Jeffco Round-Up

Some notes from today's Jefferson County event that drew a couple hundred people and almost 50 candidates. Unfortunately I was only able to attend a few of the candidate events and will only be able to talk about the Senate, Governor's and CD-7 races.


Senate Race
Tom Wiens: presentation was good. Wiens was able to relate his answers all back to his business experience and conservative record in the Colorado Senate like when he spoke of never voting for a tax increase.

Cleve Tidwell: his first presentation was energetic. Cleve was able to give direct responses and relate his business experience. What Cleve does better then on stage though, is one-on-one conversations with the people which he did in all his free time.

Jane Norton: her very rehearsed opening statement was surprisingly energetic. However, when questions were asked you get not get a more vague response. Jane is out of touch. Just one example is when she called on us to look back at the elections of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Unless she means when John McCain won the New Hampshire primaries, I don't know why she would point us in that direction since she probably meant New Jersey...big difference.

Ken Buck: loud which was nice in a room that you could barely hear. Buck stood strong on his record as Weld County DA, cutting crime and cracking down on illegal immigration. I also saw Buck doing many one-on-one conversations as well.

Steve Barton: they few times I could hear him I heard something about how he had to flush twice yesterday to get the toilet to work and somehow that relates to his campaign.

Governor Race
Scott McInnis: showed up late and paid for it. You could barely even hear the man even though it seemed like he was yelling to get his point across the room. Looks like he has acknowledged that Maes is serious competition finally and can't keep skipping all these events.

Dan Maes: was in line with pretty much everything McInnis said only louder and more effective. If you have not gone to one of these events go, because Maes has a lot of support from all different people. I saw Norton, Tidwell, Buck, Frazier and Sias people all wearing his sticker. Dan Maes is going to get on the ballot and everyone should start debating between themselves whether he can beat McInnis at the convention.
CD-7 Race
Mike Sheely: his thick accent and crowded room prevented me from hearing too much from Sheely, though he is a pleasant guy and isn't afraid to answer questions.

Lang Sias: This former democrat wasn't able to make his presence heard in the room. I had absolutely no idea what he said besides a few words here and there.

Jimmy Lakey: You can definitely tell Lakey was in the radio business with his booming voice. His point was for smaller government.

Ryan Frazier: Frazier didn't even need a mic and everyone heard him. If I was Ed Perlmutter, I would be more fearful of Frazier than anyone else. He can raise the cash and even topped Perlmutter, he is extremely charismatic and a great Obama-style speaker, only minus the big government helps garbage.

Mike Deeming: There wasn't anything great about him, but nothing horrible either. Deeming is overshadowed by his peers Frazier and Lakey with their loud presence and Sheely who's cow-boy hat cannot be missed in a crowd.

One thing I can tell you is every time I go to these events I come out more undecided then when I went in because of the great candidates there. Throughout the month we will get candidate interviews posted to help you and me decided whom to support at the caucus on March 16.

First To Sign Conservative Pledge

Tom Wiens (Candidate US Senate) pledges to...
Cleve Tidwell (Candidate US Senate) pledges to...
Mike Sheely (Candidate CD-7) pledges to...
Jimmy Lakey (Candidate CD-7) pledges to...

1) Protect our nation and state from foreign and domestic terrorists

2) Only vote for balanced budgets (in non-war or crisis years)
3) Protect the sanctity of life
4) Protect the 10th amendment and State’s Rights
5) Support eliminating all pork-barrel and wasteful spending
6) Support ending earmark bills and acknowledge that the people, state and local governments know best how to spend hard earned, tax-payer money to benefit the community over the federal government
7) Support pro-business bills that will spur our economy, create, maintain and bring jobs to Colorado by lowering tax burdens, reducing nonsense red-tape and business regulation, reducing the federal deficit, leaving decisions up to the people and not the government and by supporting capitalism
8) Support a decrease in taxes on all Americans whenever permitted to further spur economic growth and prosperity and to make the cost of living more affordable
9) Not take money or gifts from lobbyists in return for supporting, signing, vetoing, voting for, voting against or medaling or interfering with legislation or law
10) Protect, defend, and uphold The Constitution of the United States of America
11) And encourage all others to do the same

Conservative Pledge

Colorado Political News “Conservative Pledge”


I_____________________________________, candidate for __________________________ pledge to,

