Schaffer Needs to Work on His 'Splaining

you heard Dobby

theres nothing to see here.  Just move along.

" And there are no Christian terrorists."

The Beej, circa 8/26/2010

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by: Fidel's dirt nap @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 10:24:30 AM CDT

Nothing to see... except for the

coming Tidal Wave. Sirota nailed this one on the head again.
http://www.coloradop...

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 11:04:04 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sirota's on a tear,

he's got the #1 recommended diary at Daily Kos right now, too.

We're glad you're on our side, David.

"But every Republican in the world is a lobbyist…" -- Bill O'Reilly

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by: OscarTheCouch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 11:38:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Dobby Wan Kanobe

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by: ModerateGal @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 14:29:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ooops

What a blunder.  With the amount of public disenchantment with "bought and paid for politics" this problem and quote will cast Schaffer in that role almost immediately.  If this keeps up Udall will have a much easier time striking a more moderate tone, talking about lobbying power leading to pork barrel spending, all the while making an implied attack on Schaffer.  Easy and effective.

Another problem for Schaffer is the possible lingering bad feelings over the Coors primary.  That could, however, be largely alleviated now since Coors lost so soundly.  But the School Board vote, the general disarray of the Republican party, and old primary wounds make this a tough race for Bob.

"For those of you who do not know what a blogger is, it is someone with a laptop, an axe to grind, and their virginity." - Steven Colbert

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by: Black Helicopters @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 11:04:05 AM CDT

Something glossed over.

Assistant Attorney General Tony Dyl, who met with four state Board of Education members Monday, said Schaffer's vote didn't seem to constitute a conflict of interest.

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by: Hugo O'conor @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 11:49:16 AM CDT

Interesting

put not very relevant to voter perception in this case.

"For those of you who do not know what a blogger is, it is someone with a laptop, an axe to grind, and their virginity." - Steven Colbert

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by: Black Helicopters @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:03:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

RMN did the glossing...

yeah, that's being glossed over - by the RMN. From the Denver Post

"Off the top of my head, I'm not seeing that as a problem,"

big difference. he admits he hasn't actually studied the issue and is just speculating.

Also, he later intimated that this may be an election law issue. Conflict of interest or election law issue, it doesn't really matter both are bad for BS.

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by: Steve Balboni @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:03:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's being glossed over by ColoradoPols

And by every other liberal poster here. At least the DP is calling out ProgressNow as a liberal group.

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by: Hugo O'conor @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:43:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

NOTHING TO SEE HERE!

Im really enjoying that phrase.  No one is glossing it over. It's in the article, and he made the statement of not knowing, so how in anyway would that abdicate BS from signing a pledge of accountablity aganist conflict of interests such as this one?  None.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:46:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

weird

I could have sworn that the DeadGuvs (anyone call them that anymore) highlighted the text about Schaffer's "'splainin" but mentioned nothing about the AAG saying that he does seem to think this is a conflict of interest. THAT is the glossing over that I am talking about.

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by: Hugo O'conor @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 13:06:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

point being?

It's not really the most important aspect of the article. You could have mentioned without trying to make a conspiracy theorist point. It's in the article, we all read, and came to the same conclusion: he gave no definitive-legal answer to the question, therefor it's of no real merit.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:27:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

AAG's opinion has no merit but ProgressNow's does?

I see. My bad.

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by: Hugo O'conor @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 06:15:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think I understand what he is saying here

This was not a bribe for board member Bob Schaffer, this was a bribe for Senate candidate Bob Schaffer. But Senate candidate Bob Schaffer did not cast the vote, board member Bob Schaffer cast the vote.

So board member Bob Schaffer is corrupt but senate candidate Bob Schaffer is a stand-up guy although some of his money sources may have a bit of a lingering smell from board member Bob Schaffer.

And in conclusion, he did not inhale while doing crack with pages at Abramoff's summer camp.

Tom Tancredo Interview

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by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:25:50 PM CDT

Well said...

Sorts it out.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

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by: parsingreality @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 12:35:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Strikingly similar...

to VP Dick Cheney's stance of, "I'm not the Executive Branch, I'm not the Legislative Branch".

"I've learned a lot of lessons being involved in politics. I also believe that when you are attacked, you have to deck your opponents." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

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by: Coloradem1 @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:05:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

But he gets his paycheck..

...from the Senate.

So, he definitely, at the minimum is legislative.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd." -Bertrand Russell

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by: parsingreality @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:30:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

But the office of the VP is described in Article 2, so he's Exec

Quantum Cheney

"[A]ll Republicans/conservatives/tea parties have been proven wrong. Everybody knows this." BJWilson83, Republican/conservative/tea partier

"The fossil record utterly refutes evolution." BJWilson83, graduate student

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by: ClubTwitty @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:40:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Going, going gone

The Republicans are not going to lose a US Senate seat without a fight.

