Author Archives: ColoradoPeakPolitics

Emboldened after her win against a party primary candidate she later conceded was not even much of a challenge, U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is making a party leadership play to run in the ranks alongside Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer.

Ironically, the National Journal reports DeGette might not be much of a challenger, and her own colleagues even doubt she will even follow through on her bid.

It seems the only folks who take DeGette seriously at all are the establishment Democratic voters in the 1st Congressional District who have reelected her for decades.

DeGette isn’t even trying to run a leadership campaign against an actual opponent, she’s just banking on a vacancy in case the world stops spinning and Democrats actually take back control of the House.
According to the National Journal, DeGette is already asking for support if that happens and if Pelosi is voted House Speaker and if Hoyer is voted majority leader.

That leaves a vacancy for the whip position and DeGette wants to be that whip.

DeGette already holds the honorary title of chief deputy whip, and reportedly told the Almanac of American Politics, “If the opportunity arose, I would love to be whip.

“I love to whip!” she continued.

She’s had the opportunity to run for whip before, but then chickened out citing the disruptiveness that an internal leadership struggle might cause for the party establishment.

Sounds like DeGette only wants to be whip if there’s no chance someone will run against her, and in the end all she gets is whipped.

There might be some confusion about who Colorado Rising is. We were confused. Is it an arm of America Rising, the group of political operatives dedicated to doing oppo on left-leaning candidates or a ragtag crew of environmentalists spouting off inaccuracies about the fracking process? The two groups happen to share a name. In this case, it’s the former.

In case you missed the flurry of video ads online from the group yesterday (we can’t seem to escape the online ads) you can view one here. We sat down (virtually) with the group to ask the group’s communications director, Lindsey Singer, a few questions about the new operation.

1) What are you guys doing in Colorful Colorado?

Colorado Rising Action sees that Colorado’s future is at a tipping point. We can either continue to tout an economy and lifestyle that is the envy of the nation, or we will tax and regulate ourselves into becoming mini-California. We will work alongside existing organizations and bring the expertise of America Rising Squared, using tracking, opposition research, and rapid response communications to hold elected officials accountable for their positions.

2) What are the most urgent public policy issues facing Colorado today?

Some of the issues we’re focusing on are energy and the environment, infrastructure, education funding, and opposing government-run health care. We will be closely watching candidates including Jared Polis and Jason Crow and their positions on these issues.

3) Does Colorado Rising plan to be here for the long haul, or is it a short-term project?

We’re planning to have a permanent presence in Colorado. This isn’t about one race or one candidate, it’s about how the policies will affect Coloradans.

4) What’s your favorite Colorado political blooper?

That time in 2014 when Mark Udall doubled down on his proclamation that ISIS didn’t pose an imminent threat and America Rising was there to catch it.

5) Rockies or Broncos?

At Colorado Rising Action we like our Rockies in the summer and our Broncos in the winter, and we’re fans of both year-round!

America Rising has produced some pretty bad-a$$ videos and research in the past, so we’re excited to see what the group will bring to Colorado. Welcome!

The town of Erie must just hate its taxpayers. That’s how we interpret it’s latest political stunt that happened earlier this week, banning fracking from the town until next year. Erie has been part of the oil and gas development fight since the beginning. Currently, Boulder enacted a two-year ban on oil and gas development in mid-May and Erie appears to be following suit.

Unfortunately for Erie’s residents, this new moratorium just opens the city up to potential lawsuits. Previous bans on energy development in locations like Longmont and other jurisdictions were overturned by litigation. Keep in mind, this litigation cost taxpayers thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars in the meantime.

Of course, that was before the Colorado Supreme Court set a precedent. Now, enacting a ban on energy development is just reckless.

Then, there is the cost to compensate mineral owners for the government preventing them from developing their property. A recent study published by the Colorado Alliance of Mineral and Royalty Owners, or CAMRO, found that banning oil and gas development could cost cities and counties billions. That would bankrupt local governments. That’s not what radical environmentalists are going for…is it?

Aurora has a winning campaign strategy for persuading voters to give the green light to the city’s practice of issuing traffic fines by using cameras posted at intersections.

They’re not going to tell voters the whole truth — the part where red-light ticketing can be expanded to fine those making illegal turns, speeding, and driving without insurance.

The cameras could also snap pictures of license plates on stolen cars, but other than issuing tickets to the owner of the since-stolen vehicle for traffic violations, we can’t see much good that would do.

