CO GOES NATIONAL (AGAIN): National Journal Spotlights CO Dems’ Rules Tinkering

Published on May 2, 2013 by

Another issue, another 15 minutes of fame for Colorado due to the state’s far left radical agenda by State Democrats.  This time, it’s over the new voter laws that just passed (without a single Republican vote) in Colorado.  This morning, the National Journal offered a grim overview of how Democrats are skewing the rules to benefit their side.

The article, written by editor-in-chief Reid Wilson, summed up the political game neatly by saying, “Consolidate that power, and make it harder for the other guy to win the next election.”

And, Democrats are taking no prisoners this session.  The challenges with the legislation, from Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler:

“It would require problematic changes to the state voter file, he said, and the fact that it allows same-day voter registration opens the door to fraud. What most gets under Gessler’s skin is what he said was a complete lack of interest Democrats had in amendments and input from Republican legislatures [sic] and his office — evidence, he thinks, that the legislation has ulterior political motives.”

While the bill’s proponents claim it would increase voter participation, it’s worth noting that Colorado has the third-highest voter turnout in the nation.

But, the National Journal hasn’t been the only publication to criticize the way Democrats have shoved this bill through the legislature.  Even the Denver Post, which has been no friend to Republicans, questioned the bill’s aggressive nature.

Today’s passage of the far left’s voter registration bills is just another page from the Democrats’ radical playbook.

 

#WINNING: Gessler’s Electoral Strength Unreported By CO Press

Published on April 25, 2013 by

The Colorado Press never misses a chance to report on the head-line grabbing ongoings of Secretary of State Scott Gessler. 

And the Colorado Press loves to report the findings of notoriously left leaning PPP polls as if they were from the mouth of the Lord.

So why didn’t the Colorado Press report the recent findings of the PPP poll as they pertain to Scott Gessler’s re-election?

Maybe it is because the press no-like Gessler, and no want anyone to know that Honey Badger is #winning.

From PPP:

Voters are closely divided on Michael Bennet- 34/35 approval- and narrowly support incumbent Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler for reelection over Democratic challenger Ken Gordon 42/38.

We admit to being mildly surprised at Gessler’s electoral strength after a 3-year barrage of attacks by libs and the press. We are not surprised, though, that the press ignored this development. 

That does not mean there isn’t a headline here…Gessler is #winning, even if the press does not want you to know.

 

HICK 2016 ON THE SKIDS: PPP Polling Finds Only 21% Want Him To Run For President

Published on April 23, 2013 by

It’s been a rough few months for Governor Hickenlooper politically. Democrat polling firm Public Policy Polling adds to that portrait of political pain today with the second part of their statewide survey, which shows a scant 21% of voters would like to see Hickenlooper run for president.

An overwhelming 65% of Coloradans don’t want Hick to run.

The first part of their survey found Hick’s negatives skyrocketing, with an increase of 18 points in his disapproval rating.

With most other states in the union shying away from gun control, and the damage to his brand and polling numbers, we’re betting Governor Hickenlooper is having second thoughts about doing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s bidding.

A few other noteworthy bits from the poll:

  • Secretary of State Gessler, despite being barraged with attacks by Democrats for most of the last two years, is beating declared Democratic candidate for SOS, Ken Gordon, 42%-38%. No wonder the Colorado Democratic Party backed off their threat of a recall campaign against Gessler.
  • President Barack Obama’s numbers are falling. After winning Colorado by 5 points in 2012, his approval rating is now under water at 48% approval to 50% disapproval. This could negatively impact Democrats in 2014 if it continues to sink.
  • Independents oppose gun control by a 49%-46% margin. We’re betting that margin is far higher among independents who count guns as an issue that will change their vote.

Our buddies over at Colorado Pols laughingly assert that Hickenlooper is facing a backlash from the left over his unqualified support for oil and gas drilling. Unfortunately, we know they’re pushing that line only because Pols‘ co-founder Jason Bane is employed in communications by the environmental group, Western Resource Advocates. Despite the enviros best attempts to muddy up Hick for his love of fracking, a whopping 94% of self-described “very liberal” voters approve of Hick’s job performance.

