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Monday, August 7, 2006
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Election night
From email from Chris Romer: "Once the polls close, and we've all voted, join us while we watch the returns and celebrate a positive campaign, 2775 E. 7th Avenue (Northwest corner of 7th and Detroit), August 8th, 7:00 pm till we drop!"
From email from Peggy Lamm: "Please join Peggy Lamm as she celebrates Election Night with volunteers and supporters at Table Steaks in Edgewater...Peggy Lamm Campaign Election Night Party, Tuesday, August 8, 2006 starting at 7pm, Table Steaks, 1931 Sheridan Blvd., Edgewater."
From email from the Denver Dems: "Fran Coleman -- Piccolo's @ Evans and Williams, 7 PM. Jennifer Mello -- Sheila Kowal's Home, 3300 E Virginia Ave., After 7:30 PM. Jeanne Labuda -- Home of Nancy Searle, 3918 S Pinehurst Circle - Mansfield & Sheridan, after 7 PM. Alfredo Hernandez -- State Party Headquarters, 8th & Santa Fe, 7:00 PM.
"denver 2006"
8:25:23 PM 
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Senate 32
Colorado Confidential: "Southwest Denver's Senate District 32, now held by Democrat Dan Grossman (who decided not to run again despite not being term limited for personal reasons), has a three way primary between Fran Coleman, Jennifer Mello, and Chris Romer.
"It has been one of the hardest fought, yet cleanest races in the State, notwithstanding a last minute smear campaign, apparently from a Mello supporting 527 group in Thornton, which Mello herself has disavowed."
"denver 2006"
6:29:55 PM
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Green conservatives
Andrew Sullivan: "Another summer as hot as this one and Al Gore will become the next president of the United States. Yes, of course, one broiled July and sautéed August do not a global warming make. But it does concentrate the mind wonderfully on the claims that a hotter climate is already here, that it is closely related to fast-rising carbon dioxide levels and that this should not be a political but an empirical question."
"2008 pres"
6:28:19 PM
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Clinton or Vilsack for president?
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Tom Carper, and Gov. Tom Vilsack (via DLC.org): "For 230 years, Americans have been united by a simple, common dream that tomorrow will be better than today. The promise of American life, handed on through a dozen generations, rests on this basic bargain: All of us should have the opportunity to live up to our God-given potential, and the responsibility to make the most of it.
"In the 20th century, that basic bargain built the greatest middle class the world has ever known. The expansion of opportunity in return for hard work and sacrifice made us the richest, safest, strongest nation on earth, and enabled us to defeat fascism and communism. We ended the last century with America's economic might at its zenith, with Americans at their most optimistic, and with nearly all who endeavored to make the most of their opportunities and talents getting ahead in life.
"Over the last five years we've taken a different direction -- one that offered the greatest help to those with the most wealth, under the mistaken belief that when the wealthy do even better, the middle class will eventually get their share. But this economic philosophy has shortchanged America and failed the middle class, too. For the first time ever, we've had four straight years of rising productivity and falling incomes. Americans are earning less, while the costs of a middle-class life have soared: In the past five years, college costs are up 50 percent, health care 73 percent, and gasoline more than 100 percent."
"2008 pres"
6:24:09 PM
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Oil and gas drilling
Denver Business Journal: "The nation's two visions of the West -- a place of scenic vistas, hunting, hiking and recreation as well as the location of large, relatively untapped natural gas reservoirs -- are colliding, oil and gas operators said Monday. 'Federal land management is imposing requirements that limit access to the reserves in the Rocky Mountain West,' said Duane Zavadil, government affairs specialist with Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. Zavadil said a study of limits on where, when and how to drill and operate wells on federal lands in Utah indicated that the rules effectively cut natural gas production by 80 percent per acre compared to wells on private lands in the state. Zavadil spoke at the Monday session of the annual Colorado Oil & Gas Association conference. About 2,000 people are expected to attend the three-day conference and investment forum, which is held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists and the Denver Geophysical Society."
"2008 pres"
6:15:46 PM
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Buckley out as a conservative?
