House Republicans introduced a package of jobs bills last week and Democrats followed with their own package a few days later. Republicans focused on cutting regulations while Democrats focused on worker training and programs to help small businesses grow.

“There’s a lot of talk about job creation in this building, but this package is actually going to be creating jobs,” State Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, the House minority leader, said at a press conference Monday. “It is not just words when Democrats say we have a laser-like focus on job creation in Colorado.”

Rep. Dave Young, D-Greeley, and Ferrandino are co-sponsors of a bill to help identify promising new technologies at Colorado universities and research centers, and move those technologies out of the lab and into the market. Grants of up to $750,000 would be administered by the Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

“The development of new products and services from technology research discoveries will create more jobs in Colorado,” Young said in a press release.

Dave Allen, associate vice president for tech transfer at the University of Colorado, and Todd Headley, who oversees tech transfer operations at Colorado State University, spoke at the press conference in support of the Young-Ferrandino bill.

“We very much believe in economic development and job creation, and this bill would be an outstanding contribution to that,” Headley said.

State Rep. Max Tyler, D-Lakewood

Tyler said the bill would provide an additional $300,000 for the next two years, money he says is needed to draw federal matching funds.

He told The Colorado Independent that currently the state is leaving money on the table by not having enough funding to match all the federal money that is available.

“SBDCs help local, home-grown Colorado businesses succeed,” Tyler said. “These are the businesses that build a strong foundation for Colorado’s economy and Colorado’s future. Supplying these businesses with the resources they need to grow and hire more Coloradans is the entire goal of this bill.”

Richard Lewis was at the press conference to talk about the benefits of SBDC help in the launch and growth of RTL Networks, his Denver-based IT services company. RTL was on Inc. Magazine’s 2010 list of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States.

SBDCs “have a number of very useful programs and classes in everything from accounting to marketing to business planning,” Lewis said. “Many of my employees are still going to small business development centers for ongoing support.”

Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, is sponsoring a bill providing funding for the “Angel Investor” legislation he authored in 2009. The program authorized up to $20,000 in state tax credits to investors who provide seed money to Colorado’s start-up companies.

“This is a proven economic development tool, and what we’re talking about is trying to provide a funding mechanism,” Kefalas said.

Su Hawk, president of the Colorado Technology Association, spoke in support of Rep. Kefalas’s bill. “Access to capital is anemic in Colorado,” Hawk said. “This innovation tax credit would help.”

Rep. Ferrandino said funding for all three bills could come from reallocating tax credits currently being awarded in the state’s enterprise zones. Democrats said a recent analysis showed that it cost the taxpayers more than $130,000 for each enterprise-zone job created.

“We have other tax incentives and other things to help create businesses and grow good jobs that are much less expensive,” Ferrandino said. “We’re not getting rid of money that’s going toward economic development. What we’re doing is repurposing it to get the best return on our investment.”

Republicans, though, say the key to job growth is not more programs but less government interference.

Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs

“Dozens of employers participated in our discussions, many citing how they were on the brink of closing. We were told specifically how just one more rule, one more regulation, requirement or costly compliance would cause them to close their doors. Many employers shared how existing state regulations, rules and fees were inhibiting their success or limiting their potential for growth.

“In the 2012 session, Senate Republicans will put forward a plan of action based on this public input. We are sponsoring legislation aimed at rolling back government regulations which are hurting our economy and costing us jobs. We are committed to policies that promote business investment, job growth and prosperity. We believe this is our only path to success – there is no alternate route.”

Democrat Tyler scoffed at the notion that businesses are being hurt by over-regulation in Colorado. Tyler, who has owned several businesses, said “most businesses do well regardless of regulation.”

When businesses complain about regulations, he said, they are usually complaining either about federal environmental rules which the State Legislature has no control over or local building code and zoning type rules, which again the Legislature has no control of.

When they complain about state regulations, he said, it mostly has to do with trying to figure out what rules apply to them and how to comply. To address that, he said, he is introducing a bill to create a “regulation navigator” which might look something like Denver’s 311 system, where people can call one phone number and get the information they need to make sure they understand and can comply with state regulations. He said there may be an internet component as well.

House Democrats are also pushing a bill, called the “Skills for Jobs Act,” they say will make it easier for colleges to work with employers.

“We need to be creating opportunities for our students,” Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Englewood, sponsor of the bill, said this week at a press conference. “We need to prepare them for the workforce, and what better way than to guide them toward the industries where there are jobs available right now?”

“It is important our students have the opportunity to be engaged and aligned with the current workforce trends to give them an opportunity to get good paying jobs,” Dr. Stephen Jordan, president of Metro State, said.

According to a press release from the Democrats:

Currently, the state Department of Labor and Employment collects data on job openings, and the state Department of Higher Education keeps track of enrollments and course offerings at universities, colleges and vocational schools. But the two departments don’t routinely communicate that information to each other.

When companies indicate they need new software engineers, the Department of Labor doesn’t necessarily tell the Department of Higher Education. In turn, the Department of Higher Ed doesn’t necessarily urge guidance counselors to steer students toward software engineering, and it doesn’t necessarily have the right tools to encourage deans at community colleges and universities to create more software engineering courses.

“Finally,” Rep Kagan continued, “Higher Ed does not have a process in place to tell companies, ‘Hey, Metro State has a number of students graduating this year with software engineering degrees that suit your needs. The Skills for Jobs Act changes all that.”

The bill directs the Department of Labor to report job-opening data to the Department of Higher Education. Higher Ed will then pass on the information to colleges and vocational schools so they can adjust course offerings, and students can make better course-selection decisions. Higher Ed will report these trends to businesses, which can then make smarter personnel decisions.

Kagan said the bill can be implemented at little or no cost to the taxpayer. Companies already provide the state with information about their job vacancies, so little or no new paperwork will be required, he said.

“This is a smart, simple idea, but it could go a long way toward getting people into good paying jobs right now, and in the future,” Rep. Kagan concluded.

Republican efforts include a bill by Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, to ensure whatever rules are in place when a business files for a permit will be the sames rules used when issuing the permit, even if the rules change during the time between application and approval.

Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Colbran, and Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, are bringing a bill to make it easier for Colorado forest products companies to use beetle-kill timber in Colorado.

The Responsible Budgeting Act, by Rep. Donald Beezley, R-Broomfield, and Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, and Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, would limit the increase in General Fund appropriations to 6% above the prior year’s appropriation. Any funds collected beyond that would be split between a reserve fund, transportation and capital construction.

http://www.coloradostatesman.com/content/993227-house-republican-leadership-unveils-its-2012-jobs-agenda

Advocates from across the political spectrum officially launched a campaign this week to radically change how Fort Collins elects city officials.

Joined by multiple Colorado legislators and city council members, Fort Collins Ranked Voting hosted their campaign kickoff event at Avogado’s Number in Fort Collins after garnering enough signatures to put the alternative voting method on the city’s April ballot.

If approved, Fort Collins would replace the traditional plurality voting system with a method that ensures winners receive majority support. For the 2013 municipal elections the mayoral and city council races would use ranked choice voting, also called instant runoff voting, that allows voters to rank candidates on the ballot according to their personal preference.

