The Senate Armed Services Committee voted yesterday to send the nomination of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) to become the next Army secretary to the full Senate, making his confirmation imminent. (Alas, he still hasn’t clarified his Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell position.) So Pete Geren, the current Army secretary, [...]
In marked contrast to the big-government elitist Denver Post editorial board, numerous newspapers around the state are beginning to take notice of the outrageous assault on Colorado drivers in the form of the “FASTER” Colorado Car Tax - and the political implications for elections in 2010 as more and more [...]
Partial transcript:
Hello, I'm Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma, and I am proud to be one of the hundreds of lawmakers on all levels of government to sign the Americans for Prosperity "No Climate Tax Pledge." This pledge states clearly that climate change legislation should not be used to' [...]
Partial transcript:
Hello, I'm Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma, and I am proud to be one of the hundreds of lawmakers on all levels of government to sign the Americans for Prosperity "No Climate Tax Pledge." This pledge states clearly that climate change legislation should not be used to' [...]
House District 22 is in play. Lakewood Attorney Chris Redeff (D) will be challenging incumbent Ken Summers (R).
The district, which straddles Hampden between 470 and Sheridan, has a Republican registration advantage, but independents have been skewing heavily Democratic. Past challengers have picked up 47-48% of the vote.
***Big Brother is watching. The Whitehouse is on the lookout for people who are not friendly with Obama Care. Could they be talking about our video? Reason.tv released a video on this new era of health care McCarthyism. So if you’d like to be a friend to the Whitehouse: spy [...]
( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )
My e-mail to the senators:
Please vote against using my money to help someone trade a clunker for a new vehicle. The clunker bill is using Colorado taxpayers' money to pay off the UAW and to support Government Motors and other auto' [...]
Surrounded by more than 10 Sudanese refugee who now call the state home, Gov. Bill Ritter signed a proclamation this morning declaring it Genocide Awareness Day in Colorado.
"Genocide is not some abstract concept," Ritter said. "It is a very real thing. Genocide has faces of people who are murdered, assaulted" [...]
Starting today, Coloradans will pay more to register their vehicles.
They'll face criminal charges if they possess someone else's passport, Social Security card or driver's license without that person's permission.
And adults will be in big trouble if they're caught "sexting" to a child.
The three measures are among the 57 new laws [...]
State Senate President Brandon Shaffer, pointing to his restrictions on travel, bonuses and salaries, said Tuesday that the Senate was returning to the general fund an expected $627,000, more than twice as much in unspent funds as last year.
But the higher amount of unused money comes the same year that [...]
State Sen. Jim Isgar has been appointed Colorado's rural development director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Isgar, D-Hesperus, will resign his seat in a couple of weeks when he starts his new position.
"As a resident of a rural area, these issues touch me very deeply," he said in a statement.
A [...]
State Rep. Cory Gardner bought a pig Monday at the Yuma County junior livestock sale.
The Yuma Republican got a kick out of the auctioneer asking whether the lawmaker his own violated his "no pork" rule.
I'm going to try to make this as short as possible. I have a lot to write on the subject, but at some point ranting for the sake of ranting takes away from some critical points. First - the actual news report: a Kansas doctor, Dr. George Tiller, was' [...]
DENVER POST CATCHES ON TO ANTI-RITTER SIGNS: The signs have apparently spread across the state.
AMY OLIVER AND BRAD JONES DISCUSS ASTROTURFING ON KFKA: Relevant section is around 12:30 into the podcast.
[...]Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday plans to sign into law a ban on texting while driving. The bill also makes it illegal for any driver under 18 to talk on handheld cell phones while driving. Hands-free devices are allowed, and there are exceptions for emergencies.
The text message ban takes [...]
Denver Democrats Michael Johnston and Pat Steadman were sworn in Friday.
Johnston of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton replaces former Senate President Peter Groff, who took an education post in Obama's administration.
Steadman helped lead a lawsuit challenging Amendment 2, which banned laws protecting gay people from [...]
As talk radio and the blogosphere blew up with claims that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, scholars of ethnicity and politics called for a quick truce.
A one-time poor choice of words on Sotomayor's part, perhaps, was their view. The New York appellate judge said in a 2001 [...]
Gov. Bill Ritter plans to sign nine education bills during a ceremony Thursday in Denver.
One would set up a statewide system to track the performance of teachers and principals to help close the so-called "teacher gap," where less experienced teachers tend to work in low-income schools.
Another provides more [...]
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday resoundingly rejected an effort to spend $80 million to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and relocate the terrorism suspects, possibly to U.S. prisons.
Considered a setback for President Barack Obama and his pledge to close the prison by January, the vote ended a day of [...]
Gov. Bill Ritter this week quietly signed into law a bill that will allow gay and lesbian state employees to share benefits with their partners in the way married couples already can.
Ritter signed Senate Bill 88 on Monday, and, as he did with another gay- rights measure this year and [...]
It's just 39 steps to his new digs, but Brandon Shaffer carefully wrapped framed family photos in newspaper, placed them in a box and readied them for the short trip down the hall to the Senate president's office.
Twelve years in the Navy will do that to you, the Longmont Democrat [...]
Former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis officially entered the 2010 gubernatorial race with little fanfare and after critics have for weeks argued he was essentially running without filing the appropriate financial disclosures.
The Grand Junction Republican gave notice of his intent to run Tuesday to the secretary of state's office in what [...]
A Denver lobbyist who has championed civil rights beat nine other Democratic contenders to become Colorado's newest state senator.
Pat Steadman won a vacancy committee election Wednesday night to replace Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, who resigned to move to Australia.
Veiga had endorsed Steadman, who lobbies at the state Capitol. He has [...]
Two Republican U.S. senators agreed Wednesday to lift their procedural roadblocks and, hours later, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's right- hand man was confirmed by a unanimous Senate vote.
