Author Archives: Colorado Pols

Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Requirement for Voting

1
  by: Colorado Pols Mon June 17, 2013 at 1:59 PM MDT

From NBC News:

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down an Arizona law that requires people to submit proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

The vote was 7-2. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said that a 1993 federal law known as the Motor Voter Act takes precedence over the Arizona law because of its requirement that states “accept and use” the federal voter registration form…

…Citizenship is a requirement to vote in any federal election, and the federal registration form requires people to state, under penalty of perjury, that they are American citizens. States can use their own forms, but they must be equivalent to the federal form.

The Arizona law, known as Proposition 200 and adopted by Arizona voters in 2004, went further than the federal form by requiring applicants to provide proof of citizenship. Arizona has used the law to reject 30,000 voter applications, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Challengers to the law argued that it put an extra burden on naturalized citizens. Using a naturalization document as proof would require an applicant to register in person, as opposed to through the mail, because federal law prohibits copying the document.

Proving that you are a Colorado resident and proving U.S. citizenship are, obviously, entirely different matters. Secretary of State Scott Gessler will no doubt be on the rampage with this decision as he continues his quest to convince people that illegal immigrants are voting in Colorado (including county clerks, who don't know what Gessler is talking about). Of course, there is no proof that illegal immigrants voting in Colorado is an actual problem, but Gessler and friends have some new complaints to use in touting their manufactured crisis.

We'd say the Supreme Court's decision is a setback for Gessler's cause, but it's not as though this was ever a fact-based campaign to begin with.


Full story: Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Requirement for Voting

Al Sharpton Busts Down Gessler

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  by: Colorado Pols Mon June 17, 2013 at 1:46 PM MDT

Back during the legislative session, a mail piece attacking Republican county clerks for their support of House Bill 1303, this year's election modernization bills, drew nationwide condemnation after it photos in the piece were determined to have been altered to remove African-American faces from a line of people waiting to vote. Among those who called out this botched attempt to frighten rural Colorado voters was NBC News' Al Sharpton, who noted the connection between that mailer and the former law firm of Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler. Gessler was the foremost opponent of the bill in question, and the incident helped reinforce his reputation as a shady partisan player–whether or not he personally approved the mailer.

Rev. Sharpton circled back Friday after Gessler was ruled by the state's Independent Ethics Commission as having "breached the public trust for private gain," after using funds from his office's discretionary account to pay for his trip to the Republican National Lawyers Association annual conference last year in Florida, which was scheduled just ahead of the Republican National Convention.

We'd say the "Honey Badger" has met his match…


Full story: Al Sharpton Busts Down Gessler

Tancredo Rages Against Federal Immigration Reform

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  by: Colorado Pols Mon June 17, 2013 at 9:02 AM MDT
Tom Tancredo.

Tom Tancredo.

In a column for famously hard-right World Net Daily, GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo writes:

Genuine border security will not be a part of the bill.

Sadly, this kabuki dance around fake amendments is what passes these days for high-level debate in the United States Congress. And, of course, the outcome is tightly scripted and well understood by all parties. The “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill will pass the Senate by a comfortable margin and will be hailed as a “huge bipartisan victory for immigration reform.”

All that has been predictable for many months, and we should not be shocked by any of it. The Senate Democratic leaders, principally Sen. Schumer and his Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Marco Rubio, [Pols emphasis] have played their cards well, aided as always by a cooperative mainstream media and dutiful K-Street Chorus…

But there is another, more intricate and more dishonest farce taking shape in the Republican-controlled House. Republicans in the House could stop the sellout of national sovereignty and the rule of law, but instead, they are planning to join the sellout. They are preparing to ignore the 2012 Republican Platform, the polls and the strong preferences of grass-roots Republicans to capitulate to the Senate in all essential features of an amnesty bill.

On and on Tancredo goes in his trademark ranting style in this column, vehemently opposing any kind of immigration reform that isn't predicate on "border security," which would result in this incredibly bad thing he calls "amnesty" for those villanous "illegal aliens." Tancredo, if there any readers who don't yet know the man, doesn't do politically correct–as you can see from his gleeful employment of both "illegal" and "aliens." Far from a solution to a decades-old problem enjoying overwhelming popular support, Tancredo is 100% certain that passing anything like this federal immigration reform bill means "a new wave of illegal entries across our borders."

It's classic Tancredo. The Republican base loves this message, and loves Tancredo, even as he makes Republican strategists looking at America a generation from now cringe. As you can see, Tancredo is very much undeterred by your propellerheaded yackety-yack about "demographics."

