(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%
Worth noting, from Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s press release yesterday: More and more employers want to access your Facebook and social media accounts with your password for job screening purposes. Not so fast, says Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) who introduced a provision that would prevent employers from requiring current and prospective employees to hand over their […]
(Cross-posted from Denver Pols) When Corrie Houck kicked off her primary challenge to HD-1 Rep. Jeanne Labuda last year, she emphasized that Labuda’s weak record on payday-lending regulation motivated her to run. While we suspect Houck was actually drawn into the race in part because of Labuda’s poor performance in 2010, the payday-lending issue certainly […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) As The Denver Post sinks and shrinks, there’s no getting around the fact that, even if you hate them, bloggers become more important as opinion (and information) providers. So I thought this would be a good moment to offer up some tips on blogging from Colorado bloggers, to inspire […]
Circling back with the Durango Herald’s Joe Hanel, who reported yesterday: The homestead exemption allows people older than 65 who have lived in their homes for at least 10 years to get a discount on some of their property taxes. The Legislature has suspended the tax break the last three years, as the state grappled […]
The Washington Post updates from yesterday’s big day at the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court’s conservative justices appeared deeply skeptical Tuesday that a key component of President Obama’s sweeping health-care law is constitutional, endangering the most ambitious domestic program to emerge from Congress in decades. In an intense interrogation of the government’s lawyer, Solicitor General […]
When Corrie Houck kicked off her primary challenge to HD-1 Rep. Jeanne Labuda last year, she emphasized that Labuda’s weak record on payday-lending regulation motivated her to run.
While we suspect Houck was actually drawn into the race in part because of Labuda’s poor performance in 2010, the payday-lending issue certainly sounds a lot better than claims that the incumbent’s failure to dedicate time to her own campaign cost Democrats control of the House.
So, given that payday-lending is a touchy issue on the campaign trail, you’d think Labuda would choose her words on the matter carefully.
But as The Colorado Statesman’s Ben Conarck notes, that most certainly is not the case:
One policy issue that has taken center-stage in the contentious primary is the regulation of the payday lending industry.
Payday lenders specialize in small, short-term loans, which often come with bloated interest rates. There are many payday-lending outfits located within the southwestern Denver district.
Labuda was one of five Democrats to vote against the successful HB 1351 bill to limit payday loan interest rates in 2010.
“I voted against it because I think that we have recently passed a lot of legislation to reign in payday lenders, and I’m waiting to see if those procedures work,” Labuda explained.
Labuda said she understands her constituents’ frustration with the industry – which is seen by many as exploitive towards people in dire economic circumstances – but she likened the regulation of the industry to the laws regulating alcohol.
“Alcohol is legal, but there are always going to be some people who abuse it,” Labuda said. “There are always going to be some people who abuse the payday lending system and use it too much.”
Folks, if you’re trying to defend business practices which are generally regarded as “exploitive towards people in dire economic circumstances,” the last thing you should ever attempt to do is blame those being exploited. And if you are going to try to fashion an argument that payday-lending flaws are somehow the fault of those treading water amid one of the worst financial downturns in years, we can’t think of anything more offensive than comparing them to alcoholics.
With one asinine statement, Labuda gave Houck a remarkably large paintbrush with which to paint the incumbent as out of touch with the district. Houck says it best in rationalizing her poor fundraising numbers, noting that “We just don’t have that kind of money in our neighborhood.” Labuda’s own words make her seem like a legislator secreted away in an ivory tower: she blames those that rely on payday lenders to stay afloat because she’s never had to live paycheck to paycheck.
Above the issue itself, Labuda’s caustic remarks on payday-lending are but another example of the candidate weakening her own re-election campaign by making mistakes no candidate in their right mind would make. If these recent remarks aren’t enough to give Houck an edge in the Democratic primary, they’ll likely fall by the wayside during the general election – Republicans, after all, tend to agree with Labuda on payday lending. But if Labuda can’t even temper her words in the one area where she has to tread lightly during her primary campaign, who’s to say she won’t make an errant remark that will really hurt her during the general election?
Or perhaps Labuda somehow snagged a page out of the Ken Buck playbook. High heels, alcoholics – it’s all the same when voters see it on a mail piece.
