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Saturday, October 7, 2006
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
AP via the Washington Post: "Democrat Bill Ritter is leading Republican Rep. Bob Beauprez in the race for Colorado governor, according to a poll released Friday that also shows a large number of undecided voters. Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, leads Beauprez 43 percent to 33 percent, according to the statewide poll of 500 likely voters by Ciruli Associates. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. The poll found that 20 percent of respondents were undecided. There are about 170,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Colorado, but the poll showed Ritter with a 32-percentage-point lead over Beauprez among unaffiliated voters. Ritter also appeared to be doing a better job than Beauprez at attracting voters from the other party, the poll showed. According to the poll, Ritter leads Beauprez in every region of the state except on the eastern plains."
Thanks to ToTheRight.org for the link.
"denver 2006"
9:54:58 AM 
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Referendum I and Amendment 43
The Denver Post editorial staff is urging voters to approve Referendum I and reject Amendment 43. From the opinion piece, "Referendum I, called The Colorado Domestic Partnership Benefits and Responsibilities Act, would provide same-sex couples with basic legal rights. The measure does not allow same-sex couples to marry and would leave the existing state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman intact. But it would give gay and lesbian couples certain legal rights long enjoyed by heterosexuals, including the right to make medical decisions for incapacitated partners, access to health-care and family-leave benefits and protection of their inheritance rights. Extending such basic rights to non-traditional couples is long overdue. The world has changed a great deal from the days when all families were expected to conform to television's 'Ozzie and Harriet' image of a full-time male breadwinner and a full-time female homemaker placidly presiding over 2.3 children. As divorce and remarriage, single-parent families and same-sex relationships have changed the template of the American family, society and the law have struggled to adapt...
"First, a constitutional amendment is unnecessary because state law already limits marriage to one man and one woman. Second, elevating the statutory ban on gay marriage to a constitutional provision would diminish the state's fundamental governing document. The Constitution should be a place to impose limits on government and enshrine individual rights. It should never be a vehicle for withholding rights."
"denver 2006"
9:36:06 AM
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Referendum F
The Denver Post editorial staff is urging voters to approve Referendum F. They write, "In the midst of so many heart-racing ballot measures, Referendum F is a humble item that would remove the deadlines associated with recall elections from the state constitution. It proposes that the legislature set recall rules by statute, giving election officials the flexibility to handle these chores in a more efficient fashion...Here is some background: The current deadlines for recall petitions were added to Colorado's constitution in 1913, when a recall of the governor, for example, would have required a fraction of the signatures required today. In the event of a recall petition for the current governor, the constitutional deadlines could give election officials as few as five days to hear protests on the validity of 358,200 signatures."
"denver 2006"
9:32:15 AM
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Denver Post endorsements
Here's a short recap of the Denver Post's endorsements so far for the November 7th election, "Governor - Bill Ritter; Amendment 38 (Petitions) - NO; Amendment 43 (Definition of marriage) - NO; Referendum E (Property tax reduction for disabled veterans) - YES; Referendum F (Recall deadlines) - YES; Referendum G (Obsolete constitutional provisions) - YES; Referendum I (Domestic partnerships) - YES."
"denver 2006:
9:29:25 AM
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Referendum I and Amendment 43
The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is urging voters to approve both Referendum I and Amendment 43. From the opinion piece, "Voters face two ballot initiatives this fall - Referendum I and Amendment 43 - that tackle this issue head on. We favor the passage of both.
"Come again? The News supports the domestic partnership referendum and the amendment defining marriage in the state constitution as between one man and one woman? Yes, and we see no contradiction in our stance.
"We think committed gay couples do face unnecessary obstacles and disadvantages in such areas as inheritance, workers' compensation, burials, medical decisions, property division and so forth that by and large should be swept away. (The News itself extends benefits to gay couples, by the way.) Referendum I would level the playing field on all of those matters.
"But we also think Coloradans should protect the right to decide whether gay couples should be issued marriage certificates that are in every detail the same as those heterosexual couples receive. That's all Amendment 43 does: It puts the definition of marriage that already exists in state statute into the constitution in order to prevent state judges from declaring a fundamental right to gay marriage and thus repealing Colorado law. The public is far more willing to accept dramatic social change when it is endorsed by a majority of their fellow citizens than when it is decided by what could be a mere four-member majority on the state supreme court."
"denver 2006"
9:24:43 AM
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Ritter or Beauprez for governor?
Bill Ritter's support is dropping in some areas, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "A memo from a pollster who works for Democratic groups warned this week that Bill Ritter's lead in two Colorado legislative districts was shrinking significantly and said Democrats 'need to really begin to tear Beauprez's head off.' The memo by Virginia pollster Andrew Myers was sent Monday to Dominic Delpapa, a local political consultant. In the memo, Myers says his polling found Ritter losing most of his lead in one Larimer County district and dropping from a 9 point lead to 5 points in a district centered on Broomfield."
denver 2006"
9:19:49 AM
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Referred Question 1A
The ACLU has joined the ADL in opposing Referred Question 1A, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "The board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado voted last week to oppose the initiative for the same reasons as the ADL, said board member and Denver attorney Dan Recht. DeBoskey said the preschool plan is 'very well-intentioned' but problematic because it allows religious institutions to collect government funds to teach religion."
"denver 2006"
9:15:33 AM
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Amendment 40
Opponents and proponents of Amendment 40 are set to hit radio and TV, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "The two sides in the debate over limiting state Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges to 10 years on the bench will hit the airwaves next week with $1.2 million worth of radio and television ads. Opponents of the ballot measure known as Amendment 40, funded largely by the Colorado Bar Association and contributions from individual attorneys, have dropped $900,000 on spots that will run statewide on broadcast and cable television as well as radio, said Stacy Chesney, spokeswoman for Citizens to Protect Colorado Courts. Limit the Judges, the group supporting the ballot initiative, has spent about $300,000 on statewide ads that will run on radio and cable television, said John Andrews, the group's chairman. Limit the Judges has received almost all of its money from Colorado At Its Best, a Golden-based organization that supports term limits."