Rep. John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, an advisor to the group, said the system is simple. Kefalas explained that if any candidate receives the majority of first place votes, they win. If no candidate receives a majority, the votes for the last place candidate are redistributed among the remaining candidates according to each voter’s preference. The process repeats until one candidate holds a simple majority.

“It’s just like choosing your favorite ice cream,” Kefalas said.

During his speech Kefalas asked a four-year-old girl in the front row to name her first, second and third favorite ice cream flavor. The young girl quickly answered strawberry, blueberry and lemon.

“If a four-year-old can do it, than I don’t think it’s so complicated,” Kefalas pronounced over resounding applause.

Seth Anthony, a member of Fort Collins Ranked voting since 2008, said the toughest hurdle in passing the measure is for voters to understand the system’s simplicity. Anthony said while collecting petition signatures he turned many skeptics into supporters by merely explaining how ranked voting worked.

“Once people understand the process they are usually 100 percent on board,” Anthony said.

Rep. Randy Fischer, D-Fort Collins, said RCV is very logical. He said it would open up the whole political process to a much broader dialogue because voters could vote with their heart first and then for a more electable candidate second.

“I can foresee a time when we look back on today and say, ‘wow what was the big controversy all about?’” Fischer said. “It makes sense to ensure we have a majority rule in our elections. I can even foresee a time when we can do away with primaries. If we have ranked choice voting, why do we need a primary?”

Kefalas said RCV eliminates the “spoiler effect.” Currently third party candidates can spilt the vote and help elect the candidate ideologically opposite from himself or herself. Kefalas also said campaign dollars make less of an impact during RCV races because voters are more likely to take a chance on a candidate they believe is right for the job, rather than simply vote for the candidate with the most television spots.

It looks as if the controversy has only begun. Letters to the editor have appeared in The Coloradoan both for and against the measure.

Former Larimer County Commissioner and former Fort Collins City Council member John Clarke outlined his opposition to RCV in a Jan. 28 Coloradoan column. Clarke wrote that the process is too complicated and would discourage voter turnout. He is also concerned about relying on computers to tally voter preferences.

“I never liked the idea of trusting my vote to cyber software,” wrote Clarke.

Anthony said many companies are already offering machines that can tabulate RCV results. Fort Collins rents voting machines, so he said the city would only need to choose a different company capable of handling RCV elections. Anthony said the transition will run smoothly because Fort Collins uses an all mail-in ballot system where ballots are counted in a central location. The city would only have to change one counting machine as opposed to machines in numerous precincts.

Fort Collins City Clerk Wanda Krajicek said her office has not studied how RCV would affect the city and is awaiting the results before officially looking into how RCV would work.

“If the voters want it we will do everything in our power to make it happen,” Krajicek said.

Kefalas is a long time supporter of alternative voting methods. In 2007 he sponsored legislation that set up the voter choice task force to study various voting options. The following year he sponsored a bill that granted local jurisdictions greater flexibility in their election process, which allows municipalities like Fort Collins to make the switch to RCV.

The voter choice task force demonstrated that RCV could be instituted for many statewide races. According to Kefalas, Colorado’s constitution limits any change to some statewide elections like the governor’s race, but he said nothing stands in the way of state senatorial, state house or even congressional races from transitioning to RCV. Kefalas hopes Fort Collins will act as a proving ground for alternative methods.

“My goal is that if we can show success at the local level then maybe people would be willing to make the switch on other levels as well,” Kefalas said. “It’s getting crazy in Denver lately. Everyone is worried about who is on top and who is ahead. This system allows for a greater flow of ideas and forces the two major parties to concentrate on issues rather than partisan bickering.”

Colorado Democratic chair Pat Waak said changing any statewide race to an alternative method would be a very difficult proposition. The Democratic Party has not taken an official stance on the issue, but in general Waak said she has some problems with ranked choice elections.

If approved, Fort Collins would join Aspen, Basalt and Telluride in enacting RCV. Basalt adopted the alternative method in 2002 for mayoral races with at least three candidates, but such a situation has yet to arise. Telluride passed an ordinance in 2008 instituting RCV for the town’s next three mayoral races starting in 2011.

Aspen is the only Colorado municipality to have actually conducted an election using RCV. In September 2007, the Aspen City Council adopted an ordinance requiring instant runoff voting for Mayor and Council members as well as a requirement that council members be elected by majority vote. In November of that same year Aspen voters approved a charter amendment, which paved the way for the city’s May 5, 2009 regular municipal election conducted using IRV. In November 2010, Aspen voters subsequently repealed the amendment and returned to traditional methods after only using IRV one time.

This week, as a requirement of Kefalas’ bill granting local jurisdictions greater flexibility in their election process, the Secretary of State published a study addressing the many questions surrounding alternative voting methods. The report includes progress updates from counties and municipalities across Colorado who instituted RCV as well as feedback from stakeholders and details on how they transitioned to alternative methods. The report queried interested parties to gain insight into Aspen’s 2009 election and posted the comments on the SOS Web site. The report does not suggest employing RCV elections in Colorado.

“Considering the written comments received and the immediate repeal of instant runoff voting in Aspen, implementing ranked voting methods may not be a viable option for Colorado elections,” the report stated.

The report does state that the City of Aspen has verbally expressed that their 2009 election felt like a success. It states that conflicting viewpoints make assessing Aspen’s election difficult. It said the city employed a tabulation methodology that has never been used in the U.S. before. The city employed what was dubbed the True method, named after its creator Jim True of the Aspen City Attorney’s office.

The reports cites Rob Richie, Executive Director of FairVote, the leading non-profit and non partisan advocacy group for alternative voting methods, as saying True’s method is defensible, but that Richie would have suggested a different way of counting votes for multi-seat elections. The report also states that depending on selection of any specific tabulation algorithm, the same set of ballots could have resulted in multiple differing winners.

Co-Chair of Fort Collins Ranked Voting Eric Fried said he was disappointed but not surprised by the SOS report.

“It is indicative of an institutional bias against change,” Fried said. “They make passing reference to Rob Richie’s comments, but every other comment they reference is negative and gave no recognition to any problems with our current electoral system.”

In response to claims that different ways of counting votes leads to different results, Fried agreed. He said RCV is supposed to give a different result than traditional methods, but Fried said he believes that RCV produces the fairest result. Fried also said he understands why Aspen used its own tabulation method, but said their method may have been too complicated.

“Here in Fort Collins we do not plan on re-inventing the wheel,” Fried said. “We will use a much simpler RCV formula and will not implement a multi-seat election.”

A decade ago no city in the country used RCV, but 16 municipalities and counties have adopted the alternative method in California, North Carolina, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont and Washington. Including Aspen, two cities and a county have since returned to traditional methods — Burlington, VT., and Pierce County, WA.

Also in attendance at Sunday’s event was Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, and Fort Collins City Council member Ben Manvel, District 1.

Rep. John Kefalas gives a high-five to Larimer County Democratic Chair Adam Bowan before taking the stage to make his victory speech on Election night. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

Kefalas won the seat Tuesday night by a landslide, winning 59 percent of the vote compared to McCluskey’s 41 percent. The men battled for the same seat in 2004, when McCluskey won by 500 votes, and sparred again in 2006, when it was Kefalas who ran to victory with 53 percent of the vote.

