Author Archives: ClubTwitty

The Hackstaff Election Flier: Skullduggery or Misdeeds?

1
  by: ClubTwitty Mon April 22, 2013 at 6:37 PM MDT

Hat Tip to David T for noticing this was licensed to Getty Images. 

 

So I did some digging.  Comments led me to wondering what exactly are the requirements for and agreements in using a licensed image, like the one from Getty used in the Hackstaff stamped smear mailer.

And, unless the dirty-tricks dark money shop has some particular and unique license with Getty Images, it would appear to be in violation of Getty’s license agreement. 

First of all, it is a licensed image, as the caption from the Washington Post story the original appears in also notes. 

People wait in line to vote at Caroline High School on November 6, 2012 in Milford, Virginia. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

From the Getty Images licensing information and indices, we learn it is classified as an ‘Editorial (Rights Managed) Photo.

Editorial (RM)

Products in our editorial collections are licensed with restrictions on usage, such as limitations on size, placement, duration of use and geographic distribution. Editorial products must be used in an "editorial" manner, which means use relating to events that are newsworthy or of public interest. If you wish to use an image or video from our editorial collections for a non-editorial use, you must contact a sales representative to assist you. All licenses of editorial products are subject to Getty Images Editorial, Rights-Managed and Rights-Ready Image and Video License Agreement.

Getty Images serves as a broker for professional photojournalists, and this–especially–is considered a premium service.  And a premium, proprietary product. 

About pricing rights-managed image

RM images are part of our high-end, premium collections. The price is determined by how you intend to use the RM image. Need to display an RM image across multiple media types? Please contact us.

All licenses of editorial products are subject to Getty Images Editorial, Rights-Managed and Rights-Ready Image and Video License Agreement.

Maybe the dark money dirty-tricks shop mailing from the Hackstaff Llc address bought the premium license for this image.  If so it still appears it is in violation of the Editorial, Rights-Managed Agreement referenced above. 

2.4 Editorial Licensed Material may be cropped or otherwise edited for technical quality, provided that the editorial integrity of the Licensed Material is not compromised, but shall not, under any circumstances, otherwise be altered.  (Emphasis Twitty)

So, how does this work now?   If the dark money shop neglected to comply with either or both requirement above—that is in (1) getting a license from Getty Images, the lawful broker of the image, and (2) in following the specific requirements of the Getty Images Editorial, Rights-Managed and Rights-Ready Image and Video License Agreement who exactly looks into that?

Can Hackstaff Llc still claim it is just performing a client service if actual misdeeds, not just skullduggery, were done? 

Does this warrant an investigation by Secretary of State Gessler? 


Full story: The Hackstaff Election Flier: Skullduggery or Misdeeds?

“Special Sauce” Spews into Fracking Debate

7
  by: ClubTwitty Sat February 16, 2013 at 8:54 AM MDT

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Here is a brief description from an article in the Windsor Beacon about the "flowback incident" in Weld County earlier this week that spewed a toxic mixture of green fracking fluid flowback into our shared environment for roughly a day and a half. 

Fracking involves the injection of millions of gallons of water, chemicals and sand into the oil well bore. In this case, Halliburton used 4.09 million gallons of water to frack the Ochsner well.The chemicals used to frack the well included at least 15 solvents and other chemicals, including naphthalene, a possible carcinogen; a toxic chemical commonly known as Tergitol NP-4; and others, according to a list available on FracFocus.

The unfortunate event coincides with a slew of activity and debate around the issue of oil and gas drilling and fracking in Colorado. These include: Colorado’s Governor badly missing the point and talking about drinking a (non-utilized, non-required) PR substance referred to as ‘frack’ fluid.  The U.S. Bureau of Land Management deferring numerous parcels from this week’s oil and gas lease sale, for instance, near Dinosaur National Monument, then in the North Fork, then again near Mesa Verde National Park. 

(more…)


Full story: “Special Sauce” Spews into Fracking Debate

‘Visions of Oil Shale Drums Danced in Their Heads’

3
  by: ClubTwitty Mon December 10, 2012 at 9:52 PM MDT

This past weekend the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ran opposing op-eds on the prospects of oil shale development in Colorado, and specifically on the Obama administration’s pending finalization of an oil shale leasing plan.  

The Obama plan is a solid improvement over an earlier plan put forth by the Bush administration.  It would help ensure that oil shale development–should it ever prove viable–happens more sensibly.  With finalization, future decisions about developing oil shale will have to recognize resources like our scarce water and the public lands of the Piceance Basin are too valuable and important to just hand over to industry without knowledge of what exactly we would be getting into.  Industry will have to be able to show what the impacts to those resources are likely to be before they are given permissions and permits to do so.  

The Sentinel columns are behind a paywall but are notable not only for the substance but for the authors. On one hand Colorado Department of Natural Resource Director Mike King–himself a western Colorado native.  On the other Brad McCloud the director of the suspiciously-named ‘Environmentally Conscious Consumers for Oil Shale’ also known as EIS Solutions, an industry-funded astrourfing PR shop.  

Of course significant questions still remain about potential impacts that might result from a commercial oil shale industry in Western Colorado. And King’s basic point is there is no reason to rush ahead, given both technologies and impacts remain unknown.  

This is because after a century of effort and billions in taxpayer subsidies to help “unlock” the secret of the ‘rock that burns’ and turn it into a commercial fuel source: zilch.  

