Author Archives: Phoenix Rising

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

“Revolving Door”

Not as hard-hitting as the ads they’ve been running against Sen. Dole, IMHO.

( – promoted by DavidThi808)

There were some good zingers thrown out tonight; it seems we’re finally getting into “red meat” territory, and there are bound to be some trial balloon slogans being pushed about.

What are your favorites?

(64 delegates to go. It will all be over Tuesday night. – promoted by DavidThi808)

The Democratic Party Rules and Bylaws Committee has reached a decision for seating Florida and Michigan…

By a vote of 27-0, Florida delegates will all be seated with 1/2 vote.  (Another FL measure to seat at full strength failed 12-15.)

By a vote of 19-8, all Michigan delegates will be seated at 1/2 vote each, with Clinton getting 69 and Obama getting 59 half-votes; Obama will receive two of Michigan’s add-on delegates as well.

Superdelegates will be seated at 1/2-vote as well.

This brings the required delegate total to 2117.

Obama currently has 2053, and Clinton has 1876.5.

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

From the state of Indiana:

A Republican voter registration deputy faces battery charges after he tackled a newspaper reporter and hit the Democratic 6th District congressional candidate after a contentious Delaware County Election Board meeting this afternoon.

Local GOP Party Secretary and Delaware County Voter Registration Deputy Will Statom attacked the reporter while he was interviewing a university student.  IN-06 Democratic candidate Barry Welsh stepped in to break up the fight when he saw the reporter in a chokehold and being beaten on by Statom, and Statom punched him in the eye.

Muncie Star Press reporter Nick Warner filed a statement with the sheriff’s office, who arrested Statom for battery.

Who in their right mind assaults a respected reporter, aside from this guy and Doug Bruce (who, to be fair, attacked a photographer and not a reporter)?

BTW – The circumstance of the meeting is no less concerning…  Monday was the last day of Indiana voter registration; the meeting was held due to a last-minute influx of registrations and a shortage of staff.  The staff shortage is due to the GOP County Chair refusing to seat a third Republican per Indiana law; she claims she won’t appoint so as to save the county $24k per year.  The reported recommendation of the (Democrat-controlled) board is to not process the (Democrat-gathered) registrations, which would seem to be a violation of the Federal Voting Rights Act.

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

State Rep. Dan Gibbs (D-Silverthorne) was officially elected to fill the vacancy left by Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald’s resignation tonight by unanimous consent and without opposition.

Tonight’s meeting of the SD-16 vacancy committee was well-attended, with 33 of the 42 committee members in attendance.  Supporters and local press rounded out the attendance, filling the lobby of the Clear Creek Middle School quite nicely.

Many of the committee members got together before the meeting for an informal dinner at the Buffalo Restaurant in Idaho Springs.  Will Shafroth put in an appearance, and Joan and Dan were both on-hand as well.

After a brief recognition of the various officials and others in attendance, the floor was turned over to Sen. Fitz-Gerald, who gave a heartfelt thanks, recognizing all of the counties in the district for the work that they have done and the challenges that they face.

The nomination of Dan Gibbs was heard, recognizing the work that he’s done in campaign work, as a staffer for Mark Udall, and in his brief stint in the Legislature.  No other nominations were offered, and Dan was quickly approved by voice acclamation.

Dan’s acceptance speech focused on his desire to work for everyone in the district, not limiting his efforts to one group.  Having heard him speak only once before, his speech was warm and energetic.

He hopefully will be making the rounds of his new district over the next month or two for those interested in meeting and speaking with him.  I heard no official decisions on his resignation date or swearing-in date; I’m sure those will be announced as soon as everything is arranged.  My understanding is that the Post may be short a name or two for candidates to replace Dan in his House seat.

Congrats, Dan Gibbs!

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Gilpin County Democrats had a grand time on Saturday at our annual J-J Dinner.  Live Celtic music by local band The Gold Ring livened up the early evening, and then the stage was cleared for our outstanding speaker’s lineup – State Representative Claire Levy, State Party Chair Pat Waak, and all three CD-2 candidates!

More after the break for my impressions on the CD-2 speeches…

I’ll save the analysis until after the speech summaries.

Jared Polis started by saying he had been fortunate as a citizen and wanted to give back; that he had founded schools for disadvantaged children but that public schools could not do what he did essentially because NCLB prevented it.  He briefly touched on similar problems with health care, then moved quickly into the Iraq War issue where he spent most of his speech.  He mentioned he was against it from the beginning, would de-fund it now in a way that would bring our troops home safely, and touched on some other negative points of the war.  He closed by asking for our support.

Will Shafroth followed, and after joking that he was almost able to give Jared’s speech for him (as he was certain JP and JFG could do for him…) introduced himself and his environmental background, promising to use that background to follow in Tim Wirth’s and Mark Udall’s footsteps if he were to represent the district.  He noted his family’s 4-generation history in the state and neatly tied in his great-grandfather’s opposition to the Spanish-American War to his own opposition to the Iraq war.  He called on the Congress (now) to defund the war in Iraq, reminding everyone of the Constitutional authority that rests in the Congress re: the purse and warmaking.  At the end he returned to address the great challenge of Global Warming and that he would like to take up the challenges of being the next Congressman from CD-2.