“To me, this is an affirmation of the good work I have done for the people of Fort Collins and Northern Colorado during the last two years in Legislature,” Kefalas said Tuesday night after learning his victory was imminent. “We knocked on many doors this year and hit the ground hard. I think the extra effort is paying off. I also think it’s proof you can run a 100 percent, issues-based campaign.”

HD 52 covers the eastern and northern part of Fort Collins and is in many ways symbolic of Colorado’s growing nature as a swing state. Unlike HD 53, the other state legislative district in Fort Collins that has been in Democratic hands for decades, HD 52 has a more moderate voting block, which translates into closer elections and more attention from outside political groups. Although the district’s total registration numbers have reduced significantly in recent years, HD 52 remains essentially one-third Republican, one-third Democratic and one-third unaffiliated, according to the secretary of state’s office.

Targeted by both parties this year, the race saw the influx of spending by so-called 527 groups that flooded the race withtens of thousands of dollars against McCluskey, a former representative who served two terms in the state House. McCluskey, who was not helped by outside independent groups this year, contributed $65,000 to his own campaign, or nearly 60 percent of his total financing, according to Secretary of State records. McCluskey did not return a phone call for comment Tuesday morning.

In addition to the outside spending that aided his election bid, Kefalas was able to outraise McCluskey throughout the election, bringing in nearly $100,000 throughout the cycle.

Kefalas, who worked to strengthen uranium mining regulations in Colorado — which helped stop a proposed mine in northern Colorado earlier this year — and to reduce the cost of textbooks for college students during his first legislative term in Denver, said his next term will focus on transportation and health-care policy.

“I am working to establish the Colorado Railroad Authority which will help bring a 21st century, multi-modal transportation system to Colorado,” Kefalas said Tuesday night. “I also will continue my work with the Governor’s Office to bring back the earned income tax credit here in Colorado.”

UPDATED: On heels of Barack Obama’s national landslide, Colorado turns a deep Blue, handing wins to Obama, Udall and Markey

Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin haven’t visited Colorado a record 15 times since the national conventions because of the scenery — the state’s nine electoral votes are considered crucial to winning the presidency. Colorado has only voted for a Democrat once since Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide — Bill Clinton in 1992, thanks to plenty of votes that were siphoned off by Ross Perot. But this year polls show voters could continue to march the state Blue, continuing a trend begun in 2004 and 2006 when Democrats took a Senate seat, the governorship and majorities in both houses of the state Legislature.

The contest between Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Bob Schaffer to replace retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard has also drawn intense national attention — and tens of millions of dollars, including massive spending by outside groups, making it the most expensive race in Colorado history — because the winner will help determine whether Democrats reach a 60-vote majority in the Senate or Republicans maintain enough votes to filibuster legislation.

While Democrat Jared Polis and Republicans Doug Lamborn and Mike Coffman faced bruising primaries to win their parties’ nominations, the toughest general election battle for the state’s congressional delegation has been fought between incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave and her Democratic challenger Betsy Markey. One of the most expensive — and vicious — congressional contests in the country, the Musgrave-Markey match-up could go down to the wire in the state’s sprawling 4th Congressional District.

We’ll post results as they become available, including the vote for key statehouse races and downticket contests that tickle our fancy. Please use the comments section to discuss the returns as they’re tallied.

7:00 p.m. - The polls in Colorado have closed. Counties should be totaling early and absentee ballots quickly. Because more than half of registered Colorado voters cast ballots before Election Day, these results should give an indication where the night’s count is headed.

7:07 p.m. - NBC News just called Arkansas (unsurprisingly) for John McCain. The state is odd because virtually all of its statewide elective offices are held by Democrats, but it tends to vote Republican in presidential elections. Of course, former Gov. Bill Clinton carried the state, but he was the exception.

With Arkansas, McCain’s electoral vote total stands at 75 — far short of Barack Obama’s 176, as the northeast and mid Atlantic fall to the Democrat. A crucial swing state, Pennsylvania, has been projected as an Obama state — narrowing severely McCain’s path to 270 electoral votes.

7:12 p.m. - Exit poll data has just been released for Colorado. Poll watchers caution over-interpretation based on the bare data, because it must be correlated to actual turnout once votes start coming in, but it gives an idea how different groups are approaching the ballot.

In line with recent polls — in fact, every public poll since early summer — Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall is winning a majority of both men and women in Colorado, outpacing Republican Bob Schaffer. Udall wins men 48-46 and wins women by a wider 55-42.

That’s significant because the whispered secret of Democratic electoral performance since the Reagan era has been an inability to win a plurality of male voters. Virtually every Democratic victory on a large scale, from the presidency through the Senate and, often, individual members of Congress, has been won on a disproportionate margin among women voters — that’s the gender gap. Looks like Udall is beating that decades’ long curse.

7:18 p.m. - Colorado’s Mark Udall can give his cousin, Tom Udall of New Mexico, a congratulatory call. The southernmost Udall, also a Democrat, was just declared the winner in his bid for the Senate. The two Udalls — members of the powerful western clan that included Arizona powerhouse Mo Udall (Mark’s father) and 1960s Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall (Tom’s father) — also count Republican incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith as a cousin. Smith might not be welcoming his kin to Washington, however, as he faces a tough challenge from Democrat Jeff Merkley.

7:25 p.m. - John McCain took a very early lead in Dolores County, running ahead of Barack Obama 457-201 (that’s votes, not percentage points).

In the equally consequential mountain county of Gilpin, Obama leads McCain by roughly the same margin, with 999 votes to McCain’s 580.

7:28 p.m. - Udall and Obama are leading in Jefferson County, the suburban battleground that has seen visits from Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Politico pegs Jeffco as the 7th most important state in the country to determine tonight’s outcome. These are early returns, with less than 50 percent of the vote, but a win by the two Democrats would mark a sharp reversal from 2004, when George W. Bush carried the county at the same time voters split their ticket with the more conservative Democrat Ken Salazar, helping him win election to the Senate.

7:35 p.m. - At the same time as networks are declaring for Obama the crucial battleground state of Ohio — remember that it decided the 2004 election when it threw its votes to Bush — the Democrat appears to be leading in early Colorado returns.

With 10 percent of the vote in, here’s the Colorado tally:
Obama 183,762 55%
McCain 149,935 44%

The last Democrat to carry Colorado’s nine electoral votes was — well, no Democrat has accomplished that, because the last Democrat to win the state was Bill Clinton in 1992, when Colorado only had eight electoral votes. Prior to that election, Lyndon Johnson carried the state in his 1964 landslide, but Colorado — Spanish for “red colored” — has been colored Red every other year for 60 years.

7:42 p.m. – Secretary of State Mike Coffman has jumped out to an early lead in his bid to replace fellow Republican Tom Tancredo representing the 6th Congressional District. Political newcomer Hank Eng is trailing in his first race in Colorado (Eng was previously a member of the Appleton, Wis., city council before moving here three years ago). With partial returns from Jefferson and Elbert counties tallied, Coffman leads 40,314-30,099, or 57 percent to 43 percent.

