Category Archives: Immigration

Media ignores Colorado connections to overturned Arizona immigration law

9
  by: JeffcoBlue Tue June 26, 2012 at 7:43 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



I was dismayed this morning to see that the Denver Post, and for that matter all Colorado major media that I have found so far, have failed to interview any Republicans regarding the “SB-1070 copycat” bills introduced in the Colorado legislature after Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation was passed in 2010. In August of 2010, Republican legislators traveled to Arizona for meetings with the backers of SB-1070, and in both 2011 and 2012 the GOP introduced numerous pieces of legislation described as duplicates in whole and in part of SB-1070.

Now that the major pieces of SB-1070 have been overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, Republicans who tried to bring SB-1070 to Colorado should be made to answer for their campaign to do so, even if that complicates the GOP’s push to win Hispanic voters.

As one example, Rep. Randy Baumgardner introduced a bill in 2011 that according to the Durango Herald would “direct local police to try to determine whether a person entered the country illegally, require immigrants to carry their alien-registration documents and make it a crime for illegal immigrants to work or apply for a job in Colorado.” In the same Herald story, it’s reported that Sen. Kent Lambert introduced a bill “that allows police to stop people they suspect are illegal immigrants. Federal courts blocked that part of the law as well.” These were both provisions of Arizona’s SB-1070 that were overturned by the Supreme Court yesterday.

Why the hell isn’t that a story?

The closest I’ve found to any coverage of Colorado’s connections to Arizona’s immigration bill is a CBS 4 story that briefly touches on legislation passed in 2006:

http://denver.cbslocal.com/201…

Colorado’s law mirrors the Arizona provision often referred to as “Show Me Your Papers.” It requires police during stops or arrests to check a person’s immigration status if they suspect the person is in the country illegally. With Tuesday’s ruling it is a law other states will likely adopt.

It was the most controversial provision in Arizona’s law. The provision triggered protests across the country and calls to boycott the state. It’s a provision Colorado has had in place for six years.

This is Senate Bill 06-090. This bill did pass and was signed into law in 2006 by GOP Gov. Bill Owens. It had both Republican and Democratic co-sponsors. But the similarity with Arizona’s law ends there. Colorado’s law only requires arrestees to be reported to federal immigration authorities if they are arrested for a separate criminal offense. Immigration status is not in itself an arrestable offense in Colorado. SB 06-090 appears to conform to the Supreme Court’s guidance on this issue, which substantially restricts Arizona’s law.

Look, I’m not happy with the way Democrats handled anti-immigrant hysteria from the Tom Tancredo crowd in 2006. I thought this bill, and others from the 2006 regular and special sessions were stupid election year mistakes. If you must know, I blame Andrew Romanoff. But for this to be the only historical news coverage of immigration policy in Colorado after the SB-1070 ruling is extremely misleading. This is such an important issue in this election that for the press to ignore it, or try to go back to 2006 while ignoring 2011, reeks of partisan considerations.

Every Hispanic voter needs to know that after SB-1070 was passed in Arizona, Colorado Republicans tried to bring everything the Supreme Court threw out yesterday to our state. Period.

If the Colorado press doesn’t tell this story, they’re not doing their jobs.


Full story: Media ignores Colorado connections to overturned Arizona immigration law

BREAKING: Most of Arizona SB-1070 Immigration Law Overturned

18
  by: Colorado Pols Mon June 25, 2012 at 5:35 PM MDT

UPDATE #2: Colorado Independent:

“I am pleased that the Supreme Court invalidated the bulk of Arizona’s discredited anti-immigrant law…[T]his ruling makes clear that we must have one federal law that finally fixes our broken immigration system,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Polis in a prepared statement.

“The people who are blaming President Obama for Congress’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform are the same people who praised Arizona’s discredited anti-immigrant law as a ‘model’ or who stood on the sidelines while Senate Republicans defeated the DREAM Act in December 2010. They should be arguing with their fellow Republicans on the need for a comprehensive solution rather than casting blame,” Polis continued.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the majority of the Arizona law underscores that it is the federal government’s responsibility to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” Sen. Mark Udall said. “It also gives further cause for Congress to act on reforming our immigration policy to be tough on lawbreakers and fair to taxpayers while keeping our borders secure. We need to work toward a bipartisan solution to our immigration challenges, while ensuring that we build adequate protections against profiling and discrimination. We cannot fully address the issue of illegal immigration with a patchwork of different laws across the country. Congress needs to act on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Democratic U.S. Sen, Michael Bennet largely agreed with Udall and Polis that the onus is on Congress to pass meaningful reform.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law has made it clear that Congress has the responsibility to enact a comprehensive and practical immigration policy,” Bennet said today.

—–

UPDATE: The Washington Post:

The court ruled that Arizona cannot make it a misdemeanor for immigrants to fail to carry identification that says whether they are in the United States legally; cannot make it a crime for undocumented immigrations to apply for a job; and cannot arrest someone based solely on the suspicion that the person is in this country illegally…

[D]eliberations were a revival of the questions of federal power and states’ rights that marked the court’s deliberations about President Obama’s health-care law.