Joan Fitz-Gerald started her speech by reminding everyone of all the votes they had cast to elect her to the various offices she has held in our district – that we had been there to elect her each time, and that she wanted us to continue that trust one more time.  She then attacked the war issue, noting her family’s military history and saying that she would never have voted for this war.  As a tie-in to defunding the war, she then linked all of the things that were broken because of the way we’re funding the war, from the economy to healthcare to education.  After focusing for a while on health care, she touched on education, calling for NCLB to be repealed, saying that it was too broken to just repair.  She closed by once again asking for our support.

Energy-wise, I would describe Jared’s speech as controlled but lively, Will presented himself as very likeable and easy to take, while Joan’s speech was given from the heart and with fire (as is her style).  In framing, Jared presented himself as willing to think outside the box, Will seemed to present himself as “in the same mold as”  past/current CD-2 Representatives, and Joan presented herself as someone who knows how to get the job done.  It was clear that all shared similar views on the Iraq war, with Joan emphasizing health care, Will going environmental, and Jared taking education as their respective secondary focus.  Of the couple of folks I’ve talked to since the dinner, I think the consensus was that Joan was on the top of her game Saturday night; Jared’s attacks on her I think took a bit of a toll on his support.

It was great to have all three candidates at the dinner; we had 75 people in attendance, and the informal atmosphere lent itself well to mingling with the candidates both before and after the speeches – and all three held on after the dinner was over to field questions from attendees.

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

This is, as will soon be obvious, not a diary on Colorado politics.  But it touches on important ideas about government and our future that are fundamental to our core beliefs; it is something that we cannot avoid and should not shun away from discussing.

The committees of the Judiciary and Oversight in the U.S. Congress have just been told that their subpoenas to the White House and various agencies on several vital subjects will be denied by the Bush Administration.  This sets up a Constitutional Crisis the likes of which we have not seen since the Nixon Administration, and with undertones which would seem to set it far beyond the level of that prior crisis.

Where do we go from this point, what resolution would you like to see, and what resolution do you foresee?  Continue after the break for discussion…

The Congress’s requests for information on warrantless wiretapping, the hiring of attorneys, and the Information Security Oversight Office’s rejection by the VP’s office have all been denied as of yesterday.  Although the official claim is “executive privilege”, no specifics have been provided as to what privilege the Executive needs regarding these subjects; a request for that information was sent today and a response is due on the 9th of July.

But more importantly, it seems the Administration is aware that it is in legal hot water.  One Administration official admits that testifying under oath or even with a transcript “sets up a perjury trap” – a problem that likely wouldn’t exist were nothing actually amiss.

The Constitution does not explicitly grant to the Congress the power of oversight; the notion was so inherent in the concept of a representative body of government that the Founders didn’t think it necessary to write it down or even discuss it much.  The courts have long upheld such a power though, ruling that without such oversight, Congress had no means of effectively performing their duties.

Likewise, the Constitution says nothing about the power of executive privilege.  History has held a limited view of the power, and courts have only ruled that such a power should be available in the case of true national security.  The President claims the national security need in rejecting all of the recent requests, though such a security interest is unclear for at least some of those requests and is antithetical to the request surrounding the denial of access to the VP’s office.

The supposed next step is to hold the White House in Contempt of Congress, which charge is referred to the U.S. Attorney for D.C. – one of the USA’s slipped in without Senate approval through the loophole created in the PATRIOT Act renewal and a Bush loyalist.  The USA “shall” report the charge to a grand jury, but failure to do so would only result in further contempt charges and a vicious circle of inaction and blame-pointing.

Assuming the Contempt charge was actually considered and referred for prosecution, it seems not unlikely that the conservative Federal District Court and the new majority of the Supreme Court could either (a) deny the issue on political question grounds, or (b) significantly reduce the traditional powers of Congressional oversight.  Result (a) would mean a waste of time, and result (b) could be disastrous for our Constitutional balance of powers.

The third possible result of a court confrontation is a ruling in Congress’s favor, with the White House either capitulating (unlikely given the Administration in question), redirecting to some other claim of privilege or reasoning (most likely scenario?), or – in what seems to be a typical hubris for this Presidency – ignoring both the Congress and the Court.  The latter two options would almost certainly lead to an impeachment proceeding, but would do so at a time when impeachment is no longer important – just before Bush is scheduled to leave office.

Optionally, the Congress can bypass the court and use its own internal proceedings to find the Administration in contempt.  This Inherent Contempt proceeding would see the offending parties hauled before Congress by the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (backed up by the Capitol Police, who are under his jurisdiction in such cases), and a tribunal of the Congress would rule on the case.  The last time Inherent Contempt was used was, IIRC, in 1925 – it is not a frequently-used power.

