Little to disagree with in this summary of the increasingly hot race for CD-6 from our friends at National Journal, who now rank CD-6 #1 in their top five “bellwether House races.”
A former secretary of state with a military background, Rep. Mike Coffman looked like a rising Republican star when he came to Washington, not to mention a likely future candidate for the Senate or governor. But in the redistricting process, Coffman found his solidly Republican district redrawn into a suburban Denver battleground-and then proceeded to act as if his political fortunes hadn’t changed one bit.One of the first bills he introduced in Congress ended requirements for ballots to be printed in languages other than English, a reasonable proposal for a conservative legislator, but one out of sync with a district that’s 16 percent Hispanic-more than double the percentage of his old district. Adding insult to injury, he drew national scrutiny when he told a town-hall meeting in May that he believes “in his heart” that President Obama is not an American.
Those political gaffes created an opening for Democratic state Rep. Joe Miklosi, who wasn’t the party’s top choice for the seat but who has put together a credible campaign. He has touted his working-class background and a populist-sounding campaign theme that closely echoes Obama’s message. The district is one of the wealthiest in the country, and it will provide a critical test of whether the Democratic messaging can resonate where many voters are part of the top “1 percent.”
Does he approve of his campaign manager kicking a former campaign worker and single mom to the street without healthcare or a severance payment?
Did he approve of the firing or was this the campaign manager’s decision? What consultants were involved in the firing decision, where they party officials? If so who?
Why didn’t the candidate assure the terminated employee (single mother) some cover from the campaign: they should have covered 3-6 months of COBRA and some exit cash ya’d think.
Was this a termination for cause? If there are federal campaign violations then the campaign made the right decision, but covering up these by not owning up to them is concerning.
Aparently the only thing you know about the “Boyd issue” is that she is a single mother and that the campaign got rid of her. Do you seriously believe that political campaigns offer health insurance to their staff? I’ve never seen one that did, and for sure I don’t believe that any Republican candidate has ever done so. COBRA? How nuts are you?
Lots of campaigns, especially federal and statewide ones, offer health insurance to their employees. But Boyd was a contractor, not an employee of the Miklosi campaign. If Lib wants to dig through all the campaign contractors who feel they weren’t’ treated fairly, have at it, there’s plenty on both sides. The only reason Boyd gets attention is that she filed a complaint, but what Lib doesn’t acknowledge is that the complaint was dismissed.
I have never seen a campaign offer health insurance, let alone COBRA, to it’s employees. Should they? Yes. Do they? No. To my knowledge, political campaign employees do not have a union. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong on that one.)
you’ve been associated with. The Bennet campaign tried to make an issue over this when it appeared the Norton campaign wasn’t offering health coverage to employees. It’s not uncommon at all for statewide and congressional campaigns to offer health benefits to employees, though a lot of full-time campaign workers are consultants so take care of their own.
Part-time vs. full time? Can interns pay for their own on the group policy?
I specifically remember an organizer (on what I think was the Bennet campaign) telling me, “Yeah, I fight for health care insurance reform all day long, but I don’t have any myself.” Can others chime in and tell us their experience? Do most campaign workers (not just the Sr. staff) get health insurance? I appreciate your point of view, RedGreen. Wondering how many of the campaigns offer it, and to whom.
As far as Kirsten Boyd is concerned, I tried to reach out to her since we have been acquaintances for some time, and she prefers to be left alone, so I will respect her wishes. I encourage her and the Miklosi campaign to work this out. It is not unusual for campaign workers to leave after disagreements and misunderstandings (on both sides of the aisle).
I’m sure Coffman’s had a disgruntled employee or two in his day, too. With enough digging, they could be found. Why not leave it all alone and let the individuals work it out?
Part-time vs. full time? Can interns pay for their own on the group policy?
I specifically remember an organizer (on what I think was the Bennet campaign) telling me, “Yeah, I fight for health care insurance reform all day long, but I don’t have any myself.” Can others chime in and tell us their experience? Do most campaign workers (not just the Sr. staff) get health insurance? I appreciate your point of view, RedGreen. Wondering how many of the campaigns offer it, and to whom.
As far as Kirsten Boyd is concerned, I tried to reach out to her since we have been acquaintances for some time, and she prefers to be left alone, so I will respect her wishes. I encourage her and the Miklosi campaign to work this out. It is not unusual for campaign workers to leave after disagreements and misunderstandings (on both sides of the aisle).
I’m sure Coffman’s had a disgruntled employee or two in his day, too. With enough digging, they could be found. Why not leave it all alone and let the individuals work it out?
For some reason, my Pols page is loading slow today.
or at least should offer healthcare. I have worked on Dem candidate campaigns in multiple states for the past 4 election cycles and, unless you are a hire after Sept. 1st, they all offer healthcare coverage of some kind.
Given the hours, low pay, and incredibly hard work (thinking particularly of field staffers here), campaign workers put in, it would be really obscene not to offer health benefits to your employees.
there are levels of campaign workers. Some get paid by the candidate’s campaign directly, some may be fellows through a school or political program, some are hired through a “coordinated campaign”, some are academic interns, etc. I would imagine each agreement is different.
Too bad your candidate is not up to that test.
that comment adds so much. This diary is now complete !
Miklosi’s campaign being defined as “credible” is a matter of opinion. Many would disagree with the National Journal’s assessment.
CD-3 has a much better shot of being flipped, demographics notwithstanding. But if liberals are looking at CD-6 as a model for how things will turn out in November, it’s going to be disappointing. Miklosi still has a lot of work to do. Probably too much.
We need to get the word out.
Money’s good. Some solid hits would be better.
These are from the Daily Kos Elections 2QTR 2012 Fundraising Report posted 7/18/12 by David Nir
Joe Miklosi
$338k raised $157k spent $799k cycle-to-date $518k total cash-on-hand
Mike Coffman $597k raised $121 spent $1,789 cycle-to-date $1,840 total cash-on-hand
Neither showed self-funding or self-loans.
Coffman will probably prevail so long as he avoids foot-in-mouth gaffes.
When is Joe Miklosi going to have something more to say than a mere one liner at the end of a story about Mike Coffman? The guy has moves into Aurora five months ago and becomes invisible.
Joe needs to remember that Brandon Shaffer polled a race against Coffman, in this new district, and decided getting pummeled by Cory Gardner was a better prospect. State Senator John Morse decided not to run because such a race would pretty much require a 24 hour a day effort, seven days a week effort. Obviously, Joe didn’t get the memo. He’s been the perfect stealth candidate in a district where hardly anyone knows his name.
It’s true this district isn’t the same as the one Coffman currently represents, but he did win this area, in 2006, when he ran for secretary of state in a big Democratic year.