God Bless Us All, Every One
Gavel. Was it good for you?
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More Thoughts on End of Session 2009
The economic ups and downs of the legislative session that was, as called by The Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP) and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute (COFPI). Click below for full press release. The Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP) and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute (COFPI) applauded the Colorado state legislature […]
Who Is Lying – Obama or Bennet?
(We’re not so naïve as to buy the premise, but a couple of very good points – promoted by Colorado Pols) In the aftermath of the U.S. Senate defeat of “cramdown” legislation (ie. the bill that would have allowed bankruptcy judges renegotiate the terms of mortages so as to prevent foreclosures), I’m still wondering why […]
The Peril of “Fresh Faces”
A thoughtful writeup on Colorado GOP Senate contenders from The Hill’s Aaron Blake: There is a good bit of early buzz about Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier and, to a lesser extent, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck. But even supporters say it remains to be seen how formidable either will be – particularly on […]
The winners and losers of the 2009 Colorado legislative session (illustrated)
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) As the 2009 Colorado legislative session draws to a close this week, the state’s largest progressive advocacy organization, ProgressNow Colorado, released their annual list of winners and losers: The Winners (starting with #1) The #1 Biggest Winner for 2009. Colorado’s Uninsured—Despite a budget crisis that might have doomed progress on […]
Finish line is sight, but legislature’s already chalked up some big gains
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) We’re jumping the gun a bit, but as the General Assembly heads into the final days of the 2009 session, we wanted to weigh in with an appraisal. FOR STARTERS, THE STATE BUDGET The current downturn placed considerable stress on Colorado’s economy, resulting in a plunge in state revenues, […]
Reconstructing “Community”: A vital political innovation
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) This is the first installment of what I’ll call my virtual chautauqua series, in which I’ll introduce what I hope are novel and thought-provoking ideas concerning political and social innovations that might serve our collective welfare, and then leave it to others to discuss them (or not) as they […]
My Coffee with Angelique
I asked all of the Boulder City Council members if I could interview them and Angelique Espinoza was gracious enough to accept (1½ others have also accepted). Angelique is my favorite council member, not because I agree with her (I disagree with her on a number of things) but because she is both very nice […]
Another newspaper being shut down in Colorado
(More import here than meets the eye – promoted by Colorado Pols) This time, it’s the Silver & Gold Record, the faculty/staff newspaper of CU. With this, I’m outing myself. Probably no secret anyway. We were notified this morning that the paper will cease publication with its May 14 edition, allegedly for budget reasons. The […]
Uh, About that 527 Committee…
According to the Republican website Complete Colorado, GOP Gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis made a big boo-boo. While Complete Colorado may look like it was designed by your 8-year-old niece, and this is clearly an orchestrated attack on McInnis, they do appear to have the goods on a major mistake by the Republican contender: Moments into […]
Marostica Defends Arveschoug-Bird Repeal
In a guest column in today’s Greeley Tribune, maverick GOP Rep. Don Marostica writes: There’s an old saying, “If it jams, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyways.” That’s a pretty good summation of where we’re at with Colorado’s budget system. Over the last two decades or so, we jammed up the state’s […]
Markey, Polis Speak Out For Federal Hate Crimes Legislation
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) (Cross-posted from Michael Ditto’s blog at ProgressNow Colorado) Editor’s note: the roll-call vote shows that GOP Rep. Mike Coffman did in fact vote for the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We regret the error and thank Rep. Coffman for his support. By a vote of 249 to 175, the House […]
Mike May Takes Gullible Dems To School
It’s been a little while since we last discussed Senate Bill 228, the much-debated repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird general fund limit statutorily enacted in 1991 in a misguided (and ultimately futile) attempt to forestall passage of the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. After some instructive spectacle from unserious Senate Republicans, not to mention an encouraging related […]
How’s That CSU Chancellor Search Coming?
The Colorado Independent reported late last week: Rocked by the former president’s high stakes budget shifting, Colorado State University is gambling once again that upping administration costs will bolster the university in the future. The controversial search for the land grant university’s first system chancellor comes amid faculty and staff layoffs, a looming multi-million budget […]
BREAKING: Gwyn Green Retiring, Will Resign
UPDATE: Green’s resignation email to constituents after the jump Democrats are dropping like flies… Democrat Gwyn Green (HD-23) has resigned her seat in the state house effective June 1. Green had one more term left to run for, but had been rumored to be interested in stepping aside for a long time because of her […]
Energy News: local hack contradicts boss, no story at 10
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Today a former Rocky reporter, now working for the Denver Post, repeated without challenge the propaganda of EnCana’s Colorado spokesperson Doug Hock. EnCana Oil & Gas (USA) trimmed its investment in Colorado from $700 million in 2008 to $400 million this year, partly because of new drilling rules, spokesman […]
My Coffee with Betsy
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) So after a killer week in Washington D.C. Betsy Markey flies home to… Meeting me on the way home (and she had another meeting after me). Anyone who thinks our Reps have an easy job has no idea what their days are like. Anyways, it was very very nice […]
My sit-down with Jane
I got the chance to interview Boulder City Manager Jane Bratigaum this morning. She was very gracious and professional. So what do we have with Jane? I think we have a very good match here – a conservative manager for a conservative city. Now before everyone explodes, I use the term conservative in the original […]
Analysis of congressional bonuses skipped Musgrave, Tancredo
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) Face the State posted an interesting article this week that looked bonuses paid in 2008 to staffers for the state’s House delegation. FTS reported that Ed Perlmutter was the top bonus payer and quoted retired Rep. Tom Tancredo as saying, “There may be some offices that have to reward […]
The Last Bastion Of “No”
As the Pueblo Chieftain reports: Though House Republicans had no trouble Wednesday accepting cuts and cash fund transfers that budget writers came up with to balance next year’s $17.9 billion spending plan, their counterparts in the Senate just plain didn’t like them. GOP senators said the Joint Budget Committee that ultimately approved about $300 million […]
InDenverTimes is no more
(Too bad, really – promoted by Colorado Pols) My guess is they didn’t get much in the way of subscriptions. From the Denver Post Financial backers of InDenver Times and many of its unpaid employees – former staff members of the Rocky Mountain News – are parting ways after a meeting Wednesday night. The employees […]
Jeffco still violating Food Stamp processing regulations?
How is Jeffco doing at getting staff trained up for timely processing of Food Stamp applications? Has anything changed since the Courier published the news that Jeffco was the worst county in the state when it came to timely processing of applications? Someone needs to convince me that no news is good news. Shouldn’t the county let us all know the progress being made? Should families in need be allowed to go hungry? Should any child go to bed undernourished? Hasn’t it been long enough since the 2006 audit report? http://www.jeffco.us/jeffco/ac…
Farewell Pols and Friends
I am sad to say that after this diary (and any discussion contained herewith), I will no longer be posting or participating with Coloradopols. As such, I wanted to take the opportunity to that Pols for allowing me to share their “soapbox”, and providing what was a great opportunity to exchange ideas, have heated […]
Special Session on Budget? Maybe Not
From The Denver Post: There’s been lots of speculation about whether the legislature will be coming back into session after the June 20 economic forecast, which could show that state revenues have cratered further and the budget has to be re-balanced. Some folks at the Capitol have guessed a special session would come the week […]
Flerlage announces second major endorsement
Passing along some good news in cd 6. Flerlage picks up his second union endorsement. The Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association announced its endorsement of John Flerlage for Congress. They are joining the Air Line Pilots Association Council 66 in its support of the Littleton Democrat.