Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

2004 Presidential Election
President Bush was in Denver for a 4 hour campaign swing on Monday. He netted a million bucks or so toward his re-election bid according the the Denver Post [August 12, 2003, "Bush bags $1 million in Denver"]. The Post [August 12, 2003, "Crowds prove love-hate nature of presidential politics"] has an article about the crowd outside the event which was a mixed bag but most were protesting the President's policies. Here's another article from the Post [August 12, 2003, "Some of state's best greet president at DIA"] with some details about some of his supporters. Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [August 12, 2003, "Bush to Colorado: I need you"]. The Rocky has more stories, here [August 12, 2003, "Bush event raises $1 million", here [August 12, 2003, "Roller coaster ride to a hero's reward"], here [August 12, 2003, "Of bear suits, statues and mom's love"], and here [August 12, 2003, "Bush touts forest plan"].
6:02:52 AM

Denver Charter Changes for the November 2003 Election
The Rocky Mountain News [August 12, 2003, "Mayor's concession won't kill reform"] is running an editorial in support of Mayor Hickenlooper's compromise on basing City worker's raises on a salary survey. From the opinion piece, "Hickenlooper's compromise allows for a wage survey, but at the council's discretion. More important, it stipulates that both the mayor and council can accept or reject the resulting recommendations. That would give them the flexibility to retain staff by adjusting wage scales. We suspect Hickenlooper wanted to eliminate the salary survey altogether, since it wasn't in his original proposal. But if labor groups such as the Colorado Federation of Public Employees can accept such a compromise, then so can the other holdouts. This isn't about whittling away at the rights and privileges of city employees. Or about giving the mayor and council unlimited powers to abuse. But it is about providing the mayor and council with the management tools they need to intelligently run the city."
Fred Oliva, the current Undersheriff, was walking on thin ice last Friday at a meeting about Charter changes that would make his position appointed by the Mayor instead of by the Manager of Safety, according to the Rocky Mountain News [August 12, 2003, "Reprimand sought for undersheriff"]. At issue was his desire to keep speaking after he was told to stop and some other sarcastic remarks directed at Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie. MacKenzie is the chair of the Charter review committee. In her role, much of the criticism during the current hearings, has been directed at her personally. Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriquez is seeking a note in Oliva's personnel file, "that says that I objected to his treatment' of MacKenzie, 'It was unacceptable".
5:30:32 AM

November 2003 Ballot
Denver voters will be able to vote on peacefulness November 4th according to the Rocky Mountain News [August 12, 2003, "Peace' to get a chance"]. From the article, the measure intends to, "ensure public safety by increasing peacefulness." This should get many more voters to the polls. Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [August 12, 2003, "Council stressed over peace initiative"].
5:17:46 AM

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