If the city puts the issue to voters in the November election, they would only be asked if they want to keep the current red light system. They won’t be bothered about that other stuff, and 9News asked why that is:

“The answer to that question is no because that is going to be totally unrelated to the question. For us to do all of those things with red light cameras would be a major policy change, and that would go through an extended public outreach process,” Now-Mayor Bob LeGare told the station. “Once this is on the ballot, there’ll be some opposition group pointing all of these things out.”

That’s the problem with opposition, they tend to spout off about facts and why they oppose something.

Another year, another attempt by liberals to tax Coloradans to tarnation with Initiative 93, which submitted signatures to get on the ballot . This time, we get in a time machine to 2013, the year that Amendment 66 tanked by a two to one margin. The union proponents behind this measure think that they can fool Coloradans into thinking that the dollars from this initiative will actually reach classrooms so teachers can be paid more (they won’t).

Coloradans were not fools then and we doubt they’ve grown dumber over the years, we suspect they’ve grown smarter. So, when voters said no to a $1 billion tax increase, it’s strange that they’d ok a $1.6 billion tax increase. The Better Schools Coalition turned in 170,000 signatures from each of the state Senate districts, as now mandated, yesterday.

The proposed initiative would raise an additional $1.6 billion by freezing property taxes, which were expected to decrease. The initiative also would increase income taxes on individuals and corporations. The example offered by CBS‘ Shaun Boyd was that if you make $150,000, your taxes would increase by a mere $80, but those who make over $500,000 would see a $42,000 increase. Something doesn’t smell right there. That’s a huge leap.

Nonetheless, this is a really tough ask for voters. The state legislature just gave education the largest funding increase in a decade and the greedy teachers union wants more. Figures.

Did we miss some sort of cataclysmic shift of historical western values and fierce independence of voters on the Western Slope signaling the demise of Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in his November reelection bid?

We did not.

That tremor reported by the media that the 3rd Congressional Republican holding is on shaky ground turned out to be just wishful thinking.

The Cook Political Report has shifted their crystal ball prediction of that election from “solid” Republican to “likely” Republican, but it’s not based on any actual polling.

If Republican office-holders across the country go down in the flames of anti-Trump fervor, the Cook Report says the 3rd District is “worth watching in a wave.”

State Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, a social policy professor from wealthy Steamboat Springs who grew up in Minnesota, won the June 26 Democratic primary with 64 percent. She emphasizes her ranch conservation efforts, but may have a hard breaking out of the liberal stereotype.

Bush will have a hard time breaking out of her liberal stereotype, because she is the liberal stereotype.

According to our own crystal ball mined from the depths of the Rocky Mountains, Tipton’s seat is safe.

Well, this has to be the strangest blue on blue violence we’ve seen in a while. The Colorado Alliance of Mineral and Royalty Owners (CAMRO) issued a press release today showing that Colorado’s public schools could “face extreme financial hardship” if Initiative 97, a potential ballot measure to expand drill site setbacks to 2,500 feet from occupied buildings, passes. So, which God to pray to, Democrats? Public schools or the environment?

Through a Colorado Open Records Act request, CAMRO uncovered the fact that since 1980, Colorado’s public schools have received more than $560 million in revenue from the Colorado Land Board’s interests in the Wattenberg Field alone. According to the way Initiative 97 is written, operating wells will still be able to produce, but new exploration within the setback areas will not be permitted, nor will operators be able to re-open capped wells in those areas. The ballot measure could prevent the state from taking advantage of new technology in oil and gas development.

Each year, the Land Board distributes 95% of its revenue the the state’s School Trust, and the remaining five percent across eight other trusts, which were mostly formed for the benefit of various educational entities.

The School Trust is managed for the benefit of Colorado’s K-12 public schools, as well as for a special fund that is used to support various infrastructure and capital improvement projects for public schools across the state.

Under Initiative 97, 85% of Colorado land that is not owned by the federal government would be off limits for new oil and gas production, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee. In Weld County, the state’s most significant oil producing county, 78% of the land would be restricted.

A retired teacher and mineral owner from Arvada, Cristy Koeneke, said that Initiative 97 “would be a huge blow to public education here in Colorado, and teachers and school districts are already facing serious budget shortfalls.”

