(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(D) Julie Gonzales
(R) Janak Joshi
80%
40%
20%
(D) Jena Griswold
(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Hetal Doshi
50%
40%↓
30%
(D) Jeff Bridges
(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
50%↑
40%↓
30%
(D) Diana DeGette*
(D) Wanda James
(D) Milat Kiros
80%
20%
10%↓
(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Alex Kelloff
(R) H. Scheppelman
60%↓
40%↓
30%↑
(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) E. Laubacher
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
30%↑
20%
(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Jessica Killin
55%↓
45%↑
(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Shannon Bird
(D) Manny Rutinel
45%↓
30%
30%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
From the Clean Water Fund’s (related to better-known Clean Water Action) release yesterday: Clean Water Fund, a Colorado citizen group, launched a $100,000 TV buy in Pueblo that highlights Congressman Scott Tipton’s support for tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil companies. Rep. Tipton has supported tax breaks for Big Oil companies 6 times (see […]
The AP reports via the Durango Herald: Colorado legislators agreed Thursday with a compromise suggestion from Attorney General John Suthers, a Republican who chastised members of his own party in the state House for seeking a way to give victims of the Lower North Fork Fire compensation beyond the $600,000 allowed under the Colorado Governmental […]
MSNBC’s First Read: House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) accused President Obama of campaigning on taxpayer funds in response Wednesday to the president’s goading of lawmakers to act on a bill to extend low student loan rates. In a hastily-arranged press conference, Boehner accused Obama of political theatrics in his two-day tour of three college campuses […]
We’re going to hear a lot of nonsense about oil, energy and gas prices in the coming months. This is a succinct priimer on the subject of oil in the U.S. By Robert Rapier at Oildrum.com The Difference Between Oil Shale and Oil-Bearing Shale People are often confused about the overall extent of U.S. oil […]
Fun for the Whole Family! Its a bi-partisan love affair! APR 1-In a move to highlight the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Association (the new merger of COGA and COGCC, a strict efficiency move) and our ‘Frack-Me-Up-Colorado’ campaign (Motto: ‘No Harm, No Foul’*), Halliburton and my newly unveiled ‘Same Song Different Dance–Dirty Old Energy […]
I just wrote Mike Littwin a thank-you e-mail for being such a reliable source of amazement and inspiration for so many years. I mean, how lucky was Denver to have a writer of his caliber for so long at a daily newspaper? What he wrote about didn’t matter. That’s why my Republican mother-in-law, who doesn’t […]
SUNDAY POLS UPDATE: here’s Rep. Cory Gardner’s full Weekly Republican Address: —– Cory Gardner is doing the bidding of his constituents. No, not the taxpayers and consumers that populate his district–his real constituents: Big Oil. From The Hill: “People in my district and around the country are fed up with the way the president is […]
UPDATE: As promised, here are two minutes and twenty seconds of Colorado Senate Republican red-meat response to today’s pro-contraception rally. Featuring three of your favorite GOP red-meat huckers, Sens. Ted Harvey, Kent Lambert, and Scott Renfroe in formation: HARVEY: The history of mankind from the beginning of time is a history of governments that have […]
Mesa County really does have some Democrats who are willing to run for office. To me the interesting thing about this is that they are all either retired or about to retire. That probably isn’t unusual, given the demographics of the county. During the last bust cycle the county decided to ask retirees to relocate […]
The AP reports via the Craig Daily Press: As natural gas prices continue to drop, the recent nationwide boom in drilling is slowing. Drillers don’t make money if prices go too low – and drilling wells isn’t cheap… When the shale drilling boom was starting in 2008 the average price for a unit of gas […]
Ok, this isn’t about politics. And no, I didn’t buy a new Leaf electric car. Not even a hybrid — that’ll be in a couple of years, perhaps. What I did was buy a tablet computer running Google’s Android OS. Perhaps that is of interest to more than 2 people on this site. If not, […]
UPDATE: Colorado Independent: Obama came to Colorado to expand on some of the themes of his State of the Union speech Tuesday, notably his proposals to create energy independence. In his State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for what he calls an America Built to Last, emphasizing his desire to […]
Mythology abounds and rules our lives. Paul Krugman wites often about the Confidence Fairie … cut government expenditures, lay off enough workers, and the Confidence Fairie will appear to deliver the Great Economic Rebound. ABC reports that “Iowa is too close to call,” as if we were a nation of sturdy farmers stepping forth into […]
It’s the year that was–your top ten stories in Colorado politics for 2011 after the jump. 10. The End of the Dick Wadhams Era 9. Medical Marijuana, The Feds, and Jared Polis 8. The Rise and Fall of “Occupy Denver” 7. TABOR Author Doug Bruce Convicted of Tax Evasion 6. Hancock Beats “Class President” Romer, […]
J. Daniel Bateman, QC Private Secretary & Legislative Liaison By Appointment to HRH the Duke of Lancaster Royal Crescent Bath BA1 United Kingdom 22nd November 2011 The Timothy R. Tebow Fan Club and Ministry Post Office Box 00666 Denver, Colorado 80204 United States Dear Mouth-breathers, Over the last several weeks I have been greatly entertained […]