The federal government had contended that the Arizona law, with its aim of “attrition through enforcement,” undermined the federal goal of a cohesive immigration policy by attempting to shift the problem of illegal immigration to other states…

The Obama administration has taken a tough stance against the Arizona law and against most of the other states that have implemented their own laws. Its lawyers went to court early to block SB 1070, and won at both the district court level and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

As a result, the law’s most stringent provisions have never taken effect.

—–

That’s the word from the U.S. Supreme Court this morning–here’s a link to the decision. Three out of four major provisions of Arizona’s SB-1070 immigration law, many components of which were unsuccessfully proposed in Colorado by Republican state legislators in the last two years, have been overturned. The provision that the Court did not invalidate is the “check your papers” provision requiring law enforcement to check immigration status; but “strict guidance” was given:

CNN Political Analyst Gloria Borger added that the upheld portion of the Arizona law could still be challenged in a lower court, and the ruling “limited the authority of what Jan Brewer’s police officers can do” because they can stop someone but they cannot hold somebody without contacting federal officials.




Full story: BREAKING: Most of Arizona SB-1070 Immigration Law Overturned

Obama Immigration Policy Change Rallies Colorado Hispanics

12
  by: Colorado Pols Fri June 22, 2012 at 11:01 PM MDT

That’s the conclusion from the blog for Latino Decisions, discussing their new battleground-state poll out today:

New polling released June 22, 2012 by Latino Decisions and America’s Voice finds President Obama maintaining a wide lead over Republican Mitt Romney among Latino registered voters in five key battleground states…

In the five states combined Obama lead Romney 63% to 27%, however in southwestern battlegrounds of Arizona, Colorado and Nevada Obama performed even better.  In Arizona Obama received 74% to 18% for Romney, in Colorado he was favored by 70% to 22% [Pols emphasis] and in Nevada 69% to 20%.  In Virginia, Obama lead 59% to 28% over Romney among Latino registered voters.

Part of this advantage for President Obama appears to be related to his recent announcement to provide relief to undocumented immigrant youth.  On June 17, two days after his announcement our Latino Decisions/America’s Voice poll first reported that 49% of Latino voters were now more enthusiastic about Obama, while 14% were less enthusiastic (+35).  Over the course of the week, as the DREAMer relief received further attention in the Latino community we found increased support for the announcement…

Here are the full results–we don’t think they will surprise you. There’s no question that President Barack Obama’s new policy on young undocumented students and soldiers will help him with Hispanic voters, inasmuch as Republican recalcitrance and continued hostility on the issue will continue to hurt them. Especially here in Colorado, the GOP has had innumerable opportunities to change this trajectory–and they’ve spurned all of their chances.


Full story: Obama Immigration Policy Change Rallies Colorado Hispanics

Charlie Cook Gives Miklosi Some Love

7
  by: Colorado Pols Fri June 22, 2012 at 4:54 PM MDT

Charlie Cook gives Democratic CD-6 challenger Joe Miklosi a most favorable heads-up:

CO-06: Mike Coffman (R) – Denver southeast suburbs: Aurora, Littleton

Toss Up. Democrats scored a huge coup in Colorado redistricting when a state judge picked a map moving GOP-leaning Douglas County out of the 6th CD and uniting the increasingly Democratic suburb of Aurora on Denver’s east side. Under the old lines, immigration-obsessed GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo used to win easily and President Obama got just 46 percent of the vote. But under the new lines, Obama’s share surged to 54 percent, putting a huge target on Coffman’s back. Suburban Denver has steadily trended Democratic, and the Obama campaign will be putting a huge premium on turning out favorable voters here, particularly among recent transplants and Latinos. By the numbers, this is absolutely a district Democrats need to win to get the majority…

Cook Political Report has a high-level view of many hundreds of congressional races around the country. As a result they make mistakes sometimes, like claiming that Miklosi has “only token primary opposition”–Miklosi in fact has none. The last time we discussed Charlie Cook back in 2009, it was to note similar minor but glaring errors he made in otherwise not-inaccurate commentary.

Minor fouls aside (we all make them), Cook is doing Miklosi a big service by publicizing his race with a national and politically influential audience.  The most important fact governing this race, that CD-6 is no longer Tom Tancredo’s Republican stronghold, is still not widely understood by outside and even casual local observers. Cook isn’t as interested in Rep. Mike Coffman’s recent train of embarrassments, Cook is all about the math–and how the math has changed.

Miklosi needs the people who read Charlie Cook to know that part of the story.


Full story: Charlie Cook Gives Miklosi Some Love

Say It Ain’t So, Tom Tancredo (Redux)

9
  by: Colorado Pols Thu June 21, 2012 at 4:08 PM MDT

As reported by Hatewatch, the blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center Tuesday:

Tom Tancredo has no more secrets.

The former Republican congressman from Colorado, known for his biting anti-immigration rhetoric and campaign ads suggesting Latino immigrants are rapists and drug dealers, is scheduled to be the luncheon speaker at next month’s annual conference for the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC). The theme of the conference? “Multiculturalism – the Death of America.”

