OBAMA’S WAR ON COLORADO WATER RIGHTS: Quick, Somebody Ask Udall, Bennet, and Hickenlooper To Quit Hiding

Published on April 26, 2013 by

There is nothing more mom and apple pie in Colorado than skiing and water. Everyone loves skiing right? Every politicians respects Colorado water law, right?

Wrong.

The Colorado Observer‘s DC correspondent, Mark Stricherz reports:

WASHINGTON — A Colorado House Republican accused the federal government of using a little-known directive to wrest water rights away from Western states and private-property owners.

Rep. Scott Tipton of Cortez said U.S. Interior Department officials have seized on a 2012 order called the National Blueways Initiative to usurp private water rights. “I’m concerned about federal overreach of the Blueways program,” Tipton said at a hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources Thursday.

His comment came during an exchange with a municipal water district official from a Western state who testified before the Water subcommittee. “Could a New Jersey resident who has used a raft on a Colorado river be considered a stakeholder under the law? It’s a little vague,” Tipton said.

“As I read it, yes,” said Russell Boardman, supervisor of the Shoshone Conservation District in Frannie, Wyoming. 

…Rep. Grace Napolitano, an influential California Democrat on the Natural Resources panel, said she did not know the specifics of the Blueways program and expressed sympathy for critics, but trusts Salazar’s intentions for the initiative. “He’s a farmer, so he knows a lot about agriculture. He protects the land,” she said in an interview after the hearing.

…Tipton said he spoke with Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, about the Blueways order, but did not get a commitment from them to support legislation on the issue. A Udall spokesman did not return comment.

In 2008, remember that Senator Barry Obama used Western water issues as a parochial issue to wedge his opponent John McCain in Colorado.

DENVER – The water compact that Colorado and other upper basin states have with California and Arizona should be renegotiated, U.S. Sen. John McCain said Thursday.

…”Senator McCain’s position on opening up the Colorado River Compact is absolutely wrong and would only happen over my dead body,” [Senator Ken] Salazar said. “It’s an anathema to the fundamental principles of Colorado’s water rights and our compacts.”

In an interesting twist, the same Ken Salazar who was trotted out to attack McCain is the one who instituted the program as Obama’s Interior Secretary which threatens Western water rights.

When a candidate against Mark Udall emerges…yes ColoradoPols, there will be an opponent…water may well be part of the case against Mark Udall. 

While Obama declared a war on the state’s water rights and ski areas, Udall did nothing.

 

A MAN WITHOUT A HOME: Hickenlooper’s Standing Taking On Water From All Sides

Published on April 2, 2013 by

OUR VIEW: Governor Hickenlooper has lost his base and his moderate trump card. Who will stand with Hickenlooper? At this point, that is as hard to figure out as where Hickenlooper himself stands with every issue in the headlines.

Something interesting is happening at the top levels of the Colorado political hierarchy. For the first time ever, Governor John Hickenlooper is in hot water.

For two years, Hickenlooper seemed like a moderate. We say seemed because he was actually only allowed to fake moderation, since all the really bad liberal bills died in the Republican House.

But now Hickenlooper seems like a governor without a home. 

Even though Hick just sold his soul to Mike Bloomberg and Barack Obama on gun control, that bought him exactly nothing from the nut-jobs on the left.

From the left-wing Colorado Pols:

For all of his political success, it must be noted that Hickenlooper has never really had to deal with any intense, sustained public opposition since he was first elected Mayor of Denver. There have been spats, sure, but nothing that Hick couldn’t easily sidestep before things got sticky…until now. 

…In today’s fracking “debate” at the University of Denver, Hickenlooper tried several times to duck tough questions with his folksy brewer dance, but instead of getting him out of a jam, it just made him look, well, stupid. It wasn’t charming. It wasn’t cute. But he kept pushing it, all the way up until the end of the debate, when he went one step too far in a poor attempt at a joke that ended up sounding more like an insult.

How stupid was Hickenlooper’s move on guns? He destroyed himself with Republicans and gun-loving moderates, and got no credit and nothing in return from his wacked out base.

Whomever is running the Governor’s political shop should be fired.

Pols takedown of the Guv caused Hickenloopers’s political adviser, Alan Salazar, to dismiss the post on Twitter as “mostly an ad hominem snark attacking the Guv. Thin on actual policy.”

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SHOCK: Ken Salazar For President?

Published on March 1, 2013 by

Move over Hillary and Hick, Ken Salazar is whispering to Southern Colorado insiders that he is considering a run for President.

Prominent Democratic activists are buzzing about the soon-to-be-former Interior Secretary and former US Senator’s possible 2016 bid.

This helps explain the downright nauseating puff piece from The Denver Post last week. Stories that gushing usually come from the top. Dean, is that you? And stories from the top usually don’t get called in without favors.

