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Monday, August 28, 2006
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Campaign budgets
Jason Bane, writing for Elevated Voices, thinks that mixing lawyering and politics will only stir up more dirt. He writes, "We've almost reached the point in political campaigns where candidates have to budget a chunk of their money for attorney fees, either to protect themselves or to go on the attack. Politics is dirty enough as it is. Do we really need to throw the lawyers into it?"
Coyote Gulch would assert that it's entirely up the the players. 
"denver 2006"
6:19:37 PM 
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Conservation economy
unbossed.com: "The conservation economy is a bridging issue. One that can cross boundaries to bring divergent interests together, bring the conservation movement into the mainstream and realize sustainable economic benefit for communities that seek to be conservation-minded."
"2008 pres"
6:13:12 PM
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Dem convention in Denver?
Haley's Comment: "Denver is getting heavyweight help for its bid to bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to the Mile High City. After Nevada was awarded an early caucus spot in 2008, sandwiched between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar that he would do whatever he could to help Denver land the party's national convention."
"2008 pres"
6:33:01 AM
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Legal Marijuana?
The DEA is hoping to raise some dough to fight SAFER's Colorado Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "The Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping into the political fray to oppose a statewide ballot issue that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.
In an e-mail to political campaign professionals, a DEA agent named Michael Moore asks for help in finding a campaign manager to defeat the measure, which voters will consider in November. If passed, it will allow people 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. In the e-mail, which was sent from a U.S. Department of Justice account, Moore also writes that the group has $10,000 to launch the campaign. He asks those interested in helping to call him at his DEA office. That has members of Safer Colorado, the group supporting the marijuana legalization measure, crying foul. The government has no business spending public money on politics, they say. Steve Fox, the group's executive director, said members of the executive branch, including the DEA, should leave lawmaking to legislators...
"Jeff Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Denver office of the DEA, said voters have every right to change the laws. But, he added, the law also allows his agency to get involved in that process to tell voters why they shouldn't decriminalize pot...He said the DEA isn't trying to 'protect Coloradans from themselves' but that the agency is the expert when it comes to drugs...
"The Hatch Act, passed in 1939 and amended in 1993, governs most political speech. Passed in the wake of patronage scandals in which the party in power would use government money and staff to campaign against the opposition, the law is mostly aimed at partisan political activity, said Ken Bickers, a University of Colorado political science professor. While the act's prohibitions against on-the-job partisan politicking are strict, for the most part it allows federal employees to take part in nonpartisan politics. And it's mostly silent on nonpartisan ballot measures."
"denver 2006"
6:01:49 AM
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Immigration
Here's the next installment of the Rocky Mountain News' series on immigration. From the article, "Illegal immigrants' use of medical care is at the white-hot center of the immigration debate. The common refrain: Hospitals are groaning under the burden of patients who are undocumented. They flood emergency rooms and the state picks up the tab. That drives up Medicaid costs, the argument goes, which is bankrupting states, robbing other programs and pushing U.S. citizens to the bottom of the waiting list for services. The reality is that the costs of Medicaid and hospital charity are, indeed, spiraling upward, but illegal immigrants contribute only a small share of the uninsured, underinsured and working poor who are increasingly relying on government and charity help.
"It's difficult to pinpoint growth in the costs of caring for illegal immigrants, but one measure is emergency Medicaid - which has gone up 57 percent in the past six years. This federally mandated program pays for emergency room care for anyone who would qualify for Medicaid based on income but can't prove citizenship or five years of legal residency. Medicaid takes care of the very poor, children born into poverty and the disabled, with the state and federal government splitting expenses 50-50. Emergency Medicaid's cost in Colorado rose from $39.4 million in 2001-2002 to a projected $61.9 million this fiscal year. Nine of the top 10 treatments are for pregnant women. But emergency Medicaid makes up less than 2 percent of the Medicaid budget. Medicaid's caseload, meanwhile, has risen 60 percent in the same period. At the same time, hospitals' costs for charity care and unpaid debt have grown dramatically, and low- cost clinics that care for the uninsured are strained."
Read the whole article - it's chock full of stats and information.
"2008 pres"
5:54:12 AM
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
Colorado Matters is hosting hosting Bob Beauprez and Bill Ritter this morning at 10:00 a.m. and tonight at 7:00 p.m. to discuss social issues. From the website, "Ryan Warner speaks with Republican candidate Bob Beauprez with Democratic candidate Bill Ritter who [share their] ideas on gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research."
"denver 2006"
5:44:34 AM
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Some Wiggins area farmers hurting
Here's a report about the farmers on the South Platte whose wells were shut down this spring, from the Denver Post. They write, "First they lost in court. Then they lost their crops. Now, about 200 northern Colorado farmers, whose wells were shut off early this summer, are being denied full federal crop-insurance compensation. The losses are still being tallied, but crop-insurance agents say the cut in coverage is leading some farmers to call it quits. The water crisis culminated in May when state engineer Hal Simpson turned off the pumps after farmers failed to prove in water court that they could replenish water they were taking from the South Platte River. In Wiggins, the site of many of the shut wells, desiccated corn stalks have been left in the ground to keep some fields from blowing away. Others are vacant except for weeds."
"colorado water"
5:39:06 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 8:30:33 PM.
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