Sharing the dais with Tancredo will be a rogue’s gallery of the racist right, including James Edwards, who hosts the white nationalist Political Cesspool radio show; Don Black, the former Klansman best known for creating Stormfront.org, the first major Internet hate site; and Leonard Wilson, a longtime segregationist and Alabama commander for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a neo-Confederate group that, like Tancredo, staunchly opposes immigration.

For those who have watched Tancredo go through endless contortions to distance himself from his racist friends, speaking at a CCC conference seems to be a turning point…

But it would seem that 2010 Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo does have at least a few more secrets–Hatewatch updated their post yesterday:

On Wednesday – a day after failing to respond to Hatewatch’s request for comment – former congressman Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC wrote Hatewatch to say, “Tom Tancredo is not speaking at the Council of Conservative Citizens” (CCC). The unsigned email did not say if Tancredo had withdrawn from the speaking engagement after receiving widespread criticism or had never agreed to speak…

But you too can see above the front page for the Council of Conservative Citizens’ spring 2012 newsletter, which very prominently displays a photo of Tancredo and identifies him as the Saturday keynote speaker for their annual conference in Nashville next month.

So, did Tancredo cancel? If so, why? Was his listing as the CCC’s featured speaker a mistake? Is it possible that Tancredo simply wasn’t aware he had signed up to speak before one of the leading white supremacist groups in the United States? That last possibility seems unlikely.

Perhaps the Republicans who endorsed Tancredo for Governor in 2010 will ask him.


Full story: Say It Ain’t So, Tom Tancredo (Redux)

Growing Your Own Rural Gangland with S-Comm

4
  by: Just Anita Fri May 25, 2012 at 8:50 PM MDT

Based on Garfield County’s recent notoriety for creating it’s “gang problem” to give a few officers a job by creating a local gang threat team known as TAG – and not to be confused with any sponsored organization created by the Department of Justice for gang assessment and community advocacy – it seems appropriate to offer the following information publicly.

Here’s an easy Ten Step Plan for attracting and securing urban gangs to your area, guaranteed to improve authoritarian rule in local governance with a robust police state environment:

1. Create state laws that violate national authority on immigration. Demand all undocumented immigrants be deported, regardless of situation and eliminate all timely legal residency processing for immigrants at the state and national level. NOTE: The KKK should not be considered a gang, because the group is made up of white Christian American citizens, and should not be confused with minority groups, women’s advocacy groups, and liberal faith organizations, who are all gang members and want to turn America into a melting pot of cross-ethnicities and enforce laws that keep church and state separate.

2. Enforce unconstitutional state laws with the help of judicial districts, local law enforcement, municipalities, and school districts to target immigrant family units. NOTE: Anglo and minority women should always be targeted under suspicion of excercising their reproductive rights.

3. Create local policy and law enforcement task force teams that focus their priorities and financial resources on immigrant tracking, and implement programs that link public education and immigration, e.g. combining the School Resource Officer program with ICE. Be certain to use a centralized system like S-Comm to notify every law enforcement facility throughout the US about “criminals”, and

ALWAYS remember: Guilty until proven innocent.

4. Deny access to quality public education opportunities at the state and national level K-12 and higher education. Conduct public raids at public family events, in neighborhoods, and at schools to create fear in the community. Profile and target non-Anglo parents as potential undocumented immigrants of natural born children. Most can be verified by the color of their skin tone, clothing, tattoos, and anything else that makes them look scary to rural Anglos.

5. Create policy that arrests all female victims of domestic violence, as abusers not victims, to allow for fingerprinting, and adding to a permanent national criminal database for future tracking. Special attention she be given to women who do not appear Anglo to verify immigration status through “Secured Communities” database. Disregard any laws that protect immigrant rights.

6. Reduce revenues to local health and human services, eliminating programs that would support children left on the streets when parents are deported, and deny assistance to families split by targeted deportions.

7. Use local law enforcement to target and validate children left behind from parental deportations, as being at risk and most likely to become gang members. Continue to validate using a subjective point system, and label these targeted children as gang members in schools, community organizations, and local recreation facilities, until they eventually accept that role.

8. Create an environment where no woman or child will come forward to report domestic violence or sexual abuse, whether citizens, legal residents, or undocumented immigrants. Keep creating “no tolerance” and “tough on crime” policies legislatively, and access the help from District Attorneys at district and state levels.

9. Disregard any alternative approach from social justice advocates, civil liberties groups, or interfaith alliances that would include a commitment toward compassionate communities. Disregard laws that protect immigrant rights. Arrest as criminals first to force judicial ruling on innocence.

10. Use a strategic public awareness campaign using media and video presentations that are laced with graphic details of urban street gang activities, especially from LA, Miami, and NY,  to promote a level of fear in rural areas. Fear increases a sense of public vigilantism that chemically attracts illegal activities to areas of interest.

Continue to feed your newly grown Gangland community with plenty of hatred, bigotry, blind allegiance – promoting the failed “War on Drugs” policies that keep global cartels in business – by electing officials, joining civic groups, Aryan supremacy groups, and supporting political organizations that promote fear-based policies and values.