Does anyone doubt that the image conscious Salazar would call in all the chits for a story that roundly proclaims his stint at Interior a success?

Nope. And now we know why.

 

A Brief History Of Secretary Salazar’s Failures At Interior

Published on January 17, 2013 by

With the imminent return of Ken Salazar to Colorado, and talk of his future political aspirations bubbling up in the papers, we thought it a good time to recount a brief history of Secretary Salazar’s failures at the Interior Department.

While some Democrats scoff at the notion that Salazar would need to “re-brand” in order to have a shot at future office, with a list of flops like this, it’s hard to believe he could even beat a Colorado Republican.

What need does someone have to rebrand when their approval rating is in the high teens, anyway?

1. Deepwater Horizons: First and foremost amongst Salazar’s fiascos is the BP oil spill. The Deepwater Horizons disaster is firmly etched in the American conscience as an example of bumbling incompetence and haphazard, if not non-existent, leadership. Salazar mucked up his role so badly that unnamed White House sources spanked him publicly in The Washington Post as an “erratic spokesman” who was pulled from public view during the crisis.

While the country was watching the BP well belch millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf, Salazar’s Chief of Staff was whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon and his Interior Department had BP up for a…wait for it…drilling safety award. Then Salazar’s department tried to scrub that embarrassing fact from its website.

Heckuva’ job, Kenny.

2. Wild Lands: Only two days before Christmas 2011, Salazar announced an end-run around Congress, declaring himself emperor of American lands with a decree that the BLM, and not Congress, would decide which public land was “wild lands” and thus cut off from energy exploration or tourist use.

Congress returned the favor by cutting off funding for the program, forcing the Obama administration to backpedal and back off the initiative.

3. “I’ll punch you out”: This one doesn’t take a visit to the wayback machine to remember. Only a few months ago Salazar threatened to “punch out” a reporter from the Colorado Springs Gazette for daring to ask tough questions of him regarding his department’s selling wild horses to a man who allegedly sold them to slaughter houses in Mexico, a violation of federal law.

Here’s how CBS and 60 Minutes’ Andrew Cohen described Salazar’s wild horse history yesterday:

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WHAT OIL SPILL? Denver Post Almost Forgets To Mention BP Debacle In Salazar Departure Report

Published on January 16, 2013 by

The Denver Post announced Ken Salazar’s departure as Secretary of the Interior this morning with a laughable air brush to the biggest scandal during his reign atop the department. The Post‘s coverage mentions the BP oil spill debacle only in passing, as if it were a field trip Salazar took.

He has also dealt with several natural and environmental disasters, including the explosion of a BP-operated deep water oil well, Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010.

Roughly 53,000 gallons of crude poured into the sea a day for nearly three months. While weathering criticism, Salazar issued a moratorium on new offshore drilling leases and launched an aggressive overhaul of safety standards for offshore oil and gas development.

This white wash should not be all that unexpected considering it’s the work of Allison Sherry, the Post‘s personal Democrat blogger.

In fact, Salazar’s continued bungling of the crisis earned a black eye for the administration, and broadly undercut Salazar’s status in the administration.

From a column in the liberal LA Times at the time of the oil spill:

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BATTERED FROM BOTH SIDES: The Left Demands The Resignation Of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

Published on December 3, 2012 by

Credit: The Colorado Observer

They say in politics that if you’re getting criticized by both sides, you must be doing something right. In the case of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, that piece of political wisdom doesn’t quite apply. The least popular Cabinet member — remember Ben Nighthorse Campbell told the Colorado Statesman that Salazar had a 16% approval rating — is taking incoming fire from both sides of the aisle for his ham-handed leadership of the Interior Department.

The right’s distaste for Salazar has been well documented on this site. But what’s newer, and growing, is a liberal campaign demanding Salazar’s resignation.

Last week, former Howard Dean campaign manager and Democratic consultant, Joe Trippi, tweeted out a link to a petition demanding Salazar’s resignation due to his incompetent management of the BLM’s wild horse program.

Per the petition, which has almost 20,000 signatures at the time of writing:

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ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: Denver Post Thinks Tough TV Ads Are Worse Than Threatening Reporters

Published on November 14, 2012 by

In the alternate Democrat-leg-humping universe The Denver Post editorial board occupies these days, a Republican running an ad pointing out negative but true facts about his political opponent is “despicable”, but a Democrat threatening a reporter with physical violence is merely a small mistake from an otherwise “honorable man” who should simply apologize and move on.

Excuse us while we vomit.

This afternoon’s Post editorial, gently rapping Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s knuckles for threatening to “punch out” a reporter for asking tough questions, is a sad example of where the state’s flagship paper has taken its opinion section since Dan Haley left the helm.

Only weeks ago the paper worked itself into quite the lather over a Joe Coors ad hitting Congressman Perlmutter for his ties to Solyndra through his then-wife’s role as their first lobbyist, calling it “despicable” and “desperate.” Quite the harsh language for an ad the editorial acknowledged was “technically true.”

