Monday, December 4, 2006

Elected county clerk for Denver? Dan Willis (via SquareState.org): "I have just received the text of the proposal that Dennis Gallagher is pushing to change from an Election Commission to an elected County Clerk. "There is an absolutely unacceptable provision in this proposal. It provides that the person who gets the most votes for Election Commissioner in May will be elected County Clerk if the measure also passes on the same ballot. "That is ludacrous! How can anyone be expected to run for an office when they don't know for sure which office they are running for? Not to mention there is no provision for run-off in the first election. That means the first County Clerk will be elected with something like 25% of the vote since the top vote getter for Election Commission is usually in that ball park." 7:18:32 PM

Environment Ed Cone (via CIO Insight): "Businesses are in business to make money, not to save the planet. But when environmentally conscious policies make good business sense - when being green yields green - everyone wins. "You can only win, though, if you play the game. Yet a surprising number of business people, including an unacceptably large contingent of corporate-tech pooh-bahs, are still sitting on the sidelines. High fuel prices, heavy regulation around environmental issues, and public concern about sustainability and global warming make clear the bottom-line value of eco-friendly strategies. But some folks still aren't paying attention. "2008 pres" 7:11:15 PM

Kerry for president? Political Wire: "Sen. John Kerry's election-eve 'botched joke' about the war in Iraq -- 'and the fierce denunciations his comments drew from fellow Democrats -- has led him to reevaluate whether to mount a run for the presidency in 2008 and has led him to delay an announcement about his decision,' the Boston Globe reports.'" "2008 pres" 7:05:45 PM

Iraq Josh Marshall: "It's almost become a parlor game among conservatives. Pick the best scapegoat for President Bush's Iraq catastrophe. In the Weekly Standard, here's 'theologian' Michael Novak's entry. The press lost Iraq. "Or as Novak puts it, 'What we have discovered in Iraq is the weakest link in the ability of the United States to sustain military operations overseas. That link is the U.S. media. They are Islamists' best friends.'" "2008 pres" 7:02:14 PM

Iraq The Guardian: "The Iraqi government is in danger of being brought down by the wholesale smuggling of the nation's oil and other forms of corruption that together represent a "second insurgency", according to a senior US official. Stuart Bowen, who has been in charge of auditing Iraq's faltering reconstruction since 2004, said corruption had reached such levels that it threatened the survival of the state." Thanks to Talking Points Memo for the link. "2008 pres" 6:56:42 AM

Obama for president? Captains Quarters: "Obama has made quite a splash since winning election to national office in 2004. He made a stirring speech at the national convention that year, and he has expanded on that promise ever since. Magazines love to feature his face on their covers, and his thoughtful bearing plays well on talking-head political shows on television. He has practically made 'hope' a synonym for his career, stealing it from Bill Clinton, the Man from Hope. "However, Democrats appear to be getting carried away, to their detriment. Obama, while politically adept, is an untested neophyte. He won one gimme election against a ridiculous campaign by Maryland's Alan Keyes, besting a Republican state party in Illinois that has collapsed over the last few years from scandal and incompetence. Obama has done little legislatively, understandable for his freshman status, although he did co-sponsor the Coburn-Obama on-line budget database. To call him 'untested' is an understatement of large proportion. "Obama is only 45 years old, a young man with plenty of time to gain more experience at the national level. At any other time, party leadership would counsel patience and seasoning. Even if the Democrats win the next two terms in the White House, Obama would only be 55 years old for 2016 -- still a very young man in presidential terms. He could take the time to run for governor in Illinois to gain executive experience and broaden his resume. He has time on his side." "2008 pres" 6:45:31 AM