If Colorado schools already are in a bind, taking away tens of millions of dollars from the pot will only make things worse. But what do you expect from a party who fronts a guy who lights money on fire to prove a point as its gubernatorial candidate.

Today, we are venturing a few miles north of the state line to bring you a dispatch from Laramie, where a group of University of Wyoming professors are calling for the university to trash its new marketing slogan “the world needs more cowboys.”  Why you may ask? These adults are offended by a theme that they consider “sexist.”

In a statement, dripping with irony, Christine Porter, the professor behind this absurdity, was quoted in the Laramie Boomerang yesterday saying, “I also care about us not embarrassing ourselves across the nation,” and that the positive image of a cowboy “does not translate” outside of the Rocky Mountain West.

Maybe this university professor is not familiar with the Marlboro Man, perhaps the most globally recognized brand in the history of marketing.  Or maybe she missed that entire genre of movies that we call “Westerns,” that tell the stories of Americans settling the Mountain West.  Glad we have such worldly and resilient profs up there at UW.

Porter further reveals her twisted logic by proclaiming “For me, the clearest reason it’s unacceptable is the word ‘boy,’ excluding anyone who identifies as female.” Scary thing is that occupants of the ivory tower actually invest meaningful time and resources debating such strange nuance.

But there is hope.  Unlike some other schools, Wyoming has opted not to take the rankings of faculty with too much time on their hands seriously.  The university’s communications department said that the marketing campaign will go on as planned.

Looks like our neighbors to the north just barely dodged a bullet here (are we allowed to say that?). Maybe a few more student protests or acts of Twitter democracy would have thrown the University of Wyoming Cowboys onto the pile of schools shelving their so-called oppressive mascots.

Who saw that coming?

In reporting Republican Walker Stapleton’s pick for lieutenant governor, the media were quick to jump on the politics of the choice and the political background of Lang Sias of Arvada.

But what most failed to mention, Sias is a working man.

He’s a pilot for FedEx and a military veteran. He also earned a law degree and specialized in technology, and yes, he currently serves in the state House.

Did we mention Sias was a former Navy Top Gun pilot? Because that is seriously cool, and we will be repeating that a lot this political season.

He also used to be a Democrat, but saw the light back a couple of decades ago and switched parties.

Today, Sias is what the media would call a moderate Republican, and that’s what they are hailing him as — a moderate pick.

Democrats were quick to try and rain on the Republican parade by accusing the dynamic duo of plotting to steal everyone’s health care, kill cancer patients, and end abortions.

Not only is it a contrary message, but it’s full of ugly lies devised by a desperate Democratic leader and echoed by party sycophants to divert attention from their candidates who are desperate to appeal to voters outside of Boulder.

Politically speaking, far-left millionaire Jared Polis and his leftist running mate, an executive with a multi-million dollar foundation, have a lock on the wealthy, elitist Democrat vote.

Meanwhile, Stapleton has continued to reach out to all Coloradans, and proved it yet again with selection for running mate.

We whole-heartedly applaud Stapleton’s choice with Sias, and are excited about this winning Republican ticket.

The federal government’s decision to lease land on the other side of the mountains, and miles away from the Great Sand Dunes National Park, has been delayed so the feds can consult with the Navajo Nation.

Of course there are no Navajo reservation lands in the entire state of Colorado.

But, after months of wrangling from the Sierra Club to block the lease any way possible, it is suddenly discovered the Navajo Nation owns 26 acres somewhere north of the proposed site.

We don’t know how near or far that property is from the proposed leases, because the media conveniently keeps forgetting to inform us.

What we do know, is the Navajos only purchased the property last year, which is when the lease sale was announced.

And guess what? The Navajos now say the whole area is sacred to them, again, for reasons unknown except that it’s very pretty.

When it comes to environmental politics, there’s no such thing as a coincidence.
Those radical elites at the Sierra Club are experts at manipulating the masses to oppose energy production.

At the same time, the Earth-hugging groups manage to line their own pockets with millions of dollars collected by unwitting sympathizers.

The Sierra Club, which has collaborated in the past with the Navajo Nation, it’s no coincidence they would do so again.

We seriously doubt the sudden investment last year by the Navajos of land somewhere in the vicinity of an energy lease sale opposed by the Sierra Club is just a coincidence.

The media are too afraid to question the motives of either group, for that would be politically incorrect.

But we question it, and we think the whole land deal stinks to high Heaven.