7:47 p.m. - Boulder-based Internet entrepreneur Jared Polis, who survived a bruising three-way primary to win the Democratic nomination, appears to be cruising to election in the 2nd Congressional District. That’s the district Mark Udall has represented for a decade, before giving it up to make a run for the Senate this year — and a seat Polis has reportedly had his eye on since his teens. With 15 percent of precincts reporting, Polis easily outflanks Republican Scott Starin more than 2-to-1, running 36,554-16,117 in the liberal district.

7:56 p.m. - The Rocky Mountain News has called the election in Colorado for Barack Obama and Mark Udall.

Ever optimistic, state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams — more than anyone, responsible for Republican performance this year, as he also helmed Schaffer’s Senate campaign — tells Denver’s KCNC-TV’s Kathy Walsh, “We’re still counting votes.”

8:01 p.m. - An hour after Colorado polls have closed, the shape of the state’s vote is taking shape.

With one third of the vote tallied in the sprawling 4th Congressional District, Democratic challenger Betsy Markey is maintaining a powerful lead over three-term incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave. The race has been among the toughest-fought in the state, with both candidates facing criminal complaints filed against their campaigns for advertising they believed was out of bounds. It’s also been the third-most expensive House race in the country this year and has seen millions in outside money pour onto the airwaves.

Still, observers thought before tonight the race would be close. It doesn’t appear to be so far, with 142 out of 443 precincts reporting:

Markey 93,989 61%
Musgrave 61,041 39%

8:12 p.m. - Let’s take a look at suburban Jefferson County, long a Republican stronghold but recently electing a majority of Democrats to the state legislature and seeing the GOP registration edge slim to 10,000 voters ahead of Democrats.

According to the Jeffco clerk’s election department, Barack Obama ran away with the early vote in the county, with 124,341 votes to John McCain’s 101,089 — that’s 54.01 percent to 43.91 percent, which is a tremendous lead to bank before Election Day. Those totals don’t include any votes cast on Tuesday, but very few Jeffco voters failed to take advantage of early voting. The county reports 76 percent of all active voters cast ballots either by mail or at early-voting centers, which doesn’t leave many votes still to be tallied.

8:19 p.m. – The Independent’s Wendy Norris summarizes two Hot House races in the contest for seats in Colorado’s General Assembly:

In a third match-up between John Kefalas and Bob McCluskey for the HD 52 seat it looks to be a decisive win for Democratic incumbent Kefalas, who has garnered 59% of the vote with 82% of precincts reporting. The Fort Collins seat has flipped back and forth between the two contenders since 2004.

With 72 percent of precincts reporting, incumbent Democratic Rep. Bernie Buescher is in a pitched battle with GOP challenger Laura Bradford. The razor-thin race is divided by a 10 vote margin. Buescher, who is widely considered a favorite to become speaker of the House, leads with just 50 percent of the vote against Bradford’s hair less than 50 percent of the vote.

8:24 p.m. - Back to the early vote in bellwether Jefferson County. Democrat Mark Udall racked up a similar margin to the one Barack Obama banked among the county’s absentee and early voters. Udall leads Schaffer 121,214 to 94,013 — that’s 52.10 percent to 40.41 percent. Astute readers will note that doesn’t come near approaching 100 percent — that’s because third-party candidates Bob Kinsey and Douglas “Dayhorse” Campbell each won about 2.5 percent of the vote, and roughly 2.5 percent of voters didn’t make a choice in the Senate race — the “undervote.”

By comparison, the Jefferson County undervote in the presidential race is virtually nonexistent. In other words, nearly everyone who cast a ballot made a selection for president. The third-party vote in the Jeffco early vote for president is also unusually low — Libertarian Bob Barr grabbed the most votes, but only enough to total roughly half of one percent.

8:33 p.m. - Still waiting for fresh returns in the Markey-Musgrave race, let’s take a look at the predictable results in the state’s other congressional districts. 1st District incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette appears to be sailing to re-election over Republican challenger George Lilly. In the 2nd CD, Polis leads Starin by a substantial margin and can start measuring the drapes. Incumbent 3rd District Rep. John Salazar, brother to Sen. Ken Salazar, also appears to be fending off challenger Wayne Wolf. Coffman is maintaining his lead as results trickle in from the 6th CD. First-termer Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat who won election to the swing 7th District in 2006, is also cruising to re-election past challenger John “Who?” Lerew.

The 5th District race, between first-term incumbent Doug Lamborn and Democratic challenger Hal Bidlack, shows Lamborn in the lead, but it’s early, only a few thousand votes have been counted.

8:34 p.m. - Referencing a tag line from one of his TV ads, Mark Udall has just said, “For once, I’m not kidding,” and claimed victory in the Senate election. The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and CNN have called the race.

8:48 p.m. – Results in the close SD 26 race between Democrat Linda Newell and Republican incumbent Laurie Clapp results may not be known tonight because Arapahoe County has said its results might be held up until morning.

8:58 p.m. - As a measure of the difficulty with the Republican brand, the lone remaining Republican congressman from the northeast — Chris Shays — has gone down to defeat.

9:00 a.m. - All the networks call the election for Barack Obama the minute the polls close on the west coast. Cheering in Chicago’s Grant Park, where Obama supporters have been gathering by the hundreds of thousands, is deafening.

9:02 p.m. - Pat Waak, Colorado Democratic Party chair, joins former Gov. Roy Romer, Gov. Bill Ritter and Sen. Ken Salazar on stage at the Sheraton downtown, where Democrats are gathering to celebrate what looks like a sweep in Colorado — and, minutes ago, the declaration that Barack Obama has won the presidency.

“We got there on a path called hope,” Romer tells the appreciative crowd. Rep. Ed Perlmutter has joined the luminaries on stage. “It’s good to win, but with winning goes an obligation,” Romer says, urging watchers to “create a new America, one that will benefit our families and all of this world.”

9:07 p.m. – Sen. Salazar revs the crowd and urges members of the Colorado Obama campaign on stage at the Sheraton.

Right now, Obama stands at 284 electoral votes, nearly twice McCain’s 147. Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Missouri and Colorado are still undecided according to KCNC’s projections, but other networks have already called Florida, Virginia and Colorado for Obama. This looks like it’s approaching an electoral vote margin unseen in a generation.

9:11 p.m. – Fox31 gets an interview with Mike Coffman at “a very somber Republican headquarters.” The secretary of state — and likely new member of Congress from the 6th District — says the vote is not a rejection of conservative Republican principals, but rather a rejection of the Bush administration. The Fox31 reporter is left momentarily speechless and throws it backk to Ron and Libby, who cut to the Democrats.

Gov. Ritter calls Barack Obama the “exclamation point on the American dream,” nearly losing his voice with boisterous shouts from the podium at the Sheraton. Ritter ticks off Obama policies, with a special mention for the “new energy economy,” a phrase Obama has said he lifted from Ritter.

9:15 p.m. - Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is giving his concession speech at the Republican celebration in Greenwood Village.

Schaffer congratulates Udall for running a great campaign, says Udall will make a “great United States senator” and says “we all need to stand behind him.” A pitch for democracy — “we do it better than anyone else on the planet” — and an urge for his audience to “stand behind him.” The crowd greets Schaffer’s words with a dead silence.

Schaffer praises the party for rebuilding since 2006 — but the television stations cut away to John McCain’s concession speech in Phoenix.

“Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country, and I applaud him for it,” McCain says. Then he offers his sympathy for Obama on the loss of his grandmother on Monday.