Don Surber: "John Hawkins of Right Wing News asked bloggers on the right who we like. The results were appalling. William F. Buckley Jr. did not make the list. 51 bloggers. 31 people named. The Father of American Conservatism not listed. For shame. He topped my list. Heck you can disagree with my list. But no Buckley? That's like a day without sunshine, to borrow from Anita Bryant."
"2008 pres"
6:10:44 PM
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Beauprez for governor?
Colorado Confidential: "Lost in the hubbub surrounding tomorrow's primary election is the news that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez has only seven days after the primary to choose a running mate and lieutenant governor. The Denver Post speculates on a couple of different names for Beauprez's sidekick, but here's my prediction: Mike Coffman."
"denver 2006"
5:59:00 PM
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Fall ballot issues
Denver Business Journal: "Six petitions met the 3 p.m. Monday deadline to possibly secure a space on the November ballot, the Colorado Secretary of State said...
"The initiatives that made the deadline were: Term limits on judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court, which would limit their terms to 12 years; Ethics in government, which would require lobbyists and elected officials to follow certain standards of conduct; Colorado's minimum wage, which would increase the state's minimum wage to $6.85 an hour; A marriage amendment, which would allow only unions between a man and a woman to be legal in the state; Marijuana possession, which would decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of the drug for persons at least 21 years old; Domestic partnerships, which would allow the creation of partnerships between same-sex couples.
"Two petitions already have been approved to go before voters. Amendment 38 addresses petitions and would, among other things, limit ballot titles to 75 words in an effort to streamline the placing of ballot issues before voters. Amendment 39 would require a school district to spend at least 65 percent of its operational expenditures on classroom instruction."
Here's a nice listing, recapping the ballot issues, from Colorado Confidential, along with a report on the de-criminalization of marijuana.
"denver 2006"
5:56:09 PM
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Iraq
The Hotline: "A majority of the base -- 56 percent -- reported 'extremely strong feelings' about the Democrats' position on the war on terror and many did so independently of their support for President Bush. That suggests that Republicans could write a two-part message to their base, one that kicks the Democrats and the other that affirms the Republican dominance on the issue.
"On taxes, about 70 percent of the base reports to be extremely motivated by the GOP's effort to make permanent the Bush tax cuts and the alleged Democratic effort to gut them."
Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
"2008 pres"
5:44:54 PM
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Vote tomorrow
Don't forget to vote tomorrow. In addition to a primary in SD32 and HD1 Denver voters have a chance to approve the Xcel franchise deal with Denver. From the article, "When Denver voters head to the polls for Tuesday's primary, they will also be voting on a 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy. The agreement has won praise from city officials and environmentalist alike. And it has no formal opposition."
Category: August 8th Ballot
7:34:12 AM
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Ritter for governor?
Bill Ritter needs to prove himself to various groups representing Black voters, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter, dogged early in his campaign by opposition from abortion rights activists, is also being carefully scrutinized by another traditionally core group of Democrats: the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance. The key leaders in the African-American religious community have yet to endorse the sole Democratic candidate for governor, and they said they are concerned about his handling of fatal shootings by Denver police officers. During his 12-year tenure as the Denver District Attorney, Ritter never prosecuted a police officer for using excessive force that wounded or killed citizens. About 70 cases involved police use of force that wounded or killed someone...
"And Ritter has won the endorsement of key African-American political leaders, including former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, Denver City Councilman Michael Hancock, and state Reps. Rosemary Marshall and Terrance Carroll. The alliance includes about 40 religious leaders from several denominations, and those ministers reach about 20,000 people in metro Denver."
"denver 2006"
7:30:33 AM
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Evangelicals and 2008
Time Magazine: "The least known but one of the most eagerly courted, screening committees for the next G.O.P. presidential nominee met recently in Colorado Springs, Colo., amid the panoramic opulence of the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort. The four-day meeting of affluent Evangelicals was billed as a 'summer family retreat,' and the kids rode ponies and played water sports while their folks chewed over immigration and gay marriage. The political group, called Legacy, aims for mystique: it has received no media attention and is unknown even on the Web. Yet all the marquee '08 Republican candidates have spoken to Legacy or met with its founders, having come to regard the group as a prime audience in these early days of raising money and trying to conjure momentum. 'If you're running for President,' said a close associate of President George W. Bush's, 'it is the place to go.' One of the group's first projects: supplying cash and ground troops to help South Dakota's John Thune beat Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle in 2004. Thune, a presidential prospect, electrified the Broadmoor audience, which also heard from Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas.