Great work, Green Team.

Hick’s stock is definitely falling, but it ain’t among those on the far left. He’s seeping support from the all-important middle.

 

EXPERTISE INTEGRAL TO ELECTION INTEGRITY: Denver Post Editorial Blasts Democrats Same-Day Registration Gambit

Published on April 18, 2013 by

Democrats in the State Legislature can usually rely on Dean Singleton’s Denver Post editorial board to come out swinging on their behalf. It has become so predictable that it’s only newsworthy when the Post ed board decides not to do so.

Their most recent editorial on the election reform bill — a bill written by the left-wing Common Cause without even consulting the chief election officer in Colorado — is a major exception.

In the editorial, they blast Democrats for pushing same-day voter registration into the bill, as it’s something that election experts take issue with — election experts that Democrats willfully ignored.

We have concerns, however, about the bill’s move to same-day voter registration. We worry the bill mandates a timeline that is too aggressive, particularly since it relies on technology that hasn’t been tested.

…Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who opposes the bill, makes persuasive arguments about the cost and difficulty of creating such a program on a fast-track basis. They must devise specifications, write the software and test it before the fall elections.

Democrats would have had this input had they included him in the creation of the bill, but they didn’t. Rep. Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, told us Gessler, a Republican, was excluded because he had “neither a willingness nor a common goal” in pursuing election reforms.

Gessler can be a prickly presence and has had a hand in creating the animosity that exists between himself and Democrats. Perhaps he now sees how it affects his ability to function as secretary of state.

With majorities in both legislative chambers and a Democratic governor, Democrats apparently see no need to consult Gessler. Yet, by cutting him out of the bill-drafting process, they lose the expertise of the professionals who work in his office.

Let it be noted that the Post editorial board never loses an opportunity to personally insult Gessler. Even when they are agreeing with the substance of his argument, they make sure to note how unlikeable he is to them and other liberals…as if that somehow excuses Democrats for writing bad legislation.

If the relative likability of legislators was a reason to exclude them from the legislative process, we don’t think much would get done at the Capitol. There are plenty of unlikeable people involved in Colorado politics, but voters are not likely to take that as a valid excuse to write bad legislation.

Whether any amendments are offered to correct this serious threat to electoral integrity will be an interesting test: do Democrats care about election integrity, or, as critics have been howling, is the bill just a mechanism for partisan gain?

 

66 VS 12: “Bipartisan” Inaccurate Description of Elections Bill Testimony

Published on April 16, 2013 by

The reports coming out today about last night’s committee testimony about HB13-1303, which would allow Democrats to materially change how Colorado elections are conducted, all report that the testimony was bipartisan.  That’s only partially true.  Here are the facts.

Those who signed up to testify in support of the bill numbered just 12.  There were five times as many who signed up to testify against the bill – a whopping 66.  Of the 12 who signed up to testify in favor of this Democrat election grab, just three were there representing themselves as a voter.  The rest were either elected officials or paid operatives representing such groups as League of Women Voters, Common Cause, and Vote Vets.

While Vote Vets sounds like an organization worth supporting (who doesn’t love a veteran?), this organization isn’t funded by veterans or even geared toward advocating on behalf of veterans.  It’s funded by environmentalists.  From OpenSecrets.org:

“The Sierra Club gave $670,000 to the liberal VoteVets Action Fund, and the NRDC Action Fund donated $500,000. The largest total came from the Alliance for Climate Protection, the group founded by former Vice President Al Gore: $2.6 million, research by OpenSecrets Blog has found.”

Odd.  Why would a veterans’ organization, funded by environmental causes to the tune of over one million dollars, want to influence an elections bill in Colorado?  Curious.

The elected officials who came out to support the bill included Debra Johnson, Denver Clerk and Recorder; Pam Anderson, Jeffco Clerk; Hillary Hall, Boulder Clerk; Tiffany Parker, LaPlata Clerk; and CU Regent Joe Neguse.

Contrastingly, there were representatives from three organizations and a handful of elected officials, including Secretary of State Scott Gessler, speaking against the bill, but 54 people who came to testify against this bill representing themselves, as voters.  Again, remember, that’s compared to the three on the other side.  And, not one paid lobbyist.