McCain pledges to do “all in my power” to help him lead the country through difficult times. McCain says he wants to heal the rifts of the campaign and “offer our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together.” The crowd cheers.

“No association has ever meant more to me than that,” McCain says — perhaps a subtle dig at his own campaign’s efforts to question Obama’s associations with Bill Ayers, etc. “Though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours,” he says but the crowd rejects this, shouting “no!” and “John McCain! John McCain!”

McCain welcomes Sarah Palin to the stage and calls her “one of the best campaigners I’ve ever seen,” and the crowd goes wild.

“A lost election will never mean more to me than the privilege of your faith and friendship,” McCain says.

“This campaign will remain the great honor of my life.” The crowd boos and jeers when McCain congratulates Obama and “my good friend” Sen. Joe Biden. McCain moves on quickly, and wishes “godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and who will be my president.”

“We never hide from history,” McCain concludes. “We make history.”

McCain, his wife, Cindy, Palin, and her husband, Todd, wave to the crowd and leave the stage.

9:30 p.m. - The Colorado Independent’s Jason Kosena sends this dispatch from Fort Collins, where he had the chance to talk with Democrat John Kefalas, who appears to have won another term representing House District 52:

As Barack Obama was announced the winner of the presidency, the crowd of many hundred here in Fort Collins at the Democratic victory party began to cheer and clap. People were visibly moved to tears as many hugged and cried. The cheering and chants of “OBAMA! OBAMA!” have not subsided five minutes later.

“If the results hold,” Kefalas said after learning he had been projected the winner, “I think this is an affirmation of the good work that I have done at the legislature for the people of Fort Collins during the last two years. I’m very happy with the results.”

Because the race was a rematch of a close win in 2004, Kefalas said understood it could be close again. “I’m from New York and I have been taught that you never take anything for granted or assume something is true until the fat lady sings,” Kefalas told the Colorado Independent. “But, if the margin holds I think it will be a sign that everything we have been hearing from people while knocking on doors is true. People support the good work we have been doing in Denver.”

As far as his second term? “I want to work to establish the Colorado Railroad Commission that will look at how to bring a 21st century multi-modal transportation system to Colorado.” He also said that health-care reform and working to bring the EITC back to Colorado would be among his priorities.

9:43 p.m. - Democrat Betsy Markey can claim victory in her bid to unseat three-term Republican Marilyn Musgrave. With two-thirds of the vote in, Markey holds a substantial lead over the controversial Musgrave, who has drawn fire (and heavy opposition spending) for her strong opposition to gay marriage and firm stand on other socially conservative positions.

Markey 140,752 57%
Musgrave 105,480 43%

Markey, who worked for Sen. Ken Salazar running his northern Colorado office before throwing her hat in the ring, performed particularly well in Larimer County, home to Fort Collins. With 83 percent of precincts reporting:

Markey 86,575 61%
Musgrave 55,417 39%

But Markey found the winning margin — enough to offset Musgrave’s consistent lead in the district’s counties that cover Colorado’s eastern plains — in more heavily Republican Weld County, which includes Greeley. With 98 percent reporting:

Markey 43,158 53%
Musgrave 38,047 47%

Pundits had predicted Markey would need to hold Musgrave to a tie in Weld County, which is considered Musgrave’s largest base of suport, but few had ventured a prediction Markey could carry it.

9:45 p.m. – With more than 86 percent reporting in SD 26, Democrat Linda Newell is leading incumbent Republican Lauri Clapp with 51 percent of the vote

9:59 p.m. - Barack Obama has taken the stage in Grant Park in Chicago to claim victory.

“Is there anyone out there who doubts that America is a place where all things are possible?”

“Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals, a collection of red states and blue states, we are and always will be the United States of America.” it’s a reprise of the line that cemented his hold on the Democratic Party at the 2004 national convention.

Obama congratulates “this brave and self-less leader,” in a nod to his opponent, John McCain.

Introducing “the nation’s next first lady,” Obama draws cheers before telling his two daughters he loves them both “more than you can imagine,” and gets another cheer when he tells them “you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.” Obama enumerates family members and thanks them, then moves into campaign territory.

Obama calls campaign manager David Plouffe the “unsung hero” of the campaign, and thanks chief strategist David Axelrod. “But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you,” he says as the crowd grows hushed.

“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime,” Obama says, listing the two wars, “a planet in peril” and the economic crisis.

“We will get there,” he tells the crowd. “We as a people will get there,” prompting a sustained chant of “Yes we can” from the crowd.

Obama promises honesty about challenges and says he will “listen to you, especially if we disagree.”

“This victory alone is not the change we seek, it is only the chance to make that change,” he says, calling for a “new spirit of sacrifice.”

Obama invokes Lincoln — “those are values we all share” — and quotes Lincoln, saying “We are not enemies, we are friends.”

“I hear your voices,” he says to those who did not vote for him. “I need your help, and I will be your president too.”

Promising a “new dawn of American leadership” to listeners around the world. “To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you.”

Obama lists “democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope” as the “true genius of America.”

Obama talks about Ann Nixon Cooper, 106 years old, born a generation after slavery, who cast her ballot his way in Atlanta. He recounts historic moments and historic change Cooper saw, from the Great Depression through World War II, the moon landing and the fall of the Berlin Wall. “After 106 years in America, through the best times and the darkest hours, she knows how America can change,” Obama said.

Obama concludes his 15-minute speech with the refrain “yes we can” and waves to the crowd while rather cheesy music swells. Joe Biden strides out to embrace the president-elect and they wave to the crowd, Biden all smiles but Obama looking more serious.

Here’s Obama’s acceptance speech, in two parts:

10:24 p.m. - A bright star of the Democratic majority in the state House looks to be going down to defeat by a razor-thin margin, according to unofficial Mesa Conty results. State Rep. Bernie Buescher, the HD 55 incumbent, is 123 votes behind Republican challenger Laura Bradford. The result could throw House Democrats into disarray because Buescher was widely rumored to be favored as the next speaker of the House, replacing the retiring Speaker Andrew Romanoff of Denver, who is stepping down due to term limits.

Laura Bradford (R) 14,682 48.6%
Bernie Buescher (D) 14559 48.2%

Total doesn’t add up to 100% because 958 votes, or 3.2 percent, were counted as “undervotes” and included in the total.

The Colorado Independent’s David O. Williams observes:

Buescher is a moderate known for reaching across the aisle and seemed poised to ride the blue wave sweeping the rest of the state to victory and become the next speaker of the House. But Mesa County is heavily conservative and largely pro-energy, and the incumbent Buescher, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was viewed by some as siding with the Ritter administration on tougher drilling regulations.

10:34 p.m. - Betsy Markey is ready to declare victory in the 4th District race, according to her spokesman, Ben Marter. She plans to make a speech at the Hilton in Fort Collins, where Larimer County Democrats are celebrating.

Markey, who is at the Hilton in Fort Collins, will make a victory speech, after waiting for Obama to make his in Chicago.

10:40 p.m. – Bob Schaffer sounded a note devoid of self pity in his concession speech, according to the Rocky Mountain news. “Good campaigns don’t end on election day, win or lose, if the ideas matter,” Schaffer told the gathered Republicans. “For all of us who are activists in the room, there are 730 days until the next election. Our job in the meantime is to find new leaders.”