1) Protect our nation and state from foreign and domestic terrorists
2) Only vote for balanced budgets (in non-war or crisis years)
3) Protect the sanctity of life
4) Protect the 10th amendment and State’s Rights
5) Support eliminating all pork-barrel and wasteful spending
6) Support ending earmark bills and acknowledge that the people, state and local governments know best how to spend hard earned, tax-payer money to benefit the community over the federal government
7) Support pro-business bills that will spur our economy, create, maintain and bring jobs to Colorado by lowering tax burdens, reducing nonsense red-tape and business regulation, reducing the federal deficit, leaving decisions up to the people and not the government and by supporting capitalism
8) Support a decrease in taxes on all Americans whenever permitted to further spur economic growth and prosperity and to make the cost of living more affordable
9) Not take money or gifts from lobbyists in return for supporting, signing, vetoing, voting for, voting against or medaling or interfering with legislation or law
10) Protect, defend, and uphold The Constitution of the United States of America
11) And encourage all others to do the same

We sent our pledge to all state-wide and federal office candidates that we could reach. If you are a candidate running for anything else or did not recieve an e-mail from us and would like to take the pledge, please contact us at coloradopoliticalnews@gmail.com.

McConnell Challenges Tipton To Debate

Candidate for CD-3, Bob McConnell today challenged State Rep. Scott Tipton to a debate before the assemblies in March. A bold move by McConnell, but in his press release he critized Tipton for working on McGinnis' campaigns. So we can't tell how serious this guy is if he doesn't know Scott McInnis' name.

Vail 912 Project Candidate Q and A Notes

I was able to attend the Vail 912 Project today. No, I don’t live in the area, but long story short, I was able to be there. Gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes, sat, once again, alone at the gubernatorial candidate table. Turns out McInnis skipped an event that has people that will ask him questions…again. Senate candidate, Cleve Tidwell also attended as well as Debra Irvine, candidate for HD 56.


Every time I see Maes speak he’s gotten better, and now, he’s not just pretty good, but very good. I have no doubt in my mind Maes will get on the ballot, he may even pass McInnis out in the delegate vote at the convention, though 71% is stretching it at this point. Maes started off attacking McInnis for never showing up to any meetings. He said he doesn’t want a candidate whose slogan is “I don’t like the guy, but he has the money” or “I don’t like the guy, but the machine is behind him”. Maes said that the Governor represents the people and answers to them. Maes continues to prove his leadership skills, needed in the Governor’s office. He isn’t afraid to make the tough decisions and admits it when he is wrong. When talking about Ritter’s partisan Supreme Court, Maes said the job of the judicial branch is to “interpret” the law. A roused attendee interrupted saying he disagrees that the judicial branch should interpret the law. Maes calmly said he stood corrected and used poor word choice and went along with the attendee to say “apply” the law. Maes was able to stop the beginning of angry debates between two members of the crowd in a swift movement and turn the attention back on his presentation for Colorado, the reason the group came in the first place. Maes plans to cut 4,000 employees from the state government the day he’s in office and will work to reform PERA, our state version of social security for state employees. He said he is going to reform the whole system and pretty much kick everyone out of the leadership since only one member of the board in charge of PERA is NOT on PERA’s payroll. Maes knows his stuff and knows it well. He isn’t afraid of Hickenlooper or any other democrat because he is standing one business experience, proven leadership and a proven fiscal conservative record that the state is wanting right now. Maes had to go to a meeting across the street and decided to not take up too much of our time, which was appreciated.