Fact #1: Governor Hickenlooper signs a bill to give a raise to state legislators. Fact #2: State legislators steal contracted, earned, fully-vested, and accrued retirement benefits from elderly in our state (SB 10-001, COLA theft bill.) Our values are warped. Recall that Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) retirees are suing the state and […]
With Brian Carroll‘s second and presumably final exit from the Democratic race in HD-28, November’s ballot is more or less set: political staffer Brittany Pettersen will be facing off against former Lakewood City Council candidate Amy Attwood.
On paper, the district leans toward Pettersen as it contains about 2,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans. Not to mention the fact that former Colorado State Treasurer Cary Kennedy won the district by over 7% in her 2010 campaign.
Still, Attwood’s a known quantity in the area as a result of her failed bid for a Ward 4 council seat – a campaign which many residents, given the benefit of hindsight, probably wish she would’ve won. Pettersen’s no political newcomer, but there’s a stark difference between knocking on doors for somebody else and soliciting votes for your own campaign. Her extensive network of Denver politicos might also be less useful than the list Attwood’s built from working as Ken Summers‘ legislative aide.
We’ll be updating the Jeffco Line soon, but in the meantime, we want to know you think will win, not the candidate you hope to see as the next representative from HD-28.
While this year’s reapportionment process may have given Democrats a fighting chance in many districts that had previously been written off, the nature of line-drawing has also made some previously left-leaning seats that much harder to defend.
Take, for example, HD-3 Representative Daniel Kagan. While Kagan handily won in 2010 with 57% of the vote, reapportionment swapped many of his most familiar Denver doors with a large chunk of Arapahoe County, replete with large pockets of Republican voters. In fact, what was previously an easy win for Kagan has been transformed into one of the state’s most competitive house districts – Dems maintain a razor-slim lead in registration with fewer than 500 votes.
To keep his seat, then, Kagan’s going to have to appeal to the 13,000 odd unaffiliated voters in the area, no small task for one of the legislature’s most out-spoken progressives.
With just one-seat keeping Mark Ferrandino out of the speaker’s chair, Republicans view Kagan’s seat as a critical pick-up to balance out losses where reapportionment was less less than favorable. They’re fielding businessmen Brian Watson who’s framing his campaign as a solution to “politics as usual.” While it’s a rather hackneyed talking point, it may nonetheless resonate with Greenwood Village conservatives who can’t identify with Kagan’s reputation as a liberal lion.
We want to know: Who do you think will win the seat in November? As always, we want to know what you think will happen, not your preference. If you had to bet the deed to your house, who would you pick to win between Republican Brian Watson and Democrat Dan Kagan?
A poll follows.
Since neither Rick Enstrom nor Amy Attwood had primary challengers in their races for HD-23 and HD-28, respectively, their nominations at yesterday’s county assembly were nothing more than a formality.
We don’t blame either for sending out press releases championing their respective victories, however. Symbolically, their nominations at the assembly are important in signaling the next phase of the campaign in which each will make their case for election.
Still, reading through the statements released by both Enstrom’s and Attwood’s campaigns, you’ve got to wonder just how sincere either candidate really feels — their statements are almost identical.
Let’s start with Attwood:
Amy Attwood Earns Spot on Ballot as Candidate for House District 28: Jeffco GOP Assembly Demonstrates Strong Support for Attwood Candidacy
Lakewood, CO- Jefferson County small business woman Amy Attwood, R-Lakewood, this Saturday, earned the nomination to be the GOP candidate for State House District 28 in this November’s election.
Attwood says she is humbled by the strong show of support and looks forward to officially kicking off her campaign for House District 28.
“I am running for the State House to provide a strong voice for Jefferson County families and small business owners,” Attwood said. “Working in small business, the community and caring for my own family has provided me with the experience and background that I believe will serve House District 28 well in the state legislator.”
After years of experience working for her family construction business, Amy knows firsthand the impact government has on job creation and preservation. Her experience has instilled her with the values of small business ownership, commitment to employees and their families as well as customers and the community.
“Balancing budgets and keeping records for a small business has taught me a lot about what government does right and where government gets in the way,” Attwood said. “That is the perspective that I will to bring to the state House. I believe this perspective will best serve Jeffco families and small business owners as we turn the corner of this recession.”
