The rules of being Ken Salazar’s cowboy hat

Those wacky Beltway types. Even as Sen. Ken Salazar was being introduced as the new secretary of the interior, the pundits were wondering whether his cowboy hat would be too “provocative” for the office. And this amusing, if utterly inaccurate claim from MSNBC anchor David Shuster: “I hear from one of our correspondents that you’re not supposed to wear a cowboy hat like that indoors unless you’re at a square dance or an indoor livestock auction.”

A ‘modest’ pay raise for Morrissey? It’s all relative

Just in time for Christmas, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey is “poised” to receive a $32,000 salary increase in 2009, bringing his annual pay to $177,000. His spokesman calls the raise “modest,” and says “if you want skilled people with the expertise who are going to provide that core government function of public safety, there does have to be fair compensation.” Um, OK. Let’s consider it another way: The proposed salary is more than twice as much as the $80,004 that Colorado Attorney General John Suthers earns, nearly twice as much as the $90,000 that Gov. Bill Ritter is paid — and far more than the $149,000 that Colorado U.S. Attorney Troy Eid currently makes.

Dusting off the classic videos while Colorado waits

While we’re waiting for confirmation about whether Sen. Ken Salazar is really going to be Secretary of the Interior, and who will be the next senator from Colorado, and who will then maybe be the next U.S. Representative from Colorado, and also who will be the next Colorado Secretary of State and the next state House minority leader and possibly the next assistant minority leader, let’s all relax and amuse ourselves for a few minutes watching Ken Gordon swimming with sharks.

Post-Columbine report: Less bullying leads to higher school test scores

Next April 20 will mark the 10-year anniversary of the day Erik Harris and Dylan Klebold forever altered the definition of school shootings after their rampage at Columbine High School. And how much a culture of bullying at the school, as was alleged as motivators, was a factor may never completely be known. But after three years and $9 million, a new study shows that — not a big shock — healthy relationships between teens and adults reduces the prevalence of peer bullying.

With Mike May out, who will lead Colorado’s GOP House minority?

Big talk of the week has shifted to who would replace Sen. Ken Salazar after he, in what is looking like a done deal, leaves his Senate seat to lead the Interior Department. But days after Colorado House Minority Leader Mike May announced he was stepping down, there’s no word yet on who might lead Republicans in the House into the new year. Among the top contenders to emerge: Reps. David Balmer, Frank McNulty and Amy Stephens.

DA Don Quick tops some lists for Colorado’s next U.S. attorney

Ask Jeff Dorschner to identify the highest profile cases prosecuted by the the U.S. Attorney in Colorado over the past decade and the spokesman doesn’t miss a beat: Former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, convicted of insider trading; Terry Barton, the U.S. Forest Service worker who started the largest wildfire in Colorado history; and the three Roman Catholic nuns, convicted of malicious destruction of property for spreading their own blood on a nuclear missile silo in Weld County.

But ask Dorschner who will be his new boss, and he comes up empty-handed.

Gunny Bob, Caldara, Rosen try to tie Obama to Blagojevich

In their latest extensive — can we say exhaustive? — compilation of jaw-drop-inducing yakking of right-wing radio heads, Colorado Media Matters lays out recent ad hominem efforts to tie Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to President-elect Barack Obama, despite U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s specific caution to “not cast aspersions on people” named or discussed in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich.

Colorado GOP out in the cold — but also out of the red

So it didn’t turn out to be as exciting a year for Republicans as Colorado GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams had hoped — and even predicted — last year. But hey, at least there’s a little money in the bank. That’s more than a mite better than being a half million in the hole and on the losing side of the election ticker.

Mike May misses chance for a Douglas Bruce-free final term

Doubtless Mike May would have appreciated serving out his final term as Colorado House Minority Leader free of the travails of Douglas Bruce. Alas, that was not meant to be.

Renfroe bill to require police notification over abuse at youth facilities

State Sen. Scott Renfroe reportedly plans to sponsor a bill that would require youth detention facilities to notify local police when allegations of abuse or assault are reported. The Greeley Republican was quoted in the Greeley Tribune and by Fox News as citing two recent cases of abuse in a Weld County facility. But allegations of abuse have been far from limited to just that facility in recent years.