Schaffer is burnt toast. Schaffer will be out of the race before Thanskgiving.

Who will enter the race?

Bill Owens.
Tanned rested and ready.

Pete Coors
Tall, tanned rested and ready

Josh Penry
No tan but ready

Ken Buck
A big jump but he is ambitious

Cory Gardner
Running might help him take the weight off

Doug Lamborn
Go out in a blaze of glory

Any other guesses?

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by: Iconoclast @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 13:41:16 PM CDT

Tom Tancredo

This would be a natural switch from the presidential race. And he's got a campaign geared up and running.

Tom Tancredo Interview

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by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 13:47:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yes..

And at one point I think he did express an interest.

Tom Tancredo for President/Senate/Congress/Dogcatcher '08!

"I have come to the conclusion that the making of laws is like the making of sausages-the less you know about the process the more you respect the result."  -- Anonymous IL State Rep. circa 1878

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by: Phoenix Rising @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 14:56:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I was thinking the same thing BUT......

....when all is said and done, he doesn't have the cojones (those are "balls" for the monolingual Tancredo supporters in here) to run statewide, esp. in '08 which is shaping up to be much more toxic for the GOP than '06 was.
  Expect him to announce next winter that his work must go on in the House where he is indispensible, and he's up for another run in C.D. 6.

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by: One Queer Dude @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 15:24:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think,

Tancredo would rather try to take out a sitting Hispanic member of the Senate...watch for him to hold on until 2010 and be promptly slaughtered by Salazar.

"I've learned a lot of lessons being involved in politics. I also believe that when you are attacked, you have to deck your opponents." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)

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by: Coloradem1 @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:07:23 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oooh, I like that!

I think that's the one scenario that could possibly get me to knock on doors for Senator Salazar again.

"But every Republican in the world is a lobbyist…" -- Bill O'Reilly

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by: OscarTheCouch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:11:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

How about McInnis again?

Unless he was forced out and therefore has reason to be bitter and not be welcome, he can always make a comeback with that war chest he has.

"The fact that we Dems can't rebuild the house does not mean you bring back the [Republicans] who burned it down." - DavidThi808

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by: Aristotle @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 13:48:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

forced...

McInnis was pushed out.

The NRSC ran a poll that highlighted all of his negatives and the numbers came back as you'd expect, bad. NRSC preceeded to show this poll to the Republican king makers here in Colorado, all the while telling McInnis that they were not sharing the results. Classy bunch of guys...

McInnis is out

Owens can't run for personal reasons and won't run for financial reasons, he's making a lot of money and by all accounts is very happy

I really don't know what their options are. Penry is too inexperienced. Nicholson Katrina'd the VA.

Suthers perhaps? I know they would hate for Ritter to be able to appoint a new AG but...

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by: Steve Balboni @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 14:25:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Who knows...

I just don't see McInnis sitting on his hands while he has all that money. The whole forced out incident made me think that the kingmakers must have promised their support for a future run, like maybe against Ken Salazar or maybe even the next gubernatorial race. But if Schaffer's really in trouble (and I for one think it's too early to say how damaging this will be) then he'd be the natural go-to guy. But obviously I wasn't there when whatever happened with McInnis went down so who can say...

"The fact that we Dems can't rebuild the house does not mean you bring back the [Republicans] who burned it down." - DavidThi808

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by: Aristotle @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 14:40:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

All that money...

He's not just sitting on it other. He's still paying his wife with campaign funds. The guy is a crook and someone should file a complaint for what's he's doing with campaign contributions. It should be used a personal slush fund for his wife and family. If I contributed to that campaign, I'd be demanding my money back before it went to fuel his wife's SUV as she goes to get another nail-polish.

"Suddenly, it may be cool to be American again" - William J. Kole

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by: Go Blue @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:30:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

McInnis is starting his breast cancer research foundation,

you know, the one he told the Rocky on 6/24/2004 he was going to use $1.3 million of his leftover funds for.

Or maybe buy another car.  Or a new house.  Whatever.  It's his money now, right?

"But every Republican in the world is a lobbyist…" -- Bill O'Reilly

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by: OscarTheCouch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:42:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This Democrat will give Schaffer the benefit of the doubt

Schaffer at least had the personal integrity to honor his term limits pledge when it came time to do so - like Bill Armstrong and Wayne Allard, and unlike that ne'er-do-well Tancredo.