Amy has deep roots in Jefferson County and Colorado. She is a native of Lakewood, a graduate of Columbine High School and the University of Northern Colorado and has served on the Jefferson County Planning Commission.
“I know and love this community and am honored to have the opportunity to earn the votes of my friends and neighbors in Lakewood,” Attwood said. “I look forward to continuing my commitment to our community over the course of this campaign as I speak with voters across the district to ensure that their voices are a heard.”
Amy is married to Gavin, and together they have two sons, Max, 9 and Zak, 7.
Now, for Enstrom:
Rick Enstrom Receives Unanimous Support as Candidate for House District 23: Jeffco GOP Assembly rallies around Enstrom Candidacy
Lakewood, CO-Jefferson County businessman and Lakewood resident Rick Enstrom, on Saturday, earned the nomination to be the Republican candidate for State House District 23 in this November’s election.
Enstrom said he had long looked forward to the official beginning of his campaign as the party’s nominee, and was touched by the outpouring of support he received at the Assembly.
“After a lifetime of living in Colorado – working to create jobs, raising a family and giving back to my community, I am excited to take this next step.” Enstrom said. “Coloradans deserve a leader who will actively listen to the needs of the community and work to provide people the freedom and opportunity to pursue their goals.”
Years of working for the family business, Enstrom Candies, has equipped Rick with the skills and experience needed to make a meaningful difference in state government. His years of service as a volunteer firefighter, EMT and member of the Highland Rescue Team have instilled in him a passion and a drive for giving back to his community.
“As our state and our country confront the realities presented by the economic slowdown and the dramatic job losses of recent years, I intend to work for increased economic opportunity and growth of good careers that JeffCo families need in order to provide a bright future for their children,” Enstrom said.
Rick has strong ties to Jefferson County. A Colorado native, Rick is the father to two married sons and has three grandchildren who all live nearby in Lakewood. He is a graduate of Mesa College. He has served on the Colorado Wildlife Commission and the board of Great Outdoors Colorado. His passion for the outdoors earned him “Conservationist of the Year” awards from both Colorado Ducks Unlimited and Southeast Prowers NRCS.
“I’m looking forward to beginning my campaign in earnest.” Enstrom said. “Coloradans deserve a representative who will listen to their needs and that is what I intend to do over the coming months as I walk door to door in my district seeking the support of my longtime friends and neighbors.”
Rick has been married to his greatest supporter, Linda, for 36 years.
There’s nothing wrong with either of these statements. In fact, as far as press releases go, they’ve covered everything they need to cover: each candidate’s career, ties to the area, and reasons for campaigning – perfect fodder for local news.
The problem is, when read side-by-side, these releases make you wonder if they weren’t, in fact, written by the same person. They probably were, of course, or were drafted in deference to the same guidelines from above. If you’re campaigning for a local office, however, you should at least attempt to mask the fact you’re running for reasons given to you by your political party.
That’s a difficult task when all members of your political party make the same sort of statements.
Attwood and Enstrom both “earned the nomination to be the GOP candidate…in this November’s election.”
Attwood’s “years of experience working for her family construction business” sounds a lot like Enstrom’s “years of working for the family business, Enstrom’s candies.”
Enstrom’s “strong ties to Jefferson County” are also pretty similar to Attwood’s “deep roots in Jefferson County.”
Oh, don’t forget that both candidates are “looking forward” to the campaign. That’s important. Don’t overlook the last sentence in the boilerplate, either, where Enstrom talks about his wife Linda and Attwood talks about her husband Gavin.
In short, because each of these candidate’s statements are designed to showcase their deeply personal reasoning and unique qualifications for public office, it looks really bad when those same statements are nothing more than generic buzzwords adapted for each race.
Or at the very least, it’s going to make the person reading your press releases – presumably the very point of issuing a statement – either very suspicious or, more likely, very bored. Neither of those reactions lend themselves to favorable newspaper ink.
(Creatively done – we got a kick out of it. – promoted by Colorado Pols) *UPDATED*Now with more retrospective from our darkest days! the Winter of 2010! It may be that I don’t quite recall all this correctly. It comes from the fuzzy times. Back before. But you know, 4 years, 8 months, 2 […]
One of the benefits of running for political office after a career working as a political staffer is that many of your former bosses will likely lend their name to your campaign. Whether they’ll raise money for you or share fundraising lists is a different question entirely, but familiar names on letterhead certainly give the impression of community support.
