rssPosts by John Tomasic
John Tomasic has worked as a writer and editor at various news, literary and academic publications, including at the Huffington Post, Business 2.0 magazine and Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope All-Story. He was managing editor at OffTheBus, the Huffington Post’s 2008 presidential-election citizen-journalism project, and editor at Pop+Politics, a journalism training program and website hosted by USC's Annenberg School. He was an analyst for the UN commission established to investigate war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He has a master's degree in history and has taught at universities in America and Europe.
Colorado Sec of State Gessler claims to have removed 400 non-citizens from voter rolls
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler told the Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club recently that his office has removed more than 400 noncitizen residents of Colorado from the voter rolls, according to the Colorado Statesman.
Colorado civil unions battle a heated all-Republican affair
DENVER– At a state Senate committee hearing on a same-sex civil unions bill held here Wednesday, a series of witnesses battered Republican lawmakers opposed to the bill, suggesting they were confused in their ideology, nonstrategic in their thinking and enslaved to an outdated anti-gay “hateful bigoted mantra.” The harsh criticism came not from Democrats and their allies but from Republicans testifying in favor of the bill on the basis of conservative principles and out of partisan interest in the future success of the party.
Round-two Colorado civil unions debate opens at capitol
Denver Senator Pat Steadman’s re-introduced same-sex civil unions bill is being heard this afternoon in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Although the bill will be passed easily by the committee’s Democratic majority, the hearing will be the staging ground for this year’s arguments for and against it, drawing the attention of political analysts, members of the public and lawmakers in both chambers of the legislature looking to gauge the direction and intensity of political winds in an especially charged election year.
CO Senate Republicans test out arguments against undocumented-student tuition bill
DENVER– In a highly anticipated Senate debate here Friday, Republicans launched early-round attacks against a bill that aims to create a mid-level state-university tuition rate for undocumented students who have graduated from Colorado high schools. Although the bill easily weathered the GOP barbs in the Democrat-controlled chamber, passing on a 20-13 voice vote, the two-hour back-and-forth showcased the lines of argument opponents of the bill will seek to sharpen before it arrives a few weeks from now in the Republican-controlled House.
Colorado Rep. Polis leads House effort to reform No Child Left Behind
On the heels of news that the Obama administration has granted Colorado and 10 other states a waiver from the controversial requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind education law, Colorado Democratic Congressman Jared Polis introduced a House version of the Growth to Excellence Act (H.R. 3845) written by Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. The bill would rework No Child Left Behind by granting greater authority to the states to develop student achievement and school accountability policies.
Colorado scores No Child Left Behind waiver
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today applauded the Obama administration decision to grant Colorado schools a waiver from the regulatory requirements of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law. A former superintendent of the Denver Public School system, Bennet has long railed against the law as well-intended but comically flawed, the “biggest federal overreach ever in domestic policy,” he said in a Senate floor speech last year.
Santorum Super Tuesday closes with win in Colorado caucuses
Rick Santorum won the Colorado Republican caucuses Tuesday, garnering roughly 40 percent support and defeating runner-up Mitt Romney by nearly 4,000 votes. As see-sawing caucus tallies trickled in after 11 p.m., it became clear Santorum would sweep the three primary contests held Tuesday and revive his flagging candidacy to become the latest “anti-Romney” in the race.
‘Cousin Ricky’ Santorum’s family is a bunch of old-world red communists
Newt Gingrich speculated last fall that a theoretical family-based “Kenyan anti-colonial worldview” explained President Obama’s equally theoretical socialist-leaning “denial of reality.” Gingrich has so far let Republican presidential primary rival Rick Santorum off the hook, however, for the unabashed family-based Italian communist worldview that may or may not have shaped Santorum’s American political views.
Polis, gay-rights activists applaud latest court ruling finding Prop 8 unconstitutional
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday announced it was upholding an earlier court ruling that California’s Proposition 8 voter-passed ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. The decision sets the stage for another appeal, likely to the U.S. Supreme Court, and drew applause from gay-rights advocates buoyed by another clear legal victory. Openly gay Colorado Congressman Jared Polis declared the ruling a victory for American notions of justice and equality.
Ahead of caucuses, major Colorado tea party group promotes Ron Paul
In advance of the Colorado Republican caucuses tonight, the Northern Colorado Tea Party– perhaps the most influential of the state’s many tea party groups– isn’t backing away from its constitutional conservative mission. Far from recommending members warm up to presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, the group has unofficially thrown its support behind libertarian Congressman Ron Paul.
