Author Archives: IndyNinja

About IndyNinja

I support People, not Parties. I support Ideas, not Ideologies. I am an independent voter.

CO Legislative Balance Still Uncertain

19
  by: IndyNinja November 4, 2010 at 6:27 AM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: As uncertain as remaining math may be, we’ve received word that HD-33 Rep. Dianne Primavera has conceded defeat to GOP opponent Don Beezley. Also, Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll has reportedly offered his congratulations to Rep. Frank McNulty for capturing majority control of the Colorado House. Clearly, they know something definitive that we’ll all know soon enough.

—–

The Democrats managed to hold off challenges to all but one of their state Senate seats in Tuesdays election, leaving them firmly in control with a 20-15 majority.

As the results currently stand, Democrats who previously held a 37-27-1 majority in the house have now slipped into a 33-32 minority. However, with oversees and provisional ballots left to count, three races that are currently showing a Republican win could still flip if the uncounted ballot swing the right way. If even one of them manages to squeek ahead, the Democrats will be back at the wheel for 2011.

The three house races still in question are:

HD 29 Debbie Benefield (D) vs Robert Ramerez (R)

Current spread: 12,057 – 12,278 = 221 votes

HD 33 Dianne Primavera (D) vs Donald Beezley (R)

Current spread: 17,029 – 17,434 = 405 votes

HD 38 Joe Rice (D) vs Kathleen Conti (R)

Current spread 12,496 – 13,453 = 957 votes

Most news sources are still reporting these races as not yet decided, but that didn’t stop Rep. Frank McNulty and the other House GOP from holding their victory press conference and laying out their agenda for next year.

If I were Rep. Mcnulty, I would hold off on buying decorations for his new office until the final votes are in on those three.

If the Dems manage to pull off a miracle and retain control of the house, the party will have complete conrol over the redistricting committee (members abointed by Legislature, Governor and Supreme Court) and will decide how the lines are redrawn for the 2012 election. Most likely to be effected by this is House Disrict 39, which has almost twice the registered votes of the average district, and the surrounding districts (41, 42, 37, 38, 9), which are likely to annex parts of 39. If the R’s have a say, they might use that as an opportuniy to weaken the D’s in district 9 (Miklosi) or to fortify the newly conquered district 38 (Joe Rice). But if the Dems keep sole control of the committee, the reverse is far more likely.

Needless to say, a lot rides on the fate of the straggling results.

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Why brag now?

24
  by: IndyNinja November 2, 2010 at 9:48 AM MDT

Maybe this is my naivity showing through, but I just don’t get it.

I spent all day monday calling people and doing my part to support the candidates that I believe in. (For the record, this included a D county coroner, an R state senate candidate, and two D state house candidates).

But it seems that many people who claim to care a lot about races like the us senate and governor spent their day here on CPols running victory laps and counting their figurative chickens. And my question is why?

From where I sit, there is no advantage to coming in here and claiming certain victory for your candidate.

For one thing, most people who read sites like this made up their minds months ago and have already voted, so you aren’t convincing anyone or influencing the outcome by doing. But even if that weren’t true. It seems to me that the result of claiming victory before election day would be that your own supporters would be less likely to vote than if you constantly pushed the “it’s so close that your vote could make the difference” message.

Second, it can’t possibly help you personally. If you are right, then you have cursed yourself to irrelivancy by claiming that it was all already over before you commented. And if you are wrong, you show yourself as ignorant and foolish. So isn’t your time better spent actually working for the victory instead of claiming to have already won it?

Finally, these types of claims expose you as someone who is more interested in the success of their own opinions than the promotion of accuracy and truth. The fact is that no one knows where things will end up tomorrow. Companies like PPP can make educated guesses based on the opinion of the first few hundred people who are willing to answer them, but at their best, they are still just guessing. To accept their reports as certainity is like taking the weather man’s word on tomorrow’s weather. Yeah, he’s right a lot, but not always.

So with those things in mind, please tell me. What is your motivation or reasoning behind the premature victory postings?

Why did you claim victory before the election was over?

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Ryan Frazier’s new ad

3
  by: IndyNinja October 13, 2010 at 2:21 AM MDT

Flying high above CD7 today was a small airplane towing behind it the words “RYAN FRAZIER FIGHTS SKY HIGH SPENDING”.

Cleverness (or not) of the pun aside, is an advertising medium normally reserved for wedding proposals and Geico insurance really the best use of his money?

I mean, maybe if he took it to the next step and parachuted into a Broncos game or something it would get him noticed, but this just didn’t seem effective to me. Many voters don’t know the congressional candidates well enough for them to connect that message to a space on their ballot, especially not in that particular race. So maybe he should get himself on tv before wasting cash on a bizarre stunt like this.

So CPols, what do you think? Will this win him any votes?

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Man on Probation Runs for Office in Denver

20
  by: IndyNinja August 18, 2010 at 12:19 AM MDT

Bob Lane won the Republican nomination for HD 9 last Tuesday and will face incumbent Democrat Joe Miklosi in the Fall. But did Republicans know what they were getting when they voted?

Bob Lane is currently on probation, after being charged with Assault and Domestic Violence in July of last year. Lane was able to strike a plea deal with the Denver DA office wherein he completes a Domestic Violence Evaluation and Treatment Program and gets a “Disturbing the Peace Charge” instead of the full Assault Charge.  

Bob Lane won the Republican nomination for HD 9 last Tuesday and will face incumbent Democrat Joe Miklosi in the Fall. But did Republicans know what they were getting when they voted?

Bob Lane is currently on probation, after being charged with Assault and Domestic Violence in July of last year. Lane was able to strike a plea deal with the Denver DA office wherein he completes a Domestic Violence Evaluation and Treatment Program and gets a “Disturbing the Peace Charge” instead of the full Assault Charge.

According to Lane’s Statements, the victim is an undocumented Asian immigrant who wanted to marry him for citizenship. When he refused, she tried to steal his cell phone. It was when he took it back that she called the police on him.

This writer thinks that the undocumented immigrant portion of the statement is the only reason he got the plea deal. She wasn’t willing to come forward and correct his story out of fear.

In any case, I think it is a bit short-sighted for someone to run for office while still on probation, regardless of the circumstances. Joe Miklosi should be thanking his lucky stars right now because Lane’s Primary opponent would have given him a much bigger fight.

This HD9 Independent knows who he will be voting for. I hope that any other CPOLs readers that live in HD9 give this issue the attention it deserves. This isn’t about party, it’s about who you want to be YOUR representative. Personally, I disagree with Miklosi a LOT. Especially on his immigration issues. But I would rather have someone like him, who I know from experience is open-minded and that I can have a conversation with, than a criminal who lashes out at any and everyone who opposes him.

I’ll take Joe, thanks.  

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