"Legacy was started by two Dallas businessmen: Ray Washburne, a real estate and Tex-Mex-restaurant baron, and George Seay III, founder of the Seay Stewardship & Investment Co. and grandson of former Texas Governor Bill Clements. Its members are mostly young--in their 30s and 40s--and wealthy, through entrepreneurship, inheritance or both. They are Christians concerned with social justice, in the mold of Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life fame, and practice their faith without, as a Broadmoor attendee put it, 'quoting Leviticus'--a reference to the harder-edged rhetoric at other gatherings of social conservatives."
"2008 pres"
7:21:32 AM
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There has to be some science behind it
The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District opposed the rotational crop management bill (HB1124) from this year's legislative session. Here's an article from the Pueblo Chieftain with some details on the science behind rotating crops. They write, "'There were no studies on it,' said Lower Ark General Manager Jay Winner. 'If you're going to have rotational fallowing, there has to be some science behind it.' The Lower Ark district is promoting a plan to combine the water resources of valley ditch companies to lease water to cities in the future. The Lower Ark district is willing to pay up to $500,000 to organize a company that represents ditch interests, run by representatives from the ditch companies - not the district, Winner said. The district could also help with legal expenses in water rights change cases that would be needed, he said...
"Farmers on different ditch systems would be able to lease some of their water by fallowing part of their land, making their water rights more valuable. At the same time, municipal users seeking to lease water would have a reliable source, Winner said. In contrast, he sees potential abuse under HB1124, as cities use it to sew up agricultural rights for years, effectively drying up the land...
"Winner and [Mike Bartolo, director of the Colorado State University Research Center at Rocky Ford] have talked about a concept to explore what happens to land taken out of production for years at a time. The Lower Ark district would contribute a 10-acre piece of ground it owns under the Rocky Ford Ditch. The CSU research center has farmed the property under a lease for more than 50 years. CSU researchers would take portions of the ground (or equivalent acreage) out of production for one, two and three years, sampling the soil and counting weed seed samples, Bartolo said."
"colorado water"
7:17:25 AM
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Fountain Creek management
Colorado Springs Gazette: "Federal officials have deep-sixed an idea floated by Pueblo to dam Fountain Creek. But a proponent of the idea says if a dam isn't the answer, what is?[...]
"The dam concept is not among options under study by the Bureau of Reclamation for Colorado Springs Utilities' Southern Delivery System, which proposes to pump water from Pueblo Reservoir. The bureau will decide which alternative is best before allowing the pipeline project to be built. But Pueblo has pushed the dam idea as a way to regulate creek flows so sediment doesn't clog its levee system designed to prevent flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers, which is in charge of Fountain Creek, issued a letter July 14 in response to Utilities' request for information about the dam concept. In it, the corps said it stood by 1981 studies that rejected a dam because of cost and disruption of land and highways. The best plan, it said, is to rely on Pueblo's levees for flood control."
"colorado water"
7:03:59 AM
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Denver Election Commission reform
The task force looking at the Denver Election Commission has made their recommendations, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "A proposed November ballot measure to improve accountability at the problem-plagued Denver Election Commission could be endorsed by a City Council committee today. A string of errors at the commission, including the loss of 150,000 sensitive voter records during a February headquarters move, initially had some council members calling for an overhaul of the semi-independent agency's leadership structure. But after a month of research and four public hearings, the Election Governance Panel rejected a proposal to switch to an elected clerk and recorder - the system used by 62 other Colorado counties. The panel advised sticking with the three-person commission - two elected officials and one mayoral appointee who conduct elections for Denver's 350,000 voters. At the same time, however, the panel urged the City Council to put City Charter amendments on the ballot to fix operational problems in the commission and boost accountability...
"The panel's proposed charter changes include: Bringing the commission employees under the city's Career Service Authority to improve professionalism and have a process for appealing unjust discipline; Citing the agency's executive director position in the charter to make clear his authority; Provisions to ensure that commissioners stick to policy-making and don't meddle in the agency's day-to-day operations."
"denver 2006"
6:56:41 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 8:26:44 PM.
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