If the voters want this bill so badly, where were they last night?

 

TALK FAST: Secretary of State Gets Limited Time to Weigh In on Elections Bill

Published on April 16, 2013 by

Last night, the bill to entire change the elections process in Colorado passed out of the House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee after nearly seven and a half hours of testimony.  Surprisingly, Colorado’s elections chief was told he had just four minutes to testify against this overreaching bill.  If Secretary of Scott Gessler had helped craft the legislation, it would be understandable that he would have limited time to testify for or against it.

As it turned out, with questions, Gessler was allowed to speak for a total of about 25 minutes.  House Democrats have recently come under fire for their strong-armed approach to this sweeping legislation.  Just last week, 9News called the Democrats’ handling of the bill “some pretty heavy handed politics going on”.  Gessler told the Pueblo Chieftain, which wrote an editorial against the bill:

“That’s a way of [Democrats] saying, ‘Our way or the highway. We don’t want to include any other opinions, and we’re going to operate in secrecy.”

But, it’s not just Gessler who wasn’t invited to the table for this bill – it was all Republicans who were excluded from the process of crafting this legislation.  House Minority Leader Mark Waller conveyed his disappointment in the House Democrats’ lack of bipartisanship:

“One of my greatest disappointments this session is that nobody came to the table to work with Republicans on this elections reform bill.”

While political wrangling can be somewhat inside baseball, one has to wonder why the Democrats are pushing so hard for this legislation.  If they thought it was simply the right thing to do, why not build a bipartisan coalition?

The fact is that the legislation is not crafted because it is the right thing to do for Coloradans.  Democrats are pushing this legislation through because it’s the right thing to do for Democrats. Even the Chieftain agrees:

“A 122-page bill prepared for sponsorship by Pueblo’s Democratic Sen. Angela Giron would alter the way Coloradans vote, and its provisions are canted toward Democratic candidates.”

Again, Democrats’ actions tip their hands. It’s just unfortunate that Coloradans end up with the short straw when Democrats rule the roost.

 

DOUBLE STANDARD: Why Were Threats Against Gessler Ignored by Denver DA Morrissey?

Published on April 4, 2013 by

Complete Colorado‘s Todd Shepherd has uncovered a new piece of information in the puzzling double standard in Denver Democratic District Attorney Mitch Morrissey’s handling of threats made by Richard Wiscomb against Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler and Democrats who have received similar threats, such as Sen. Andy Kerr.

According to Shepherd’s investigation, the DA’s office maintained that no law had been violated.  But, the so-called “letter of declination” authored by Deputy District Attorney Greg Long explains the rationale behind the office’s failure to prosecute. The summation of the letter reads:

“I did discuss several city charges which Detective Csikos sent me with Robin Whitely, the head of our appellate section, to see if they would be any more viable than state ones, but we concluded that they suffered from the same deficiencies as the state ones because of the manner in which Wiscomb communicated his feelings.  There do not appear to be any actionable criminal charges against Wiscomb at this time.”

Essentially, according to Shepherd, the language used by Wiscomb was simply offensive not threatening because Wiscomb didn’t use the first person and didn’t call Gessler directly.  He did, however, claim to know where Gessler lives, which may actually be scarier and more threatening. While Wiscomb said “somebody should put a bullet in [Gessler's] head”, Wiscomb didn’t specifically threaten himself to do so.  Um, still scary, and quite threatening in our view.

But, was Long’s analysis accurate, and more importantly, was he abiding by a double standard?  Let’s compare the statements of Wiscomb and the man who threatened Kerr, David Cassidy.

Wiscomb (per the testimony of Gessler’s office): “[Wiscomb] said Republicans should be shot in the head…people know where the Secretary’s family lives.”

Cassidy (per the voicemail he left for Kerr): “Andy Kerr, you and the rest of the communist Democrats are going to regret what you’re doing. Either by ballots or by bullets we are going to get you out of office.”

