(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%
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) During an interview on KLZ’s Grassroots Radio Colorado yesterday, Colorado State Treasurer Walker Stapleton came out in support of a lawsuit alleging that the 2009 FASTER law, which raised Colorado vehicle registration fees to pay for road and bridge upgrades, is unconstitutional. Here’s the key exchange on the radio […]
(Yes, ignore the fastest-growing viewer demographic… I’m sure that’ll slow the pace at which new media is stealing your audience, TV networks! – promoted by ProgressiveCowgirl) By Michael Lund, Bigmedia.org In this election year where Colorado factors heavily as a swing state with a large and growing population of Hispanic swing voters, we’ve been looking […]
(“…focusing on the birther question. God bless people that do that. I understand their passion.” Way to walk it back, Mike. – promoted by Middle of the Road) POLS UPDATE: Another clip from yesterday’s interview of Mike Coffman on the Caplis and Silverman Show–another wide-open shot to denounce “birthers” that Coffman doesn’t take. Can’t see […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) When KBNO radio host Fernando Sergio launched his weekday Spanish-language talk show in 2004, you’d have been completely crazy to predict that the President of the United States would call in for a chat about seven years later. But now, who’s surprised? Well, I was, but I shouldn’t have […]
(Facts is tricky – promoted by Colorado Pols) Please take a look at the paragraph below, from Dean Singleton’s introduction to a speech by President Barack Obama, and tell me if “liberal media bias” leaps out at you. “He inherited the headwinds of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression,” said Singleton, who’s a […]
An interesting FOX31 story details a bullying campaign targeting BJ Nikkel before and after her courageous vote to move Senate Bill 2 forward. After she cast her vote in favor of civil unions two weeks ago, Nikkel was shouted down by religious protestors at her church in Loveland the following Sunday; and the next week, […]
It’s been mentioned a few times in the course of the long GOP presidential primary season, but we wanted to make sure the local and regional origins of a particular line frequently employed by Mitt Romney on immigration policy–that he would not forcibly deport illegal immigrants, but create harsh conditions that would lead to them […]
The group fighting the Colorado Legislature’s theft of contracted pension benefits (saveperacola.com) posted a Colorado Court of Appeals schedule on their website today (as follows): “We have received notice of the following scheduled dates for the lawsuit: 4/23/12 – Appellees to Supplement Record 5/29/12 – Appellee’s Answering Brief 6/12/12 – Appellant’s Reply Brief PERA and […]
In what probably won’t be a trend, but should be, a southern Colorado radio station plans to replace an extreme right-wing talk show with a program offering a balance of progressive and conservative views, according to the station manager. KENN talk-show host Sean Jeremy Osborn left his show, the Painful Truth, to write a book, […]
A very interesting post today over at the Junction Daily Blog, where our friend Ralphie reprints an email from Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler to an unnamed Mesa County Republican from the end of March. The subject? Senate Bill 109, the bill to solve problems uncovered last year with mail ballots and so-called “inactive-failed […]
Next week, SOS Scott Gessler will put in force rules he created that will vastly change how money is accounted for in state politics. That may be why newbie State Senate candidate, David Paladino, running in a district encompassing Centennial, has filed suit with Pro-Choice Colorado, the CO AFL-CIO and others to stop this. Paladino […]
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Charles Ashby of the Sentinel responds today with a blog update citing votes which at least partly back up his original contention that Rep. Scott Tipton voted against funding for the senior homestead exemption. A Democratic-sponsored amendment to fund half the exemption in 2010 was voted down by Tipton in addition to his […]
Our friends at the Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog report: In…12 states – Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin – included in the Gallup/USA Today survey, Obama leads Romney 51 percent to 42 percent. While that lead is eye-opening in its own right – most […]
While Denver Mayor Michael Hancock might be struggling to brand his economic initiatives without using trite corporate parlance, nobody can fault him for his efforts to get citizens involved in the Denver budget.
As part of those efforts, Hancock will be hosting a town hall meeting tomorrow morning. From Delivering Denver’s Future:
DELIVERING DENVER’S FUTURE
Join Mayor Hancock to provide your feedback on creating a sustainable Denver
Help shape the future of our world-class city!
Mayor Michael B. Hancock is exploring ways to help Denver eliminate the persistent budget gap. He needs your input!
The Mayor is launching a public engagement process to hear about Denver residents’ priorities on how the City funds our essential services.You will weigh in on important questions regarding our great City’s future. Come share YOUR cost-saving and revenue generating ideas with the Mayor.
Join us! Together we can deliver a world-class city where everyone matters.