It’s helpful to have a Sheriff in charge of local law enforcement to preserve the white male values that America stands for, and arrest anyone for anything the local officers subjectively think might be suspicious behavior, like having brown skin or being female.

Here’s a recent quote from a press release sent by Sheriff Vallario on 5/22/2012 – responding to another charge against Vallario by the ACLU and Colorado Coalition Against Domestic violence – standing firm on his commitment to growing gangs in Garfield County and the country at large.

In response to the lies and slanderous accusations by the ACLU, the most dangerous organization to the United States of America today, as well as the Denver Post, channel 7 news (Denver) and others who produced stories without any attempt to contact the Garfield County Sheriff for an accurate response, here is the official GCSO response…Rest assured, the GCSO will not be bullied or intimidated into complying with what the ACLU thinks is most appropriate for our country.

Armed with national database tools like Secured Communities, Vallario won’t stop at continuing his ‘guilty until proven innocent’ policies by arresting anyone, anytime, anywhere, for anything his department thinks would be criminal worthy, within his jurisdiction.

Finally, the automated fingerprint notification system known as “Secure Communities” will be in effect this month in Colorado. This system, forwards ALL fingerprints produced by ALL arrestees in ALL jails to CBI where they are then forwarded to various databases, including ICE’s. Therefore, as soon as this goes into effect, the provisions of the above statue will be moot in that there will be no need to determine immigration status any longer when booking a defendant into jail. Obviously, it was important for the ACLU to raise this issue BEFORE Secure Communities for whatever their hidden agenda has in store.

If you follow these steps, your community will have a successful breeding ground for gang related crimes, increased expenditures in law enforcement, make private prison industries profitable, and saddling taxpayers financially for decades.

Bon Temps Roulez!


Full story: Growing Your Own Rural Gangland with S-Comm

Election-season brings heavyweight guests to Fernando Sergio’s Spanish-language radio show on KBNO

1
  by: Jason Salzman Tue May 22, 2012 at 11:16 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



When KBNO radio host Fernando Sergio launched his weekday Spanish-language talk show in 2004, you’d have been completely crazy to predict that the President of the United States would call in for a chat about seven years later.

But now, who’s surprised? Well, I was, but I shouldn’t have been.

Sergio’s show, “La Voz del Pueblo,” has grown to be the biggest and most trusted Spanish-language talk show in a state where Hispanics could easily decide the next presidential election.

And so, on Tuesday morning, a woman’s voice on KBNO said, “Hi, give me one moment, the President will be on the line.”

“No problem. No problem,” replied Sergio.

Then a minute later, Obama said, “Hello, Fernando?”

So began an interview that was scheduled for ten minutes but ran about 20. (Read about it here.)

“To the best of my knowledge it’s the first time a sitting president called into Spanish-language radio here in Colorado,” Sergio told me. “You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t appreciate that. It was a very positive experience for me and [my listeners] to have the most important man in the world calling.”

So how’d Sergio land Obama?

“We approached the Obama campaign,” Sergio told me. “They did their research and expressed interest. And then we approached Secretary Salazar, and the Secretary said, ‘I will ensure that they know your show is an important show, and the President should speak to you.’  We heard back in a couple days.”

“Four years ago, I was able to speak with John McCain twice, but we were unable to speak with Obama,” Sergio told me. “Instead, we got Joe Biden.”

Republicans are reaching out to Sergio this year as well.

“I had a conversation with [Colorado Republican Party Chairman] Ryan Call,” Sergio said. “He told me, ‘You can be sure that I will have Governor Romney on your show at least twice this year.”

Has a date been set for Romney?

“Not yet,” Sergio replied. “It’s just  a promise. It’s up to him. The doors are wide open. We will be as respectful with Governor Romney as we were with the President.”

“At some point during this process I will make the case for one of the other,” Sergio said. “Twenty or 30 days before the election. Here is who I’m going to vote for, and here are the ten reasons. But let people become well informed first. ”

“I stress how important it is to vote. Every single day, I say, you go out there and you vote. Don’t let anyone else decide this for you . This will be a permanent theme until November.”

It’s an approach that’s in keeping with how Sergio runs his radio show, which he sees as a “platform is to try to help people.”

The show, which airs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on 1280 AM, mostly addresses consumer issues, like problems with banking industry and issues with police and immigration. Immigration attorneys make regular appearances on the program.

“The platform has worked out for us,” says Sergio, who’s been doing radio for 18 years. “It’s kind of like Martino’s show, but we’re more into helping people than promoting businesses.”

Sergio has an active presence on facebook, but his show isn’t streamed online, because of steep fees that are required due to the fact that KBNO mostly airs music, Sergio told me. He hopes a solution can be found and online streaming will be added at some point.

Asked about the issues he thinks are most important to Hispanics, Sergio said:

“From my perspective, of course, it’s the economy, but immigration for me, it’s a matter of respect. It’s emotional. I feel it. There is no other issue that has the same emotional impact. I was born in United States. But I witness the difficulties they face. I listen to the phone calls and the abuse.”