He's running for Governor of Colorado, and his highest-profile opponent is mired in ethics controversies. Recent polling shows Tancredo, for all his warts, the most competitive of any challenger to Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The ingredients of a perfect storm.


Full story: Tancredo Rages Against Federal Immigration Reform

At Least He’s Not Your Muzzled Congressman

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  by: Colorado Pols Sat June 15, 2013 at 10:50 AM MDT
Buh-bye now.

Buh-bye now.

Politico follows up with Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, whose Todd Akin-like comments about the likelihood of pregnancy resulting from the crime of rape resurrected the "War on Women" meme this past week during debate over the GOP's latest abortion restriction bill in the House.

Rep. Trent Franks’s (R-Ariz.) bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks nationwide now includes an exception for rape and incest after his remarks about rape and pregnancy created an uproar.

And it’s not Franks’s bill anymore — or more precisely, he won’t be managing his own bill when it goes to the House floor Tuesday. He’s being replaced with a high-profile House GOP woman. [Pols emphasis]

A spokesman for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) confirmed Friday to POLITICO that she’ll be managing the debate, and that the bill is being changed to include the new exception…

On the one hand, yanking control of this bill from Rep. Franks and giving it to Rep. Marsha Blackburn makes, well, obvious political sense. On the other hand, Rep. Franks' comments underscore the kinds of Republican presumptions about the issue of abortion that have made it such a liability in the last few election cycles–with a permanent, or at least enduring, loss of support from women and wedge-issue agnostic independent voters. Here in Colorado, the 2010 U.S. Senate race was largely decided based on the GOP Senate candidate's repellent views and prior statements about rape and reproductive choice. And then came Paul Ryan.

In the end, this may be a problem that Republicans can't solve. They are stuck in the thrall of a shrinking but powerful segment of voters for whom the issue of abortion is an irrational litmus test. That's why the House is debating this totally symbolic abortion bill, DOA upon passage, to begin with. They don't really have a choice.

We await the next Todd Akin…


Full story: At Least He’s Not Your Muzzled Congressman

Hickenlooper Names New Corrections Chief

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  by: Colorado Pols Fri June 14, 2013 at 1:17 PM MDT

Governor John Hickenlooper has selected Rick Raemisch as the new Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. Roger Werholtz has served as the interim Executive Director since the March murder of former Corrections head Tom Clements, and has been doing his best in the wake of that stunning tragedy. Werholtz announced yesterday, in fact, that he had fired parole director Tim Hand.

Raemisch is a former head of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and will take over in Colorado in July. According to a press release announcing the move, Raemisch is currently Dean of the School of Human and Protective Services at Madison College in Madison. We wish Raemisch the best of luck in taking over the Department of Corrections — a tough job made significantly more complicated since the murder of Clements.

Complete press release after the jump.

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Full story: Hickenlooper Names New Corrections Chief

Udall Looks Strong In Otherwise Ugly Poll For Dems

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  by: Colorado Pols Fri June 14, 2013 at 9:52 AM MDT

The second half of Quinnipiac University's polling of Colorado out today, via National Journal:

In a new Quinnipiac University poll filled with bad trends for Gov. John Hickenlooper, poor ratings for President Obama, and lackluster early numbers for 2016 Democratic presidential contenders, Sen. Mark Udall's, D-Colo., approval ratings stand out as a possible bright spot for his party.

The first-term senator's job approval is below 50 percent but still firmly positive: 45 percent of survey respondents said they approved of how Udall has handled his job, while 31 percent said they disapproved. Another 24 percent refused to answer or said they didn't know, meaning Udall has some name recognition to work on ahead of his first reelection campaign in 2014. Udall's ratings were virtually identical with independent voters.

The poll didn't include any ballot tests matching Udall against potential Republican opponents. Forty percent of voters said Udall deserves reelection, while 33 percent said he doesn't. But most of the space between Udall's approval rating and that number comes from Democrats, according to the poll's crosstabs, and those voters are likely to get onboard with Udall as the election draws nearer.

From the poll memo:

Voters disapprove 54 – 43 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing. Disapproval is 90 – 9 percent among Republicans and 58 – 40 percent among independent voters while Democrats approve 91 – 6 percent. Women approve 51 – 46 percent while men disapprove 62 – 35 percent. White voters disapprove 59 – 39 percent as Hispanic voters approve 64 – 31 percent. 

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall gets a 45 – 31 percent approval rating, with less partisan, gender and ethnic division than President Obama.