I'll admit that Schaffer's pointing out that the contribution was to his Senate campaign and not his Board of Education campaign was - well, let's put it this way: it reminded me of Al Gore's "no controlling legal authority" days...

But I think Schaffer has a legitimate point in saying that the contribution came AFTER the vote. Is Schaffer supposed to disqualify himself from voting on an issue because he MIGHT sometime afterwards get a contribution from a grateful constituent? Let's get real here! By those standards, virtually all campaign contributions would be suspect, wouldn't they?

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by: Tancredo Watch @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 14:33:43 PM CDT

different facts...

in general terms you are right but that fact pattern doesn't really match what happened here. First of all, this wasn't a constituent donating. Second, the vote had a direct financial benefit to the donors. Third, his vote wasn't a generic vote in support of charter schools - it was a vote regarding one specific company's contract with DPS.

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by: Steve Balboni @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 15:03:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you!

This is what I've been saying all along. When I used Udall's voting record on the COPE act and Qwest's contributions as an example, I was (not so) cordially invited to a trip through the spank machine.

I was not accusing Udall of any wrongdoing nor was I accepting that Schaffer did anything wrong. I was just drawing a parallel.

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by: Hugo O'conor @ Wed Aug 22, 2007 at 06:19:34 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Schaffer controversy is a joke

The Rocky Mountain News has demonstrated a lazy willingness to let themselves be used by a partisan web site instead of doing their own homework and asking important questions.

So let me make or emphasize a few points that they're too indolent to come up with or highlight themselves:

The vote in question was not on the charter school contract, but simply to send the matter back to Denver Public Schools for reconsideration.

Does anyone think that Schaffer would have voted the other way regardless of his candidacy for the Senate? He has been a tireless supporter of charter schools and competition in education. The idea that he might have voted against a charter school in the absence of damning evidence against the school is preposterous.

The vote was 4-3.  If it was so egregious, how did 3 other members (including at least one liberal) vote with Schaffer?

What about the "no" votes from members of the Board of Education who are affiliated with DPS or teachers' unions, including Elaine Berman, former President of DPS?  The CEA and the CO Assoc. of School Executives can and do contribute to candidates. How about a newspaper telling us which of the "no" voters get money from the public school establishment which opposes the competition posed by charter schools?

Brennan has been a contributor to Schaffer for at least a few years before this vote.  And why shouldn't he be?  Brennan is a nationally-known leader in the school choice movement, and spends his own money (in addition to trying to make money, which is no sin) in trying to bring better educational opportunities to those whom public schools fail most.  Schaffer also believes that the public school system needs massive reform and the discipline of competition. So, it is not surprising that Brennan has contributed to Schaffer. Indeed it would be surprising if he didn't.

And finally, I would note that all this mudslinging against Schaffer is lightly coated with words like "potential". It's a "potential" conflict of interest.  What outrageous behavior by a major newspaper to let a partisan hack feed non-stories to its reporters.  A "potential" conflict of interest is a non-story but a useful tool in dirty politics.  I understand that politics is frequently dirty, but newspapers should be much more careful not to be so obviously used for partisan attacks.

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!

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by: Rossputin @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 15:20:30 PM CDT

The Rocky isn't the only publication that did this story today

So did the AP, the Denver Post, the Ft. Collins Coloradoan, The Pueblo Chieftain...

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by: Colorado Pols @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 15:44:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

that being said

Rossputin even if what you say is 100% true, do you agree that Bob Schaffer is now burnt toast and that the GOP will be seeking a new candidate for the US Senate?

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by: Iconoclast @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:25:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Progress Now's progress

While I don't agree with Rossputin's characterization that the RMN "let themselves be used" by Progress Now ("PN"), I readily agree that PN has progressively gained more weight in the mainstream media.

I remember a few years ago when PN started, it hoped to balance out groups like Trailhead and the Independence Institute.  I think the RMN article is a real example of PN's success in achieving its goal.

Regardless of how you feel about PN (keep Rossputin away from the tar and feathers), you have to admit that PN has created quite the partnership between political bloggers, the outraged citizen and the liberal-activist-core.  The proof is in the pudding - I argue that pre-PN, the "Schaffer swap" story would  never make the printing presses; or the story would only last one day.  Happy Birthday.

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by: and another thing @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 16:33:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Blogging is a large part of it too

Something can become a major story before it ever appears in the MSM. When this starts to happen it forces the MSM to get on the story because they wan't to beat the other MSM outlets.

So they no longer are gatekeepers on what gets out there.

Tom Tancredo Interview

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by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 17:11:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]