Oh sure, there is talk as there has always been, and then another glitch, another setback, another delay. But with the Obama administration poised to finalize new leasing parameters and regulations for oil shale, the rhetoric has of late heated up. This is where the EIS Solutions op-ed comes in.  Mr. McCloud argues that the U.S. taxpayer is not making enough of the public’s resources available to industry, and not enough is the same as nothing in industry’s overblown rhetoric.    

Despite its history of disappointment and despair, the yet imaginary oil shale industry has an eager–if not unpredictable–chorus of boosters, including a handful of elected officials like Garfield Country commissioners John Martin and Tom Jankovsky. Having had to retract its illegal resolution from the secret meeting with oil shale lobbyists in Utah, the GarCo commission nonetheless recently decided to throw more taxpayer money after bad and file a protest on the Obama administration’s pending oil shale plan.

 

Reading Mr. McCloud’s op-ed, perusing industry and other reactionary blogs, or seeing the Chicken Little quotes from the likes of Commissioner Jankovsky, one might think that President Obama has actively thwarted, stopped, and shut down oil shale development, ‘closing off’ millions of acres and shutting down production of untold gushers of ‘crude’.

In reality, the Obama administration just approved new oil shale Research, Development and Demonstration leases, and is set to make over half a million acres of additional public lands available for further RD&D leasing.

To many observers, the whine of industry and their choir is the song of the self-entitled, for more: another hand out, more public land, more public dollars. The pending plan would dial back the Cheney Task Force inspired ‘open it all up now’ approach and require that companies first prove up their technologies and show they can properly mitigate impacts on a more limited basis before moving toward commercial leasing. This more measured approach has won the support of Colorado Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet in addition to the State of Colorado.  

Among other reasons, and why notable local governments support the Obama plan including Rifle and Grand Junction, is the memory of the last time federal subsidies for research were handed out and and public lands thrown open to the sugar plum dreams of oil shale.  That ended badly for Colorado in May 1982 .

 

So far industry, on the hundreds of thousands of acres it already controls or has under lease has failed to demonstrate what commercial oil shale technology might look like, and what it might impact.  

But to the oil shale chorus who seem to accept at face value whatever sweet things industry whispers in their ear: all the industry needs to succeed is more taxpayer beneficence and public resources. And so we get to Texas congressman Ralph Hall who is proposing $50 million in additional taxpayer subsidies for oil shale.

Rep. Hall, the Garfield County Commissioners and all the industry choir sing of the great manna about to be cooked from the earth if only more public treasure is handed over to industry.  This is the absolute wrong approach according to many, as summed up in this radio clip with former Grand Junction mayor Jim Spehar here. Spehar, like many others, prefers the Obama administration’s approach.    

And so the boosters evoke grand visions of great and wondrous things, to distract as they can from real and persistent questions and lingering doubts about our precious water supplies, impacts to wildlife, our economic future.

And even as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation supposedly considers siphoning water from Kansas to Colorado to replenish the dwindling river with that namesake, a small water company in Rio Blanco County (doc) has filed for a massive water development on its rights–enough for a large city–in part to quench the industrial needs of a future oil shale industry.  

“But do not fear,” the choir hums, “Gold will drip like oil from the skies, if only industry can have its way.”

The potential for both quantity and quality impacts to our vital water resources and to the public lands has many in Colorado concerned–another reason the State is siding with the measured approach of the Obama administration.

And while the industry and its choir try hard to divert attention from these recurrent concerns, serious doubts persist.    

Taxpayer groups are skeptical of another boondoggle, to see more public dollars go to boosting up oil shale.  Sportsmen, elected officials, state and local governments, are among those concerned about the impact to resources.

But the oil shale choir remains, chanting to hand over more public wealth to a mythical oil shale industry lured with promises of future goodies to come.  


Full story: ‘Visions of Oil Shale Drums Danced in Their Heads’

Rep. Tipton backs DC-based Club for Growth over Colorado Farmers

8
  by: ClubTwitty Wed September 19, 2012 at 5:38 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



POLS UPDATE: On Thursday Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced that there will be no attempt to pass a farm bill before the November elections.

Like most people, you probably don’t expect the House to do much of anything, but what makes this story problematic is that it counteracts Scott Tipton’s argument for withdrawing his support for a measure that would have put a Farm Bill on the House floor.

Either Tipton was lying when he said he pulled his support because he was told that there would be action on a Farm Bill “soon,” or Boehner just kicked him and his re-election campaign right in the ass.

—–

Congressman Scott Tipton has ‘abruptly’ withdrawn his support for a ‘discharge petition’ that would have forced Floor action on the stalled Farm Bill, although he regularly professes support for the legislation when he is out stumping in his largely rural district.  

Numerous sources, including The Hill are reporting:

After supporting a discharge petition aimed at bypassing the GOP’s control of the House schedule, Reps. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) and Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) on Friday abruptly withdrew their signatures.

Should the petition attract 218 signatures, the farm bill would come to the floor later this year. While that is highly unlikely, it is clear that GOP leaders view the possibility of mounting support for action on the farm measure as a political problem.

Tipton, who is in a competitive reelection race, and Ellmers on Friday walked to the well of the House floor and signed their names on the discharge petition.

Later on Friday, the freshman members returned to the same spot to strike their names.