Fast forward to today’s screed, where they spent a good portion of the article making out with Salazar’s picture, calling him “one of Colorado’s most honorable public servants” who just “snapped, plain and simple.” They, of course, note this was entirely out of character for the Great Man they know Salazar to be.

Give us a break.

You would think, as journalists, they would be especially sensitive to threats of violence over a legitimate line of questioning. Maybe call it conduct unbecoming of a Cabinet official and suggest he resign or blast him for behavior more in line with places like Burma or Belarus, where threats against journalists are commonplace.

Nope, all they requested was that Salazar say he’s sorry — which he did at about the same time the editorial was published, according to the reporter he threatened.

Unlike Colorado Pols, they didn’t even call on Salazar to answer the questions he was avoiding. It’s a sad day when The Denver Post editorial board provides more political cover for elected Democrats than the leading liberal mouthpiece for the Colorado Democratic Party.

 

FIREABLE OFFENSE: Will Secretary Salazar Lose His Job Over Threatening To Punch A Colorado Reporter?

Published on November 14, 2012 by

Before it was unearthed that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had threatened to “punch out” a reporter for asking tough questions, the Stetson-sporting Cabinet member was already looking at the unemployment line in the near future. We wonder — will his recent rendezvous with the press hasten his exit?

Threatening to slug someone, especially someone with a byline, would be a fireable offense in most jobs. But in the Obama administration it seems most normal workplace guidelines don’t apply, at least when it comes to gross negligence — as in the case of Benghazi, Fast and Furious or the BP oil spill response.

We’re sure Obama is not pleased to be dealing with another headache among his appointed leadership so soon in his second term. You would think the Love Pentagon would be enough for the week after the election.

But deal with it he must.

With a number of second term Cabinet positions likely up for Senate confirmation, now would be the time for Obama to set the tone on Cabinet-level behavior.

 

SHOCK: Secretary Salazar Threatens To “Punch Out” A Colorado Reporter

Published on November 13, 2012 by

UPDATE: Audio of Salazar’s threat against the reporter is now available. Check it out after the jump.

Yesterday we reported that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and his ten-gallon hat were apparently on their way out.

Today we learned that he isn’t taking his impending ouster well.

From Politico:

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar threatened to punch a reporter on a recent trip to Colorado, according to witnesses.

Dave Philipps, a reporter for the Colorado Springs Gazette, tried to ask Salazar about his appointments to the Bureau of Land Management and the wild horse population in the state. Specifically, Philipps had questions about the government’s relationship with a wild horse buyer who allegedly sold more than 1,700 horses to Mexican slaughterhouses…

According to Kathrens, Salazar took two questions from Philipps before disagreeing with his line of questioning.

“Don’t you ever … You know what, you do that again… I’ll punch you out,” Salazar reportedly told Philipps before ending the interview and walking off.

The alleged incident took place when Salazar was in Colorado on Election Day, on behalf of the Obama campaign.

“The secretary regrets the exchange,” Interior spokesman Blake Androff told POLITICO.

“These threats would have been inappropriate coming from anyone, but the fact that it came out of the mouth of the Secretary of the Interior is alarming,” Kathrens said in a statement. “I can’t believe that a top official in Obama’s cabinet could be so defensive.”

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BIDING TIME? Secretary Salazar’s Days Appear Numbered

Published on November 12, 2012 by

With President Obama looking at the makeup of his second term cabinet, a number of folks from his first term look set to step down or get pushed out. The Wall Street Journal highlights three officials dealing with energy policy that could find themselves unemployed very soon, including Colorado’s Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

WASHINGTON — Energy-industry officials and environmental groups are watching for change at the top in President Barack Obama’s second term, with Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu seen as possible candidates to step down.

Any new faces could have a big impact on some of the most important issues affecting the US economy, including the rapid growth of oil and gas production backed by new drilling technologies and the decline of coal.

Mr. Salazar’s spokesman said the secretary remains “focused on the job.” The White House declined to comment on who might leave the Cabinet or when, and representatives of the EPA and the Energy Department didn’t return messages seeking comment…

While there is no particular impetus for Ms. Jackson or Messrs. Salazar and Chu to leave right away, all three have shouldered considerable criticism from corporate executives, industry lobbyists and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Salazar, a former US senator from Colorado, was widely criticized for issuing a temporary drilling ban after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Remember that Vanity Fair article that belittled Salazar’s lack of influence in the Obama administration? Now it matters more than ever.

Salazar has never been one of the Obama administration’s favorite cabinet members (see: disastrous BP spill press conferences), nor that of the energy industry.

Just look at Salazar’s recent play to publish new oil shale rules. His rush to publish these job-killing anti-energy regulations, even though Obama has four long years, suggests that maybe Salazar too knows his days are numbered. We can only hope.

 
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