only the latest effort to advance the cause of civil unions came entirely out of the blue. As recently as 2006, Colorado voters rejected the functional equivalent of civil unions when they turned down Referendum I by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.
The governor has also apparently lost sight of the fact that having bills die on the last day of the session is nothing new. In fact, Gov. Hickenlooper stood silent as Senate Democrats killed numerous important bills as time ran out on the 2011 session. Was the difference last year the absence of a howling mob?
Pretty short on minced words, don't you think? Gov. John Hickenlooper'scall for a special session to deal with a number of bills that died in Tuesday's shutdown of the House, including civil unions, was of course not provoked by the outburst from the House gallery after it was announced the House would remain in recess past the midnight deadline. That is in fact a rather stupid and irresponsible allegation for a member of the legislature to make after the extremes House leadership went to last Tuesday night to ensure Senate Bill 2didn't get a vote.
And it doesn't inspire confidence that this second chance given to Speaker Frank McNulty and his one-vote House GOP majority by Gov. Hickenlooper will be taken with the seriousness self-preservation interested politicians should feel. McNulty's act to thwart to the majority of his own chamber has become a major public relations disaster, wrecking a narrative of bipartisan cooperation over other issues that was politically quite valuable. In that respect, the line from Rep. Swalm about voters taking care of the problem could be the truest part of his whole rant.
At the very least, you now know how constructive one of them is planning to be this week.
As the Arizona Republicreports from last night's state GOP convention:
Supporters of Ron Paul booed the son of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney off the stage Saturday at the Arizona Republican Party convention as he sought to solidify support for his father's nomination...
"We cannot afford four more years of President Obama," said Josh Romney, the third of Mitt Romney's five sons. "We need someone to step in there and turn things around."
But Josh had to stop repeatedly as people booed and yelled for Paul, who has continued campaigning in the Republican primary. All other challengers, including Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, have dropped out of the race, and Romney has a commanding lead over Paul in the estimated delegate count.
...[A]s Josh wrapped up, with an admonition to choose the preferred slate of Mitt Romney delegates, the crowd exploded with competing boos and cheers, cutting him short.
Some attendees said they heard Paul supporters chanting outside that Mitt Romney is "the white Obama." [Pols emphasis]
Classy, but do try to remember--that's not actually meant to persuade you. This isn't about you.
Much like in Colorado where diehard supporters of GOP presidential longshot Ron Paulrevolted at district and state conventions, sending a majority of delegates to the national GOP convention as "unpledged," and more recently sending majority Paul delegations from Nevada and Maine, it's clear that these people have what they think is a plan--and aren't giving up on that plan.
Is it a brokered convention they're after, maybe to force Paul's VP nomination? Is this the death rattle of a marginalized "Tea Party?" A sign of a fundamentally broken GOP party apparatus, increasingly run amok by a fringe their leadership was happy to court two years ago? Would Paul fanatics really just rather see the GOP lose if their man is not the nominee?
Whatever the reason is, Mitt Romney would really like for this to stop.
Santorum, in an interview Thursday on Mike Huckabee's radio show, said gay marriage is a "mobilizing factor" for voters that can't be ignored.
"I'm hopeful that [Romney] understands the power of these issues," Santorum said, adding that Obama's position "should put the social issues front and center."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Obama handed Romney and the Republican Party a gift - and both will be negligent if they don't take advantage of it.
"The president yesterday interjected an element into this election cycle that, while some may be uncomfortable dealing with on the Republican side, could very well be a deciding factor for the election if they respond to the president's challenge to marriage," Perkins said. "It's no secret the Republican leadership has not wanted to be out front waving the banner."
Romney doesn't need to make it the centerpiece of his campaign, Perkins said, but it should be part of his stump speech.
"The missing piece for Mitt Romney was the intensity of the core conservative voter," Perkins said. "The president handed him that piece yesterday if he wants to take it and put it in place."
Mitt Romney was asked on Wednesday during his brief stop in Weld County about President Barack Obama's new position in support of gay marriage--Romney said he doesn't agree, and went a step further to say he doesn't even support civil unions as proposed in the Colorado legislature. Meanwhile, GOP House Speaker Frank McNulty's response to Gov. John Hickenlooper'scall for a special session repeatedly substituted the words "gay marriage" in place of civil unions, knowing full well that the bill doesn't tamper with the state's constitutional definition of marriage. Of course, there are a substantial number of voters who will support "civil unions" but not "gay marriage," helping explain McNulty's seemingly crass deception.
Bottom line: public opinion on the matter of equality for gays and lesbians is rapidly changing, and that change is a big part of much greater Republican support for civil unions in Colorado than has ever existed before. We believe, like GOP attorney Mario Nicholais of Coloradans for Freedom believes, that this is one of several issues on which the GOP must modernize its platform or risk permanently marginalizing itself as attitudes generationally change.
But as you can see, there are powerful forces in Republican politics who don't agree, and who will fight this moderation--regardless of the consequences. We now know McNulty is one. We're a little less sure about Romney's core convictions on the matter, but he's certainly not helping himself with sweeping statements of opposition like he made here a few days ago.
In both cases, they're making it hard for Republicans who would rather not be marginalized.
An interesting assessment of the upcoming battle between newly-vulnerable incumbent Rep. Mike Coffman and his upstart Democratic challenger, state Rep. Joe Miklosi, from our friends at the Washington Post'sThe Fix blog:
10. Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.): Coffman's seat wasn't supposed to be overhauled in redistricting - Democrats were instead focused on targeting freshman GOP Reps. Cory Gardner and Scott Tipton - but then the state legislature deadlocked and left the issue to the courts. The result: Coffman got the short end of the stick. His sixth district moved from a district that would have gone 46 percent for President Obama in 2008 to one that would have gone 54 percent for Obama. He faces state Rep. Joe Mikloski [sic--Pols] in what is pretty much a swing district. The good news for Republicans is that Coffman is a fundraising machine, pulling in $530,000 in the first quarter...
That's not quite the way we remember this happening in the redistricting process, as big changes to CD-6 had long been part of Democratic proposed congressional maps, but The Fix's Aaron Blake is right that the district has been reshaped into a dramatically more competitive territory--and that Rep. Coffman's best hope lies in his very large war chest.
Now if they can just start spelling "Joe Mikloski's" name right...
That's so GAY!" giggled Rand Paul in several places during a special showing of The Avengers. After each reiteration, Paul turned to his viewing companions, elbowed their ribs, and gazed expectantly at them, awaiting the flurry of appreciative chuckles he was sure were deserved by his wit. Favorite targets included Captain America and the Incredible Hulk, both of whom are believed to be heterosexual. Paul was also observed nodding rapidly and repeating, "Am I right, or am I right?"
