Denver November 2006 Election
Dazed and confused coverage of the Denver November 2006 Election

 
































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  Friday, July 21, 2006


Say hello to ToTheRight.org. From email from the group, "Soapblox Colorado [now SquareState], Coloradopols. The left-wing has had a stranglehold on centralized political commentary in Colorado long enough.

"ToTheRight.org is your one-stop source for news about all of the races in Colorado and all of the Republican primaries, from a Conservative/ Libertarian perspective. We have an entire team of bloggers publishing under the ToTheRight.org moniker from every corner of the state...

"We are also attempting to link to all conservative blogs in Colorado that we can find and hope to help promote these blogs. If you are a blogger and have an entry you would like us to look at, feel free to send it to us."

Welcome to the Blogosphere (and the conversation). Here's the link for their RSS Feed.

Category: Denver November 2006 Election


6:57:39 AM    

Josh Marshall: "Jim VandeHei has a piece this morning in the Post explaining that Ralph Reed's defeat Tuesday in Georgia has put political strategists in both parties on notice that the issue of political corruption has real traction, at least for candidates directly implicated in the on-going investigations."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election


6:39:02 AM    

Wash Park Prophet: "The Colorado Court of Appeals held today that the Colorado Education Association and Poudre Education Association illegally contributed to the campaign of State Senate Candidate Bob Bacon in Senate District 14 by coordinating the efforts of union member volunteers to distribute his literature. An administrative hearing had exonorated the teacher's unions, based on an exemption for volunteer services in the campaign laws, but that decision was reversed in this appeal. The ruling imposes unprecedented limitations on union political activity."

Category: Denver November 2006 Election


6:30:37 AM    

Jim Spencer weighs in on H.R.810 and it's veto this week, in his column in the Denver Post. From the article, "Curt Freed directs the neurotransplantation program for Parkinson's disease at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He wants to put dopamine cells in the brains of patients to ease their suffering. He never thought of himself as an accessory to murder. He still doesn't. Presidential press secretary Tony Snow claims that George W. Bush had to veto increased federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research because the president is 'against murder.' Snow's was a very cheap shot in the fight over embryonic stem-cell research. The president's spokesman sounded like who he was before he came to the White House - a fill-in for Rush Limbaugh. Men and women like Freed, who use embryonic stem cells in their medicine, don't kill. They heal.

"Snow smeared plenty of good people with his idiotic comment. But his boss injured a lot more with his veto. Folks like Doug McCulloch. McCulloch lives in Denver. He suffers from a degenerative nerve disease whose cure could lie in embryonic stem-cell research. McCulloch felt personally hurt by the president's veto. Congressman Bob Beauprez's vote to uphold the veto in an override attempt infuriated McCulloch, too. Beauprez may now kiss goodbye McCulloch's vote in Beauprez's bid for governor of Colorado. McCulloch doesn't condone murder. Like Freed, he condones science that might change the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids with diabetes or people with seizures or spinal cord injuries. Doing the bidding of a small cabal of anti-science, anti-abortion zealots in an election year, the president gave a figurative finger to millions of sick people."

Category: 2008 Presidential Election


6:12:24 AM    

Referred Question 1A is the subject of this article from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "Mayor John Hickenlooper calls a proposed 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy a 'better deal for Denver' that would help low-income families with utility bills, boost energy conservation and save the city tens of millions of dollars on utility relocation costs. Now, Denver residents have to decide whether the deal is good enough to add $9 a year to the average electricity and natural gas customer's bill. They will vote on the franchise agreement, called Measure 1A, on Aug. 8. It is the only city question on the primary ballot and has no known organized opposition. Unaffiliated voters, who typically don't vote in primary elections, will be able to vote on Measure 1A.

"State law allows Denver to charge Xcel a franchise fee to use public lands for its gas and power lines. The utility passes on the cost to consumers. But residents get a return on the fee, which this year is expected to put around $22 million into the city's general fund. That helps pay for police, parks and recreation, snow plowing and other services. The cost to consumers would increase slightly under the proposed agreement because Denver would stop excluding the first $12.50 of gas and electricity bills from the 3 percent franchise fee. Denver began the exclusion decades ago under the premise that it would help poor customers proportionally more to exempt the first chunk of their bill. But the break applies to every ratepayer in the city - millionaires and poor people alike. Eliminating the exclusion would generate $2.1 million a year, which the city would use to help an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 low-income residents with their utility bills next year...

"Xcel would partner with the city and the state on a pilot program to help poor residents buy energy-saving appliances and participate in home insulation programs. The utility also would share its expertise to help Denver harness fast-changing technologies and strategies to save on energy and water in existing facilities. In addition, Xcel would collaborate on Hickenlooper's recent promise to make new Denver facilities, like the planned Justice Center complex, more cutting-edge 'green buildings' that conserve energy, employ recycled materials and reuse waste water for irrigation. The next step is to encourage large commercial building owners to buy into the green building movement...

"Xcel would pay the entire cost of utility relocations on city projects that are at least 50 percent government funded, including Regional Transportation District construction. Finegan said this alone would save the city tens of millions of dollars on construction of the $4.7 billion regional FasTracks transit project. Under the agreement, Xcel is committed to meeting new performance deadlines for fixing burned-out street lights, installing traffic signals and doing emergency repairs on critical facilities, as well as relocating facilities and burying utility lines. Measure 1A is that rare fee increase with no organized opposition. At a City Council meeting in May, business and environmental leaders, labor groups and advocates for low-income residents all endorsed the agreement...

"Denver's proposed 20-year franchise agreement with Xcel Energy by the numbers: $9: Average annual increase to residential electric and natural gas bills; $2.1 million: Amount the city would use to help low-income residents pay their utility bills; $22 million: Amount the franchise agreement fee raises for the city's general fund.

"Under the deal, Xcel would be required to: Share its expertise to help Denver improve energy and water conservation in municipal facilities and construct cutting-edge 'green buildings' that save energy, employ recycled materials and reuse waste water for irrigation; Pay the cost of utility relocations on construction projects that are at least 50 percent government funded, saving the city tens of millions of dollars on major projects such as the regional FasTracks transit project; Commit to new deadlines for fixing burned-out street lights, installing traffic signals and making emergency repairs on critical facilities, as well as moving facilities and burying utility lines."

Coyote Gulch wonders if Denver will be adding a "green review" to the already too long permitting process?

Category: August 8th Ballot


6:03:29 AM    


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