COMMUNITY TOWN HALLS
Saturday, March 31
9:00 – 10:30 AM
Cook Park Recreation Center
7100 Cherry Creek Drive, SouthUnable to attend? Submit your input to Mayor Hancock through the interactive website at DeliveringDenversFuture.org or email us at DDF@DenverGov.org
Hancock’s been very creative in his promotion of citizen involvement in the budgeting process. That said, we can’t help but wonder: how exactly do you “deliver a future?” We were under the impression that the future is one of those things that is going to come with or without delivery. Is there a way to deliver the future faster? What if you promise the future-delivery boy a really, really good tip? Obviously Hancock wants to deliver a certain kind of very prosperous future for Denver, but the “shape Denver” talking point seems more appropriate for that end goal.
Semantic quibbling aside, it seems that Hancock learned at least one lesson from former opponent Chris Romer: Denver aspires to be a “world-class city.” Romer relied on that talking point throughout his campaign and now, it seems, Hancock’s using the same phrasing from within the mayor’s office.
Please, help us understand this release today from Colorado House Republicans: House panel stops another job-killing mandate Republicans on House Local Government Committee stopped a Democrat sponsored bill that would have killed jobs and further harmed Colorado’s ailing economy. Senate Bill 003, sponsored by state Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, would have unnecessarily limited an […]
A question of preschool or tests Thursday, HB1091 The Preschool Bill, was debated in the Colorado State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee. Here are the facts: HB1091 “The Preschool Bill” takes the public money that exceeds the federal testing mandates of No Child Left Behind and invests it in the Colorado Preschool Program. For the […]
In 2008, incumbent Rep. Doug Lamborn won a tight three-way Republican primary, basically assuring him of re-election in ultra-safe CD-5. Lamborn’s biggest threat was a 2006 primary election rematch between himself and his toughest 2006 competitor, Jeff Crank. Crank’s rematch bid was undone by the entry into the race of retired Gen. Bentley Rayburn, who […]
One of the benefits (or drawbacks, depending on your perspective) of the Denver City Council’s in-house management of redistricting is the limited probability that a sitting council member will draw him or herself out of a seat. It only stands to reason — with direct oversight of the redistricting process, each of the 11 district-elected councilors can ensure that their current home remains in their current district, thereby avoiding any messy elections pitting two incumbents against each other.
The city council will host its first public meeting on redistricting later this week. The first topic of discussion at that meeting, we suspect, will be the status of the three draft maps already drawn up by the Redistricting Committee.
If the state-level reapportionment process is any indicator, it’s highly likely that each of those three draft maps will evolve into any number of wild permutations. With the proposals as they stand now, however, there isn’t even the remote possibility that two current council members may end up in the same district.
Redistricting won’t have any impact on either Robin Kniech or Debbie Ortega – both were elected at-large in 2011 and are eligible to continue serving no matter where they live in Denver.
Council Members Jeanne Fatz, Peggy Lehmann, Charlie Brown, Judy Montero, and Jeanne Robb were each elected to their third terms in 2011. They’ll be ineligible to run again in 2015 because of term limits.
That means that the only sitting council members whose political futures could theoretically be affected by redistricting are Susan Shepherd in District 1, Paul Lopez in District 3, Mary Beth Susman in District 5, Chris Nevitt in District 7, Albus Brooks in District 8, and Chris Herndon in District 11.
Shepherd’s residence will stay in District 1 in each of the current maps, so barring any major changes in future proposals, she can continue serving without issue. The same is true for Paul Lopez in District 3, as the southwest Denver district didn’t experience any major population shift since the last Census. Neither do Susman or Nevitt have any cause to worry based off the current proposals – their respective homes will stay put in their respective districts.
That leaves Albus Brooks and Chris Herndon. Brooks will remain squarely within District 8 in two of the current proposals, but in the Redistricting Committee’s “Map B”, he’ll be moving to District 9. Still, Brooks has no reason to fret given that incumbent District 9 Council Member Jeanne Robb won’t be able to run again in 2015; Brooks will have the new district all to himself.
Things get a little complex when you turn to Chris Herndon because his District 11 has nearly doubled in population in the past ten years. Under the council’s first proposal, Herndon will stay in District 11, but the district itself will split in half and a “new” district will be created and labeled District 10 – the current District 10 will be incorporated into Districts 9 and 5. No current council member resides within that new district, so under “Map A,” the city council will be getting a brand new member. In “Map B,” Herndon will be moved to District 8, but under that proposal, current District 8 Council Member Albus Brooks will be moved into District 9, so there’s no conflict. In that map, the new northeast Denver district will be deemed District 11. In the third proposal, Herndon stays in District 11 and the new, empty district gets the District 9 moniker. The current District 9 will be divvied up into Districts 1, 3, 7, and 8.