The city of Longmont has featured very lively municipal elections for the past couple of cycles–first there was the 2009 takeover of that city’s government by Republicans non-partisans out for revenge over a development battle between the city and LifeBridge Church. This year, fights over city council races and the narrow defeat of conservative Mayor […]
The Occupy Wall Street movement has a new, tactful cousin in Denver. After around two months of demonstrations, marches, camping and riots, a new occupation has bloomed on the 16th Street Mall. Hundreds have camped outside of brand-new retailer H&M, bringing much needed energy to the Occupy Denver protesters. Protesters have blocked Glenarm between 15th […]
(We shouldn’t be picking winners and losers* – promoted by Colorado Pols) I posted in late September about the bankruptcy of solar-electric array manufacturer Solyndra, and subsequent feeding frenzy by Republicans desperate to pin President Barack Obama in his first scandal. Even though the Solyndra loan application was initiated during the Bush administration, and the […]
I posted a whole blog on this earlier tonight (here: http://www.coloradopols.com/di… but I think now that the results are in and Anne Rowe is clearly winning easily, it’s worth talking about what really happened in District 1. Here are the facts: Fact: Anne Rowe had the grassroots support in this district. In their rhetoric and […]
Education and the Wall Street Connection This election year, Denver voters will have an opportunity to demonstrate the power of citizen engagement and the importance of direct control of our neighborhood schools. National interests are investing heavily in Denver’s school board race. The players are many, the politics ugly, and the possibilities well…promising. The Players […]
Worth an atta-boy from progressives and labor supporters–with a H/T to Allison Sherry of the Denver paper, here’s Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Golden’s statement on his vote this week against free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) voted no on the proposed trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and […]
(We’ve got a lot of yard signs still to add to the list below, but with Election Day around the corner, here’s a reminder to keep sending in pictures of signs to webmaster@coloradopols.com. – promoted by Colorado Pols) NOTE: Since this is a bipartisan project, we’ve introduced a new rating system. Each sign will now […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have been making hay over the recent bankruptcy of California-based solar electric panel manufacturer Solyndra, including Colorado’s freshman Rep. Cory Gardner who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee: http://gardner.house.gov/press… “The Solyndra story is one of greed, mismanagement, and incompetence. Emails and documents […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) So for those of you that chose to do something other than bore yourselves to death last night, indulge me while I summarize Wednesday night’s debate. Allow me to introduce The Players at the 4th Republican Primary Debate for the 2012 Presidential Election (or more aptly titled, “We Worship […]
Most elected officials will tell you that one of the most thankless, unforgiving positions in local politics is a seat on the school board. It’s logical, really, that it’s a hard job; unlike other offices, school board positions deal directly with the issues affecting the children of their constituents. Parents are understandably protective of their kids in the education realm; they’ll as vigorously attack a school board member as a bully on the playground in the defense of their child.
A school board seat isn’t exactly the type of position you can easily use as a stepping stone, either. Sure, you can make incredible connections, but it’s even easier to amass a sizable list of opponents. That’s why it takes a special kind of person to serve on school boards, especially in Denver Public Schools. They have to be the kind of person who’d actually want to serve on a school board; sometimes you get amazing advocates for public schools, and sometimes you get entry-level politicians a little too proud of their title.
Cue Andrea Merida, southwest Denver’s district two director. Merida is a controversial figure in all of Denver politics; she’s picked numerous high-profile fights, including a few with other board members. We’re not here to discuss whether or not Merida has been a positive or negative influence on the direction of Denver’s schools; that’s a debate best left to Denver’s parents and her constituents.
What we will say, however, is that we continue to be shocked by Merida’s lack of political instinct. From her very first second on the board, Merida has been a constant source of controversy due in large part to some incredibly poor political posturing.
Let’s start at the beginning, really. On the day of her swearing in, Merida secured a court order enabling her to take her seat on the board just hours before she would’ve been sworn in as scheduled. She did so to vote against iconic reforms at Lake Middle School, and though we’re sure she had her reasons, the move defined her as a member. In taking her seat early, Merida swiftly and dramatically ended the tenure of her predecessor, Michelle Moss, without giving Moss the opportunity to say farewell or reflect on her past eight years on the board. Alan Gotlieb, the usually mild-mannered editor of the renowned Education News Colorado, compared the move to “a four-year-old ripping open her Christmas presents on December 23.” In this space, we noted that “Andrea Merida couldn’t have been more inappropriate and disrespectful if she had showed up in a ‘Fuck Denver’ t-shirt.” The measure that Merida grabbed the headlines to vote against ended up passing, and thus began Merida’s rather unique habit of posturing for posturing’s sake.
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