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Sunday, October 15, 2006
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Here's the rainy side view of last week's gubernatorial appearances from the Cortez Journal. From the article, "The governor's race has become as brutal as a 15-round heavyweight title fight. Bill Ritter and Bob Beauprez fought four rounds this week in a set of debates that focused mostly on economic issues. The intense schedule gave the candidates a chance to throw some of their best punches - a right hook from Beauprez about Ritter's record as Denver district attorney, a one-two combo from Ritter on Beauprez's tax ideas and his opposition to Referendum C."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
9:42:56 AM 
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The Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is urging voters to approve Referendums E and G and reject Referendum F. From their editorial, "Referendum E would extend the existing senior property tax exemption to veterans who are 100 percent disabled and own their own homes. We have long opposed the senior property tax exemption on grounds that it is discriminatory (you have to live in the same house 10 years to qualify) and unnecessary (a separate property tax deferral program takes care of low-income seniors). But since this type of pandering is politically popular and here to stay, we can easily endorse its extension to disabled vets. The economic impact on the state would be minimal. Ref E, like its older sibling, would reduce by 50 percent the taxable value of the first $200,000 of a vet's home. But at least the vet wouldn't have to have lived there for 10 years. Vets who already qualify for the senior tax exemption cannot claim the second deduction. About 2,200 veterans are expected to qualify in Colorado and the impact on the state budget would be a relatively modest $1 million.
"Referendum F removes from the Constitution and puts into statute the recall procedures and deadlines for elected state officials. This is a close call, but we're going to suggest a no vote because the measure stacks the deck against petitioners. Proponents argue that the current deadlines are too tight. For instance, if a governor is recalled, state officials have as few as five days to check on the validity of as many as 358,000 signatures. That's not much time, and it makes sense to extend the period. But on the other hand, no governor or other statewide elected official has ever been subjected to a recall in Colorado. And no wonder. The signatures needed amount to 25 percent of the votes cast for all candidates for the office in the preceding election, and that requirement would stay the same. Meanwhile, the measure would also repeal the 15-day 'cure' period that recall sponsors have to collect extra signatures if their petition had been found insufficient. We might have favored this referendum if lawmakers hadn't loaded it up so much in politicians' favor.
"We endorse without hesitation Referendum G, which would repeal obsolete provisions in the state constitution. Who, after all, can support a provision that lets you pay a fee to get out of militia duty if you have a moral objection? It's been in the constitution since statehood, even though the practice of letting rich kids buy their way out of service ended with the Civil War a decade earlier."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
8:39:28 AM
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The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel is running profiles of Bill Ritter and U.S. Representative Bob Beaupez. From the article, "When gubernatorial candidates Bob Beauprez and Bill Ritter strode into Rifle earlier this month for a debate on energy issues, a distinctive click and thud emanated from both men. As any Western Slope candidate would tell you, cowboy boots are a prerequisite for campaign stops, but even for a denizen of the halls of Congress and a Front Range lawyer, both seemed comfortable wading about in their boots. Though both men were united in stride and stature, a remnant of their agricultural upbringing and years in public office, the two who aspire to be Colorado's next leader share little else in common. At the center of the nation's debate over the 'purple state' phenomenon - wherein Western states, once Republican strongholds, drift Democratic - stands the electoral confrontation between Beauprez and Ritter. On the right, Beauprez stands a fixture of Republican Colorado politics, a former state party chairman and a respected congressman. On the left stands Ritter, a former Denver district attorney who has transformed himself from a long-shot candidate to the frontrunner for the governor's seat."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
8:11:23 AM
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Here's a report about a gubernatorial forum yesterday in Colorado Springs, from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "The two candidates for governor didn't break any new ground Saturday in their debate before Southern Colorado residents. The event marked the 20th time that Democrat Bill Ritter and Republican Bob Beauprez debated such issues as illegal immigration, education, health care and transportation. And they still have a half dozen more debates scheduled between now and Election Day...
"On water, the two repeated their stance on water issues, saying conservation, reuse and new storage - in that order - are priorities the next governor needs to focus on. Both candidates said the state needs to complete the Arkansas Valley conduit project to deliver needed, clean water to southeastern communities...
"On transportation, Beauprez renewed his call to find a 'more sustainable' funding source for roads and bridges, saying the 22-cent gas tax needs to be replaced with an increase in the state's sales tax by about eight-tenths of a percent. Meanwhile, Ritter said the state needs to invest more in mass transit projects, and not just those that benefit metropolitan areas. But once again, the two tangled over immigration, with Beauprez attacking Ritter for plea bargaining charges against illegal immigrants, and Ritter accusing the congressman of using the issue as a political football merely to get votes."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
7:31:50 AM
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John Andrews is backing "Battlin' Bob" Beauprez in the November 7th election, according to Andrews' column in the Denver Post. He writes, "So, I'll make my own cross-party comparison and predict that Bob Beauprez, the GOP nominee for governor, might become this year's Harry Truman. Notwithstanding the recent Denver Post poll showing Ritter ahead 50 percent to 35 percent, this thing's not over yet. What Truman, the scrappy underdog, did to his favored challenger in 1948 could be the template for a come-from-behind Beauprez win. Ritter as a latter-day Thomas E. Dewey - imagine that...Winner or not, Battlin' Bob gets my vote for at least 10 reasons: immigration, judges, jobs, taxes, education, health care, highways, water, values and qualifications. That's the deciding decalogue in Beauprez's favor."
Category: Denver November 2006 Election
7:26:50 AM
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© Copyright 2006 John Orr.
Last update: 11/1/06; 7:46:48 AM.
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