Colorado’s Sad Clowns, Brandon Shaffer and Sal Pace
Amidst the Republican Party wound-licking, there was one ray of sunshine that warmed our hearts and made us smile just a little brighter. CD4 loser and Colorado Democrats’ “rising star” Brandon Shaffted Shaffer and CD3 Democratic felon Sal Pace (D-Urination) received fewer votes than Republican whipping boy Kevin Lundberg, who ran unsuccessfully against Congressman Jared Polis. In fact, Lundberg’s over 158,000 votes equated to nearly 40,000 more votes than Shaffer and about 24,000 more than Pace. (H/T to Sen. Brophy for pointing out Pace’s, ahem, shortcomings.)
Ouch.
To put that into perspective, it would be like if the entire city of Littleton (pop. 41,000) didn’t vote for Shaffer or the entire city of Lafayette (pop. 24,000) didn’t vote for Pace. Yes, we realize that these towns aren’t in either of these candidates’ districts, but we’re going for size not geography.
Even worse, in CD3, the Democratic CU Regent received nearly 6,000 more votes than Pace did. Races like CU Regent are usually just a straight party vote. That means that 6,000 Democratic voters who voted for Regent didn’t vote for Pace. Double ouch. The Secretary of State final stats on ballot returns won’t be available for a while and there is not a comparable statistic in CD4, so we may not know how Shaffer fared among his own party for a while.
It’s possible that, as much as the left tries to spin this victory as emblematic of Republicans being out of touch with mainstream America, it’s the left that is out of touch with a large swath of Colorado voters.
SHAFFER WAS PRIME SPONSOR OF SB 10-001, A BILL THAT BREACHED PENSIONER CONTRACTS IN COLORADO. THE BILL WAS OPPOSED BY SEN. LUNDBERG AND MOST REPUBLICANS. THERE WAS NO REASON FOR SB 10-001, SINCE NUMEROUS, LEGAL, PROSPECTIVE PENSION REFORM OPTIONS WERE AVAILABLE TO THE LEGISLATURE. THUS, SHAFFER LOST QUITE A FEW VOTES. WHEN SB 10-001 IS STRUCK DOWN, THE LEGISLATURE WILL BE BACK AT THE STARTING GATE, EXPLORING LEGAL, PROSPECTIVE OPTIONS.
COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS CONFIRMS COLORADO PERA PUBLIC PENSION COLA BENEFITS AS CONTRACTUAL.
The Colorado Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded an initial District Court ruling that denied the contractual status of public pension COLAs in Colorado. The Court of Appeals confirmed that Colorado PERA pension COLA benefits are a contractual obligation of the pension plan Colorado PERA and its affiliated public employers. A huge victory for public sector retirees in Colorado! The Colorado Legislature may not breach its contracts and push taxpayer obligations onto the backs of a small group of elderly pensioners.
The lawsuit is continuing. Support pension rights in the U.S. by contributing at saveperacola.com. Friend Save Pera Cola on Facebook!