"denver 2006"
9:10:35 AM
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Voting by mail
Voting by mail is becoming increasingly popular, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Reasons for the surge in absentee voting include: Mail-in ballots are convenient; In many Colorado counties, clerks now send out notices asking voters if they want to vote absentee; This year, some Colorado clerks are encouraging absentee and mail-in ballots because the ballot is so long, they fear big waits at the polls; Political parties urge their members to vote absentee in case weather turns foul on election day, putting a damper on turnout; Accuracy of the vote count was an issue in the past two presidential elections, and some voters think the paper mail-in ballot is less likely to be lost than an electronic tally on on a computerized voting machine."
"denver 2006"
9:05:20 AM
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San Juan Mountains Climate conference
Mountain Studies Institute and Fort Lewis College are holding a conference titled Climate Variability & Change in the San Juan Mountains: A Stakeholder - Scientist Dialogue, according to The Telluride Watch. From the article, "The conference, which will give scientists and local stakeholders the opportunity to meet and discuss the implications of climate change in the San Juans, will be held Oct. 11-12 in the Fort Lewis College Ballroom, and Oct. 13 in Silverton...
"On Friday, Oct. 13 participants will take a hike and tour of the Swamp Angel study area near Silverton. The day will also feature a presentation on historic and current research being conducted in the Silverton area and the San Juan Mountains, as well as a tour of the Mountain Studies Institute headquarters at the historic Avon Hotel.
"Additional sponsors of the event include the University of Arizona, the University of Colorado, Western Water Assessment, CIRES, NOAA, BLM, U.S. Forest Service, the Town of Silverton, San Juan County and the Environmental Center at Fort Lewis College. Registration is free. Register by October 6 and obtain a free lunch and parking pass. To learn more about the conference, register, or become a sponsor, visit www.mountainstudies.org/conference, email info@mountainstudies.org, or call 970/387-5161 or 970/426-8863."
"colorado water"
8:57:43 AM
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Western primary to boost western issues?
Salt Lake Tribune: "It is too bad that the argument over whether other states should join with Utah, Arizona and New Mexico in holding an early-season presidential primary has been cast so much in terms of dollars and cents. Because it should be about votes and democracy...adding Montana and Idaho to the Western States Primary - and, dare we dream, Colorado - would make it more attractive to candidates, and thus more useful to the voters of the whole region. The point is that the traditional first-in-the-nation contests - Iowa's Jan. 14 caucuses and New Hampshire's Jan. 22 primary election - may charm the national media as examples of retail politics played out in living rooms and diners. But both contests focus on small constituencies that, however great their charm, are not representative of the nation as a whole."
"2008 pres"
8:43:00 AM
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Aaron Million: Unless something comes up that we haven't thought about, there is nothing that can stop this project
Last week's excitement over the Million pipeline project has been tempered a bit by opposition that has surfaced, according to the Rocky Mountain News. From the article, "Million's project faces...environmental, institutional and economic barriers. The environmental issues will be minimal in Colorado because he'll use existing reservoirs, easements and pipeline routes, he said. 'Done right, a pipeline project causes very little land disturbance,' said Million. However, Melissa Kassen, of Trout Unlimited's Western Water Project, said taking a large volume of water from the Flaming Gorge could harm the endangered fish recovery project on the upper Colorado River. Million said the Flaming Gorge, larger than any reservoir in Colorado, holds enough water to protect the recovery project if Colorado draws its share of the river from the reservoir. To lower the institutional barriers, Million has briefed Wyoming, Utah, federal officials and many local water districts on the proposal. Eric Millis, head of Utah's Water Conservation Board, and Mike Besson, executive director of Wyoming's Water Development Commission, said they're concerned about the fish recovery project too. Both said there may be less Colorado River water available for Colorado to use than Million believes. When the Colorado River Compact doled out the river to Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California the figures used came from high water years with above normal flows. During normal years, there isn't enough water to meet the allocations...
"There's already some opposition in Colorado to the project. 'It's unacceptable that the unused portion of the river would all go to the Front Range,' said Eric Kuhn, director of the Colorado River Water Conservancy District in Glenwood Springs. The district oversees the state's use of the Colorado River. Kuhn said Million's estimates about the water available were inflated because projects under construction, including the Animas La Plata in Durango, will tap half the state's unused share of the Colorado. Million said his estimates come from the Colorado Water Conservation Board, which puts the available supply at 500,000 to 1.2 million acre feet.
"Cost, the last traditional barrier, isn't a problem either, Million said. He said the project will deliver water at the market price. Other water experts disagree because the financing the engineering, environmental work and construction will add significantly to the price. Local, state and federal funds are used to build most large projects. 'To get the first gallon, you have to build the whole $4 billion project, and it's hard to get that kind of financing,' Bob Lembke said. Lembke, a residential developer, overcame similar obstacles on a water project that will sell water from the South Platte to the suburbs south of Denver. Lembke said Million might be able to get financing if he had firm purchase contracts for the water, something Million is still working on. 'We don't anticipate any problem with the costs,' Million said. He said revenue from using the water to generate electricity, resale of used water to farmers and other features of the project will offset costs. If Million succeeds, Douglas County water providers are interested in buying the water - but after the project moves farther ahead. 'It could satisfy all of our needs,' said Frank Jaeger, manager of Parker's water district. 'We'd take a good hard look at it. It deserves a good hard look.'"
"colorado water"
8:37:01 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/14/09; 8:38:37 PM.
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