It’s unclear whether Schaffer could be considering a run in 2010 — the subject of rampant speculation, as his Senate campaign appears to have finished the campaign with a substantial surplus — or is preparing to pass the torch to “new leaders.”

10:42 p.m. - After some trouble making it to the stage, Betsy Markey is claiming victory in Fort Collins. She starts by thanking Marilyn Musgrave and dampens down protests from the crowd, then says anyone who puts themselves out there in front of the public deserves thanks.

It takes some time to catalog her substantial family, including some who have been there “from day one” and others who flew in for the election.

Markey reserves special praise and gratitude for “my former boss,” Sen. Ken Salazar. He came to her defense when Musgrave attacks reached into her service on his staff.

Please catch up with the Markey upset in a separate story on the Colorado Independent.

10:54 p.m. - Catching up with a dispatch from Jason Kosena, on scene with the Larimer County Democrats in Fort Collins:

After Betsy Markey spoke to a room of 400-500 supporters tonight in Fort Collins, Democratic state Reps. John Kefalas and Randy Fischer planned to take the podium to make their victory speeches. Kefalas told the Colorado Independent he is wary of declaring victory over Republican Bob McCluskey without all the results posted. However, his lead is substantial enough he will make the speech, he said.

Fort Collins Democrat state Sen. Bob Bacon, who handily won his re-election bid against Republican Matt Fries, planned to speak after Kefalas and Fischer.

11:02 p.m. - Cara DeGette reports from Democratic party central at the Sheraton in downtown Denver:

You can imagine the ecstatic mood. State Senate President Peter Groff was onstage, going down the line of introductions of the lawmakers who joined him: Sen.-elect Joyce Foster, Sens. Lois Tochtrop (who did a little dance), Jennifer Veiga. Jim Isgar, Bob Hagedorn, Chris Romer and Ken Gordon.

Groff offered up his thanks to a crowd of thousands, who have taken Colorado from a “deep red to a purple, to light blue to, tonight, a deep blue…”

It was then, on the big screen, CNN announced its projected winner for President of the United States: Barack Obama. The cheering was thunderous, the music instantly recognizable: Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

Former Gov. Roy Romer took the podium. “Colorado, this is a new day,” he said. “A new day for us, for this nation, and this world.”

Sen. Ken Salazar followed, then Gov. Bill Ritter, who thanked Colorado for delivering its nine electoral votes to Obama. Ritter recalled nine months ago being asked by a reporter if Obama could really expect to win Colorado.

“In Colorado we believe in the American Dream,” Ritter said he told the reporter, “and Barack Obama is the exclamation point on the American Dream.”

Cheesy? Not to this energized crowd. Not by a mile.

11:25 p.m. - Bradford has taken a 400-vote lead over Buescher in the race for state House District 55 — an outcome that could determine who takes the job of speaker, running the House, a position Buescher was favored to win.

Laura Bradford (R) 15,988 50.64%
Bernie Buescher (D) 15,583 49.36%

11:32 p.m. – The state Senate District 26 race is down to the wire, depending on 52 polling boxes remaining to be counted, according to PolitickerCO. Democrat Linda Newell leads Republican Lauri Clapp by 139 votes. Newell predicted results within an hour but didn’t know which precincts were represented by the uncounted boxes.

11:45 p.m. – How are Colorado’s newspapers and Web sites naming the election?

The Denver Post headlines its site:
OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT IN HISTORIC VICTORY

with another heading over the main story about state results:
Colorado turns blue

The Rocky Mountain News headlines its site:
Obama: ‘Change has come to America’

and uses this utilitarian headline for its state story:
Democrats win across state

The Fort Collins Coloradoan headlines:
Fort Collins voters choose ‘change’

The Colorado Springs Gazette’s lead story is:
‘Yes, we can’: Obama vows to be president for all

The Aurora Sentinel goes with the no-nonsense:
Barack Obama wins

The Pueblo Chieftain seems to have given over its Web site to election returns, without a headline, and the Greeley Tribune puts an election night chat feature up top.

Want to guess how many variations on “turning blue” show up on the actual newspaper front pages Wednesday morning?

A truck sits in a field off a rural Larimer County road in northern Colorado. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

Home to the state’s only agricultural university, Rocky Mountain National Park and many ranches, Larimer County has traditionally been a Republican stronghold in Colorado. But, as President George W. Bush’s approval ratings play gutterball, the unpopular war in Iraq continues and the economy continues to implode, Larimer County’s electorate is starting to swing in a moderate direction with upticks in the number of Democrat and unaffiliated voters. That shift is being eyed by strategists and politicos carefully this year as the northern Colorado county could be one of a handful to play a pivotal role in the November election.

As of last week, 73,969 voters in Larimer County — or 35 percent — were registered Republicans, while 59,123 — or 28 percent — were registered Democrats, according the Larimer County Clerk’s office. Unaffiliated voters have surpassed GOP voter registration, with 36 percent, or 74,416.

By contrast, in 2004, registered Republicans numbered 39 percent of the electorate, while Democrats claimed 26 percent. Unaffiliated voters numbered 35 percent of the electorate.

With so many contested races in Larimer County this year, including the 4th Congressional race between Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and Democrat Betsy Markey, as well as the State House District 52 race between Democratic Rep. John Kefalas and Republican Bob McCluskey, the importance of the shift in political leanings among Larimer County residents is coming into focus.

“Why Larimer is changing — and why the Mountain West for that matter is changing politically — can be broken down in a number of ways,” said Kyle Saunders, a political science professor at Colorado State University. “Part of it is an increasingly urban and more diverse electorate, a changing economy, and a general momentum throughout the United States (away from the Republican Party).

“However, we should also pay attention to the strategy employed by the Democratic Party over the last few years in this region, what they have been doing in the West so effectively. The Democrats have played to a moderate electorate to the tune of individual rights and stayed away from divisive social issues, whereas the Republicans chose as their battleground issues terrorism and harder social issues over the past few cycles.”

Fiscal conservatives vs. social conservatives

Last week and for the first time in decades, the number of active Democratic voters in Colorado surpassed the number of active Republican voters, the result of what many political observers said is a growing split among fiscal conservatives and social conservatives. That division is being seen in Larimer County, where new population growth in recent years has brought a more moderate electorate with it.

“The shift away from the Republican Party reflects what is occurring statewide and to some extent nationally,” said John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “The Republican fusion of the fiscal conservative/small government folks and the social/cultural agenda Republicans has worn increasingly thin over time.

“With the public concerned about such bread-and-butter issues as health care, transportation and higher education, the Republican agenda has become less attractive. Overlay that with the dissatisfaction with Bush, the war, growing deficits, plus the enthusiasm with Obama, the trend away from the Republicans is understandable.”

But, just what impact the shifting voter demographics will have on important races in Larimer County is hard to pinpoint, Straayer said.

“A numerical surge like that means that folks are not happy, and unhappy voters are looking for alternatives,” he said. “I don’t know if you could predict a Dem victory based on the numbers from one county, but it does mean that (Republicans) are very unlikely to get the same percentage they received in prior races.”

