Author Archives: ColoradoPeakPolitics

Jared Polis has really outdone himself on promises he can’t keep to voters — now he’s promising prescription drugs from Canada.

He’s going to “create a system,” see, that will magically compel Congress to allow it.

Then we will need a system for doctors to relay all our scripts there, with assurances from Canada they won’t charge hefty export fees.

Ponies will then sprout magic wings and fly the medicine to our homes.

But why stop at Canada? Why doesn’t Polis promise us prescriptions from India where drugs produced in America are even cheaper?

Or better yet, why doesn’t he build a time machine and turn back the clock pre-Obamacare, before the price of drugs went through the ceiling with mandated health insurance for all?

Granted, drugs were costly before Obamacare*, but since that disaster passed, the prices have gone from pricy to outright unaffordable — like, more than our monthly mortgage unaffordable.

 

*Friendly reminder, Polis was a huge supporters of Obamacare

Brace yourself, America, for a political sideshow unseen since Anita Hill famously testified about pubic hairs during the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Christine Blasey Ford, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, now says that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh behaved badly when they were in high school.

She has accused Kavanaugh of pinning her to a bed during a house party in Maryland in the early 1980s, attempting to remove her clothes and putting his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. At the time of the alleged incident, Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17, she said, adding that Kavanaugh was drunk.

“I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford said. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.”

With a Senate committee vote on the nomination pending Thursday, many senators including our own Republican, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, says the accuser deserved to be heard before that vote.

“Senator Gardner believes that the Senate Judiciary Committee needs to interview Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh without delay to gather as many facts as possible.”

We agree she needs to be interviewed by the committee ASAP to get her side of the story we’ve only read about so far in a media that can’t stand the man who nominated Kavanaugh.

We’re not convinced that Ford herself should appear publicly as part of the confirmation process in front of the committee, because it will only lead to a dog-and-pony show like the one we previously referenced.

The behavior Ford describes is disturbing, even if it did happen 40-years ago among high schoolers. We would be more concerned if this was a pattern of behavior exhibited, in say, the last decade, or two, when Kavanaugh was an adult.

Yes Ford is a Democratic activist, but that aside, the committee should at least interview her to determine whether her accusations should become part of the record.

 

There’s a bizarre column in the Washington Post that proclaims Gov. Hickenlooper and President Trump are polar opposites.

That’s not the strange part, we would expect to see striking differences between the two. What’s odd is the Washington paper failed to make their case.

Granted, they were right that everyone knows who Trump is, and no one outside of Colorado has a clue who John Hickenlooper is, but are they “perfect opposites” as the Post proclaims?

Hickenlooper is pro-business, the article claims.

Whereas what? Billionaire businessman Trump is anti-business?

We told you this was bizarre.

Hickenlooper teamed up with a Republican to reform health care? Ahem, so did Trump.

Hick is also strongly in favor of immigration reform, whereas Trump campaigned on immigration reform and takes heat every time he tries to make reforms.

Hick is a moderate and … we don’t know what the polar opposite of a moderate is supposed to be. We can only assume it’s either liberal or conservative, in which case they have a point.

The only real differences mentioned that separate the two were gun control, amnesty for illegals, and marijuana legalization.

Which is pretty much the difference between most Democrats and Republicans.

It all comes to naught, because according to the Post, a moderate white guy doesn’t stand a chance of winning the 2020 Democratic nomination.

We don’t know exactly what Save Our State is, but a loyal reader sent us this video produced by Rachel Keane, daughter of former gubernatorial candidate Robert Blaha, that gives us insight into exactly what kind of job creation the election of Democrat Jared Polis would bring. And, to put it mildly, it stinks.

The video is a parody. It’s funny. It’s Monday. You could use a good laugh to chase away your hangover from #Grandoozy, right? You’re welcome.

“Local political groups,” none of which were properly identified as Democrats and barely numbered a dozen, held a meeting in Grand Junction Saturday they labeled a town hall just to yell about U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton not showing up.

This just a week after the Democratic nominee for governor Jared Polis chickened out of an actual debate with Republican opponent Walker Stapleton at Club 20 in Grand Junction.

Sorry “local political groups,” but Polis has set the standard this election for what it truly means to be a “no-show” candidate.

Holding random events with 12 people just to get media hits like this on Republicans like Tipton is way off target.

Last week, Majority Leader KC Becker endorsed the disastrous Proposition 112, which is, in effect, a ban on oil and gas development in Colorado. We scratched our heads. Usually Becker is a more reasonable legislator, not prone to irrational acts.

Then, we saw the 5280 piece, which was her take on the ouster of Democratic Rep. Lebsock, after a colleague accused him of inappropriate behavior. Spoiler alert: she did everything right, in contrast to Crisanta Duran, who actually promoted Lebsock after he had been accused of wrongdoing. In fact, the 5280 piece was so glowing about her leadership, it got us thinking. And we realized that all of this is a lead-up to Becker running for Speaker next year.

And then we realized just how self-centered and terrible Becker is. She would help destroy Colorado’s economy to advance her own political career.

Who does that?

If passed, Prop 112 mandates a 2,500-foot setback from any structure in oil and gas development, which would eliminate 85 percent of potential drilling locations in Colorado. According to a Protect Colorado study, Proposition 112 would eliminate over $26 billion annually in state GDP, more than $1 billion in tax revenue, and as many as 147,800 jobs by 2030. In fact, 77% of all jobs lost would be outside of the oil and natural gas industry including health care, retail, construction, real estate, hotel and food services.