Rep. Tipton on the stump supports Colorado farmers, and the Farm Bill, at least when he’s talking to them anyhow.

So what prompted Tipton to jettison the rural communities of Western Colorado and the San Luis Valley, at the last minute in spite of numerous promises otherwise, even as the Congressional calendar ticks down?   Follow me, readers, after the fold to see how Washington DC special interests won the day when Rep. Tipton had to choose between cash-flush lobbyists and Colorado constituents.  

Congressman Scott Tipton regularly talks up the importance of the Farm Bill when he is out and about his sprawling rural district.  Suddenly however when push came to shove and leadership was needed Congressman Tipton turned tail.  

Was it that ideologues threatened to extract political pain from any who dare stray from their orthodoxy?

It does so happen that in the intervening hours between signature and striking it the Club for Growth sent this out:  

KEY VOTE ALERT

Opposing Discharge Petition No. 0005 on the Farm Bill

The Club for Growth strongly opposes Discharge Petition No. 0005 that would force floor consideration of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012 (HR 6083), otherwise known as the farm bill.

A House member’s signature on this discharge petition, or any similar petition, will count heavily as an anti-growth action on the Club for Growth’s 2012 Congressional Scorecard.

So does that mean that the representative of Colorado’s Third Congressional District–a land spanning many agricultural zones from ranches to orchards to Olathe Sweet Corn and vineyards–no longer supports the Farm Bill as he has been telling farmers and local officials across his District?    

Not according to the Congressman’s contortionist, and spokesman, Josh Green who had this explanation, according to the article in The Hill:

Tipton spokesman Josh Green said that his boss made his point with the initial signature, and subsequently heard from leaders of their intention to move a farm measure.

“Congressman Tipton voted for the farm bill in committee and is doing everything he can to push for a floor vote. He added his name to the discharge petition to send a message that we need a farm bill. That message got attention, and shortly after adding his name, leadership assured Congressman Tipton that they would be taking action on the House floor in the near future to provide some certainty for the agriculture community,” Green said.

So, as Congress comes to an end–at least until it reconvenes in its end-of-year Lame Duck–Colorado’s farmers can just wait.  Sure, Rep. Tipton says its a priority, but the Club for Growth says he better not.  And guess who he listens to?  


Full story: Rep. Tipton backs DC-based Club for Growth over Colorado Farmers

Sal Pace: On the Air

17
  by: ClubTwitty Tue September 4, 2012 at 8:19 PM MDT

Sal Pace is out with his first ad buy.

In an email to supporters announcing the ad–and to potential supporters to help keep it on the air–the campaign touts the campaign’s efforts to cover the sprawling district:

Campaign Ticker

31,318 miles, 461 days, 427 events, 1 New Fuel Pump for the Trusty Old Ford Pickup, 1 near collision with a moose

Although the ad is a soft sell introduction to Pace, on the trail Sal is going after his opponent pretty hard.  

Pueblo state legislator and democratic challenger in the 3rd Congressional District, Pace has been working hard covering what will be the 3rd CD in the 113th Congress.

In Carbondale, Pace met with ranchers and conservationists representing the Thompson Divide Coalition, as reported in the Aspen Daily News.

There were 14 people representing various interests who participated in the roundtable discussion on Friday. Attendees included Thompson Divide Coalition members Zane Kessler, Laurie Lindberg Stevens and Dorothea Farris; Aspen Skiing Co.’s vice president of sustainability Auden Schendler; Pitkin County Commissioner George Newman and commissioner candidates John B. Young and Steve Child; Wilderness Workshop Executive Director Sloan Shoemaker, and Aaron Kindle of Carbondale’s Trout Unlimited.

If Pace wins Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District this year, one of his top priorities will be to address the Thompson Divide issue by holding another roundtable discussion between the local stakeholders and representatives from the oil companies to see if they can find common ground, he said.

“My philosophy is we’re given false choices too often,” said Pace, who is running against incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton. “And it’s an option of economy and jobs versus environment. I think people try to force you to choose one or the other and those are false choices.”

Tipton, during a campaign visit to Aspen last month, declined to take a position on Bennet’s bill until it had received more public comment.

In Telluride he met with small business owners, where he talked about his support of the popular San Juan wilderness proposal, according to the Daily Planet.

“The guy I’m running against signed an industry pledge saying he wouldn’t support any wilderness under any circumstances,” Pace said. “I think that’s the wrong approach. The way I view it is in an area like San Miguel County, the San Juan Wilderness means jobs. When people come to San Miguel County, they want to bike and fish and hike and ski in a beautiful environment. There’s a broad consensus that creating wilderness designations will help grow recreation in a tourism-based economy.”

In Craig, Pace attacked Tipton on his support for the ‘Ryan budget,’ noted by the Craig Daily Press:


Tipton has twice voted in support of the Ryan Budget.

“Tipton’s multiple votes for the Ryan Budget show he’s lost sight of Colorado priorities in Washington, D.C.,” said Pace during a press call Wednesday. “We have to address the budget. But we have to do so in a fair, deliberate and responsible way.

“The Tipton-Ryan Budget goes against Colorado priorities, and I intend to work, as I did in the state house, in a bipartisan fashion to really address the deficit concerns this country faces.”