Or, given the almost-inevitable stonewalling that the White House loves to use, Congress could proceed directly to impeachment.  As a strictly political tool it has no specific requirements, and the massive and blanket refusal to answer Congressional subpoenas provides the legal basis to issue impeachment charges.  (One of the charges against Nixon was a failure to respond to Congressional subpoenas…)

So where do we go?  We stand at a crossroads.  Down one lane there is an Executive Office that has few checks and balances, who can issue signing statements with the effect of changing the law and who can ignore oversight.  Down the other lane is a Congress with a backbone the likes of which we may not have seen in our lifetime.  What is best for our country now?

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( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

And you thought Musgrave’s going after Angie for a haircut was bad…

Try this one one for size:  Antisocial Advertisers Against The Poor (aka Stop 42) has an ad up on TV where God tells Moses to spread the word to vote no on 42.

No, I’m not kidding.  Using God’s name in vain, anyone?

h/t to abbaanthony over at Daily Kos for picking this one up.

(This is not a Colorado Pols-produced post, but it’s a good subject for discussion. – promoted by Colorado Pols)

The news out of what most people considered to be a long-shot lawsuit against electronic voting machines took a startling turn to the serious in testimony by the state’s election machine “expert”…

The Denver Post reports that John Gardner, the supposed expert hired by Gigi Dennis to certify electronic balloting machines, testified that he was not, in fact, an expert in computer and voting machine technology.  Further, testimony came out in the trial that the machines used in Jefferson and Mesa counties did not meet state standards, but were certified for use anyway.

The news follows by a day the publication of a study by noted electronic privacy professor Ed Felten, indicating the extreme vulnerability of Diebold AccuVote TS machines (used in El Paso County), and prompted the following reactions…

The Colorado Democratic Party today recommended that all of their party members request absentee ballots rather than trust that Colorado’s electronic balloting machines will be (a) reliable, or (b) still certified by Election Day.

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Ken Gordon came out in favor of an immediate and stringent requalification regimen of all machines used in the state prior to the November election.  His opponent, Mike Coffman, promised a review of the machines “if elected”.

Well, Mike – I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in waiting until your possible election to know that the voting machines we use are secure – or even reliable.  I’ll be voting for Ken Gordon this year.

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Constituent Dynamics offers up a 30-seat nationwide poll of most-watched House races here (PDF).

Two Colorado races made the poll:

In CO-04, Marilyn Musgrave leads Angie Paccione 47-41, which is quite similar to the previous poll in that district.  The MOE is +/- 3.1%, which puts Paccione barely inside the margin of error right now.  No word from Musgrave on her fundraising yet, but as mentioned elsewhere here, Paccione broke the $1m mark this past week.

In CO-07, Ed Perlmutter is barely squeaking out a win with 48-46 against Rick O’Donnell.  The polls are all the same sample size, so the same 3.1% MOE applies.  This is indeed shaping up to be one of the top races in the country again, as it was in 2002.

Overall, Democrats are leading their races for 13 Republican-held seats, with another three – including Angie – within the MOE.  Republicans are not winning a single Democratic-held district and are threatening only one seriously.

As MyDD points out, eight of the Democrats’ top targeted seats weren’t even polled, including Tom Delay’s seat, where ballot access issues stemming from Delay’s cute maneuvering almost ensure a Democratic Party pickup.

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( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Whether or not you appreciate the efforts Senators Allard and Salazar do or not engage in, you have to at least hope that they don’t enter the lonely waters where Senator George F. Allen (R-VA) dares to tread.

Senator Allen, it seems, has a bit of a fetish about small appliances.  No, not those appliances – just your garden variety appliances.

Like these:

41. S.3288 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on handheld electronic can openers.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

42. S.3289 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric knives.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

It get’s sillier in the Extended entry…

43. S.3290 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on toaster ovens with single-slot traditional toaster opening on top of oven.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

44. S.3291 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on ice shavers.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

45. S.3292 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on dual-press sandwich makers with floating upper lid and lock.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

46. S.3293 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric drink mixers with tilt mixing heads and two-speed motors.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

47. S.3294 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric juice extractors greater than 300 watts but less than 400 watts.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

48. S.3295 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric juice extractors not less than 800 watts.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

49. S.3296 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on open-top electric indoor grills.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

50. S.3297 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric coffee grinders.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

51. S.3298 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electric percolators.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

52. S.3299 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on automatic drip coffeemakers other than those with clocks.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

53. S.3300 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on automatic drip coffeemakers with electronic clocks.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

54. S.3301 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on electronic under-the-cabinet mounting electric can openers.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

55. S.3303 : A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on food slicers and shredders with top-mounted motors and replaceable mixing bowls.
Sponsor: Sen Allen, George [VA] (introduced 5/26/2006)  Cosponsors (None)

Who in the world has time to introduce two separate bills – one for automatic drip coffeemakers with clocks and one for those without?

And is there something special about juice extractors greater than 300 watts but less than 400 watts, or greater than 800 watts?

I get this weird feeling that if I walked into this guy’s house, it would be like walking into the barn in the movie Twister.  Who is this guy?