August 05, 2010 10:41 PM UTC

Maes Promises to Destroy Thousands of Jobs, Doesn't Know Diddly

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• by: ClubTwitty

Gubernatorial candidate and anti-bike crusader Dan Maes recently spoke to Denver’s Petroleum Club, according to a report in Forbes:

DENVER — Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said Thursday he would lay off as many as 4,000 Colorado state employees if elected and force a showdown with the federal government over drilling for gas and oil.

Dan Maes told the Denver Petroleum Club he would cut at least 2,000 workers “just like that” from the state budget, with projected savings of $200 million.

He didn’t specify which agencies would see layoffs.

Of course, without specifics of where he would cut, this is just more uninformed nonsense from the current former possible GOP front runner hoping to take on successful businessman and popular mayor, John Hickenlooper.  

As the UN Bike Conspiracy story has spread across the InterTubz other news about Maes has been mostly drowned out.  

Like this article in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

The fines Dan Maes agreed to pay last month for various campaign-finance violations in his bid for the GOP nod for governor weren’t his camp’s first.

Over the past year, the campaign was fined numerous times, primarily for filing late reports for large donations, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.

Maes agreed to pay $17,500 in fines last month after a Grand Junction man filed a complaint against him, alleging he improperly reimbursed himself for more than $40,000 in mileage costs, failed to include details about some of the donations and may have taken corporate money.

Or this:

Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes has never run for office before. He’s a Tea Party-friendly guy, running in part on his business experience. And he’s found himself suddenly seriously competing for the party’s nomination, thanks in part to his opponent’s struggles with a plagiarism scandal.

At the same time, reports have poked holes in Maes’ self-styled image of executive experience. Tax returns show Maes as more dud than whiz.

Although running on his business acumen, Maes’ poor accounting methods and other financial problems hardly boost his credibility.  

Meanwhile Hickenlooper, making a campaign swing on the Western Slope was gaining kudos and building confidence.

At a campaign stop at Mountain Racing Products, 580 N. Westgate Drive, Hickenlooper presented that idea to business people who are in somewhat competing industries: a top executive for a major oil and gas company, and small business owners whose enterprises center on the state’s outdoors.

All said that Hickenlooper’s idea of bringing people to the same table will help, if for no other reason, for each to know what the others need to maintain a good business climate in the state.

“I like the fact that he’s trying to take a stance of enhancing the ability for companies that are innovative to succeed in Colorado,” said Seth Anderson, owner of Loki Gear, 2249 Broadway, who said he was an unaffiliated voter. “We have every reason to be positive about the future. We just have to do everything the right way.”

At the Petroleum Club Maes also threatened to take on the Federal government:

Maes also called for a confrontation with the federal government over energy drilling. He challenged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, saying the Department of the Interior had blocked businesses with drilling permits from going forward.

“If you have a drilling permit for the Roan Plateau, then drill. And if Ken Salazar doesn’t like it, he can come and see me in Denver,” Maes said.

While most oil and gas companies are a bit smarter than thinking a governor can waive federal permits and regulations, Maes comments do point to a stunning lack of knowledge.

No drilling permits are pending on the Roan Plateau and none are being blocked by Interior. Rather the leases that were issued for this iconic Colorado landmark in the waning days of the Bush administration (against some 75,000 protests) have been challenged in court.  While settlement talks continue no permits have been filed.

Considering the precipitous drop in support for the other GOP contender, and between Maes’ imaging that blue-helmeted bicyclists will soon be peddling through the streets of our fair state, his promise to gut thousands of unspecified jobs from unspecified agencies, his history of financial missteps, and a total lack of knowledge about the issues he speaks on, a comment I hear repeatedly is that John Hickenlooper must be the luckiest politician alive.