CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
August 28, 2013 08:18 AM UTC

Oh Noes! It's Michael Bloooom-berg!

  • 40 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

FOX 31's Eli Stokols:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote a personal check for $350,000 to Taxpayers for Responsible Democracy, the issues committee fighting the recalls targeting Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron…

Overall, more than 17,000 individuals contributed to the campaign to help the lawmakers survive these recalls, the first of state lawmakers in Colorado history.

“We want to thank every single one of those supporters, from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the people who gave 5 or 10 dollars,” said Jennie Peek-Dunstone, with Pueblo United for Angela. “They all play a role in fighting back against the ‘wave of fear’ that the recall proponents want to send across the country.”

17,000 donors in opposition to the recall attempts against Senate President John Morse and Senator Angela Giron is definitely something recall opponents can point to as evidence of broad support. Stokols notes in his story that much of the cash on the other side is being channeled through so-called 501(c)4 groups, which don't have to disclose their donors. KKTV reports that one of the larger trackable sources of funds in support of the recall, the National Rifle Association, has itself given over $100,000. So obviously, and as anyone could have predicted given the high national stakes of this recall election, the money is freely flowing in on both sides.

But folks, there's only one donor that Republicans want to talk about today! The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels:

Recall supporters pounced on the news.

"We represent the folks who live here, work here, and simply want their state back from the East Coast special interests like Mayor Bloomberg, who influenced this past legislative session," said Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Basic Freedom Defense Fund.

New York City?!
NEW YORK CITY?!

​Now before you choke on your beverage trying to reconcile the hypocrisy of Americans For Prosperity California's spokesperson, herself imported to Colorado only last April, complaining about out-of-state "special interests," let's talk about this raging antipathy against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for a moment. Republicans excel at the art of personal vilification (see: Clinton, Bill), and ever since Bloomberg founded his campaign Mayors Against Illegal Guns with Boston Mayor Tom Menino, Bloomberg's popular image has been steadily reshaped by his detractors from that of a self-made billionaire and American success story (not to mention one time Republican) to a power mad, gun-grabbing tyrant. This despite the fact that Mayors Against Illegal Guns' (note the word "illegal") biggest goal is universal background checks nationwide–a policy supported by 80%+ of the public in every poll we've seen, including this week's Quinnipiac poll of Colorado voters.

During the legislative debate over the gun safety bills, Republicans seized on the idea that NYC Mayor Bloomberg might have phoned–yes, actually phoned!–Colorado Governor and former Denver mayor John Hickenlooper. The fact that they both served as mayors of major American cities at the same time, meaning they already knew each other, didn't get in the way of the outrage. But on a more basic level, we always thought the attempt to vilify Bloomberg like some kind of foreign invader was just ridiculous. After all, we've been to New York City, and you don't need a passport. From the Statue of Liberty to the 9/11 Memorial, New York City is part of the same America we live in. We feel kind of embarrassed to point this out, since it really seems quite obvious to us.

But apparently, this recall has become puerile and hypocritical enough that we need to.

Tweet
Share

Comments

40 thoughts on “Oh Noes! It’s Michael Bloooom-berg!”

  1. There is a long history of resistance to Eastern influence in Colorado. It's too late to whitewash Bloomberg's reputation, he is an effective boogeyman.

    2. Is there anyone (who isn't a right wing wacko) that doesn't make you righties wet yourselves in fear? I thought you guys were supposed to be the brave ones…….

          1. So , Moderatus, you the support the concept of out of state money to affect local elections.  Of course you do. OK then. You aren't, therefore, claiming that Bloomberg and  other out of state Dems are doing anything wrong by spending money on this recall. You just don't agree with them on what the outcome should be. Glad we got that cleared up. Hope no righties have hurt themselves clutching those pearls too tightly.

  3. Not a fan of Bloomberg but this recall over gun safety legislation is of national interest and money is being pumped in from both sides. 

    Since the right always makes the most noise about money being freedom of speech, applauds the Supreme Court decision that corporations are people and have the same  free speech, with money as speech, rights that humans do and is most opposed to government regulating campaign spending in any way, they should be fine with any and all out of state spending. I don't see them turning down any Koch or Rove or NRA PAC or other money on their pet issues. I don't see them trying to pass laws to keep out of state money out of Colorado politics.

    It's not a matter of two wrongs making a right either, before some rightie jumps in with that accusation. It's the hypocrisy of the righties criticizing anyone for doing exactly what they insist on the right to do. If anyone has the right to bellyache about out of state money or any kind of spending in any elections, it's not righties. It would be those fighting for things like publicly funded elections and against corporations having the same rights as flesh and blood citizens. 

    Righties can't expect the rest of us to unilaterally surrender because we disapprove of the role of money, including out of state money, in politics. The role is undeniable and if that's the way it's going to be played that's the way we'll have to play it, too.The rules are the rules and we all have to play by them to win until we change them.

    As for the demonizing, at least it makes more sense than the obsession with demonizing Nancy Pelosi, a decidedly non-demonic pol.  From his self serving musical chairs party switching to his complete disdain for the concerns of black and brown constituents who aren't happy about being stopped for nothing on a regular basis (how would he like to be stopped constantly and frisked for no reason?) Bloomberg doesn't exactly come across as a great guy.  

    His money is still as good as the Kochs', though, isn't that so, righties? 

  4. That's 7,000 more people than those who signed the recall petition for John Morse. What the right wing extremists don't like admitting is that 6,000 signatures were thrown out for the John Morse recall petition.laugh

    1. Nope. She represents the people who say you should have the guns you want as a law abiding citizen. It was Morse's own constituents who demanded this recall. Enough valid SD11 voters signed the petition and the recall is on. That's all that matters.

              1. I thought about a q but felt it  would need a u and that might be confusing. I do find your version the most asthetically appealing.  I like losing the b.  So to heck with the u. All hail Dumphuqistan. Looks great.

                1. Too foreign-sounding. They'll end up accusing themselves of being Sekrit Muzlim Terrarists and spread paranoid fears of imposing the Magna Carta on the people. 

    2. Um – ick?

      Sorry – lived in NY, and they definitely don't fall under the western version of "liberal" or "progressive" there, at least not in overall governance. I expect they'll make sporks restricted as deadly weapons sometime soon…

      Most of the recent leaders in NY are authoritarian, be they mayors or governors, Republican, Independent or Democrat. The last two governors – Giuliani and Bloomberg – are also well right of the center of NY politicians and citizens in their economic views.

      (Time for my semi-regular plug: see the Political Compass for a neat two-axis representation of left vs. right. You can see NY as an interesting stand-out in this 2008 Senate chart – yep, that's New York, way up toward Republicans on the authoritarian right while holding just right of most other Democratic states including Colorado on the economic chart.)

    3. There's another one of those would be pithy sibstitutes for a relevant response that says loud and clear "I've got nothing". You sound very familiar n3b. Here's one … if you like NYC so much why don't you marry it. It was a favorite among the grade school set in my day. OK . I've got you out of my system. No more responses for you.

  7. All the right wing blowhards on this issue remind me of Magpul. Remember when Magpul was going to move out of state immediately because of the gun laws. They're still here, so far just a lot of hot air.

  8. No fan of Bloomberg (see "stop and frisk), but the architecture of our increasingly plutocratic system is supported at every turn by the people pearl clutching about MAIG and Bloomberg.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

84 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!