In HD-28, Democratic candidate Brittany Pettersen seems to be taking full advantage of that perk of political work.
From her website:
I am humbly honored to have the support and endorsement of so many incredibly talented and passionate leaders in Colorado!
State Representative Max Tyler
State Representative Crisanta Duran
State Representative Daniel Pabon
State Representative Jonathan Singer
State Representative Daniel Kagan
Former State Representative Gwyn Green
Former State Representative Joel Judd
Former State Senator Chris Romer
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb
JeffCo School Board First Vice President Paula Noonan
JeffCo School Board Secretary Jill Fellman
Colorado State Board of Education Member Jane Goff
Former Jefferson County Chair Ann Knollman
Former HD 22 Chair Mary Wylie
HD 22 State Representative Candidate Mary Parker
HD 29 State Representative Candidate Tracy Kraft-Tharp
Former President of The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver James Mejia
Not every name on that list is going to resonate in the south Jeffco district. We don’t think very many HD-28 voters will be swayed by the names of failed Denver mayoral candidates James Mejia or Chris Romer, for example, and including those names might actually might remind voters of the annoying television adds that aired last year for a race they couldn’t even vote in.
Yet other names on this list, including Max Tyler, Paula Noonan, and Jill Fellman, show that Pettersen is racking up area support among Jeffco notables. That’ll be important in the general election, of course, although nobody really expected somebody like Paula Noonan to endorse Republican Amy Attwood.
Instead, these endorsements matter most because Pettersen’s primary opponent Brian Carroll isn’t getting them. The endorsements section on his website is notably empty. That’s not to say Carroll isn’t getting any movers-and-shakers behind his campaign – he counts on support from Denver LGBT politicos like Mark Thrun, for example – but it shows that many Jeffco leaders are hesitant to endorse his run because of the primary challenge Carroll mounted against Andy Kerr before reapportionment was finalized last year.
In that vein, we’re a little surprised Kerr hasn’t endorsed Pettersen – Carroll’s former opponent should be the most wary of the veteran’s campaign for office. Kerr, however, will have to rely on the support of whoever wins the HD-28 primary in his own bid for the highly competitive SD-22, so we suspect he’s trying to avoid burning any bridges. Brian Carroll should take note.
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Conservative talk-radio hosts are obviously a big part of the reason the Republican Party has a problem with women voters. But they’re also a serious drag on the GOP’s appeal to Hispanics. “I’m still looking for that immigrant who came to America who had a burning desire for free […]
As the Durango Herald’s Joe Hanel reported yesterday: An improving economy will bring about $150 million more to the state budget next year, about a 2 percent improvement over the previous projection from December… While the improving economy is good news for Coloradans as a whole, the slight increase in cash flow threatens to touch […]
Republicans have declared a War On Women, attempting to take away their right to make their own health care decisions, including the use of contraception for family planning and medical reasons. They’ve also introduced hundreds of bills into state legislatures across the country which attempt to introduce “personhood clauses”, which encroach upon women’s reproductive rights. […]
As the New York Times reported in February: Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led […]
From Sunday’s New York Times: If only the president had the power to give us $2.50-a-gallon gasoline, as Newt Gingrich promised to do if he got to the White House. It is ridiculous to think that a president can. One can sympathize with consumers feeling the pain of higher gas prices. But the fundamental truth […]
As the Pueblo Chieftain’s Peter Roper reports: Colorado Sen. Mark Udall and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden have released a joint letter stating that Americans would be “stunned” to learn how the FBI and the Justice Department are using sections of the Patriot Act to broadly gather intelligence based on secret legal opinions. Thursday’s letter was […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Even though I’m a bit late getting to this, and it’s not exactly a new topic, I’m gonna write a quick blog post about Rep. Scott Tipton’s statement, paraphrased in the Pueblo Chieftain last month, that Obamacare’s “target of shrinking future Medicare costs by $500 billion over a decade […]
With a H/T to Tim Hoover of the Denver paper, here is the audio of Rep. Jim Kerr (R) getting testy with a state employee yesterday–courtesy Rocky Mountain Community Radio: REP. JIM KERR: I don’t have the authority to take PERA away from you. KIMBERLY BODIN: I, I know that you don’t. I know, I […]