At first glance, the plans to redistrict the divisions of the Denver City Council seem incredibly complex. Yet because so many sitting council members won’t be able to run again in 2015, all potential conflicts pitting one incumbent against another are more or less resolved.
Still, you’ve got to wonder: if the current homes of current council members weren’t even casually considered as part of the redistricting process, what would the maps, especially at this initial stage, look like?
Can’t see the audio player? Click here. This is an excerpt from the testimony of Bob Enyart, spokesman for Colorado Right To Life, in favor of House Bill 12-1130 yesterday. We discussed earlier this month the defeat of Senate Bill 125, a measure “concerning crimes against an unborn child,” and HB-1130 is the equivalent introduced […]
The Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone reports today on the nasty debate in the Senate over Senate Bill 3, legislation to forbid the use of credit reports to screen many job applicants: “I am here to speak for the people of Colorado who are unemployed right now and due to no fault of their own are […]
( – promoted by Colorado Pols) There’s a good chance someone is going to say something newsworthy when they preface it with, “some folks in my office cringed when I said this, but I’m going to say it again.” That’s what Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler told the a GOP group, as reported by […]
Last year at this time, Colorado’s then-newly elected Secretary of State Scott Gessler was just beginning to recover from a major scandal that hobbled his first weeks in office. Gessler had announced in mid-January of 2011 his intention to continue working for his old elections-specialty law firm, the Hackstaff Law Group (formerly Hackstaff Gessler). After […]
Former Jefferson County Commissioner Kevin McCasky has been dealing with quite the ethical headache lately. In March of last year, Colorado Ethics Watch filed a complaint with the state’s Independent Ethics Commission alleging that the commissioner used his elected position to lobby for extra funding for the Jefferson Economic Council (JEC) while at the same time applying for a job there.
The Independent Ethics Commission has since moved forward with their investigation of McCasky, and Colorado Ethics Watch went so far as naming the commissioner’s actions a “top ethical failure.”
Now, in a story in the Denver newspaper from last week, McCasky demonstrates the worst possible way to handle an ethics complaint.
McCasky’s ethical missteps are juxtaposed with those of Logan County Commissioner Jim Edwards, whose technology company was receiving a rather large share of county contracts. Unlike McCasky, Edwards requested an advisory opinion from the commission – he wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing. He wanted to exonerate himself.
McCasky, on the other hand, apparently thinks that the whole investigation is a little ridiculous. His counsel goes so far to say that there “isn’t a hint of quid pro quo.”
That’s got to raise some eyebrows.
Rather than deferring to the judgement of the Independent Ethics Commission, like Logan, McCasky’s defiant. To him, not only is there no ethical violation, but it’s ridiculous that anybody is even questioning his actions as commissioner.
The problem with McCasky’s defiance is how incredibly bad it looks to use your position as an elected official to increase funding to a place at which you’re also applying for a well-paid job. No matter how much McCasky says to the contrary, what he did looks exactly as bad as it sounds.
Perhaps McCasky didn’t lobby for the JEC funding increase in the hopes of landing a job there. The question then becomes why did he lobby for that increase? What was the real reason the JEC was the only organization to receive a funding increase? Why didn’t McCasky recuse himself from that funding vote despite the fact that he submitted his resume to the JEC a month prior?
Unless McCasky can come up with logical, reasonable, and believable answers to these and other questions, there’s no reason to think that there isn’t the “hint of a quid pro quo.”
The more that McCasky displays such strenuous defiance, the worse this whole thing is going to be for both his career and the Jefferson Economic Council if the Independent Ethics Commission ultimately decides that there was some wrongdoing.
McCasky’s hearing will continue on March 19. In the meantime, perhaps he should start looking for another job. On second thought, maybe not.
Pro-zygote, anti-woman bills are being presented all across the nation, in an effort to awaken the evangelical Republican base before the election of 2012. Most of these bills have been written by, or championed via Personhood USA. In Oklahoma, our not-so-distant neighbor, Senate Bill 1433 states a fetus “at every stage of development (has) all […]
One of the many things professional journalism needs to do to survive is fight back. For example, as I’ve discussed before, when politicians slam the “media” or “The Denver Post,” as having a liberal bias, reporters should ask them for the evidence, not act as if an insult has not been hurled at them. And […]
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