When Tidwell spoke, he constantly went back to the point that if we don’t do something in 2010 and 2012, our country will turn socialistic. Tidwell has lived in socialist countries before and I believe him when he says he knows what it looks like. He told the crowd that our of the 10 points on the communist manifesto, we have accomplished ALL of them. But he said that there’s one thing that Marx says. He says that in order for any of this to happen, you have to control the single largest piece of the economy, that’s health care. Tidwell asked the crowd, why do you think that they are working so much on health care right now? Tidwell did say that “Obama was the best thing that happened for this country. Because if it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” He said we would not have been active if it wasn’t for that wake-up call. He disagrees with all he’s done, but he is glad Obama was the wake-up call for this nation. Tidwell also said that the Congress is going to be focusing on Amnesty, he said that they will keep it hidden until the last moment, but it’s going to come. When Reagan granted amnesty they thought there would be 1 million people to be given it, it turned out to be 3 million. Tidwell said what happens now when we think it’s 15 million and it turns out to be 30 million? That’s a huge voter block that the democrats will control, and now that have control of pretty much every state. Tidwell argued we need to focus on enforcing our current immigration laws. If we do that, we will regain the security of our country again because it’s not just poor fellows in Mexican that wants to get a better wage, it’s terrorists that are sneaking in as well. Tidwell told us of his background all over, from being the only veteran in the race, to working on a fortune 500 company, to having to work with heads of governments of over 20 countries. An interesting story that struck me was Tidwell said in 2002 he was in China with some of his buddies who were high up in the government. They were out one night and the two guys had some drinks and started bragging to Cleve that their military was creating a navy. What did we hear just this summer? China had a navy. He said the ships were being built underground and once done were floated up without their guns on, but which could be attached right away if necessary. Tidwell asked us why hasn’t our government known about this? If there is something I trust about Cleve Tidwell, it’s his international knowledge. Working in the federal government is really about international relations. We have a little thing called the Constitution and it says all powers not listed right here for the Congress to do or federal government, are to be given to the states and the people. Dan Maes talked about this too. We don’t have to have government in our lives, Tidwell said he didn’t want it on our lives. He argued the best thing we can do for educating is give the money to the communities to teach the kids and that we should run the schools like an “NFL team”. At the end of the day we’ll look at teacher’s evaluations and their students grades and we’ll keep the good ones and trade out the bad ones. Tidwell said he was a supporter of the FairTax, were there’s only a single consumption tax. He said it was not a flat tax, but it was a flat rate. You don’t have to be taxed on productivity anymore or what you earn. The government doesn’t need to know what property you own, now we have some privacy again. If you want to save your money, save it and you don’t have to pay as much tax. You want to spend your money, get some nice stuff because you think you’ve earned it, go right away. He said the calculations have been done by a lot of economists and if the numbers are anywhere close to what they predict, it’s going to work out really well. Something surprisingly was that Tidwell said he was opposed to a balanced budget amendment in the federal government, but for a balanced budget. He said that if the government has to make the budget balanced, chances are they won’t cut enough in bad times to make up for it, they’ll raise your taxes. Smart move.

Overall it was a good meeting, I encourage you to attend as many events as you can to get to know the candidates. Make sure to stay active voice your opinion, otherwise you will surely be forgotten.

Salazar Should Start Running

Scott Tipton reported raising over $100,000 in only 46 days. Tipton is facing John Salazar in CD-3. If there is one year to take that seat, it must be this year. Not to mention Tipton only spent $3,000 and has gotten his name around the district quiet effectively.

Total raised in the 4Q 2009

$108,836
Cash-on-hand $105,321
Total raised from Colorado $104,482 (96%)
Total raised from Individuals $108,836 (100%)
43% giving less then $250

Scott Brown for Senate

Scott Brown has the business and military background to start the turnaround of Washington to put government back in the hands of real-world people with real-world solutions. Brown knows from experience, to turn around our economy, we need to make the US the best place to do business in. We have to cut through useless red-tape and lower taxes that hurt jobs and productivity. We can trust Scott on military and foreign policy issues with him being a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard. Not only is Scott Brown the right choice, recent polling numbers have put him ahead of his democratic rival in a very liberal state.
It's been less than a year of Obama's liberal policies, and even the most liberal states in the nation are crying out for conservative change that will turn this economy around and clean up this mess.

Hickenlooper Is The Dem's Choice

The candidate with the least baggage, yet not stellar at all. Hickenlooper is out of touch with rural and suburban Colorado. As Mayor, his overwhelmingly unachievable projects are still, unachievable. He also clearly has no idea politically, how to handle this.

"Some people out there still don't know who I am. My name is John Hickenlooper, and I want to be the next governor of Colorado."

Actually, a bunch of us think we know who you are. In reality, Colorado only knows the candidate Hickenlooper, not the actual elected official. We remember is waky commercials and awesome campaign promises, but don’t remember what he actually did and accomplished in office. How is that effort to end homelessness in 10 years going for ya Hick? It’s also great he wants to be Governor, bunch of us want to be Governor, that doesn’t mean we’re qualified are running for the right reasons. Now that there is a candidate in the race, it will be almost impossible for Romanoff to jump in this without looking like just another politician looking for a job. He would however, have a strong foundation for the caucuses and assemblies in the next few months.

Upcoming GOP Legislation

The Colorado Legislative Republicans have issued out their upcoming legislation. Here's a quick preview with some of our thoughts on the bills.

Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud)--Repeal the car tax

In 2009, majority Democrats pushed through a $250 million annual car tax. The measure raised vehicle registration fees by an average of $36 and imposes a punitive $100 late fee. Lundberg is sponsoring a bill that will repeal portions of the car tax, dubbed FASTER, starting with the $100 late fee.