But the Republicans claimed victory, saying they had forced Salazar to reconsider his cancellation of oil and gas leases near national parks in [...]
Workers said Wednesday the governor gave grocery chains an unfair advantage in contract talks by barring them from getting benefits if they're unable to work because of labor disputes.
In a lockout, an employer bars workers from their jobs during a labor dispute. Colorado's last lockout occurred in 1996 when employees' [...]
Denver-area mayors have reversed course and now favor a year's delay and a November 2010 vote on a sales-tax increase for RTD's FasTracks transit program.
On June 2, the Regional Transportation District board of directors is expected to back the mayors' recommendation and set the vote for next year.
In March, the' [...]
Former Congressman Scott McInnis has officially entered the 2010 gubernatorial race with little fanfare and after critics have for weeks argued that he should file campaign-finance disclosures.
The secretary of state's office confirmed that the Grand Junction Republican turned in his paperwork Tuesday afternoon.
McInnis has traveled the state building support for [...]
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a credit-card holders protection act — a version of an idea first introduced in the House more than four years ago by then-Rep. Mark Udall.
The bill that passed the Senate — and which will be reconciled with a House version this week [...]
Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday issued a late-in-the-day veto of legislation that would have favored grocery store workers in ongoing negotiations over their union contracts with Colorado's major supermarket chains.
In his veto message, Ritter criticized the timing of House Bill 1170.
Grocery store chains and the United Food and Commercial Workers [...]
Two years ago this month, 7-year-old Chandler Grafner starved to death in the bottom of a linen closet in a case of child abuse that outraged Coloradans and shone a light on holes in the state's child-welfare safety net.
The deaths of 12 other children that came to public attention a [...]
Nine Democrats are vying to be appointed to the state Senate seat vacated by Denver attorney Jennifer Veiga, who resigned to move to Australia.
Her successor will be chosen tonight by the Senate District 31 vacancy committee. The district includes central Denver and portions of Adams County.
The candidates are:
Patrick Byrne
Age: 28
Occupation: [...]
Most city and government offices will not be open on Friday due to a budget-required furlough day for city employees. In addition, the city offices will be closed on Monday for Memorial Day.
Friday is the second of four planned furlough days this year. The furlough days will save about $1 [...]
A state senator's after-hours security code for the Capitol has been deactivated after he made it available to a class he was teaching.
Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said he had no idea he was breaching security when he provided his individual code to the 11 graduate students in his Colorado government [...]
A Denver Nuggets banner joined The Stars and Stripes and Colorado's red, gold, blue and white billowing over the state Capitol this afternoon as Gov. Bill Ritter proclaimed May 2009 "Nuggets May-nia Month."
Emerging from the Capitol building flanked by seven go-go boot-clad Nuggets dancers, Ritter said he'd not yet been' [...]
Coffman, a Republican, and Marshall, a Democrat, sent the request to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on Monday.
The Associated Press reported in April that the Department of Defense has identified a total of about 580 surviving POWs from the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War in 1991, but the [...]
That was fast.
Faced with complaints that states didn’t have the resources to properly track federal stimulus dollars, the feds have released more funds for states to hire accountants and auditors and set up offices and websites.
According to the AP, Colorado will likely receive $7 billion in stimulus money and can [...]
You've been reading about the scandal surrounding an apparently impostor Marine who managed to insert himself into a number of campaign-related events last year, mostly (but not exclusively, we'll get to that) on behalf of Democrats.
There's no question that the impostor in question, one Rick Strandlof, enormously embarrassed anyone [...]
Amendment 27 violates the US Constitution in many ways. It would go away if properly challenged and if the court system were apolitical. The worst thing that we Republicans can do is to legitimize it by using it to beat...
[...]Gov. Bill Ritter said he will probably sign a bill passed Tuesday that extends health insurance benefits to gay and lesbian domestic partners of state employees.
“I expect to sign that but I haven’t heard from the opposition on that,” Ritter, a Democrat, told The Denver Post’s Tim Hoover. [...]
#tcot #ppc #colorado #redco #hhrs
I am outta here for a couple weeks, a little vacation, a little Active Duty for the Navy but probably no blogging. However, in my absence fellow Rocky Mountain Alliance member and PPC writer Michael from Slapstick Politics will be guest blogging...thanks!
Friday's Funny [...]
A bill that would repeal the death penalty in Colorado won yet another vote today, but storm clouds appear to be gathering over the effort at the state Capitol.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the bill this morning on a 6-4 party-line vote. It now goes to the full Senate, and [...]
Responding to news of the veiled chancellor search being conducted by Colorado State University, House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann and Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer introduced legislation yesterday demanding greater transparency in the way the state’s public universities select leaders.
“For Colorado to pick the right leaders for our colleges, [...]
The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote Friday morning on whether to send the bill on to the full Senate for debate.
It passed the House by just one vote and backers expect another close vote if it makes it to the Senate.
Gov. Bill Ritter won't say if' [...]
Wow, you think? As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports:
A Front Range political watchdog group says it will investigate a phone message left by former Republican Congressman Scott McInnis with a supporter.
McInnis' message suggests he's working with a 527, the term borrowed from the IRS code for an independent' [...]
Bowing to intense lobbying pressure from the mortgage industry, the U.S. Senate killed a bill Thursday to allow bankruptcy judges to modify loan terms on primary residences the way they can on second homes, yachts, cars and other pieces of property.
U.S. Sen. Mark Udall voted to give relief to [...]
A divided Denver City Council committee on Tuesday forwarded to the full council an ordinance that would require winning bidders on city service contracts to keep the employees of the previous contract holder for 90 days.
The proposal, which is strongly opposed by business interests and just as strongly supported by [...]
