Colorado Peak Politics

PeakFeed: A Budding Bromance Between Senate President John Morse And NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg?

Published on May 17, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Revealing Politics spoofs the relationship between Senate President John Morse, who is being recalled for his “crazy…absolutely nuts” gun legislation, and anti-gun New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As KDVR‘s Eli Stokols reported yesterday about the funding of the pro-Morse front group:

Much of the group’s funding is also coming from an outside group, America Votes, which is funded largely with contributions from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose group Mayors Against Illegal Guns lobbied hard to pass the gun control bills in Colorado.

PeakFeed: Hickenlooper Takes On A Sal Pace-like Posture In Bumper Sticker

Published on May 17, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Spotted by a reader in Eastern Colorado. Looking kind of Sal Pace-like we might add.

ASKING FOR IT? Did Denver DA Mitch Morrissey Hint That It’s Women’s Fault if They Were Raped?

Published on May 17, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Yesterday, we reported that Denver DA Mitch Morrissey’s office had an unacceptably high rate of refusal to prosecute both felonies and felony sexual assault. We saw the so-called “ambush” of Morrissey outside his office by Channel 7 news in Denver. Morrissey’s office agreed to an off-camera interview in which Channel 7 couldn’t tape it, but the DA’s office did.

Then, something amazing happened. Channel 7 filed a Colorado Open Records Act request with the DA’s office to obtain that tape, which they did. What Morrissey says on this tape is, quite frankly, career ending (starts at about the 6-minute mark):

DA Morrisey: Denver is a lot different than a lot of parts of this country. Certainly different than places in this state. So the fact that our numbers are different, does not surprise me at all.

Channel 7: So when you say that they’re “different,” what do you mean?

DA Morrisey: There’s no LoDo in most towns in – Denver – Colorado. That’s a significant difference.

Channel 7: What does that mean?

DA Morrisey: There’s no Lower Downtown where you have a large population of young people drinking and engaging in what goes down in LoDo. You don’t find that in Greeley. You don’t find that in La Junta. You don’t find that kind of situation there.

If we’re interpreting this correctly, Morrissey is saying that rape happens because of drinking in LoDo? [Buzzer sounds] WRONG. Rape is a violent violation of women. Period. It is not a “situation”.

What’s truly terrible is that this isn’t some idiot politician saying something ignorant about rape. This is the man in charge of prosecuting rape saying something idiotic about rape and why it happens.

WHITEWASH: Nathan Dunlap’s Murder-Night Mug Shot Seldom Used By Local Media

Published on May 16, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

A picture is worth a thousand words. No wonder Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap’s lawyers have tried to shine up the mass murderer’s visual appeal. A couple weeks back they released a video of a kinder, gentler Dunlap (inexplicably laughing) and pleading for the governor to act “humanely”, commuting his death sentence. In the courtroom also, Dunlap dresses the part of reformed wonder boy.

Pic via KDVR’s Will Holden

Local media has shown a seeming reticence to using the photo of Dunlap from the night of his gruesome crime, instead often publishing a more recent image of the killer beaming at the camera or dressed up for court.

But that image of reformed choir boy is wholly inconsistent with the truth about Dunlap, even in the years since he was convicted.

As The Colorado Observer‘s Valerie Richardson reported today:

That sympathetic portrait of Dunlap is being countered by those who knew Dunlap when he committed the murders at age 19 and witnessed him after his arrest. Certainly Dunlap showed no remorse initially, infamously telling authorities that shooting his former co-workers was “better than sex.”

His callous behavior continued in prison. A December 2008 article in 5280 magazine recounts how former Arapahoe County prosecutors described that while Dunlap was awaiting trial, “he had torn a leg off a metal desk, sharpened it, and began to scrape away at the window ledge in his cell. They took pictures of Dunlap’s new jailhouse tattoos: One was ‘Crazy Horse,’ the new nickname he’d embraced; the other was a smoking handgun with the phrase ‘By Any Means Necessary.’”

Reporters have a duty to deal with this issue head up – both visually and in writing. An essential part of that is not hiding the shocking images of the stone cold killer on the night he brutally slayed four Coloradans.

REAL WAR ON WOMEN: Denver DA Declines to Prosecute Rape

Published on May 16, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Channel 7 finally catches up to Denver DA Mitch Morrissey after five months of interview requests about his office’s high percentage of refusals to prosecute felonies and felony sexual assault.