Pace also unveiled Wednesday his “Baker’s Dozen: The Worst Things for Colorado About the Ryan Budget” and an interactive online map that localizes his criticisms of the Republican proposal to cities in CD3.

And while Pace has been showing up all around the District, Tipton’s appearances have been more limited. And the crowd Scott’s been running in seems split between him and his unaffiliated challenger Tisha Casida, who has lots of the ‘real’ Tea Party support.  

Rep. Tipton has yet to go on air–and its not yet clear which direction he would be running in…toward Sal and away from Tisha…or toward Tisha and away from Sal.  

But now that Sal Pace is up, maybe we’ll see.  And since all three will be at the upcoming Club 20 debate, Tipton won’t be able to dodge the question for long.  The 3rd CD is about to heat up.  


Full story: Sal Pace: On the Air

Craig Meis and the Ticket Fix

11
  by: ClubTwitty Mon August 6, 2012 at 5:10 PM MDT

(Previous version mistakenly excluded content on the angle of the latest Sentinel article, which regards the email exchange between the Mesa County Sheriff and Commissioner Meis.  The Sentinel article includes a link to those emails.   – promoted by ClubTwitty)




“it’s not often I receive a request to have a ticket fixed and yours is the first from a county commissioner.”  

Chafeee County Sheriff  Peter Palmer in email to Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis

The story in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel yesterday did not shine a positive light on Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis–which, of course, is no surprise.

Hilkey warned Meis on ticket fix

The GJ Sentinel story is behind a paywall, but reporter Paul Schockley does a good job of laying out the story on Meis’ latest attempt to weasel out of accountability, and the email exchange between Meis and Sheriff Palmer’s counterpart in Mesa County, Stan Hilkey who called ‘fixing’ a ticket an “ethical noose.”  

Undoubtedly some knee-jerk partisans will soon call ‘Foul!’ and accuse the paper of a ‘liberal’ bias. Of course, its the Grand Junction Sentinel we are talking about, so that charge probably only gets one so far with the reasonable crowd. And Meis’ time in office has been marked by controversy and petty offenses–that is petty, since nothing has yet burned to the ground.

In the Chaffee County incident, Meis was busted violating a fire ban as massive wildfires raged across the state, including in Mesa County near DeBeque.  Craig wanted to grill, and who knew there was a deputy around?

And this is no first for Craig Meis, who quickly earned a reputation for his imperial air and general attitude that he could do as he wished once elected boss. His antics and embarrassments continue to this day.    

Not long before his disregard for public safety and public and private property (not to mention wildlife, watersheds,  and air quality) Meis–whose ‘paying’ gig is in the oil and gas industry–was in attendance at the illegal meeting in Vernal, Utah, with elected officials and oil shale lobbyists (no media or public allowed) that led to a ‘dig it all up’ oil shale resolution earlier this year.  

Uintah County (Utah) has since been forced to rescind that resolution after an uproar in the Beehive State.  Both the Ogden Standard-Examiner and the Salt Lake Tribune published scathing editorials blasting the State of Utah and Uintah County.  

In Colorado, the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent also came on record critical of this secret, illegal meeting–as all three Garfield County commissioners attended, thus breaking Colorado law as well.  But so far the Sentinel, Denver Post and other editorial boards in the state have been strangely silent on this breech of Sunshine and Open Meeting laws.  

However, in its reporting covering the ongoing soap opera and regular appearance of malfeasance that is Mesa County Commissioner Craig Meis, the Sentinel overall has done an admirable job, as it notes itself:

Meis criticized what he characterized as a lack of discretion by a Colorado State Parks officer, who cited the commissioner in June 2010 for allowing Meis’ underage son to operate a personal watercraft at Highline Lake State Park. Meis repeatedly raised his position with the parks officer and said he knew District Attorney Pete Hautzinger “very well.”

The Daily Sentinel also reported on separate incidents in 2007 and 2008 when the commissioner yet again raised his elected position, or proximity to powerful officials, when contacted by Grand Junction police officers.

It has been often said that people get the government they deserve, but its a little hard to imagine what they could have done to get Craig Meis.

And kudos to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel for covering this–and other–stories about the oddities and odiousness of politics in a town run by a Politburo of Party elites (and nipped at the heels on the right by various factions of Teapartiers and self-described patriots).  

But elected accountability comes from the people, who need to demand it and who should refuse to accept such violation of ethical and open government.  In Mesa, in Garfield, in whichever county or government they occur.  

As long as the faithful accept whatever the Party decides, and the ‘opposition’ withers–purposefully–on the vine, the people get what they get, deserved or not.  Because a Rose by any other name smells just the same–and it is not always sweet.  

 


Full story: Craig Meis and the Ticket Fix

President Obama appearing in GJ

10
  by: ClubTwitty Wed August 1, 2012 at 7:18 AM MDT

UPDATED: Pres. Obama in Grand Junction next Wednesday, August 8.  Massachusetts Governor and Vulture Venture Capitalist ‘Private Equity Executive’ Mitt Romney will be in Basalt tomorrow

The Grand Junction Sentinel is reporting

Source: Obama coming to GJ

The Grand Junction Sentinel updated story indicates the President will be in GJ next Wednesday, August 8.  

The Western Slope will be the center of presidential politics for two weeks with President Barack Obama visiting Grand Junction on Aug. 8 and his likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, visiting Basalt on Thursday.

