Coyote Gulch

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Pinnacle Club
Coyote Gulch was howling with the Yes on C and D kids tonight. He fully expected to be consoling the principals in the campaign owing to the low polling numbers for the referendum over the last week. But...

The party at the Pinnacle Club grew more rowdy by the minute as we sensed a victory. The Ol' Coyote was swept up in the emotion as the numbers came in and the political movers and shakers arrived to celebrate. For some of us the thrill winning an election is as good as it gets. Congratulations to the ground troops that won the election with phone calls, yard signs and knocking on doors - a grassroots effort that worked. The $7.5 million raised by Bruce Benson's troops helped a bit also.

Category: Denver November 2005 Election

11:36:53 PM

Election Night Party
The real reason that Coyote Gulch follows political campaigns.

In Denver:

Join the fun at tonight's Yes on C/D Victory Party. Details:

WHAT: Election Night Celebration

WHEN: Tonight, 1 November, 7:01pm (after the polls close)

WHERE: Pinnacle Club (formerly The Petroleum Club) 555 17th Street, Suite 3700. On 17th Street between Welton and Glenarm. The 37th floor of the Qwest Building.

Category: Denver November 2005 Election

1:24:54 PM

Alito for Supremes?

Here's an article from the Denver Post detailing the reaction to Judge Samuel Alito's nomination from Colorado's U.S. Senators [November 1, 2005, "Salazar miffed over lack of consultation; Allard lavishes kudos on judge"]. From the article, "Democrat Ken Salazar, a member of the Senate group that forged a compromise preserving the right to filibuster court appointees, said President Bush's choice was disappointing...Salazar's Republican colleague, Sen. Wayne Allard, said he was "favorably predisposed" to Alito but would not decide whether to endorse him until after meeting with the nominee. Still, Allard lavishly praised Alito, who was nominated after Harriet Miers withdrew her name last week."

Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [November 1, 2005, "Salazar disappointed woman candidate not chosen"].

The Denver Post editorial staff reacts to Judge Alito's nomination [November 1, 2005, "Bush court nominee has a classic resume"]. They write, "In Judge Samuel Alito, President Bush has nominated a jurist whose resume speaks in volume to his preparation for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. His judicial philosophy will be put to the test in the Senate - and senators will find quite a lot to test."

The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff weighs in on the Alito nomination [November 1, 2005, "Choice of Alito true to Bush pledge"]. They write, "Samuel Alito: Now that's more like it. With Alito's nomination to assume the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the nation can conduct the discussion of whether he should be confirmed on solid factual ground instead of over a swamp of guesses, inferences and third-party testimonials, as was the case with Harriet Miers."

Mike Littwin weighs in on the Alito nomination in his column in today's Rocky [November 1, 2005, "Littwin: This time, nominee merits a real battle"]. He writes, "Let's be clear on one thing: Sam Alito is not George W. Bush's lawyer. Alito is the pointy-headed, Ivy League, hard-right, intellectual type that scares Bush - and also every Democrat - to death. He is one of your turn-of-the-century (old joke alert: that's the 19th century) judicial thinkers favored by George Will, Robert Bork and John Marshall. He's the type of nominee Bush had done everything - including nominating Harriet Miers, now and forever known as poor Harriet Miers - to avoid. That was then. Faced with rebellion from his own party, Bush has now gotten up his nerve and nominated Alito, even citing (a no-joking alert) the nominee's extraordinary depth of experience. Poor, poor Harriet Miers. Now, everything becomes clear. This is the fight conservative activists and liberal activists, and their respective fundraisers, have long anticipated. This is the fight timid Senate Democrats - a significant percentage thereof - may be dragged into."

Paul Campos add his two cents to the nomination announcement in his column in today's Rocky [November 1, 2005, "Campos: The law according to Scalia"]. He writes, "Scalia argues that legal interpretation consists of figuring out what a reasonably well-informed reader of a legal text would have thought the text meant at the time of its enactment. He rejects the idea that a legal text means what its author(s) intended it to mean, or that its meaning can change over time, or that previous judicial (mis)interpretations of a text's meaning in themselves necessarily have the force of law (the legal doctrine, central to the common law system, known as stare decisis). There are a number of problems with this view. First, it's often going to be difficult to determine what Scalia's hypothetical reasonably well-informed reader would have thought a legal text meant. This will especially be true when, as in the case of the Constitution, almost all of the parts of the document that give rise to litigation are between 140 and 217 years old."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election

5:37:43 AM

Immigration Reform?
Even though today's votes have not yet been counted the Denver Post is talking about next year [November 1, 2005, "Battle over immigration set up for '06"]. From the article, "The lines have been drawn in what experts say could be the most politically divisive issue over the next year: whether Colorado should deny state services to undocumented immigrants. Business licenses, flu shots, food stamps, library cards and other government services would be denied for undocumented immigrants if supporters of the proposed ballot initiative, filed Friday, get their way. Opponents of the measure, who have organized as Keep Colorado Safe, greeted the news Monday of the filing for the 2006 ballot with a call to fight it. The initiative was filed by Bill and Janice Herron, founders of Defend Colorado Now, a group opposed to illegal immigration. Bill Herron refused to discuss the initiative Monday."