Denver’s Channel 7 investigative reporters recently released an explosive report that Democrat Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey has declined to prosecute the majority of sexual assault cases that are brought to his office. According to the report, Morrissey and the office he oversees declines to prosecute 36% of all felonies and 71% of sexual assaults in his jurisdiction. According to the analysis:

“Those rates are substantially higher than the refusal rates of seven other Front Range judicial districts and several similar jurisdictions around the United States that the CALL7 Investigators surveyed.”

The left’s dishonest messaging that there is a war on women from the right crescendo’d in 2010 with the U.S. Senate candidacy of Republican Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck when a rape victim came forward and claimed that he had declined to prosecute her case. It might surprise Peak Nation™ to learn that Weld County had the lowest rate of refusal to prosecute overall felonies at just 2%. So, who is waging a war on women, again?

But, this isn’t the first time that Democrats have put criminals before victims. Earlier this year, Democrats refused to pass Jessica’s Law, leaving Colorado one of just five states that has no minimum sentencing for sexual crimes against children. And, then, there was Democratic Rep. Pete Lee’s restorative justice legislation that had the potential to re-victimize victims by forcing them to face their perpetrators. And, then, there was a bill this session to repeal the death penalty.

Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to be the last time Democrats do this either. Colorado’s Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper is rumored to be considering sparing the life of convicted “Chuck E. Cheese killler” Nathan Dunlap, despite requests from a victim’s family asking Hickenlooper to not go that route. Statement from the mother of shooting victim Benjamin Grant:

“Sandi Rogers begs Governor to ‘sit back, make no decision, allow the one that 12 people made after listening to all the evidence 17 years ago stand. I wish you could have met my son, listened to all of the things said about him after this act of planned murder, the amount of love that flowed. I honestly think if (you) had been there you would have no doubt the decision for death.’”

Should Coloradans be surprised by any of these actions by these radical Democrats? Of course not. This is all just a part of the liberal platform – grabbing guns, raising taxes, and coddling criminals.

CHICAGO COMES TO COLORADO: National Liberal Media Group Places Ad Buy For Pro-Morse Group

Published on May 16, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

A Chicago-based liberal media group has placed $15,000 worth of ads on the Colorado Springs-area TV station KOAA on behalf of the pro-Senate President John Morse front group, a media tracking source tells the Peak.

The ads were placed for the group “A Whole Lot of People for John Morse” by Chicago-based Adelstein Liston, and are running from May 3-19.

Adelstein Liston’s client list reads like a who’s who of left-wing politicians and special interest groups including President Obama, Senator Harry Reid and America Votes partners such as Emily’s List and the AFL-CIO.

They’ve also done work for Senator Michael Bennet on behalf of the public employee union AFSCME.

It’s a client list that doesn’t seem to line up with the values of conservative-leaning Colorado Springs residents — you know, the ones that a leader of the pro-Morse group called “right-wing, religious whack-jobs” on his bio on the Denver Democratic Party’s website.

The fact that media buys are coming out of Chicago further underscores the role of out-of-state actors in the pro-Morse effort. On Tuesday, The Denver Post reported most of the pro-Morse money was coming from a national liberal group, America Votes, while the anti-Morse cash came from local Colorado Springs-based I Am Created Equal.

Despite the crush of national cash flooding the pro-Morse group’s coffers, it’s the votes from Senate District 11 residents that will ultimately make the biggest difference. And, as we reported earlier today, they seem apt to chuck him from office.

MORSE IN TROUBLE: New Poll Finds Majority Want To Chuck The Senate President In A Recall

Published on May 16, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

When you accuse your opponents of being sex offenders seeking to steal people’s identities, it’s not usually a sign of confidence in your own political position. A new poll by Public Opinion Strategies in Senate President John Morse’s Senate District 11 demonstrates why Morse’s people are going scorched earth against his impending recall campaign organizers.

Morse, to put it simply, is in serious trouble.

Reports The Colorado Observer:

DENVER – The effort to recall embattled Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) is gaining steam, according to the results of a new survey. The poll, released today by the women’s group I Am Created Equal, also revealed widespread voter discontent with the Democrat-controlled legislature.

“The voters in Senate District 11 are clearly leaning toward recalling Senator Morse,” said Laura Carno who heads the non-partisan group. “They are paying attention to the gun bill debate, they don’t have a highly favorable image of Senator Morse, and are more sharply in favor of the recall when they hear of proposed legislation.”

