Buck, Bennet split on personhood’s impacts on contraception

Republican U.S Senate candidate Ken Buck’s campaign says the Weld County DA supports birth control if it does not stop the implantation of a zygote in the uterine wall, while incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign this week said the senator believes in choice.

Top stories:

Water analysts refute Maes’ claim: ‘If it starts in Colorado, it’s our water’

If elected governor in November, Republican Dan Maes said that he might be inclined to turn his back on a century of water law. He told the Colorado Water Congress Saturday, speaking of water rights, “If it starts in Colorado, it’s our water.”


Vital undocumented workers victims of wage theft, shifting laws

Jacinta Gonzalez, an organizer with the Congress of Day Laborers in New Orleans, tells a story about the abuse of workers rebuilding the city after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She once met a man who went to his employer’s house to demand payment for his labor on a construction site after the employer stiffed him of his dues. The man’s boss came at him, swinging a hammer. The worker immediately called the police.


Suthers campaign cash hangs over payday loan hearing

Attorney General John Suthers is not writing the new rules that will govern the payday loan industry in Colorado. That’s why he is playing down the $10,000 in campaign donations he has received from the industry, saying the cash won’t influence the final contours of the new state regulations. The person writing the rules, Laura Udis, has worked in the attorney general’s department of consumer protection for more than two decades. She told the Colorado Independent that Suthers has so far not been involved in her work on the path-breaking payday legislation that was passed in the spring and that she expects Suthers to remain uninvolved.


Hickenlooper, Garcia unveil education plan, promise no new taxes

Democratic candidate for governor John Hickenlooper today unveiled his education plan. Accompanied by Lt Gov. candidate Joe Garcia, the president of CSU-Pueblo, Hickenlooper said the CSAP testing currently being used in Colorado isn’t working and needs to be replaced by something that teachers, students, parents and administrators can support.


GOP commish candidate says opponent conflicted for serving on state board

A Republican ski area general manager challenging an incumbent Democratic county commissioner in gas-rich Garfield County says winter sports, outdoor recreation and tourism there are no more threatened by drilling than other parts of the state are impacted by alternative energy.


Bennet decries GOP opposition to Small Business Jobs Act

DENVER–Speaking Thursday at a small dog-grooming shop, Sen. Michael Bennet said small businesses weathering the recession needed the relief provided by greater access to loans, something he hoped to provide through the Small Business Jobs Act he said was falling victim to partisan gamesmanship.


CU J-school shakeup as much about marketing, management as education

The University of Colorado Boulder made a grand spectacle and garnered a great deal of media coverage in announcing Wednesday that it was formally considering shuttering its school of journalism, which has been awarding degrees for the past six decades. Media reports began posting from the moment of the announcement and have been multiplying and rocketing around the news landscape for the past 48 hours.


SD 16 candidate Leonard brings far-right baggage to key state Senate race

State Senate District 16 candidate Tim Leonard shocked the mainstream Republican Party and a lot of Democrats when he trounced moderate 5th Judicial District Attorney Mark Hurlbert at the GOP’s SD 16 assembly back in May. Portraying himself as pro-business and anti-big-government, Leonard seemingly rode a tea party wave of disaffection to a 71 to 29 percent victory over Hurlbert, who had the backing of mainstream Republicans like state Sen. Al White and Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry.


Tancredo’s sanctuary city claims simply don’t stand up to closer scrutiny

Is Denver a sanctuary city? American Constitution Party candidate for governor Tom Tancredo says it is. Democratic nominee and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper says it is not. When asked for the basis of his claims, Tancredo spokesman Leo Jankowski said Denver Executive Order 116, signed by Mayor Wellington Webb in 1998, makes Denver a sanctuary city.


Blog

RSSRSS 2.0 Feed

GOP heat is on to get Maes out of gov’s race by Friday

Will GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes step down? Pressure is mounting. Wednesday former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown withdrew his endorsement of Maes.

At the same time, former Congressman Bob Beauprez, who lost to Gov. Bill Ritter in the last gubernatorial election, came out publicly to ask Maes to step down. Beauprez has indicated he would consider stepping in to fill a vacancy if Maes withdrew, according to the Colorado Statesman.


More »


Tea party weary George Will likes Buck as an educated anti-birther

George Will is a Republican from a pre-Palin era. He doesn’t look anything like the YouTube Republicans who showed up to McCain-Palin rallies in 2008 and who show up at tea party rallies now. He is a writer not a blogger. He wears a bow tie. He attended Oxford and took degrees at Trinity and Princeton. And he is glowing in a column today about U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, who Will feels manages somehow to be supported by the tea party but mercifully not of the tea party.


More »


Buck talks gays, dope and student loans off camera at CU

BOULDER– GOP U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck Wednesday met with Colorado College Republicans at the Colorado University campus here. He reiterated the wide-brush small-government fiscal-conservative positions he has articulated on the stump for the last year, dipping only lightly into social issues and policy specifics during a question and answer session. Nevertheless, Buck pointed out a Democratic Party tracker at the back of the room and asked that all videos be turned off after his introductory remarks.

“You see the guy in the back with the blue shirt on? He’s got a hidden microphone and he works for the Democratic Party and he usually films me wherever I go. Luckily all the cameras are turned off today,” said Buck.


More »


Political science prof uncovers MO behind Maes’ undercover cop claims

How to explain GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes’ now-suspect claims that he was an undercover officer with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s?

It’s really pretty simple, according to Colorado College political science professor Bob Loevy: “I think we have to keep in mind that in order to get elected, candidates have to do things that are notable, and they have to plead their case.”


More »


Polis touts ‘carbon neutral’ Boulder home, pushes for more retrofits

BOULDER — U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, and local renewable energy leaders gathered on the rooftop patio of a “carbon neutral” home in Boulder on Tuesday to publicize Boulder County efforts to lower local residential and commercial utility bills through energy retrofit programs and to kick off the upcoming Solar & Green Homes Tour.

Boulder County has been ratcheting up energy retrofit programs after the U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded a $25 million Better Buildings grant to three counties in Colorado – Boulder, Denver and Garfield. Under the federal grant, local energy retrofit programs will help property owners gain access to rebates and financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrade projects.


More »


‘Young Gun’ Gardner part of campaign touting mocked Ryan Roadmap

Colorado GOP candidate for Congress Cory Gardner was selected one of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Gun” candidates in July. The NRCC program provides fundraising and strategy assistance. It will also now be tied to that highly touted innovative and bold but really flim-flamming sham of a plan called the “Roadmap for America’s Future” presented by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan because, as Steve Benan pointed out yesterday, Ryan’s bad idea has been included in the new paperback manifesto called “Young Guns” authored by Ryan as well as Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The book includes Ryan’s Roadmap along with other of the main GOP ideas promoted over the last year and it is being published by Cantor’s political action committee. In other words, it is time to put the question point blank to Republicans in Congress or running for Congress like Cory Gardner: Is the Ryan Roadmap the official position of the Republican Conference? It’s a yes or no question, the answer to which should be met with a calculator.


More »


AG’s Udis sides with consumers in payday rulemaking

DENVER — After four hours of testimony and deliberation in the old Supreme Court chambers of the state Capitol, First Assistant Attorney General Laura Udis decided to reverse her proposed payday lending rules and effectively reinsert consumer protections which she said are more in line with the spirit of the law passed last legislative session.

Payday lenders will now be forced to refund so-called origination or acquisition fees up to $75 when borrowers repay loans.


More »


More blog posts »