Here's the coverage from the Rocky [November 1, 2005, "Failed amendment back for another try"].

Category: Denver November 2006 Election

5:33:00 AM

Didymo

Here's an article from the Denver Post detailing the alarming spread of Didymo algae in Colorado streams [November 1, 2005, "Slime smothers streams"]. From the article, "The brown slime blanketing the rocks in Middle St. Vrain Creek looks - to the casual observer - like, well, slime. But to biologist Sarah Spaulding, the algae, officially Didymosphenia geminata, look like big trouble...Didymo has been found smothering the bottoms of streams in the Western states, including Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. It is the prime suspect in the decline of brown trout in South Dakota, where biologists think the organism has grown so thick it's choking out the flies the fish feed upon...But didymo has probably always lived in the high mountain, pristine lakes of the West. In Colorado, it was first described in the Fryingpan River in 1975. Didymo is microscopic diatom, a once rare organism with cell walls made of silica, giving it a rough feel despite its slimy appearance. In recent years, something has triggered the diatom to explode in numbers and in places beyond its historical range, such as Arkansas and Tennessee."

Category: Colorado Water

5:23:35 AM

Please Vote Today!

Don't forget to vote! Here's the precinct finder from DenverGov. Here's the link to the Denver Election Commission website. You can also download voting addresses here.
I know you've all been eagerly awaiting the announcements of the Gulchie Awards. Gulchies are awarded to the campaign in each election that demonstrates the best use of Internet technologies. An understanding of technology is key to the success for today's elected officials. Technology is essential to the democratization of government and can help lower costs, provide better information and service, along with helping to spread the message of inclusion that we all should want from government.

The Internet efforts during this election cycle were pretty weak overall with the notable exception of the campaigns for and against Referendums C and D. Coyote Gulch did not find websites from many of the school board candidates. Email updates were non-existent and event schedules nowhere to be found.

The winner of the Gulchie for the Referendums C and D debate is Vote Yes on C and D.

The winner of the Gulchie in the DPS School Board Director at Large race is Brad Buchanan.

The winner of the Gulchie in the DPS School Board Director District 3 race is Matt Webster.

The winner of the Gulchie in the Initiative I-100 issue is SAFER.

Thanks to everyone that submitted nominations for Gulchies. We could not have done the evaluations fairly without your input.

After all of the rancor stirred up by Referendum C it's nice to see the principals have buried the hatchet. Here's an article from today's Rocky Mountain News [November 1, 2005, "Ref C adversaries campaign, keep sense of humor"]. They write, "Think tank President Jon Caldara joked Monday he planned to set himself on fire on the west steps of the Capitol to protest Referendum C. Enter Gov. Bill Owens, who offered to throw on the first match."

Opponents of Referendum C raised a bunch of dough in October to support their cause, according to the Denver Post [November 1, 2005, "C, D foes raise $1 million in homestretch"]. From the article, "Some of the biggest opponents of Referendums C and D raised more than $1 million during the past two weeks. The Colorado Club for Growth Issue Committee raised $813,000 between Oct. 13 and Wednesday, bringing its total to $1.9 million so far this election season, said Greg Gandy, the group's treasurer. All the donations came from the Colorado Club for Growth, Gandy said. He said the group will file an official report with the secretary of state's office this morning. Vote No; It's Your Dough raised $12,000 during the same time period, according to a filing with the secretary of state's office. That brings the group's total to $288,000. The biggest donations to the campaign this reporting period were donations of $5,000 each from Jeffrey Coors, president of Graphic Packaging Co., and Ethan Eilon, a consultant with the Independence Institute."

Here's a story about today's election from the Denver Post [November 1, 2005, "Voters tackle fiscal issues, government contests today"]. From the article, "Colorado voters today will set state fiscal policy, elect local government officials and settle local ballot questions that ask them to consider issues involving marijuana, teacher pay, tourism and taxes. Though 35 counties are conducting this election entirely by mail, others, such as Denver and El Paso County, have established polling places. Polls will close at 7 p.m. Election officials can only count absentee and mail-in ballots received before 7 p.m."

Here's the coverage from the Rocky Mountain News [November 1, 2005, "Metro voters ponder full plate"].

The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff looks at the national attention being garnered by Referendum C [November 1, 2005, "Colorado in spotlight with referendums"]. They write, "Colorado has once again become the focal point for national attention because of controversial ballot measures, in this case Referendums C and D. Even The Wall Street Journal saw fit to devote its lead editorial Monday to the intricacies of this state's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, denouncing those of us who favor maintaining historically customary spending on transportation and higher education as sellouts to higher taxes. Now here's a fact that has been almost entirely ignored during this fall's campaign: If C and D pass, Colorado's income tax rate will be lowered after five years from 4.63 percent to 4.5 percent, when the surplus allows it, as it eventually will. That tax rate ought to be the source of hosannas from the Journal, not ire."

Category: Denver November 2005 Election

4:54:45 AM

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