Not to mention, it would send a very clear signal to businesses in Colorado that the state is closed to business.

But, hey, who cares about almost 150,000 jobs when you could be Speaker, right?

This afternoon, the Colorado Sun published one of the dumbest pieces of news this election cycle so far. Not to mention this isn’t even news. Because it’s not 2010.

According to the Sun, Lang Sias’ military record is stellar, but he refuses to discuss the details of a military event he attended at which 83 women and seven men were assaulted. Sias had nothing to do with the assault and nobody has ever suggested he has.

But the Colorado Sun came dangerously close:

“But Tailhook is a topic Sias is not willing to discuss in detail. In an interview this week, The Colorado Sun asked Sias at least nine times in a 17-minute interview about what he saw at Tailhook, but Sias refused to directly answer each time. Instead, he repeated iterations of the same line.

“I was never accused of doing anything wrong ever by anybody at any time,’ he told The Sun and its television partner, CBS4. ‘You’ve seen my records, and there’s no way that I would have the fitness reports that I have … if there were any blemishes on my record.'”

There are several problems here.

First, he did answer the questions. They just weren’t the answers that blockchain journalists wanted to hear.

Second, perhaps Sias has a reason for not wanting to discuss details – respect for victims, etc. Even if he doesn’t have a reason that acceptable to the folks at Colorado Sun, it’s his story. If he doesn’t want to go into graphic details, so what?

Third, the implication here is that he did something wrong – otherwise, why report on it? He was never even accused of improper behavior and he cooperated with authorities.

Fourth, this isn’t news. This came out in 2010. When we tried to rehash former Sen. Mark Udall’s drug charge after it had already been brought to light years earlier, the Denver Post told us to pound sand. It was old news. Why dredge this up now?

If the Colorado Sun wants to be taken seriously as a legit newspaper and not the slightly more mature and attractive cousin of ColoradoPols, rehashing an old story for kicks isn’t the way to do it.

Today, Republican U.S. Congressman Mike Coffman released a new ad that contrasts his life of service with Democratic challenger Jason Crow’s service of shady clients, which include a businessman sentenced in a VA fraud scheme, an insurance executive sentenced for fraud, and a consultant indicted for embezzling. Ouch. That’s some track record – oh, and his clients sound charming, too.

Just watch the video:

Last weekend’s Club 20 debate between Congressman Scott Tipton (R, CO-3) and his Democrat challenger Diane Mitsch Bush was amazing, in the literal sense of the word.

We’ve already reported on Mitsch Bush’s breathless exhortations denying her apparently Socialist past. For the record, when a candidate literally yells, “I am not a Socialist!” in the middle of a debate, he or she is unlikely winning the debate.

But that wasn’t the only ridiculous moment of the evening. In a discussion on Sanctuary Cities, attendees were treated to the following exchange:

TIPTON: But you support sanctuary cities?

MITSCH BUSH: I don’t support them, I don’t not.

What does that mean?

But wait! It gets better. On the subject of the Jordan Cove pipeline, a project that promises a massive economic windfall to the Western Slope (and enjoys the support of Governor Hickenlooper, Senators Bennet and Gardner, and Republican Gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton), Mitsch Bush instead joined creepy Boulder zillionaire Jared Polis by refusing to take a position:

MITSCH BUSH: Guess what? [The Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline to Jordan Cove] would go over agricultural lands in Oregon, what about eminent domain [in Oregon]? Right now, I haven’t taken a position.

TIPTON: Pretty easy, you’re either for it or you are against it. Why would you be against jobs, to be able to create them right here? You know I think when we look at a real difference between us, we have a person who’s saying “I don’t really want to support it, and I’ll figure out a way to try and stop it.” She may have missed, I just cited that we have orders right now, to be able to deliver it, contracts are in place, demand is there, and I will always submit that no one will outdo America when it comes to competition.

Some friendly advice to Mitsch Bush: Your best defense to being called a Socialist would be to retort, “I’m not! Socialists have actual policy positions. I don’t.”

Slap it on a bumper sticker, go forth, and prosper.

Republican Gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton visited Sterling on Monday to discuss a number of issues facing the Eastern Plains and rural Colorado, including the need for broadband. The discussion was regrettably undermined by an internet outage in the city precisely while Walker was in town, hurting attendance at the meet-and-greet.

From the Sterling Journal-Advocate:

“…according to Josh Sonnenberg, president of the Logan County Republican Party, several businesses in Sterling were affected by loss of Internet service Monday and that likely prevented business people from being able to break away.”

The same article would later note, “broadband is at the top of the list of Stapleton’s rural priorities.”

Topical, timely stuff, particularly given the urban-rural divide that Stapleton promises to bridge if elected Governor.

True to despicable form, national Democrats pounced on Stapleton’s efforts to work with rural Colorado, releasing a statement from their cozy confines in Washington, D.C. that mocks both the people of Sterling and Stapleton.

Never mind that Democrat nominee Jared Polis blew off the Western Slope altogether by skipping the critical Club 20 meetings in Grand Junction, or that he’s seemingly too busy creepily playing video games with teenagers to give Sterling more than a wave.

Colorado Democrats can’t help but show their disdain for rural Colorado. Polis would probably agree that his values don’t align with Coloradans outside the Denver-Boulder pocket of stinky #resistance.

That’s too bad, because there’s a big, beautiful state out there. He should get out sometime and let what remains of his hair blow in the breeze.