This bill will probably be one of the most popular by Coloradoans, the silent but deadly Ritter car tax during the worst of times was a horrible move by democrats. How are we suppose to get people to invest in our economy again when we keep taking their money away? There already is a vehicle registration fee, why do we need to pay so much more and why do so many Coloradans have to pay a $100 late fee when they've barely heard of the program? If you want revenue, you've got to make it easy for the consumer to buy and be productivity at the work place.

Sen. Nancy Spence (R-Centennial)--Reform Teacher Tenure

Under the current law, teachers spend their first three years of the job on probation. This means that a teacher is observed more often and evaluated more frequently than those who have achieved tenure or non-probationary status. After three years, school principals or administrators decide whether to tenure a teacher or move her to non-probationary status. Once off probation, the evaluation process becomes far more informal.

The process for getting rid of a tenured teacher is difficult and costly. Short of child abuse, tenured teachers are almost guaranteed to keep their jobs forever. Sen. Nancy Spence, of Centennial, has a bill that aims to reform teacher tenure by increasing the probationary period from three years to five years. It will also require tenured teachers to be re-evaluated every five years in order to renew their tenure status.

A bill very likely to be attacked by democrats and the teacher's union, yet extremely beneficial to our school system. There are some really good experienced teachers and some really bad, why would it make any sense to keep teachers that don't know what they are teaching and ineffective in our schools? How can we want Colorado's public schools to succeed when the students are taught by people who have less knowledge of the subject then the teachers and ineffective teaching styles that hurt, not help the class. It's time to great responsible in government and our schools.

Sen. Josh Penry (R-Grand Junction)—Government Reduction Legislation


Penry will be carrying a bill aimed at creating a more focused, efficient government that can provide essential services without asking for more taxes and fees. Highlights of the bill would include abolishing the executive director of the Department of Local Affairs and place those responsibilities with the Lieutenant Governor. It would combine boards and commissions and institute a real hiring freeze.

What better way to save money then make the government more efficient and effective? Instead of raising taxes, contributing to the worsening of our economy, let's use our government revenue to spend on programs that are effective and needed instead on programs that are inefficient and pointless. And how about actually giving responsibility to the Lieutenant Governor instead of paying them to sit around. We could save a ton of money this way. This reform is needed.

Rep. Cindy Acree (R-Aurora)—Allow for the purchase of health insurance across state lines


As Federal legislation creates an unfunded mandate for states to provide health insurance, Acree’s bill would open Colorado’s borders and allow residents to purchase their coverage from other states. The competition would lower the cost for consumers, while also providing them with more coverage options.

 Increasing competition is what we need right now. Competition creates lower costs yet more effective products. Allowing Coloradoans to go across borders to purchase health care will give them even more options for affordable, quality health care that they can pick instead of being stuck with the costs of Colorado. This is a good first step in effective health care reform.

Rep. B.J. Nikkel (R-Loveland)—Force the current administration to fully implement the Taxpayer Transparency Act.

Last session, Nikkel sponsored a bill that required details of state spending and revenues to be posted online. The bill initially encountered resistance, mainly from Ritter’s office, but eventually passed with broad bi-partisan support. When the first bits of state spending were posted online, Nikkel was disappointed to discover the data had been aggregated, therefore, offering little insight into state spending.

Nikkel will run a bill this session to better define the intent of her legislation and require more detailed data be provided to the public.

It's time we found out how our money is being spent with a straight honest answer. Coloradans should have the right to see how our government uses are hard earned money. This will force the government to spend effectively. What is there to hide if there isn't anything to be ashamed of or worry about?

Rep. Marsha Looper (R-Calhan) –No Guantanamo detainees in Colorado


Ever since President Barack Obama vowed to close Gitmo, the question of where to move the enemy combatants has haunted his administration. Colorado’s own ADX supermax prison in Florence has been discussed as a possible location for the prisoners. Looper’s bill would bar Gitmo detainees from being moved to the supermax in Florence.

The only person in Colorado that wants terrorists here is Governor Ritter and boy is he wrong. It's one thing to end torture, it's another thing to bring these terrorists in populated areas of the United States with the ability, however small chance, to escape. Not to mention the mess we'll have with the judical branch on if these terrorists that are now in the US get a right to trial, council, etc. Terrorism should be non-negotiable. How is it possible our own government doesn't get this?
2010 will be a good year for Coloradans if we 1) get these common sense solution bills passed to the benefit of the people and our economy and 2) when we replace incompetent leaders with real leadership that we've been waiting for a long time. The fight starts now and I know which side I'm on. Are you with us?

Democratic Gubernatorial Run Down

Will Ken Salazar out, there's less work to do.


