Sen. Isgar Gets USDA Job, Hard Fight Looms For Appointed Replacement

As soon as possible could we see a list of names

These big districts are hard to campaign and hard to know the players.

Any Durango to Montrose to Cortez is a big area.  I know most of our west slopers are GJ, but any help is appreciated.

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by: Danny the Red (hair) @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 23:09:02 PM UTC

I'll ask around...

people in DC are already a bit bugged by the 'Colorado Cabal.'  This won't help...

"There are a lot of reasons not to elect me." Mitt Romney in a moment of clarity

"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name," Willard Mitt Romney demonstrating 'policy flexibility.'  

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by: ClubTwitty @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 23:49:57 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

CO cabal in DC??

was Isgar named the "state director for rural development" for all states or CO only? (I found the article ambiguous.)  If CO only, why would anyone in DC care that someone from CO is directing things in rural CO?

I'm not as sweet as I used to be.

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by: Jambalaya @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 23:56:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Colorado only.

One would expect a member of the Colorado Cabal to run the homestate office (it's in Lakewood and has six other outlets through the state).

Plus, I thought the Colorado Cabal was mostly an Interior phenom, what with Strickland on down. I wasn't aware we'd infiltrated other departments to the extent there was a scary nickname.

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by: RedGreen @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 00:40:46 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

ther are some other appointments percolating

but yes its mostly Interior that I have heard it in reference to, and of course the lead USDA rep for CO would be from CO...  or should be, one supposes rather than from, say South Bend.  So good on Isgar.  

I think it could be an interesting race down there.  The demographics have changed a lot from Montrose south, really.  San Miguel and La Plata went around 60-70% for Obama; but I believe Montrose County was nearly the inverse of that.

Ellen Roberts, in the state house from Durango, is a progressive Repub.  Not sure if she is interested, but she is smart and has moderate appeal.

Now I recall hearing that was the position (overseeing the state office basically) rather than a cabal member, so I retract my earlier remark...

"There are a lot of reasons not to elect me." Mitt Romney in a moment of clarity

"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name," Willard Mitt Romney demonstrating 'policy flexibility.'  

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by: ClubTwitty @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 01:08:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Roberts has declared

she's running in '10. The Republicans have apparently averted a primary with the other ambitious legislator from that corner of the state.

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by: RedGreen @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 01:13:49 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bill Patterson

would be a gift for Republicans.  He's wrapped up in so much controversy surrounding the Montrose Airport that he was ousted by a no-name back bencher Republican in the last election.  

Believe me, he's no Jim Isgar.  Ellen Roberts will eat him for lunch.

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by: MesaModerate @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 14:26:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Let the record reflect

That I agree with MM.

Today, you're either going to get better or you're going to get worse, but you're never going to be the same.  Which one will it be?  --Joseph V. Paterno

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by: Ralphie @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 01:49:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Isgar is a loss

The Democrats will be hard-pressed to find a replacement who's anything like him. Patterson is likely not it: he was beaten in his re-election race for Montrose County commissioner, and Montrose has a lot of votes in that district.

We'll see who surfaces from Durango.

Sometimes, I guess, you have to let the inner bitch out.

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by: gertie97 @ Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 23:31:58 PM UTC

Labor support.

Patterson has no union position on his website for commissioner.  I wonder what the union folks think about that glaring and disconcerting absence.

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by: MiddleRoadDem @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 00:16:38 AM UTC

Congrats MRD

You are now officially the site's anti-labor concern troll. I know, I know, Libertad is going to get upset about this, but gosh darn it, it's the truth.

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by: redstateblues @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 03:29:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Just pointing out the obvious...

Besides, I didn't bring it up--labor did, does, and always will.  I'm not anti-labor either--I just don't think the law needs to be changed.  Most Democrats agree with me.

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by: MiddleRoadDem @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:45:18 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You keep saying

that there is a 'silent majority' of 'middle road' Dems such as yourself, that oppose those things that you do.  

But your saying it doesn't make it so.  

"There are a lot of reasons not to elect me." Mitt Romney in a moment of clarity

"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name," Willard Mitt Romney demonstrating 'policy flexibility.'  

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by: ClubTwitty @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 13:19:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Only activists.

I've helped a lot of candidates knocking on doors, and to a "T", the only people who have cared about labor unions are people who are in them, and to a lesser extent hardcore Democratic activists (like you).

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by: MiddleRoadDem @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 13:46:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You did bring it up

And continue to. I know that you hate labor unions, and that you think there's some kind of massive conspiracy on here by Democratic activists to silence you or something, but when you continuously harp on unions--even when there's zero context to bring it up--it gets tiresome.