Obama will make his third visit to Grand Junction next week, just a month after a third visit to the Western Slope by Romney in a conference of Republican governors at Basalt High School on Thursday. Doors open for the event at 2 p.m.

No details about the president’s Aug. 8 visit were announced, but it will be the second of Obama’s presidency.



The facts around Mr. Romney’s visit in Basalt tomorrow are scrambled in the Gary Harmon story…tomorrow, next week, a month ago, it is not clear from the word salad that somehow made it past an editor, but a separate story in the Aspen Daily News states that former Massachusetts Governor (and then pro-choice, pro-healthcare-mandate Mr. Romney) will be in the Roaring Fork valley tomorrow.  

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will be in the Roaring Fork Valley later this week, with a public appearance scheduled at Basalt High School.

Romney will join other Republican governors at the event on Thursday. Doors open at 2 p.m. and it is a free event open to the public. Romney is scheduled to speak beginning at 3:50 p.m.

GOP governors Chris Christie (R-NJ), Nikki Haley (R-SC), Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Bob McDonnell (R-Va.) and Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) are scheduled to speak at the Aspen Institute this evening. It’s unknown if all or some of them will join Romney on Thursday, and whether Romney will arrive in Aspen today.

My guess is that a lot of folks in the Thompson Divide area want to find out which side he is on: does he support local initiatives, area ranchers and Colorado communities or will he side with a billionaire-owned privately held oil company from Texas? I would not be surprised to see a welcoming party…  


Full story: President Obama appearing in GJ

BREAKING-Roan Plateau Victory! Colorado Landmark to Get ‘Second Look’

18
  by: ClubTwitty Sat June 23, 2012 at 2:41 AM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



[Updated w/ Brief addition and photo] After nearly four years since these public lands were leased for oil and gas drilling in the waning days of the Bush administration against overwhelming public opposition, the Roan Plateau leases have been suspended.

The Bush-era plan they were based on has been sent back to the BLM, which will have to prepare additional analysis to bring it into compliance with the several laws the court found the Bush Roan Plan to violate.    

Dennis Webb, who has covered this story since its very beginning–as reporter and then editor of the Glenwood Post (or Independent…I cannot recall) when there were two local papers in Glenwood Springs–has the first story up in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.  

A federal judge has ruled in favor of conservation groups in their lawsuit…



The ten wildlife and conservation groups that were plaintiffs in the suit, represented by EarthJustice, made four claims–three of which were ruled upon favorably by the court.

The Sentinel article notes:  

In a 38-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Krieger ruled that the agency failed to adequately address an alternative that would have kept drilling off the plateau top by making use of directional drilling from surrounding lands. It also failed to sufficiently consider cumulative air quality impacts in conjunction with anticipated development on surrounding private land, or to adequately address ozone impacts.

Krieger’s order sets aside the BLM planning decision leading to the 2008 leasing and remands the matter back to the agency for further action.

Over the years I have written numerous diaries posted here among dusty gigabytes of data, on Roan Plateau and why it is such a special place.  It is a place, and an issue, very near and dear to my heart, one I have spent countless hours on.

This is a victory for Colorado.  For pure strains of native trout that find habitat there, for the outstanding recreational opportunities these popular pubic lands provide.  The bottom line is the Bush plan was illegal.  Now there will be another chance to work with the BLM to craft a sound and balanced plan for the Roan.  

So a toast!  To sending a bad plan back to the drawing board–and a hope to a better plan for the Roan Plateau that truly protects this remarkable treasure.  

Court ruling can be found here.  


Full story: BREAKING-Roan Plateau Victory! Colorado Landmark to Get ‘Second Look’

Does Cory Gardner Want to Raise your Gas Prices?

10
  by: ClubTwitty Sat March 17, 2012 at 3:51 PM MDT

SUNDAY POLS UPDATE: here’s Rep. Cory Gardner’s full Weekly Republican Address:



—–

Cory Gardner is doing the bidding of his constituents.  No, not the taxpayers and consumers that populate his district–his real constituents: Big Oil.  From The Hill:

“People in my district and around the country are fed up with the way the president is handling this issue, and rightfully so. The most forceful thing the president has done about high gas prices is try to explain that he’s against them. Americans are right to expect more from their leaders,” the Colorado Republican said.

Apparently, people should expect more from folks like Mr. Gardner in helping Big Oil take more hard-earned cash from Coloradans’ pockets as prices go up.  

Or as Mr. Gardner’s cash constituents like to phrase it ‘stabilize.’  That’s because with completion of the Keystone, Coloradans will likely see gas prices increase.  That’s good for Mr. Gardner’s funders, but bad for the people that live in Colorado’s 4th.

Mr. Gardner’s not alone pimping for Big Oil and the Canadians, of course.  It is, rather, de rigueur for these day’s GOP candidates.  My congressman, Scott Tipton, is up to much the same.  Rep. Gardner, however, probably knows better.  

One industry source (Colorado Energy News–”The business, technology and politics of Colorado’s energy industry”) puts it this way:



Keystone Pipeline Could Raise – Not Lower -

Gas Prices in Colorado and Wyoming

TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, a project backers … say will create cheaper U.S. gasoline, instead risks raising prices as much as 20 cents a gallon in the Midwest, Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.