John Hickenlooper (4-1)
Hickenlooper is the likable and the greatest maverick as well as the best in the race that can show he isn't partisan politics. However, he has not shown leadership as mayor. Promising the end to homelessness in 10 years isn't working out so well. Creating part of the the clean light rail, but then letting it slip by getting the rest to be powered by coal, as well as high taxes to pay for it. 2010 is the year you don't want the words "high taxes" next to your name. However is favorability is high, why? The media loves him and all people can remember is the Hickenlooper FOR Mayor guy, not the Mayor Hickenlooper. People love his promises, but his actions are less then stellar. Still, he will have funding and with a new haircut, will probably be the GOP's worst opponent. They still can paint him as an urban, tax hike, poor leadership candidate, which is partly what they painted Ritter as.

Andrew Romanoff (5-1)
A much better candidate then Hickenlooper, but switching races shows only one thing, his want of power, not of helping people. With Romanoff gone though, Bennet will be stronger in the Senate race with his tons of cash raised to keep the puppet in. Romanoff has shown by running against Bennet that he isn't a rubber stamp for the Democratic Party, which could play well. His Senate campaign has been a disaster though, it seems he isn't even in the race and he won't have a chance running like this in the Governor's race. Romanoff has a record of leadership, even if it is liberal, something Ritter lacked and Colorado wants. It still will be very diffacult for Romanoff to jump into this race though, but if he does, he could win.

Ed Perlmutter (6-1)
The one benefit of Perlmutter, is money. Perlmutter is sitting on a mountain of cash he's raised up, which he may need for his Congressional race if he chooses not to go for this now that the GOP has real candidates in the race wanting his seat. If Perlmutter does run for Governor, the GOP has a high chance of picking up this seat (CD-4 is on the top of the list anyway) giving the Republicans a majority again. Perlmutter though, has only shown a love for power. All he wants is higher office, he's not in it for the people, but the title. When Ritter needed to appoint a Senator, everyone said "Romanoff" while Perlmutter wanted it, it will be a tougher sell to the people of Colorado though in a 30 second commercial then if it was Romanoff who would be switching races. Perlmutter has been a liberal and union rubber stamp, unpopular now in Colorado. He won't be able to move to the middle with no record of doing so

John Salazar (10-1)
Without his brother Ken in the race, John could run, but it doesn't seem likely. The Latino vote made up 30% in the prior election an expected to be up to 35% in 2010. The GOP cannot win if there is a huge outcome in the Latino community voting against them. Salazar also is a rancher, a plus. He's from the west which could be a plus if McInnis beats Dan Maes who is also from the west. Salazar though, can't prove he's a blue-dog, fiscal conservative anymore. He voted for the stimulus and health care public option. Colorado cares more about electing a fiscal conservative then a social libertarian or moderate and Salazar doesn't fit that ticket. It also seems like the Republicans may have a chance to pick up his seat as well in 2010, so if he leaves his seat, the Republicans almost are certain to win the third back.

Terrance Caroll (25-1)
The Speaker of the House is not mentioned, but still a possibility. However it is past very unlikely, so we won't spend too much time on him. Caroll is young and a minority which could bring in young and minority democrats to the polls which would help swing the race. Caroll is a strong liberal though, helping pass bills in the House that most of us think are unreasonable like strange and high new taxes, more government control, wasteful spending and less efficient government.

Diana DeGette (30-1)
Though if she comes into this race her Denver seat will be safe for democrats, DeGette is by far, the most liberal politician in Colorado. She would be not be able to win the general and would lose by double digits. DeGette started the movement to block the health care bill if covering abortions was not included in it. She has been a clear rubber stamp for the far left. She has only supported tax hikes, wasteful and inefficient spending and government control. Colorado is a libertarian leaning state, and in 2010 the focus is on economic issues, which Colorado stays on the right, DeGette would not even be able to paint herself has a moderate-liberal. She could not win and most likely will not even be mentioned in the talks for who will succeed Ritter.
Cary Kennedy (50-1)
Has been elected state-wide, barely, yet is the most likely person in Colorado to lose re-election. She is being out-raised 2-1 and almost 4-1 by the total Republican funds in the race. She has shown irresponsibility in her position as state Treasurer and has not even taken leadership on fiscal issues, being excluding from important general assembly meetings. If Kennedy is the choice, she will lose by possibly the greatest margin ever and the Treasurer seat will be solid Republican.

BREAKING NEWS: Ritter Won't Seek Re-election

WASHINGTON (AP) - AP sources: Colorado Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter won't seek re-election this fall.

Conservative Video Rises To Power

Less then 48 hours, 48,000 views.