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by: redstateblues @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 16:25:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Really, the obvious????

How many county commissioners -- D or R -- have positions about labor unions on their websites???? (For that matter, how many have websites?)

I've got news for you:  labor issues aren't a big deal for county government, ESPECIALLY for a county the size of Montrose.  I'm pretty sure that the Western Colorado Labor Council will be just fine with Bill Patterson on Labor issues.

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by: SouthDem @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 17:10:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If and only if...

"Labor issues aren't a big deal for county government"...Now, how do you reconcile that statement with the howling by unions against the governor for vetoing a bill which would have overridden county government statutes on labor organizing by firefighters?

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by: MiddleRoadDem @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 23:31:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do you even know

which fire departments would have been affected by that bill?  

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by: RedGreen @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 00:29:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Irrelevant question.

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by: MiddleRoadDem @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 13:07:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Which means you don't know the answer, do you?

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by: RedGreen @ Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 17:24:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Do candidates for any office

Normally include positions on labor unions on their website? That's a pretty specific thing to have a position about on your campaign website.

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by: Colorado Pols @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 17:15:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It doesn't matter what the union folks think

Union members, with the exception of teachers, are few and far between on the Western Slope. And the teachers aren't a bloc for anybody.

So not a factor.

Sometimes, I guess, you have to let the inner bitch out.

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by: gertie97 @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 19:25:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ellen Roberts

Ellen Roberts is incredibly popular in Republican circles - no way she gets punked - you're going to see A LOT of support behind Roberts and for good reason

BTW - when my film played at the Durango Film Festival back in 2008, I recall meeting quite a few people in Durango who couldn't talk about how much they love Sen Isgar - he was clearly a very popular, grassroots, guy

TABOR4LIFE

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by: Muhammad Ali Hasan @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 07:15:30 AM UTC

edit

meant to say "couldn't STOP talking about how much they love" ---- meant it as a compliment to Senator Isgar, not insult

TABOR4LIFE

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by: Muhammad Ali Hasan @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 07:16:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

If the Repubs were a bit wiser

they might see in Roberts a model for success in the rest of the state.  Happily (for me) the party is mostly led by the likes of Gardner, Penry, and Janet Rowland.  With a few washed up old guys (Andrews, Caldera, Schaffer) playing QB from their comfy lazy boy.  


"There are a lot of reasons not to elect me." Mitt Romney in a moment of clarity

"I'm Mitt Romney and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name," Willard Mitt Romney demonstrating 'policy flexibility.'  

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by: ClubTwitty @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 13:21:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good Advice (for once)!

Perhaps that's why Josh Penry was first out of the gate to endorse Ellen Roberts before she announced her candidacy!  

http://www.durangoherald.com/s...

If you came up for air once in a while from your constant assault on Penry, Wadhams, the energy industry, freedom, etc. you might have noticed.  

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by: MesaModerate @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 14:22:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sodium chloride / freedom ?

Yet another bogus claim of an "assault on freedom" from someone who is no moderate. Yawn.

How is working to ensure that citizens have the freedom to breath clean air, drink clean water, and not have to pay hihger taxes to fund clean ups of the messes of private business an "assault on freedom?" Or an assault on anything at all?

Sometimes spouting from the ideological cue cards provides unintended humor. For these frequent opportunities to chuckle, I am thankful to MesaModerate and his/her ilk.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." --ChuckieD, 1871

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by: ardy39 @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 17:49:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Democrats should go with La Plata Commissioner White

Twice re-elected, knows the issues.  

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by: johnpauljones @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 21:49:28 PM UTC

smart, well spoken, connected, experienced, but

can a member of the southwest CO ponytail contingent make it in the statehouse?

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by: Car 31 @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 22:07:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Southwest Colorado

Heck yea, ponytails are welcome.  Ben Nighthorse Campbell ran for House District that reprented Durango, Corter, Pagosa and Silverton in 1980 as a Dem with a ponytail.  Jimmy Sukla introduced him as an Indian, not a hippy, at the Cortez Sell barn.

He went by Ben Campbell and cut the pony tail in 1986 to run against Mike Strang.

White is probably the best candidate the Dems have.    

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by: johnpauljones @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 22:16:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Has he expressed an interest

in the vacancy appointment?

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by: RedGreen @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 22:27:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Don't know

I have not heard anything, but some of us were talking at lunch.  They need a progressive, independent voice in that seat to keep it in the D column and White was the consensus choice.  

Is Amanda Baily still around?  She was another name that came up.  She gave Sen. Larson a run for his money once.  

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by: johnpauljones @ Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 22:43:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]