The line would create a new way to carry Canadian imports outside the Midwest and reduce an oil surplus that’s depressing prices in the central U.S. …

“The Canadian plan was to use their market power to raise prices in the United States (UNG) and get more money from consumers,” Philip Verleger, founder of Colorado-based energy consulting firm PK Verleger LLC, said in an interview.

This article is based on a report from that notorious left-wing rag the Bloomberg Business Report:

Producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) and Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE) may reap as much as $4 billion more in annual revenue if prices rise as expected following the construction of the 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) Keystone XL conduit, the 2010 report says.

And that…

Keystone XL might lower the average cost of gasoline across the U.S. by up to 4 cents a gallon, Ray Perryman, a consultant hired by TransCanada to assess the economic impact of the project, said in an e-mail.

The net impact of Keystone XL on gasoline prices would be minimal, said Perryman, whose research has been cited by TransCanada to back up claims on potential job growth and market impacts from the pipeline.

Consumers in Colorado and Wyoming currently pay less for gasoline than anywhere in the nation because of the supply glut in the Rocky Mountains caused by stranded Canadian imports and growing oil production from onshore fields.

So when Reps. Garder or Tipton are stumping about promising economic gain from doing Big Oil’s bidding…the Colorado observer might ask: who’s gain?  Because it is unlikely to be the Colorado consumer.  


Full story: Does Cory Gardner Want to Raise your Gas Prices?

BUSTED: Scott Tipton Needs to Listen

14
  by: ClubTwitty Fri March 2, 2012 at 3:43 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



So the Denver paper has a story about Congressman Tipton’s violation of ethic rules when he took public monies to fund his partisan campaign event in Avon.

In the article his staff claim it was an honest mistake.  Honest, perhaps, stupid as well.  It should be pretty obvious that when you are using public resources to campaign in a district that you do not represent (but want to after the next election) that you are violating US law.  

In addition, Mr. Tipton was on notice:  I posted this diary a day before this campaign event, and it was front paged.  

As I noted then:

Mr. Tipton, the candidate, of course has reason to be in Avon pressing the flesh, after all he will be running there–just not on the tax payers’ dime, or so one might think.  Once again, Mr. Tipton–fiscal conservatism for thee, but not for me, taxpayer money after all, is there to spend.

http://www.coloradopols.com/di…

The congressman could have cancelled the event, and refunded the money grafted from taxpayers.  

It was ignored by Mr. Tipton, and a GOP apologist piled on accusing me of selective diarying because I didn’t post on Mr. Polis’ visit to Longmont (although that was clearly noted in the very article he linked to in making his ‘case’ that this was paid for as a campaign expense  and not on the back of hard-pressed American taxpayers…).  

The highest paid staff, funneling taxpayer dollars into private campaign events…

For someone who once ran on cutting government in half, he sure is doing his part to on spending what he can.

 


Full story: BUSTED: Scott Tipton Needs to Listen

Is Tipton being ethical with our money?

28
  by: ClubTwitty Fri January 6, 2012 at 8:30 PM MDT

(This presents interesting questions – promoted by Colorado Pols)



Rep. Scott Tipton is currently advertising a ‘meet-and-greet’ to share his 2012 legislative agenda…in Avon, CO.  Avon, of course, is inside the 2nd CD, and will be for the remainder of 2012.

Congressman Scott Tipton to Hold Meet and Greet in Eagle County this SATURDAY

Jan 6, 2012

MEDIA ADVISORY

Congressman Scott Tipton to Hold Meet and Greet in Avon this SATURDAY

Rep. Scott Tipton (CO-03) will hold an informal meet and greet this Saturday at 9AM in Avon to share his legislative agenda for 2012. Residents are encouraged to attend and your coverage is invited.

What: Avon Meet and Greet with Rep. Scott Tipton

When: Saturday, January 7

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (MST)

Location: Loaded Joes, 82 E Beaver Creek Blvd., Suite 104, Avon, CO

Mr. Tipton, the candidate, of course has reason to be in Avon pressing the flesh, after all he will be running there–just not on the tax payers’ dime, or so one might think.  Once again, Mr. Tipton–fiscal conservatism for thee, but not for me, taxpayer money after all, is there to spend.  


Full story: Is Tipton being ethical with our money?

BLM to Lease North Fork for Oil and Gas Drilling?

22
  by: ClubTwitty Sun December 18, 2011 at 10:38 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



The BLM is considering leasing some 30,000 acres in Colorado’s North Fork Valley, surrounding the town of Paonia, and extending up valley past Somerset and down valley to Hotchkiss, south almost all the way to Crawford.  

CNN ireport:

Oil and gas leases threaten beautiful Western Colorado valley

The Bureau of Land Management announced an Oil and Gas Lease offering  http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BL…  that surrounds the North Fork Valley of The Gunnison and the towns of Paonia, Crawford and Hotchkiss  http://www.northforkvalley.net/ . “It looks like Custer’s last stand,” said one resident.

The good folk of the North Fork are none too pleased and the Home Guard is mobilizing rapidly. Citizens are convening meetings, combining expertise, and providing detailed information that the agency–so far–has failed to provide itself.

The federal minerals–under both public and private lands-would be auctioned off during the August 2012 lease sale in Lakewood, starting at a few dollars per acre. The BLM is currently conducting its ‘scoping’ on the project, and anticipates issuing a cursory Environmental Assessment sometime early in the year.  