…Nearly six in ten poll respondents – 58 percent – said that gun control legislation Morse helped to enact represents the “wrong approach and should not be passed” or “has good intentions but goes too far.”

That may explain why a plurality of those surveyed – 34 percent – say they support recalling Morse while just 29 percent said they opposed the effort. Another 33 percent remain undecided.

However, just 38 percent of respondents said they had heard about the recall effort — one reason why support for removing Morse isn’t higher, given broad voter unease with the gun control measures themselves.

“Given the relatively low awareness, it is not surprising to see a significant number of undecided voters,” said Nicole McCleskey of Public Opinion Strategies, the firm that conducted the poll.

But McCleskey noted that the public opinion needle moved significantly when respondents were told about Morse’s controversial bill to subject gun owners and makers to lawsuits.

“After hearing about Morse’s proposed legislation to hold gun makers liable for crimes committed with guns they manufactured, voters move sharply in favor of the recall,” said McCleskey. “With new information, 56 percent of voters in the district support Morse’s recall.”

Our sources say the recall campaign is going to happen. Organizers have until June 3 to turn in 7,178 signatures — something imminently attainable in an urban area district.

The fact that a plurality support recalling Morse must worry the Senate President, but the bigger problem for Morse is the fact that support for recalling him skyrockets when people hear about the bills he pushed this past session.

Morse’s gun liability bill, dubbed “crazy…absolutely nuts” by Democratic Rep. Ed Vigil, might end up being the anchor that brings down his political career. Too bad for him he couldn’t even get it passed.

TWISTED LOGIC: Udall Wants to Lessen Drones in Combat, but Ramp Up in CO

Published on May 16, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

In what is shaping up to be another unprecedented government power grab under President Obama, Democratic Senator Mark Udall has signed on to a letter volunteering Colorado as one of six Federal Aviation Administration testing sites for drones. As trust in government has been trending near multi-year lows recently, the introduction of these controversial surveillance vehicles is wholly inappropriate for our state at this time.

What is perhaps even more troubling about Udall’s position is that he has been an advocate for actually using fewer of these military platforms in combat, lest we offend the sensibilities of the Afghan people. From a 2009 Pueblo Chieftain article:

“A major source of anti-American emotion in the region has been rooted in missile strikes by unmanned U.S. drone aircraft, strikes that often kill civilians as well as insurgents.

‘When we get more troops on the ground here, that will give us more reach, so our need for those drones will lessen,’ Udall said.”

The fact that Udall wanted to scale back the use of these highly effective military platforms in Afghanistan is a topic for another day, and his flawed judgement may be somewhat explained by the fact that he has never served a day of his life in uniform.

But for him to express this strange concern for the opinions of Afghan civilians, and then advocate for our state to be an FAA testing ground for the non-military development of these surveillance vehicles on the homeland, is a troubling act of mental gymnastics.

It simply would be nice if our U.S. Senator had the same concern for the sensibilities of his fellow countrymen as he does for those in Afghanistan.

GOLD DOME DEADBEATS: Losers Of The 2013 Legislative Session

Published on May 15, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Out of the worst legislative session we can remember there are more than a few losers to list. From gun control to driver’s licences for illegal immigrants, left-wing special interests drove an agenda that has been dubbed the ”most liberal ever” by The Durango Herald‘s Joe Hanel.

Jobs legislation? House Speaker Mark Ferrandino told the Denver Business Journal‘s Ed Sealover there wasn’t any. Or rather, everything was a jobs bill, as the joke inside the Democratic caucus went.

We can’t think of a better way to encapsulate the legislative train wreck that the 2013 session was for the people of Colorado. Jobs were a joke and you have many of the losers below to thank for that.

You can see our Winners list here and Sister Kissers here.

continue…

PeakFeed: Congressman Gardner Releases IRS Harassment Letter Sent To Colorado Conservative Group

Published on May 15, 2013 by ColoradoPeakPolitics

Colorado Congressman Cory Gardner has released the harassing letter sent to a Colorado-based conservative 501c4, identified as the Citizen Awareness Project by CBS4′s Shaun Boyd.

“This document demonstrates the type of burdensome and politically motivated scrutiny placed on conservative groups,” Gardner said in a press release. “This group also had its information illegally leaked to the media, which is an outrageous violation by IRS employees. Those responsible must to be held accountable and fired. Even that, however, will never fully right this wrong or make these groups whole again.”

IRS Harassment Letter to Citizen Awareness Project