It’s a fine line Long is walking in differentiating between threats against Kerr and Gessler.  Threats to public officials should be taken seriously, regardless of political affiliation.  Morrissey’s office not only has erroneously failed to prosecute Republican Scott Gessler’s case, but has pursued a trumped up ethics charge against Gessler.  Contrastingly, the same office is taking seriously (as they should) the threats against Kerr and other Democratic lawmakers.

We hope Morrissey isn’t seriously considering running for Attorney General of Colorado.  This miserable performance has shown that he’s not up to the task.

 

BLISSFUL IGNORANCE: Denver Elections Director Doesn’t Know What an Illegal Vote Is

Published on March 6, 2013 by

On Monday, at the House State Affairs committee hearing on House Bill 1201, Denver Elections Director Amber McReynolds testified on behalf of the Colorado Clerk’s Association, through which she co-chairs the association’s Elections Statutes Review Committee.  House Bill 1201 would prescribe the relief that a court must order in elections once it has been established that illegal votes were cast.

In her testimony, McReynolds claimed that neither she nor her fellow clerks have a clear sense of what an illegal vote is.  Below is a snippet from her testimony in which she responds to a question posed by Democrat freshman Rep. Foote:

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POLITICAL HYPOCRISY: Audit Committee Shoots Down Green Audit, Pursues Gessler

Published on February 27, 2013 by

In one of the most blatant abuses of power this session, Democrats in the Legislative Audit Committee voted against allowing the State Auditor another eight hours to examine the Governor’s Colorado Energy Office to appropriately account for $252 million in taxpayer funds.  The initial audit of the office could not account for these funds, triggering outrage among Colorado’s taxpayers.

Here’s the hypocrisy. Today, Democrats voted no on this audit to discover what happened to over a quarter of a billion dollars via just eight man hours of the State Auditor’s time.  Last month, Democrats pursued an audit of a $5,000 discretionary fund projected to cost $100,000 in taxpayer funds.  Why?  Simply to tie up Colorado’s Secretary of State Scott Gessler in litigation.

According to freshman Republican Senator Owen Hill, who sits on the Legislative Audit Committee, this vote was a miscarriage of the duties taxpayers have entrusted to the Audit Committee:

“The dismal audit report highlighted that the Colorado Energy Office could not account for budget or expense data on any of its programs. Our duty to taxpayers is to look into this further. Four Democrats voted against increased transparency today and showed that partisanship is more important to them than accountability to taxpayers.”

Of course, this is just a small piece of the extraordinary efforts that the left has undertaken to undermine Gessler.  Using litigation and legal maneuvering is a core strategy out of the left’s playbook.  Literally.  A recent memo authored by BlueprintNC, an organization based off of the Democrats’ success by spending millions and millions of dollars in Colorado, that was leaked to the Charlotte Observer showed that a key part of their “evisceration” strategy was to “mitigate legislative attacks on progressive values and set up legal challenges.”

Further, the memo states:

“The most effective way to mitigate the worst legislation is to weaken our opponents’ ability to govern by crippling their leaders.”

Sound familiar?  Of course, a politically motivated attack on Gessler is nothing new.  As the Peak reported earlier today, the majority of the members and staff of the Independent Ethics Commission are card-carrying liberals with a clear political agenda.  Is there a committee or commission in Colorado that Democrats’ corruption hasn’t touched?

 

FIVE AGAINST TWO: Dems Gang Up on Gessler for IEC Hearing

Published on February 26, 2013 by

It should come as no surprise to learn that there may be an element of political gamesmanship behind the ethics attacks on Secretary of State Scott Gessler, but campaign finance filings show a link between many of those on the Independent Ethics Commission and Gessler’s current 2014 Democrat opponent, Ken Gordon, or his previous opponent Bernie Buescher. Three of the five commissioners give exclusively or primarily to Democratic causes, as does the executive director of the IEC and Luis Toro, executive director of Colorado Ethics Watch, who filed an ethics complaint.

Here are a few of the folks involved worth highlighting for their highly-partisan political giving.

Newly-appointed commissioner and former Colorado State Representative Rosemary Marshall financially supported Bernie Buescher’s campaign against Gessler in 2010 and donated to Buescher’s state house race.  Additionally (and separately), she’s given nearly $1,000 to Democrat candidates and causes over the past few years.

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