Conservation Colorado Board of Director Barbara Green makes her living giving legal advice to municipalities like Thornton and Erie on oil and gas business. But we recently learned that advice isn’t only bad, but is now conflicted.

The Attorney General’s office recently warned the City of Thornton that its regulations went beyond the state’s authority. The external attorney charged with drafting those regulations is Green. Sources close to the discussions say that while the AG’s letter arrived before the first hearing on the regulations, counsel failed to share the warning shot with elected leaders before their first vote on the regulations. We imagine that Green’s client (the City of Thornton) would be frustrated.

It begs the question whether Green, who now could bill hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars challenging the state, was acting on behalf of the people of Thornton or her environmental lobbying organization? Or maybe just herself?

Look no further than Green fleecing Fort Collins taxpayers with a huge legal bill when the city passed an oil and gas moratorium that the Supreme Court said was illegal. Using that same decision, the COGCC says Green’s latest attempt at writing Thornton’s regulations violates that order for our Supreme Court Justices in a unanimous decision.

As Thornton’s elected leaders reconsider their vote tonight, expect Green to be feeling the heat.

The Denver Post gave the EPA a bizarre pass on responsibility over the Gold King Mine spill in an editorial that seemingly supports the new agency chief.

They support Chief Scott Pruitt holding the agency responsible by paying out a billion dollars in claims, calling the initial denial by the Obama administration notorious.

But the EPA is not responsible for the spill, because they were only trying to help, the editorial reasons.

And suing the government for just trying to help, is a dangerous precedent, they acknowledge.
But this “negligence” is so “shameful” the government should just go ahead and skip sovereign immunity, and fork over $1.2 billion for 70 claims, they insist.

That reasoning would never stand up in a court of law. The court of public opinion is not having it either.

What is notorious about this whole situation, is that the EPA caused the spill by recklessly mucking around at the mine, tried to cover it up, then denied responsibility and blamed other government agencies, including Coloradans who weren’t even there.

We also dispute whether the EPA was actually trying to help, or was there to find another excuse to declare the region a Superfund so they, the EPA, could get millions in new government funding.

Rep. Perlmutter, courtesy of his Twitter profile

And just like that Rep. Brittney Pettersen and Sens. Dominick Moreno and Andy Kerr’s dreams of flitting through the halls of Congress were stomped upon by Ed Perlmutter, who announced that he recently had rediscovered his mojo and would like his Congressional seat back. Sad trombone. Both Petterson and Moreno have dropped out of the race and endorsed Rep. Perlmutter.

Here’s a statement from Moreno:

“We continue to be in great hands with Congressman Perlmutter. Thank you to the many people who supported me along this journey. My time serving our community does not end with our campaign suspending, and I remain committed to standing up for our values in the state Senate.”

And here is Pettersen’s statement:

“While I’m disappointed I will not have the opportunity to serve our community in Congress, I know that the people of the 7th district will continue to be well represented by Ed Perlmutter,” Pettersen said in a statement. “I am so proud and humbled by the support of the people across Colorado who believed in me and stepped up to contribute, volunteer and support my campaign. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of this great state.”

As for Dan Baer, Perlmutter told Colorado Politics that he had emailed with Baer, but Baer’s camp says he’s traveling and isn’t ready to make a statement.

So, the ball is in Sen. Kerr’s court. Kerr said he’s going to discuss among family and friends. Would he really stay in? His fundraising was embarrassing, even with Nancy Pelosi’s support. We don’t see a path to victory for Kerr, but maybe his ego can vote 100,000 times and carry the election for him. Or maybe he is just going to drop out.

Photo credit: Chris 4 DCSD Facebook page

A simple Google search for Douglas County School Board candidate Christina Ciancio Schor, part of the “Dream Team” slate, reveals that she was caught up in (and potential beneficiary of) a nepotism scandal in Adams County in 2012 as an employee of the Mapleton School District. From a Denver Post investigation of Schor’s sister, Charlotte Ciancio, at the time:

“According to district records, three of Ciancio’s relatives also gained employment with the district in three years.

“Her sister, Christina Schor, was hired as a school principal last year and gets a $108,018 salary. Her son, Charles Scarpella, was hired in 2008 and earns $45,218. Her daughter, Janna Scarpella, was hired in 2009 and earns $37,775.”

