Polling guru says Colorado Senate seat more likely to switch parties

Tagging the contenders “an underwhelming field all around,” FiveThirtyEight.com’s Nate Silver lists the Colorado Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet as the seventh-most-likely seat to change hands in the 2010 election . Silver’s August rankings reflect a “fairly…

News Nuggets, 20 August 2009: CU’s Lahn gets a few more minutes of fame

Dug up fresh, daily.

NOT EXACTLY OXFORD STYLE: CU student Zach Lahn continues to follow up on his contentious questioning of President Barack Obama in Grand Junction last weekend with a tour of cable news shows. Yesterday, the…

Redacted recordings of Colorado ethics commission closed meetings

Below are the redacted recordings of seven closed-door meetings released by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission following an open records request by The Colorado Independent that claimed the panel illegally met in secret a dozen times between January and May.…

State’s top ethics panel agrees during secret enclave: We’re no star chamber

No group empowered to pass judgment wants to think of itself as a “star chamber,” least of all the Colorado panel that, until recently, regularly met for hours on end in secret to formulate ethical decrees. At least that’s…

Recordings: Ethics panel deliberated, reached decisions in secret meetings

The state’s top ethics panel routinely deliberated in private only to emerge with positions ready for adoption in swift, unanimous public votes, audio recordings of the closed-door meetings reveal. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission also discussed topics in executive session it hadn’t described in detail — or at all, in some cases — as state law requires.

Anatomy of a decision: Ethics panel reaches agreement in secret meeting

What does it look like when a government body debates and makes decisions in a closed-door executive session? Pretty much the same as it would in public — which the law requires — except that only the meeting’s participants get to see what went into the decision.

Ethics panel agrees to release recordings of secret meetings

DENVER — Colorado’s top ethics panel agreed Friday to release unedited audio recordings of two secret meetings and plans to turn over redacted recordings of five additional closed-door meetings conducted earlier this year. The announcement came during a hearing in Denver District Court on a lawsuit filed by The Colorado Independent alleging the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission illegally met behind closed doors a dozen times between January and May.

Udall wants change to military culture that ‘stigmatizes’ mental health care

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall vowed Thursday to “hold [Army Secretary-nominee John McHugh] to his commitment” to make sure soldiers receive the best mental health treatment available after questioning the New York congressman at a confirmation hearing before the Senate…

Udall grills Army Sec. nominee on Fort Carson killings, Piñon Canyon

The nominee to become secretary of the Army promised Colorado Sen. Mark Udall on Thursday he would read a two-part series published this week by the Colorado Springs Gazette examining a string of killings committed by soldiers from a Fort Carson unit. U.S. Rep. John McHugh, a New York Republican, said he had only learned about the articles yesterday, so he didn’t directly address questions raised by senators about the Gazette’s disturbing revelations during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Markey lands spot on D.C. pub’s 50 Most Beautiful list of Cap Hill denizens

It’s official: Colorado’s Betsy Markey turns heads. Dubbed a “Woman of the West,” the Fort Collins Democrat won a spot on The Hill’s annual 50 Most Beautiful People list, posted Wednesday by the Capitol Hill-insider publication.

“The congresswoman comes…