“I am an independent,” said Sergio, who supported Michael Bennet in 2010 and is leaning toward Obama. “I try in my own wisdom to do what’s right for my listeners.”


Full story: Election-season brings heavyweight guests to Fernando Sergio’s Spanish-language radio show on KBNO

Does pundit Ciruli really think Coffman has moderate image?

4
  by: Jason Salzman Thu May 17, 2012 at 10:30 PM MDT

In 9News’ story yesterday about Rep. Mike Coffman’s statement that “in his heart,” Obama is “just not an American,” Political Analyst Floyd Ciruli was paraphrased as saying Coffman’s comment is a “blow to his moderate image.”

I’m tainted, I know, and possibly unable  to fathom the mainstream image of Coffman, but my perception is that Coffman is pretty far to the right on the political spectrum, a far cry from a “moderate.”

So I called Ciruli to find out if, indeed, he thought Coffman had a “moderate image.”

Ciruli said the 9News’ paraphrase was accurate, but his view wasn’t based on any polling he’d seen on Coffman.

“Coffman’s major image comes from some his statewide offices, which have essentially been of the administrative type and have not led him to be known as a person of intensely right-wing views,” Ciruli told me. “He’s been the Secretary of State. He’s been the Treasurer. Those are administrative jobs that don’t lead you to have a particular image.”

Ciruli also said his view of Coffman’s image is partially based on the fact that Coffman replaced Tom Tancredo.

“And under those circumstances, you’re always a moderate,” Ciruli said, adding also that Coffman is “not really a favorite of the Republican establishment.”

I told Ciruli that I hadn’t seen any polling either, but I did notice that Coffman repeatedly called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” that he supported Colorado’s personhood amendment, that he wanted to pull the Peace Corps out of China, and that he said the flat tax has “tremendous value.” (I forgot to mention that Coffman supported Rick Perry for President and Paul Ryan for Vice President.)

“I don’t disagree with you,” Ciruli told me, adding that Coffman’s immigration views are out of the moderate range.

“They are relatively new issues,” Ciruli said. “They reflect to some extent his new environment, which is a very conservative Congress.”

“I assume [the Obama comment] was a faux pas, and he wisely apologized very quickly,” Ciruli told me, pointing out that Coffman’s mostly Arapahoe-County district is one of the most competitive in the country.

“He had not apologized when I did my interview last night at 5:30,” said Ciruli. “I specifically asked because I thought, my gosh, he should get out from under this, unless this is actually what he thinks, and he did.”


Full story: Does pundit Ciruli really think Coffman has moderate image?

Fernando Sergio scores coup for KBNO and local Spanish language radio audience with Obama interview

0
  by: Michael Lund Wed May 16, 2012 at 6:06 PM MDT

by Michael Lund, Big Media Blog

When was the last time a sitting president greeted Denver on the airwaves of a Spanish language radio station?  

This was the first question that popped into my head when I saw KBNO Fernando Sergio’s Facebook post that he’d be interviewing President Obama Tuesday morning at 10 am.  

Obama spoke to Colorado Hispanics … in English.  And what did he say?

Campaigns, political consultants, wonks and analysts use a single word for a community that factors heavily in determining their fates in this upcoming presidential election.  Whether it’s “Hispanics”, or “Latinos”, one word is used to identify an extremely diverse community, represented by entire spectrums of social, geographical, professional, cultural, socioeconomic, and generational identities.  Hispanics, contrary to what our oversimplified nomenclature might suggest, are not monolithic as a cultural group.  So, as an interviewer, which questions do you ask?  And as a candidate, how do you connect?  

Obama chose the right venue – a locally respected and established radio station, chatting with a familiar and well-known host.  

Fernando Sergio’s interview followed the expected talking points, and Barack Obama responded articulately and personably, off-script and on.

Here’s a quick summary of the highlights:

The Economy  

Conservatives will not be disappointed with President Obama starting his response by blaming the previous administration for the mess he inherited, with some prompting by Mr. Sergio.  But Fernando pressed Obama for specific examples of policies which improved the economy in his first term.  Obama cited saving the auto industry, “doubling down on clean energy”, and creating and saving American jobs by passing the Recovery Act.  He gave statistics which demonstrated successes, while reminding the audience of the hard work remaining, and warning of the lingering effects of depressed housing markets, continuing foreclosures and the looming European economic crises.

Healthcare

The President boldly promoted the Affordable Healthcare Act as a needed relief to families, which often lack health insurance despite holding multiple jobs.  He highlighted the extended coverage for children (extended to 4 million more immigrant minors, and coverage up to age 26 on parents’ plans).  He also cited improvement for seniors, particularly in coverage for prescription medications, and prohibiting insurance companies from excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Jobs, Education, and Wall Street reform

Obama warned against returning to policies in the financial industry “where Wall Street Banks get to do whatever they please”.  On jobs, Obama noted the need to get construction jobs back on line, “rebuilding our homes, rebuilding our schools”.  He noted that in Colorado, we have “some great schools” in substandard buildings, because the growth of the population hasn’t been matched with new school construction.   He spoke about his goal for educational opportunity and affordable college for all children.