That could spell bad news for McCluskey, a former state representative from Fort Collins who is battling with incumbent Kefalas for the HD 52 seat, which covers the eastern and northern part of Fort Collins and is in many ways symbolic of Colorado’s growing nature as a swing state. The two battled for the House District 52 seat in 2004 when McCluskey won by 500 votes. In 2006, Kefalas ran to victory, winning with 53 percent of the vote. This year they are at it again, and by all accounts it’s another close race.

Betsy Markey in Windsor. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

The battle for Colorado’s 4th CD between Musgrave and Markey is also close, and Larimer County could play an important role in the outcome. Despite voter registration numbers in the 4th that favor Republicans by 13 percent, recent polls indicated Markey, a never-before-elected former U.S. Senate staffer, stands a clear chance of unseating Musgrave.

Although observers don’t believe some conservative strongholds in the 4th, which encompasses the north Front Range and the Eastern Plains, will shift support from Musgrave, a growing number of unaffiliated and Democratic voters in Weld County and in Larimer could be just enough to tip the scales.

Two years ago, Musgrave struggled in a three-way battle with Democrat Angie Paccione and Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness. Eidsness, a former Republican, received more than 10 percent of the vote and Musgrave inched past Paccione by less than a 3 percent margin, one of the smallest of any Republican incumbent in the House and the closest of her career. In Larimer, Paccione gained more votes than Musgrave receiving 48 percent of the vote compared to Musgrave’s 40 percent. Eidsness won 11 percent.

Already a bad year for Republicans nationwide, Paccione looked strong against Musgrave in 2006 until she was slammed in the media and subsequently with negative advertising for a previous bankruptcy and for unpaid student loans. Paccione was never able to recover but Markey’s campaign this year is hopeful the Fort Collins business owner and former field director for Sen. Ken Salazar will be able to make up the 3 percent margin that Paccione was unable to do.

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in Windsor. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

Despite a Republican registration advantage within the county, other Democrats have succeeded in Larimer in recent elections, including Gov. Bill Ritter, who overwhelmingly won the county in 2006 with 56 percent of the vote.

In 2004, President Bush beat his Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry in Larimer, getting 51 percent of the vote. But, during the same election, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar outpaced his Republican opponent Pete Coors with 50 percent of the vote in Larimer compared to Coors’ 46 percent.

That isn’t to say the Republicans can’t expect to see a strong turnout on Election Day in Larimer County. Popular Republicans in the county include Sen. Steve Johnson, a joint budget committee member from Fort Collins, and Rep. Don Marostica of Loveland, and Sarah Palin seems to have excited a number of northern Colorado residents, as seen by the large number of people who attended her rally in Loveland this week.

Editors note: This is the second installment of a multi-part series The Colorado Independent is running on important Colorado counties in the 2008 election.

Students walk and ride their way down the middle of the historical Oval on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins. (Photo/Jason Kosena)

^{Copyright 2008, The Colorado Independent}

Lawmakers and state officials reacted with a range of surprise, support, and dismay in response to The Colorado Independent’s findings that, in the five years that Larry Penley has been at the helm of Colorado State University (CSU), he has poured money into the administrative and athletics departments, and shifted millions of dollars away from academics and the library system.

The changes — including a tripling of the budget for the office of the president — are part of what officials say are efforts to help the university attract additional revenue and funding in an era when they are unable to rely solely on state tax dollars to fund its operations. The upshot, however, is that CSU has increased student fees and tuition while money is poured into administrative programs as well as an extensive PR campaign to compete for research grants and students. The shifts have also resulted in larger class sizes for undergraduates and fewer courses being taught by tenured professors.

On Monday, lawmakers unanimously expressed surprise over TCI’s findings; however they differed on exactly what they mean for the state’s higher education system and Colorado taxpayers.

John Kefalas

“I was not fully aware of the magnitude of funding shifts towards CSU administration,” said Rep. John Kefalas, a Democrat from Fort Collins. “The fact that undergraduate academic funding has not kept pace with these particular funding priorities is a matter of state concern.”

In Colorado, accountability of higher education is decentralized and left in the hands of an institution’s governing board.

In the case of CSU, the board of governors, or a volunteer group of political appointees selected by the governor, approve university budgets and long-term planning goals based largely on input given by Penley and other university officials. By design, the Legislature and the state’s Department of Higher Education (DHE) do not read the fine print detailing the university’s budget and operations, said David Skaggs, executive director of the Colorado DHE.

“Each of the institutions have boards that have been recognized with ‘enterprise status,’ which has led to a highly decentralized governance system of higher education in the state,” said Skaggs, who spoke on behalf of Gov. Bill Ritter.

“We receive very broad reports from each school about how they have used their money, but we do not have the oversight or the authority or the capacity to oversee the budget of each institution.”

Skaggs said the College Opportunity Fund, legislation developed in 2004 to help better fund the state’s universities, requires the Department of Higher Education to hold each university to a set of benchmarks that have to be met by 2010. Those agreements have fiscal dimensions, he said, but don’t get down to the specifics about how universities are budgeting their state funding. Specifics are instead monitored by the CSU board of governors, which meet formally less than a dozen times each year.

Messages with Doug Jones, the chair of the CSU board, were not returned on Monday.

Into the dark

That lack of specifics has led to a system where state lawmakers, who allocate hundreds of millions in state funds to CSU each year, are largely unaware of what becomes of the money after it leaves state coffers. Lawmakers on Monday were careful to reserve judgment on the findings until learning more, but some, including Rep. Kefalas, called for closer scrutiny.

“I have requested a response from CSU administrators, faculty, classified employees and students (because) improving academic instruction should always be our No. 1 priority, especially when public funds are involved,” said Kefalas, who has carried many CSU-driven bills through the Legislature in recent years. “I applaud the accomplishments of Dr. Penley and his team because he thinks outside of the box, but we must ensure balance and true shared responsibility for the sake of our students and our community and to preserve the public trust.”

Former high school teacher and Fort Collins Democratic Sen. Bob Bacon shared Kefalas’ concerns and said maintaining the best undergraduate education experience at CSU should be a top priority. But Bacon also said he can’t blame the university for trying to secure new revenue sources while working in a system that under-funds higher education in Colorado by as much as $800 million a year.

Bob Bacon

“Being an old teacher, I want to make sure that the best situation is available for undergraduate classes,” said Bacon, who chairs the Senate Education Committee. “I decry that we have increased class sizes at CSU and that so many are being taught by [teaching assistants], but I would say CSU is still in better shape than many institutions including the state’s community colleges.

“I think you are raising a good question, though, in asking if the libraries and the academic programs are getting their fair share of the funding that is coming from the state,” Bacon said. “I am at the point of being interested in asking more questions about the amount of financial aid that is being offered amid higher tuition and fees than making any assumptions about what appears to be troubling on the surface.”

Public universities going private?

Not every lawmaker found TCI’s findings of concern, however. Loveland Republican Rep. Don Marostica, a CSU graduate and active member of the university’s alumni association, said alternative efforts by Colorado universities to gain additional revenues should be applauded. He also said university operations are so complex and specialized the state should focus on finding the right people to lead the institutions instead of micromanaging them.