I live in Denver. Ask me Denver's bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention is the subject of this article from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Some folks are sounding an alarm for Denver in the historic streets of north Boston. The Democrats are coming! The Democrats are coming! (Maybe.) If Denver does win a bidding contest to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the financial windfall might not be all it's cracked up to be, according to skeptics in the city that hosted the event in 2004. Some academics and business people in Boston urge caution, based on their experience with the event that gave Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry a home-state coming-out party. The Mile High City is bidding to host the 2008 convention based in part on projections that the 2004 event pumped $150 million to $163 million into the economy of greater Boston. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino calls the convention a rousing civic success and economic triumph. But doubters remain. "Boston business operators give mixed reviews, and a local 'free-market' think tank called the mayor's economic impact figures exaggerated and says the real net gain was $14.8 million - about one-tenth of what boosters predicted. The skeptical report by The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University has been the subject of fierce debate since it was released in 2004. The institute arrived at the lower figure after factoring in an estimated loss of $30 million in normal commuter and summer tourist spending, combined with the loss of more than $100 million from two events that were scrapped to make way for Democrats: the Olympic gymnastics trials and a harbor festival. Critics have accused the institute of having a right-leaning bias that caused it to intentionally underestimate the benefits of a Democratic gathering. The institute defends its methodology... "One common complaint was that delegates had little reason to spend money in the neighborhood because they were treated to events at hotels, restaurants and official venues. Vendors who catered those events benefited, Conte said, but 'little of that spending by delegates takes place outside the confines of the convention hall.' Although The Beacon Hill Institute's post-convention report did cite a 'painful' effect on some local businesses, the final conclusion was that there was a net benefit for Boston. 'On balance, the effect of the convention turns out to be positive (if small) because the lost spending by commuters and tourists ... was less harmful than the benefits from the new spending brought by the convention,' the report concluded." Here's a look at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, held in Denver, from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Proper ladies and gents wore hats to be stylish back when the Democratic nominating convention met in Denver in 1908. Denver's own prominent suffragist, Mary C.C. Bradford, struck a dignified, hatted pose in her portrait in the Rocky Mountain News that July. Bradford, whom the newspaper lauded as 'an eloquent platform talker,' made history as one of five women credentialed as delegates or alternate delegates to the first national political convention to accredit women... "The success of the weeklong convention was joined by civic self-congratulation. The rough- edged frontier city embellished itself with such accolades as Paris on the Platte or the Queen City of the Mountains and Plains... "The convention met Tuesday through Friday to nominate William Jennings Bryan as the Democratic standard-bearer. Bryan, who had failed in his bids for the presidency in 1896 and 1900, went on to lose to William Howard Taft. Denver, however, was considered a winner, charming its visitors with music by a cowboy band, war dances performed by an Apache Indian troupe and summertime snowball fights after trains delivered snow daily from the mountains. Residents wore lapel buttons imprinted 'I Live in Denver. Ask Me.' The first long-distance telephone line, strung between Denver and Kansas City, carried news bulletins from the convention, binding Colorado to cities back East. It was a heady time in the national spotlight for a city that only recently had paved its first streets. The News stretched its braces in civic pride: 'The people of Denver have given a geography lesson to tens of thousands personally, and through the printed page to tens of millions ... They realize now that there is no vacuum between the Missouri and the Pacific coast, that the whole region between belongs to the same pushing, striving, energetic race that dwells on either side.'" Western Democrat: "Denver is a city on the rise and is already the capital of the interior west and the front-line on the blue trending occurring all around our region. Howard Dean, since you're making the call I have faith and I believe you understand the stakes: Either you take us back to where we've been before and the old stereotypes about Democrats or we forge a bright, western and mile-high path to our future as a party." "2008 pres" 6:23:36 AM

Fort Lyons water to Lowry? Here's an update on Pure Cycle's development plans for Fort Lyons Canal water, from the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "A water developer with plans to pipe Arkansas Valley water to the Denver metro area is playing a waiting game, and it may be years before the company seeks court approval, let alone build a pipeline. 'It's a long-term project, no question,' said Mark Harding, president of Thornton-based Pure Cycle Corp. Pure Cycle completed its purchase of Fort Lyon Canal farms and water rights from High Plains A&M in late August, but there is no urgency to file a change of use case in Division 2 water court, where Chief District Judge Dennis Maes shot down High Plains' change request in 2004 as speculative... "Pure Cycle plans to take a more cautious approach, and only after its current water resources are more fully put to use, Harding said. Harding has already outlined Pure Cycle's future plans for the Fort Lyon Canal board and will meet with shareholders at their annual meeting on Dec. 11. By purchasing the High Plains Farms, Pure Cycle became the ditch company's largest shareholder, with about 20 percent of the water rights and 17,500 acres of land, mostly north of Las Animas... "In 1986, the Rangeview Metropolitan District entered a lease with the State Land Board for the water rights under the Lowry Range, a 26,000-acre tract of land southeast of Aurora once used for bombing runs from Lowry Air Force Base. Pure Cycle will be the water supplier and wastewater contractor for any future development on the property. In 1996, Pure Cycle assumed management of the groundwater, combining it with surface rights it owns on two creeks that flow through the Lowry Range The State Land Board's mission is to generate revenue from state trust lands for public education, and Lowry is one of its most valuable properties. Its role was refined by Amendment 16 in 1996 to include a Stewardship Trust to preserve conservation values as well. Currently, development is being confined to the northernmost portion of the Lowry Range, about 3,800 acres north of Quincy Avenue. The Land Board is considering three proposals to develop the land and a fourth that addresses conservation. "Rangeview's lease allows Pure Cycle to move 40 percent of the water off the site. Pure Cycle also has plans - and conditional water rights - to build several reservoirs on the Lowry Range as well. Aurora could be a potential partner in one of the reservoirs, which it envisions as part of its $800 million indirect potable water reuse plan. The reservoir site is east of Aurora Reservoir and would initially be 15,000 acre-feet, but could expand to three times that size if there were other partners... "Harding said there is enough water on site - 34,000 acre-feet annually between deep wells and surface rights - to serve 80,000 single-family connections. Its water from the Fort Lyon Canal - consumptive use of about 40,000 acre-feet annually - would more than double that capacity. The water moved off site by Pure Cycle would serve the Ranch development, which is located due north of Lowry near I-70. Reservoirs on the Lowry Range would recycle treated wastewater return flows into dual distribution systems for outdoor irrigation... "'My philosophy is that you are better off to treat the water and deal with it at the site where you bought it,' Harding said. 'We're not looking at exchanges, which I don't think would be morally or legally right. A drop of water in the mountains or Pueblo Reservoir is a different quality of water than a drop of water in the Fort Lyon.' Beyond that, Harding wants to work with the Fort Lyon to improve water quality by improving irrigation efficiency and increasing the value of water that is used within the valley. Harding is open to the possibility of working with the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District's Super Ditch program or becoming a supplier for the Arkansas Valley Conduit envisioned by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District." "colorado water" 6:14:32 AM

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