Immigration reform and drug trade

Fernando Sergio suggested that executive order by the President could resolve the current political stalemate on immigration policy.  Obama pointed to his administration’s increasing success in securing the borders and directives to ICE in targeting criminals for arrest and deportation instead of students and hard working families.  But he also pointed to the lack of cooperation from Republicans to formulate comprehensive, compassionate, and permanent solutions to U.S. immigration policy, and he criticized Mitt Romney for praising Arizona’s immigration laws as a model for the country.  In a lighter moment of the interview, the President commiserated with Fernando Sergio about their personal liabilities should profiling become a keystone of federal immigration reform.

Obama also called for maintaining cooperative efforts with neighboring countries to curtail organized illegal drug trade and violence while respecting their sovereignty, and curtailing the demand for drugs in the U.S. and the transportation of arms over our border.  

Support for Small Businesses

President Obama noted that small business growth among Hispanics is three times faster than in the general population, and he recognized the entrepreneurial spirit of the Hispanic community.  His policies would bolster financing and training programs for small business owners, increase opportunities for small businesses to bid on government contracts and focusing on minority owned businesses.  He said his tax policy has allowed for 17 tax cuts which were favorable to small businesses in his first term.  

Connection with the Hispanic Community

Obama distinguished himself from Romney as a candidate who cares about and believes in Latinos.  He cited his appointments of Hispanics to cabinet positions in the Labor and Interior Departments, as well has his appointment of a Latino women to the Supreme Court of the United States.  He summarized his stances, while reiterating his awareness of the issues which affect Hispanics most.

And of course, to make the connection with Colorado Hispanics all the more personal and real, President Obama predicted that barring injury, Peyton Manning would complement the Broncos’ lineup and bode well for a winning season.  

   


Full story: Fernando Sergio scores coup for KBNO and local Spanish language radio audience with Obama interview

Rep. Swalm’s Curious Recommended Reading

9
  by: Colorado Pols Tue May 15, 2012 at 9:16 PM MDT

As Tweeted by GOP state Rep. Spencer Swalm yesterday evening:

Which links to an opinion article that makes some interesting suppositions about Republicans and the Hispanic vote–commentary on the question of whether Republicans need to worry about about the Hispanic vote at all. The article Swalm linked to says while there is a danger in alienating Hispanics, it’s overblown and much more gradual a threat than represented in the media. It’s a very interesting opinion, not least to fellow Republicans now attempting to reach out to Hispanic voters. But you’ll probably want to consider the source: Rep. Swalm directed his Twitter followers to this article, posted at a website called VDARE.com.

Here’s what the Southern Poverty Law Center says about VDARE.com:

VDARE

Founded:  1999

Ideology:  White Nationalist

Originally established in 1999 by the Center for American Unity, a Virginia-based nonprofit foundation started by English immigrant Peter Brimelow, VDARE.com is an anti-immigration hate website “dedicated to preserving our historical unity as Americans into the 21st Century.” Now run by the VDARE Foundation, the site is a place where relatively intellectually inclined leaders of the anti-immigrant movement share their opinions. VDARE.com also regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites…

And here’s a little more from Steve Sailer, the author of the article Swalm linked to:

I noted that the Republican Party has been digging itself an ever deeper electoral hole by tolerating (when not exacerbating) the lax immigration policies of the last four-plus decades. These caused demographic changes that are indisputably and inevitably deleterious to the GOP.

Yet, I pointed out, there remains a logical possibility that the country can avoid one-party Democratic rule even as far out as the middle of the 21st century. If all else remains equal, I calculated, Republican candidates could win in the 2048-2052 era simply by 1) increasing the GOP’s share of the white vote, from McCain’s 55 percent to 70 percent, and by 2) raising the white turnout level back to that seen in 1992… [Pols emphasis]

Imagine that the GOP starts finally advocating and delivering on policies that are beneficial for America’s white majority, and in response the Republican Party drops a stunning three-fourths of its black support. Instead of losing among blacks 95-4, the GOP would then lose 98-1.

Big deal!

To recap, the plan for victory in the multicultural future is to get more white people to vote GOP, thus offsetting the nonwhite voters they alienate! Why didn’t we think of that? This has got to be the simplest explanation for why the GOP opposes immigration we’ve ever seen, complicated only by the fact that it is absolutely horrifying. If you recall, Jim Welker lost his seat in 2006 after forwarding a piece about “black moral poverty” during Hurricane Katrina, and “gay diseases.”

It should go without saying that these views belong well outside the mainstream–which means somebody should be asking Rep. Swalm if he realizes who he Tweeted.


Full story: Rep. Swalm’s Curious Recommended Reading

Compelling Words from Ousted Sen. Lugar

8
  by: Colorado Pols Wed May 9, 2012 at 10:41 PM MDT

Indiana Republican Sen. Dick Lugar, the longest-serving current Republican Senator, was defeated yesterday in a Republican primary by Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a right-wing, Tea Party favorite. Lugar’s goodbye letter, as published by MSNBC highlights the problem with hyper-partisanship in the GOP:

If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator.  But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington.   He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate.  In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party. [Pols emphasis] His answer to the inevitable roadblocks he will encounter in Congress is merely to campaign for more Republicans who embrace the same partisan outlook.  He has pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the Republican party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it.