It is with no small sense of amazement that we turn to widely-reputed Colorado “political expert” Floyd Ciruli, writing this morning at the blog for his consultant firm Ciruli and Associates: The Colorado Republican Party, which was competitive at state-level politics and dominated local politics throughout the 1990s, was basically bought out of the game […]
(Too classy for prime time – promoted by Colorado Pols) Two days after Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute,” Colorado Springs talk-radio host Jimmy Lakey asked his listeners if they thought Fluke spent her “birth control” money on “cigarettes afterwards,” “booze,” and a “hotel room.” Lakey, who ran for Congress in […]
CNN: (CNN) — Rick Santorum will win Tuesday night’s Alabama GOP presidential primary, CNN projects — an upset given expectations driven by polling earlier in the week. Santorum also was leading in Tuesday’s Mississippi primary, where with 79% of the vote counted, he had 35%. Newt Gingrich was at 30%, Mitt Romney at 28% and […]
Senators propose higher g-fees at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay for Gulf cleanup In yet another example of dysfunctional behavior from Congress, a group of Senators want to extend higher Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee fees to pay for continued cleanup from the British Petroleum Gulf Coast oil spill. Congress has already […]
Despite Jeffco electoral gains in both houses of the General Assembly, representation at the county level is one nut Jefferson County Democrats have yet to crack.
Commissioner Kathy Hartman was the lone Democratic voice in elected government at the county level until her loss last cycle. In fact, Hartman was the first Democrat elected to the Board of Commissioners in 14 years. With Hartman’s 2010 loss to Republican Don Rosier, however, the Democrats lost their last connection to the Taj Mahal.
As things stand today, it’s unlikely the Democrats will be able to reverse that trend in 2012.
Commissioner Faye Griffin, elected in 2008, seems set to ascend to a second term. Griffin, of course, is the only sitting commissioner to have signed off on the now-infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” linking the Southwest Plaza and Bowles Crossing shopping centers. That’s a definite weakness which the right challenger could use in mail pieces to link Griffin with both wasteful spending and government corruption, two talking points that even conservatives in South Jeffco could get behind. Even with that veritable Achilles heel, however, the Jeffco Dems have yet to draft a candidate for the District 1 seat.
That’s no surprise. Longtime State Senator Sue Windels lost to Griffin in 2008, taking only 42% of the vote. If Windels, who from a decade of service in state government was popular in north Jeffco, couldn’t defeat Griffin for an open seat, it’s unlikely that there’s a candidate out there who could beat the former treasurer in a re-election fight.
Instead, it seems, the county Democrats have focused their efforts on District 2 Commissioner John Odom. Odom, a failed candidate for the State Senate, was appointed to fill the remainder of Kevin McCasky’s term after the latter took a now controversial post at the Jefferson Economic Council. Odom’s previous electoral difficulties and lack of resounding name ID throughout the candidate led attorney Casey Tighe to jump into the race.
Tighe is by no means a bad candidate. He’s served in senior positions at the Colorado Department of Transportation for a quarter-century and also chaired the Jefferson County Audit Committee. In short, Tighe’s got a great resume to make the case that he’s qualified to root corruption out of county government, once and for all.
Absent on Tighe’s CV, however, is previous elected service. Without it, the attorney is going to struggle to make voters remember his name. He’ll also have problems convincing donors to give him the amounts of money he’s going to need to take on an incumbent Republican in right-leaning Jefferson County. Tighe would be an incredible candidate for a competitive State House or State Senate seat – if he shows that he can put together the semblance of an effective campaign, he’ll set the stage for a future run. For county commissioner, we just don’t see him pulling off a surprise win against Odom.
As for the district attorney’s race? We doubt Republican Pete Weir will face any serious opposition. The former district judge served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Safety in the Ritter administration, a bipartisan resume bullet that even Democrats can get behind. He’s a good fit for the post, and barring any major campaign trail revelations, should cruise to the DA’s office. If anything, district attorney is too small for Weir: we could see him pivoting from the 1st Judicial District onto the short list for attorney general when John Suthers is termed out in 2014.
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