The BLM believes that it can put these lands up for oil and gas leasing based on its Resource Management Plan from the 1980s. But people familiar with the North Fork know that plan does not address the resources that exist here today, if it ever did.

The agency is proposing leasing numerous lands in and around Paonia State Park, for instance, even though the RMP does not even note, let alone manage for impacts to a State Park; and within municipal and other culinary source water areas, despite not identifying, noting, or providing any management to protect these resources.

The community message board–which usually helps with lost dogs, hay sales, rides to DIA and the like–was overwhelmed, so a dedicated FaceBook page has sprung up.

Expect this one to be big and noisy.  

There is a reason, of course, the locals are passionate, as anyone who has visited the North Fork should be aware.  The CNN post continues:

This valley is home to many organic farms, orchards, vineyards and ranches and recently has been a described as “An American Provence”  by author, Thomas P. Huber.  The valley is bordered by Grand Mesa National Forest, The West Elk Wilderness and Gunnison National Forest and is a fabulous recreation area for hikers, cyclists, skiers, hunters and fishermen.

Right now initial scoping comments are due soon after the New Year, although locals are pushing for an extension. Meanwhile folks are not waiting to gather the information needed to stop this project in its tracks.

It may indeed look like ‘Custer’s Last Stand.’  But recall how that one ended for the Feds.  


Full story: BLM to Lease North Fork for Oil and Gas Drilling?

Honk and Waves to be banned for November 2012?

33
  by: ClubTwitty Thu November 17, 2011 at 2:34 AM MDT

(We’re fresh out of reasons to not promote this – promoted by Colorado Pols)




Colorado Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper waves at motorists as he and supporters do a honk and wave in Denver, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2010.

link

As all good campaigners know, the ‘honk and wave’ is standard fare around election time.  It’s in good fun, and a way for passing motorists to show support.  But be careful with whom you find affinity apparently, as one motorist recently learned in Denver showing support for the Occupy protestors.

The Westword is reporting:

While driving downtown after the night’s police raid on Occupy Denver, Garcia chose to publicly support the group by honking his horn. This, he would quickly learn, is technically illegal. Thanks to “either two or three honks,” he says, Garcia was pulled over and ticketed by a police officer near 14th Street.

Just to be clear, Garcia takes out the ticket and reads it. On November 12, at 8:30 p.m., he was cited for violating city ordinance 54-71, labeled “horns or other warning devices.” Garcia drove down 14th Street and was about to turn onto Broadway when a supportive honk earned a show of headlights behind him, accompanied by the signal for him to pull over.

Selective criminalization of common behavior upsets me.  I expect the Denver PD to be quite busy next November, because after all–fair is fair.  


Full story: Honk and Waves to be banned for November 2012?

Scott Tipton’s Anti-Environmental Record

4
  by: ClubTwitty Thu September 15, 2011 at 7:13 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



Nine months into his first term in federal office, Colorado’s Third District representative has already staked out turf among DC’s most anti-environmental legislators.  Troy Hooper reports in RealAspen:

Colorado Conservation Voters issued a report Monday highlighting the poor environmental record of Tipton and his fellow Republican congressmen Cory Gardner and Doug Lamborn, who collectively have made 370 votes against the environment this year while largely supporting a pro-polluter agenda.

“Congressmen Gardner, Lamborn and Tipton have sided with Big Oil and dirty energy interests at every opportunity during the 112th Congress, voting to protect their unnecessary subsidies while working to block the EPA’s ability to hold these corporate polluters accountable,” said Colorado Conservation Voters Executive Director Pete Maysmith.

…The trio of environmental troublemakers voted 18 times this year to protect tax breaks for big oil, 57 times against efforts to combat climate change, 134 times against programs and funding to keep water and air clean, 98 times to defund or weaken the EPA and 64 times against renewable energy initiatives.

And that’s not even counting Tipton’s co-sponsorship of HR 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act – a bill so far-reaching it’s testing the tempers of folks who lean to the left and to the right

Following verbatim the Republican talking points, Mr. Tipton incessantly demands that solving all our economic woes is as easy as ditching regulations, easing restrictions and opening up more lands to drilling and mining.  Apparently he thinks that the environment will just take care of itself.  

The  Western Slope elected a Republican in 2010, and with that it is understood come different political and policy priorities.  But Mr. Tipton is doing a grave disservice to many in his District who want to ensure that energy development is balanced with public health, a clean environment, undeveloped backcountry and secure habitat on our public lands.  

So far Mr. Tipton has failed to demonstrate that he appreciates that balance.

For an indication on the type of dialogue Mr. Tipton wants to encourage in finding solutions to real issues of substantive concern to many of his constituents, one need only consider the hearing titles for his dog-and-pony shows, the second of which will convene next week in Grand Junction, according to the Daily Sentinel (paywall):

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., plans to host another hearing in Grand Junction next week about what federal regulations may be getting in the way of energy development in the nation.

…He’s titled next week’s session, “Are Excessive Energy Regulations and Policies Limiting Energy Independence, Killing Jobs and Increasing Prices for Consumers?”