This is not conducive to problem solving and governance.  And he will find that unless he modifies his approach, he will achieve little as a legislator.  Worse, he will help delay solutions that are totally beyond the capacity of partisan majorities to achieve…

…I don’t remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other.   Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change.  Republican members are now expected to take pledges against any tax increases.  For two consecutive Presidential nomination cycles, GOP candidates competed with one another to express the most strident anti-immigration view, even at the risk of alienating a huge voting bloc.




Full story: Compelling Words from Ousted Sen. Lugar

Reporters shouldn’t let Romney get away with saying he’s a one-time flipper

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  by: Jason Salzman Wed May 9, 2012 at 8:10 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



Mitt Romney promised to sit down with real-life reporters (yes, they’re still out there) during his visit today to Colorado, according to a report yesterday by Fox 31 political correspondent Eli Stokols, and it looks like he did, as 7News is teasing its interview for the 3 p.m. news.

Stokols, you recall, called Romney out for NOT meeting with real-life Denver reporters last time Romney came to Colorado, preferring the cozy confines of conservative talk radio. So you have to wonder whether Romney would have stayed mum, had it not been for Stokols.

Stokols’ report that Romney plans to meet with TV reporters caught the attention of Denver Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard who tweeted, “Do Obama/Romney have stones to talk to print media? Apparently not.” (Now would be a good time for The Post to throw a public fit over Romney’s favoritism toward TV news, if he, in fact, avoids print reporters during his Colorado swing. Same with Obama, next time he comes.)

I’m looking forward to seeing the local TV interviews with Romney, but meanwhile (and maybe this will piss Hubbard off even more) Romney took questions from radio hosts at 8:30 this morning. Listen to Mitt Romney on KOA Radio May 9 2012 at 17:15.Here’s one of the questions:

Steffan Tubbs: “How do you handle the criticism that Mitt Romney flip flops on issues…because you’ve certainly been accused of not sticking with one message, the most recent, your comments about the auto bailout?”

Romney: “Well actually, I had the same position on the auto bailout I had from the very beginning. I actually wrote about it. So nothing has changed there. I do understand that the nature of an opposition campaign is to try and create a narrative that is harmful to the opposition. And that’s been used against me by my opponents, and frankly, it is not accurate. There is one place where I did change my view, and when I became governor, I became solidly pro-life, wrote an op-ed to the effect that I was going to be a pro-life governor, and that’s been my position ever since. By the way, that was seven or eight years ago, and I continue to have that view. I’m happy to defend the things that I believe in. And by the way, if I were going to  change positions, you would have seen a very different candidate than you have. My view is I’m sticking true to the things that I believe. I hope people are willing to understand that.”

If I’m a radio host, or if I’m just about anybody at this point, I’d be thinking, “One flip flop?”

First, there’s health care reform, which Santorum, among others, pointed out. Romney was complimentary of Obama modeling national reform after Massachusetts’ model, but later he was against Obamacare.

Then there’s the stimulus, solar energy, climate change, immigration, the tax pledge, gun issues, and more, as widely documented.

Reporters shouldn’t let Romney get away with saying he’s a one-time flipper. Even if you just look abortion, he’s a serial flipper, as his position has changed back and forth. Throw in the other stuff, and you understand the Jimmy Kimmel joke, featured in a video produced by Democrats:

“Experts are predicting kind of a tough battle between Mitt Romney and his biggest ideological opponent, Mitt Romney from four years ago. Those guys don’t agree on anything.”




Full story: Reporters shouldn’t let Romney get away with saying he’s a one-time flipper

How Mitt Romney Made Tom Tancredo Cool Again

8
  by: Colorado Pols Sun May 6, 2012 at 6:05 PM MDT

It’s been mentioned a few times in the course of the long GOP presidential primary season, but we wanted to make sure the local and regional origins of a particular line frequently employed by Mitt Romney on immigration policy–that he would not forcibly deport illegal immigrants, but create harsh conditions that would lead to them “self-deporting”–were properly explored.

Courtesy The Daily Beast, here’s a prime example of Romney’s usage from late January:

Romney’s introduction of the concept of “self-deportation” in that debate didn’t go over well with the conservative audience, as you can hear from, well, the chuckling. Then-opponent Newt Gingrich lambasted Romney suitably:

“You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatic $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality,” Gingrich told Univision interviewer Jorge Ramos. “For Romney to believe that somebody’s grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy.”

But we wonder if that audience of rock-ribbed conservative primary voters would have been laughing if they had seen this clip of our own ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo?

This clip of Tom Tancredo–one of the most widely-known (and reviled) proponents of cracking down on illegal immigration in America–explaining that his position on immigration has always been about “self-deportation” comes from a May 3rd, 2011 debate on the issue for Intelligence Squared, a PBS/NPR project. Tancredo’s partner in this Oxford-style team debate was none other than Kansas Secretary of State and Arizona SB-1070 co-author Kris Kobach–the Romney advisor who the campaign variously claims, and keeps at arm’s length.

