Coyote Gulch

Friday, March 18, 2005

2008 Presidential Election
Political Wire: "With 'rampant speculation' on whether Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) 'will run for president in 2008, his Senate campaign made a few notable recent moves,' the Wisconsin State Journal reports. 'It registered the domain name for the Web site www.russfeingold08.com as well as the .org and .net versions. And, no, he's not facing re-election to the Senate that year.'"
9:26:02 PM

2004 Presidential Transition
Blogs for Bush: "William Myers has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, and goes before the entire Senate today. Myers had previously been blocked by Senate Democrats. This could lead to 'a showdown over filibusters that could shut the Senate down.'"
9:23:21 PM

Weblogs
Councilwoman Marcia Johnson has started a weblog, Marcia's Musings. She's the first elected official in Denver to do so. RSS feed here. I think this is very cool. Here's her link from DenverGov.
Welcome to the Blogosphere.
Coyote Gulch likes to point out cool uses of weblogs. Today DemNotes published a job announcement via their weblog. The state Democratic party is looking for an Executive Director. It's pretty clear that they're looking for someone with some tech sense.
Oliver Willis: "Who let the blogs out?"
9:18:06 PM

Social Security
TalkLeft: "Monday will be Bush and Beauprez day in Colorado when the President brings his traveling social security road show to Denver."
6:07:49 PM

Broadcast Flag
Jenny, over at the Shifted Librarian, is asking members of the American Library Association to chip in with ideas around the Broadcast Flag. You know that you should listen to her, after all, she's a librarian.
6:02:35 PM

Colorado Water
Aurora may be facing watering restrictions this summer, according to the Denver Post [March 18, 2005, "Dry water outlook in Aurora"]. Memo to Denver Water and all Front Range water districts. Denver is in a desert, watering restrictions should be a way of life here.
6:11:46 AM

Denver May 2005 Election
Here's an article in support of the new Justice Center, written by Mayor Hickenlooper, from the Cherry Creek News. He writes, "For more than a decade, Denver's courtrooms and jail facilities have been overcrowded, unsafe and inefficient. The downtown City Jail has an average overcapacity of 130% with peak overcapacity reaching 172%; the County Jail at Smith Road averages 124% overcapacity with peak overcapacity at 132%, problems that date back to the early 90s. This chronic overcrowding creates inhumane and unsafe conditions that pose risks for our sheriff's deputies, the general public, and the inmates..."
6:02:27 AM

Denver November 2005 Election
Denver voters will have a chance to vote on the State's budget fix this November, according to the Rocky Mountain News [March 18, 2005, "Budget fix faces tough voter test"]. From the article, "A bipartisan posse of lawmakers announced a budget deal at the state Capitol Thursday morning and said the state's colleges, health care and economy hang on whether voters accept it."
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff weighs in on the budget fix [March 18, 2005, "Budget deal the right fix"]. They write, "Voters would actually face two issues on the ballot in November if the compromise is accepted by the legislature. The main measure would authorize the de-Brucing; the second would authorize the issuance of the $1.7 billion in bonds. By the way, the bonds could not be issued unless approved by voters along with the de-Brucing proposal. But if the bonds are rejected, the de-Brucing could proceed alone if it's approved."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [March 18, 2005, "Owens, Democrats urge approval of budget deal"], From the article, "Under the plan, the state would keep all the revenue collected for five years, which comes to about $3.1 billion more than it's allowed to keep under current TABOR limits. In year six, the state will keep $100 million more than TABOR allows to help repay a $1.7 billion bond. That bond would include money for the Police and Fire Pension Fund, K-12 school construction and transportation. The deal leaves room for other items to be added if both Owens and legislative leaders agree. Also in year six, a temporary tax cut would kick in if there were sufficient TABOR refunds to taxpayers. If TABOR refunds were to dry up, so would the tax cut."
Here's the reaction from the Denver Post editorial staff [March 18, 2005, "Fiscal compromise is a fair plan for Colorado"].
Update: American Kestrel: "State legislators from Boulder County said Thursday that a budget compromise they've worked out with Republican Gov. Bill Owens represents a major step toward Colorado's future fiscal solvency."
5:48:42 AM

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