Why on earth does someone who is accused of nepotism think they should be elected to school board? Schor has a lot of gall running to oversee a school district when it was alleged she couldn’t stay on the straight and narrow with her previous job. Of course, all of this is even before voters consider that she’s in leadership at a completely different district (hello conflict!) – and that district consistently underperforms.

In a separate article, the Adams County blog, Tony’s Rants, outlined what he calls the Adams Family of crooked behavior. In this piece, Tony has a piece of advice for voters in Adams County:

“Residents need to remember names like Nichol, Ciancio, Molinaro and Frank.  They pop up frequently in Adams County politics and government and never in a good light.  If you see someone on a ballot carrying those surnames, do not check that box.”

Douglas County voters take heed.

If you don’t like this statue, you shouldn’t like Blaine Amendments

This morning, the Colorado Springs Gazette unleashed a huge editorial about the bigotry behind Blaine Amendments, which are what the left cites when trying to shut down scholarship programs or voucher programs across the country. In the editorial, Team Gazette linked the bigotry of Blaine Amendments to the abhorrent racism and bigotry that we saw over the weekend in Charlottesville. Here’s an excerpt from the editorial:

“…Unlike any statue, Colorado’s worst pro-discrimination law directly harms poor, minority and immigrant children. That was the intent when the Klan urged Klansmen in public office to support it.

“Our problem is Article IX, Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution. Most call it the Blaine Amendment…

“…The Klan promoted Blaine laws because religious schools educated most 19th century minority immigrants, who were often rejected by public schools. By harming sectarian schools, the Klan could hold immigrants down.”

Why does this matter? It matters because there is a case careening through the court system that could eradicate Blaine Amendments once and for all. It’s the Douglas County Choice Scholarship case, or better known to its detractors as the voucher case. This case is in jeopardy of even making it to the Supreme Court because it was sent back to a lower court and it will be in the court system for probably years. In the meantime, there’s the Douglas County School Board election in which four of the seven seats (in other words, the majority) are up for election in just a couple of months. If even one of the seats goes to an anti-school choice candidate (Hint: they call themselves the Dream Team), the case is off and the “poor, minority and immigrant children” lose the last best chance they have of getting vouchers to escape terrible schools.

It’s really that simple. Stop this disgusting vestige of our racist past. Those running against the anti-voucher (in some circles, pro-union) candidates are running as a slate called Elevate Douglas County. It’s Randy Mills, Ryan Abresch, Debora Scheffel and Grant Nelson. This is a race to watch.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis’s centerpiece campaign platform to have 100 percent renewable energy in Colorado by 2050 is under fire.

Actually, it’s not really a plan thought up by Polis. According to The Hill, it’s more of a blueprint for “aspiring politicos who hope to chart their own political course with promises to bring their states and eventually the entire United States to green salvation.”

Anyway, the plan was actually authored by Mark Jacobson, who has now lawyered up after serious shortcomings were exposed in his blueprint to green salvation.

Unfortunately, the research underpinning the bill and similar efforts elsewhere, has been roundly criticized, with a peer-reviewed paper finding “significant shortcomings” and “errors, inappropriate methods, and implausible assumptions” in Jacobson’s work. The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, has led Jacobson to advise the 21 authors who contributed to the peer review that he has lawyered up, rather than push back on the substantive criticisms of his work.

Making matters more embarrassing for Polis, he had already introduced a bill based on the flawed work along with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to fund what one critic described as “magic thinking.”

What remains to be seen is whether Polis just silently slinks away from this platform, or lawyers up like the plan’s author and dares the media to challenge it.

Protesters – they are not just like the rest of us.

Yesterday, a throng of protesters stood outside of a fundraiser that Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was headlining on behalf of Republican U.S. Senator Cory Gardner. They shouted at and accosted attendees. Liberals on Twitter cheered the protesters. But, the applause for the protesters is just another example of how far left the Democratic Party has drifted away from mainstream Colorado. If you watch the footage from the protests and actually look at the signs, you will note that these signs carry anarchist symbols and communist symbols. See below.

Aside from the protesters’ obvious confusion – can you celebrate both anarchy and communism??? Are Democrats on Twitter cheering for anarchy and communism? We sincerely doubt that women in Jefferson County are voting Democratic because they want to see anarchy. What happened to the days when Democrats were just the party of tax and spend? Now, they’re advocating anarchy and communism.

So, next time the left tries to assert that “everyone” is against Gardner and he’s going to lose in 2020, please feel free to remind the left that there aren’t enough communist anarchists registered to vote to make a difference.