Bottom line: at some point this concept of “self-deportation” is going to get repackaged into something more palatable and ostensibly compassionate–a “centrist” way of letting the problem “work itself out.” After all, Romney tried this line out on conservatives and got laughed at, right? One way or another, some kind of damage control on the issue is a matter of necessity:

In his pursuit of the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney took an aggressive position on immigration, denouncing the Dream Act, suggesting illegal immigrants should “self-deport” and attacking rivals who appeared to show compassion for some undocumented immigrants.

That has left the presumptive nominee in a deep hole with Hispanic voters, trailing President Obama by more than 40 points among this critically important constituency in [a late April] NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. The question is whether Romney can credibly undo the damage from the primaries without igniting a renewed debate about his consistency on the issues.

When that happens, a clip of Tancredo advocating for the same thing ought to keep it real.


Full story: How Mitt Romney Made Tom Tancredo Cool Again

Inevitable Shenanigans on Immigrant Tuition?

3
  by: Colorado Pols Tue April 24, 2012 at 8:16 PM MDT

The Pueblo Chieftain’s Patrick Malone reports:

The push for a discount rate of college tuition for illegal immigrants educated in Colorado crossed a line Monday that it has never breached before.

The Republican-controlled House Education Committee passed SB15 on a 7-6 vote. A similar proposal last year died at the same juncture in the legislative process.

The difference this year was in the details of the bill as seen by committee chairman Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs. He cast the vote to torpedo the bill last year, but on Monday he cast the vote that kept it alive…

The bill already has passed in the Democratically controlled Senate, where Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo, is a sponsor. It faces a serious challenge next in the Republican-led House Finance Committee. If it passes that test, it must clear one more committee before reaching the House floor for debate, a milestone that Hickenlooper announced on Twitter that he would like to see the bill achieve.

Here’s the problem: according to all accounts we can verify, and for some reason totally missed by the many media outlets reporting this story, the bill’s likely death in the House Finance Committee is a new development, a change by Speaker Frank McNulty in the last few days. Our understanding is that the bill’s proponents only found out about this change yesterday, where previously the bill was slated for House Education and Appropriations–then the floor.

So what happened?

Our sources consider it most likely (though they admit to speculation) that Speaker McNulty was unsure the Republican majority on the Appropriations Committee would act to kill the bill before it reaches the House floor, where it would likely pass with the support of Rep. Tom Massey. There’s a theory involving Majority Leader Amy Stephens’ hot primary against Rep. Marsha Looper, and a major disincentive to allowing this bill to pass “on her watch.”

We’re not completely sure about that particular theory, but we do understand why House Republicans are having problems with this legislation. A number of high-profile GOP elder statesmen have been lobbying for its passage as an economic as well as practical political measure, while the GOP is simultaneously trying desperately to narrow a massive lead in Hispanic support enjoyed by Democrats and President Barack Obama. On the other hand, a crucial segment of the GOP electorate in Colorado is composed of Tom Tancredo style anti-immigration hard liners who will not tolerate any “appeasement” on the issue whatsoever.

With all that in mind, maybe some kind of lame kabuki cop-out really is their only choice.


Full story: Inevitable Shenanigans on Immigrant Tuition?

On radio, Suthers says legal mandate to give undocumented kids public education is bogus

11
  by: Jason Salzman Mon March 12, 2012 at 6:36 PM MDT

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)



KOA’s Mike Rosen agreed with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers Thursday that the legal decision forcing states to offer a grade-school education to undocumented children is bogus.

If you don’t think this tidbit deserves to be my first blog post of the week, you would be wrong.

The federal requirement to give a basic education to all children, regardless of immigration status, is a long-settled legal matter.

No reporter, no teacher, no chef, no mom, no dad, not even a Republican talk-radio host, should let Colorado’s top-dog lawyer trash this Supreme Court decision in favor of undocumented kids without any discussion or scrutiny whatsoever.

Too much is at stake. We’re talking about grade-school education for some of the most vulnerable children in our country. And Suthers’s unsympathetic tone on Rosen’s radio show seems to indicate that it’s not just the legal issues that bother him, but the notion that children of illegal immigrants should be offered a public-school education in the world’s richest nation.

Here’s what Suthers had to say on the topic, which came up during a discussion of  the ASSET bill, granting a tuition break to children of illegal immigrants, which Suthers called the “a complete run around” of two federal statutes.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers: For some incredible reason, in 1982, the United States Supreme Court in a case called Plyler v. Doe, I think it was a San Antonio case, said any child regardless of immigration status is eligible for a free primary or secondary education. I’ve never been able to find that in the United States Constitution, but they said it’s in the 14th Amendment.

Rosen: Yes, which was all about slavery by the way, but that’s another story.

Rosen should have Suthers back on his radio show to illuminate more details on this topic, and, meanwhile, Rosen should bring a guest on air who will defend the basic humanity — and legal reasoning — for giving undocumented children a public-school education.


Full story: On radio, Suthers says legal mandate to give undocumented kids public education is bogus