As we said yesterday, there's little good news to be had for Democrats in these new Quinnipiac polls, though many of the problems for Colorado's majority party seem fixable at least. Some of this may be attributable to oversampling of Republicans and unaffiliated voters, and dwelling unduly on a single issue–but certainly among this sample, there's an obvious shift that signals much work ahead for the well-entrenched Democratic majority in this state.

Sen Mark Udall's approval numbers, while perhaps showing lower name ID than an incumbent Senator would prefer, are very good, and stand in marked contrast to the polled state of public opinion of Gov. John Hickenlooper and majority Democrats in the Assembly. Sen. Udall's willingness to buck the Obama administration in defense of civil liberties, shown most clearly in recent days during the NSA phone records scandal, may prove politically invaluable to him–contrast he needs to differentiate himself in an iconoclastic and unpredictable climate. And considering that a recent Gallup poll shows that Congress now has the lowest approval ratings of any institution, ever, Udall should be feeling alright about his own numbers.


Full story: Udall Looks Strong In Otherwise Ugly Poll For Dems

Independent Ethics Commission Rules Against Gessler

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  by: Colorado Pols Thu June 13, 2013 at 2:09 PM MDT

UPDATE: IEC reportedly levies the maximum fine, roughly $2800 all told–less the amount he had already repaid.

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AP via 7NEWS, too bad for the "Honey Badger."

Colorado Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler has been admonished by an ethics panel over spending office funds to attend a GOP conference during the party's national convention in Florida last year.

The determination Thursday is a black eye to a potential gubernatorial run by Gessler. The Colorado Independent Ethics Commission issued the ruling.

Adds the Denver Post's Joey Bunch:

Gessler paid back all but the price of the return ticket last month to avoid the any appearance of wrong doing, his attorney, David Lane, said during the hearing last week. The week before, news broke that he was considering a run for governor next year.

The flap over about $1,800 cost Colorado taxpayers at least $143,000 for the investigation and legal fees by the ethics commission and Gessler's office.

As of this writing, the hearing is still ongoing. The Independent Ethics Commission has ruled unanimously that Secretary of State Scott Gessler's state-funded trip to the Republican National Lawyers Association annual meeting, held just prior to the Republican National Convention in south Florida, was improper–but the commission is still deliberating what penalty will be assessed.

Beyond the obvious court-of-public-opinion penalty, of course. This is not the way to begin a run for Governor.


Full story: Independent Ethics Commission Rules Against Gessler

The Key Takeaway from the Quinnipiac Poll: Hick Needs Liberals

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  by: Colorado Pols Thu June 13, 2013 at 1:06 PM MDT

When Weld County and friends started publicly talking about seceding from Colorado a week ago, it brought up (again) an important point about Colorado statewide politics: The electoral power in Colorado is concentrated in the Denver Metro area, and that's not changing anytime soon. Some rural Coloradans voiced concern that their opinions were not being considered by the legislature and Gov. John Hickenlooper, but any policy decision made at the behest of rural Colorado would ignore the fact that 80-90% of Colorado voters live along the Front Range and in the Metro Denver area.

The new Quinnipiac University Poll that we discussed this morning has a tantalizing headline that doesn't quite work out when you consider the aforementioned voter dynamics. The headline, "Early Look Shows Close Governor's Race in 2014," makes sense when you look at the statewide poll results (just 45% of respondents say that Hickenlooper deserves re-election), but the problem emerges when you dive into those numbers a bit more. Forget about arguments on sampling, for a moment, because there is a more obvious problem in the way the results are presented by area; and when you take a closer look, the key to victory for Hickenlooper in 2014 actually lies with liberal voters…

(more…)


Full story: The Key Takeaway from the Quinnipiac Poll: Hick Needs Liberals

Quinnipiac: Hickenlooper, Thou Art Mortal

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  by: Colorado Pols Thu June 13, 2013 at 7:52 AM MDT

UPDATE #2: With a deeper look at the poll, we find an interesting takeaway.

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UPDATE: A reader points out, for what it's worth, the partisan breakdown of this poll's respondents: Democrats 24%, Republicans 27%, unaffiliated 42%, other 7%–certainly a debatable "cross-section" of Colorado voters. Kevin Ingham of Strategies 360, a pollster we've turned to frequently in this space for knowledge, has serious questions about the sampling for the poll.

We're more inclined to heed the warnings we've outlined below, even with some methodological quibbles.

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The much-anticipated release on a new poll from Quinnipiac University shows an early picture of the 2014 gubernatorial race–in the abstract, with plenty for incumbent Gov. John Hickenlooper to worry about:

(more…)


Full story: Quinnipiac: Hickenlooper, Thou Art Mortal