“Once the [legislative joint budget committee] allocates money to the different higher education institutions, I think the president of the colleges are hired to use that money in the best way that they see fit, and as the boss, I think they should be able to run their organization the best way they can,” said Marostica. Universities, he added, should fund themselves in full accord with enterprise ventures similar to what CSU has been working to achieve through its re-prioritization of state funding.

Don Marostica

“I know my take is probably different than the others, but I think once that [tax] money is released to the university, I want each one to be autonomous, and each one knows what their institution needs and how to best spend the money. In that sense, it’s like running a business,” Marostica said. “My internal gut tells me they can run the universities as enterprises and still make higher education affordable.”

Colorado’s public university presidents are working with hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars, however, and thus aren’t able to work under the same guidelines as a private business owner. And although the state’s Department of Higher Education has performance contracts that work in very broad terms, CDHE executive director Skaggs said state officials are working to narrow that focus, which will ultimately incorporate greater accountability for universities.

“One of the revised components of the revision will get at providing and holding a measure of accountability aimed at ensuring that administrative costs are held down at our state schools so we can know that money is being spent on instruction,” said Skaggs. That standard can be difficult to measure, he noted, because some administrative funding is funneled down for academic use.

In addition, the state has also begun to look at the issue of student fees, which are approved by a university’s governing board, Skaggs said. At CSU this year, those student fees totaled nearly $1,400.

“The JBC last year took note of what has been happening in the student fee side of things and as a department we are in the process of concluding a study about what has been happening with student fees in the last few years,” Skaggs said. “I think that is one area that is very appropriately getting some scrutiny from the Legislature and others.”

Editor’s note: This is the third part in a series examining the shifting funds and priorities at Colorado State University. Read parts one and two: CSU’s president triples own budget, strips away cash from academics and Are efforts to go ‘green’ at CSU busting Colorado’s middle class?

Read more about CSU working to turn being green into a new revenue stream to supplement unreliable state funding.

Democrat John Kefalas and Republican Bob McCluskey know close elections.

The men battled for the House District 52 seat in 2004 when McCluskey won by 500 votes. In 2006 it was Kefalas who ran to victory, winning with 53 percent of the vote.

Fast-forward to 2008, and the two are at it again.

HD 52 covers the eastern and northern part of Fort Collins and is in many ways symbolic of Colorado’s growing nature as a swing state. Unlike HD 53, the other state legislative district in Fort Collins that has been in Democratic hands for decades, HD 52 has a more moderate voting block, which translates into closer elections and more attention from outside political groups.

“We expect it to be close again this year,” said McCluskey, a small-business owner and Fort Collins native. “It’s always tough to win, but we think we are looking pretty good so far.”

So does Kefalas.

“The race is targeted, and we expect it will be close,” Kefalas said, adding he expects 527s to play a large role as they did in 2006. “I think we will win by a larger margin than last time, but there is a difference this year — I have a track record.”

In fact, both men have a track record from their time serving as state legislators, and both are working to promote it.

McCluskey, a former Fort Collins City Council member who served two terms in the state House, touted his work to pass legislation aimed at enhancing police impersonation and Internet predator laws as well as his work to create a hospital report card to help people better choose health care facilities.

“I think if you run in a district that is competitive, which Fort Collins is, you end up dealing with all sides of an issue and come to a middle ground that is good public policy,” McCluskey said. ”I am used to working with both sides to bring groups together and see what we can do to help move Colorado ahead.”

Finishing his first term at the capitol, Kefalas proudly talks about his work to strengthen uranium mining regulations in Colorado — which helped stop a proposed mine in Northern Colorado earlier this year — as well as his efforts to lower the cost of textbooks for college students and to help the poor.

“I’ve learned a lot during my first term,” Kefalas said. “I know not to get as stressed out as things have a way of working themselves out. It’s a balancing act in this line of work, but I know I have the tools to continue working with everyone to get good legislation passed for Northern Colorado and the state.”

Although there are differences between the men, some major ones, they do share some perspectives. Both said the economy, health care and transportation are important policy areas the state needs to address in coming years. Both talked about being green, the environment and the new energy economy. Both said they will work to strengthen the job market.

Like many targeted races in Colorado this year, the election could see great influence by outside political groups jumping into the fray. Making things harder to gauge is the shifting voter registration numbers the district has seen in the last decade.

Although dropping in total numbers significantly and trending Democratic in recent years, HD 52 remains essentially a one-third Republican, one-third Democratic and one-third unaffiliated district, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

How much 527 activity, which played a big role in 2006, will enter the race this year has yet to be seen, but so far the expected political players on each side have each dabbled into the race. Big labor unions are giving to Kefalas while pro-business political action committees are giving to McCluskey.

Independent expenditures seem to be favoring Kefalas though who has been able to increase his cash on hand over the last few weeks at a time when McCluskey has spent much of his fundraising on mailers and other advertisements. The result is a growing gap between the two candidate’s cash on hand coming into the most important months of the election.

At the end of August Kefalas and McCluskey were both doing well fundraising when compared to other Northern Colorado races, but Kefalas held the strong advantage, raising more than $76,000 during the cycle with $60,000 cash on hand. McCluskey has raised $47,000 with $14,000 cash on hand — a gap he believes he can overcome.

“I feel good about my fundraising so far,” he said. “I know this will be a close race again and I am preparing for it. I think Fort Collins is changing so fast that despite our history of running against one another there are not many candidates out there that are too familiar to voters.”

Or in other words, it’s anyone’s game.

According to CCEG, the Northern Colorado Victory Fund paid for nearly $30,000 worth of media attack ads in October and November 2006 against State Rep. John Kefalas (D-52), then a candidate for the seat against Republican incumbent Bob McCluskey. The race was a repeat of a 2004 match up in which McCluskey narrowly won re-election.

The fund is based in Fort Collins and dually registered as a Colorado LLC and a 527 political committee by GOP political operative Andrew Boucher, the former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Committee which had its own share of problems when it engaged in a phone jamming scandal  during the 2002 election to prevent state Democrats from making calls for its Get Out the Vote effort. Three members of the party’s leadership were charged with federal crimes and sentenced to prison last year.

CCEG also alleges that the Committee for the American Dream, a state political committee, failed to properly disclose $237,012 in contributions from members of the Colorado Association of Home Builders and more than $28,000 in attack ads, also targeting Kefalas, during the 2006 election cycle.

The Denver-based committee is led by Robert Nanfelt, a registered lobbyist for the home builders association.

Colorado political organizations are required to provide detailed information to the Secretary of State on contributors and electioneering communications. CCEG stated that “If campaign finance laws are properly enforced, NCVF and CAD would be fined $50 per day for each day the reports are past due and CAD would additionally be fined $50 per day for each day the requisite membership information is past due. To date no fines have been leveled against either group.”

In the Rocky Mountain Chronicle out of Fort Collins, Kefalas revels some of his upcoming plans for next session, and what it’s like going through freshman orientation. Priorities?

From the article:

Future bills?

Committees and Allies?

Kefalas will be on the House Health and Human Services Committee, and was set to be on the Local Government Committee, until that assignment was changed just yesterday to to the Finance Committee, a spot where his GOP predecessor was also assigned.

Kefalas also served in the Peace Corps in El Salvador, and has won numerous awards for social justice work.

What’s Going On In Orientation?

In total, there are 31 freshman legislators this session.