Tipton the One Trick Pony

Mr. Tipton’s taxfunded roadshow will likely not be too entertaining.  His pony only knows one trick. On Grand Junction’s bottom ranking in metropolitan areas’ economic recovery (pdf), Tipton again hit this theme:

Grand Junction has been hit especially hard by policies that have stamped out development of our natural resources, and suffocated economic growth,” Tipton said.  ”There are many things that can be done right now to create thousands of badly needed jobs in Grand Junction and in the Third Congressional District, including adopting an all of the above approach to energy development.

When facebooking the news of the increase in US poverty rate, Mr. Tipton’s comment was:

It is devistating [sic] that 46.2 million Americans, including 22 percent of American children, are living in poverty. It’s time we get government out of the way and let the Free Enterprise System function, so that Americans can get back to work and we can reverse this trend. We must act now.

Like much of America, the Western Slope is hurting, some areas more than others.  No one doubts that oil and gas drilling provides jobs–its called a boom for a reason–just as few who pay attention can honestly admit that an over-reliance on any particular sector, especially a highly volatile one like energy commodities, doesn’t pose great threat to long-term economic health.  It’s called a bust for a reason too.  

As of this writing, natural gas is trading for just over $4.00 an mbtu.  The market is glutted and massive shale plays have made Piceance gas less attractive (but not Niobrara oil, another fatal flaw in the congressman’s reasoning).  It is, in fact, the very Free Market that Mr. Tipton pledges allegiance to, at work.

Meanwhile, there are other economies at work on the Western Slope.  And locations that had more diversity in theirs have fared better over this last rough patch. Something Mr. Tipton’s opponent realizes, according to an article in the Durango Herald.

“Here in the Western Slope, we all know that our land, our environment, our economy and our people are all tied together, and here in Durango and in La Plata County, we know that recreation, we know that tourism, we know that the folks who come and raft, the folks who come and ski are important, and we have to have balance in our land use and our natural environment. And we have a congressman today who is a sponsor of a piece of legislation that would do away with any future roadless or wilderness areas,” Pace said, referring to House Resolution 1581.

Pace repeatedly criticized Tipton for a lack of balanced support, at one point saying Tipton is “hell bent on representing the narrow 5 percent of the extreme tea party fringe.”

Legislation such as HR 1581 would “almost definitely” lead to dirty rivers and damage water quality by taking away public protection, Pace later said in an interview.

…Ensuring clean, pristine rivers and wilderness areas ultimately will bring tourism to an area by encouraging recreation, Pace said,

HR 1581, the “Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act” would essentially open up the vast majority of our National Forest roadless areas and BLM’s wilderness study areas to the full range of industrial and motorized activity, based on area management plans.  It is wildly unpopular among environmentalists, many local governments, hunters, anglers, outdoor businesses, and most people with good sense.  

In Colorado the legislation would derail the six-plus year process to craft a roadless rule for the state.  (One, ironically, that currently includes–in its draft form–unprecedented giveaways to the coal industry in the North Fork).  

On Thursday, a coalition of eight conservation and sportsmen’s groups sent a letter to Colorado’s congressional delegation and Gov. John Hickenlooper urging them to reject California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s H.R. 1581, entitled the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act.

The bill would release huge swaths of federal lands across the country from roadless protection and consideration for wilderness status. It would essentially eliminate the 2001 Clinton roadless rule, which has been in legal limbo for a decade, and also undo the Colorado Roadless Rule – a state-specific set of regulations set in motion by former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens in 2005 but still not finalized.

“We want to ensure that Colorado’s roadless areas are managed at a level that is as protective as the 2001 rule,” said Nick Payne, Colorado field representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in Denver. “H.R.1581 would undermine that ability by effectively eliminating the 2001 rule and the potential for an improved Colorado rule.”

Protecting Colorado’s environment is good business.  Just as safeguarding public health–and clean air and water–should be a top concern of our elected officials.  Heavy on the rhetoric, Mr. Tipton generally glosses over the details about specifically which public lands, health and environmental protections have driven the price of natgas to a near record low ‘stamped out development of our natural resources’?

This might prove a challenging puzzle for Mr. Tipton to solve, however, as drilling across much of the nation (and even parts of Colorado) is actually up.  Meanwhile our congressman’s crusade to gut regulations might risk the very type of balance that keeps our economy more resilient.

Aspen Skiing Co.’s top environmental guru is heading to Capitol Hill today with three winter sports athletes in an attempt to convince members of Congress to stop climate change.

Auden Schendler, SkiCo’s vice president of sustainability, will be accompanied by Olympian snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, pro skier Chris Davenport and pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones.

…”The primary message to Congress is do not gut the EPA on the regulation of carbon,” Schendler said. He added that the Environmental Protect Agency is under attack by the GOP, some members of which would like to eliminate the agency.

“They think regulation of any kind kills business,” Schendler said. “Our position is that climate change kills it more.”

…The winter sports industry is a $66 billion-a-year industry, and therefore is influential.

Mr. Tipton has not been in Congress long.  But his anti-environmental record is already growing tired.  Apparently oblivious to the growing concerns around clean air and water, or the tremendous support for protecting our best backcountry, or the businesses across his District that rely on these values to thrive, the Congressman ignores what is obvious to a large number of his constituents.  

In a Denver Post article, Schlender criticizes Tipton directly, as an active member in the most anti-environmental Congress ever, noting that “we think wilderness and public-land preservation is good for business.”

But I guess Mr. Tipton didn’t see that one on his talking points sheet.  


Full story: Scott Tipton’s Anti-Environmental Record