U.S. Senate
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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
20%
Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
60%
40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
40%
30%
Sec. of State
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(D) George Stern
(D) A. Gonzalez
(R) Sheri Davis
40%
40%
30%
State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
(R) Kevin Grantham
(D) Jerry DiTullio
60%
30%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
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2%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Somebody
80%
40%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) Somebody
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank*
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CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
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CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen*
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CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
50%
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40%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
March 16, 2010 07:42 AM UTC
61 Comments
Are you kidding? You do realize they’re elected officials and they work for the public, which includes The Denver Post, right? And if a handful of them pull a blatantly political move that has less to do with DPS accounting than it does with trying to influence a Democratic primary, then I’d wager they’re getting all the respect they deserve.
I think otoole is unsure what the phrase “in the pocket of” means, and what its use in a diary headline implies. Either that, or it’s intentional. If that’s the case, it’s far more egregious than the brouhaha that occurred yesterday over the same exact thing.
Of course that wouldn’t be the first time that a Romanoff supporter has tried to imply bribery or corruption on the part of Michael Bennet.
for the sake of ‘cleanliness’ of this blog, do you know how to delete multiple duplicate posts?
my internet must have been constipated.
but you can ask the bosses, they can delete individual posts (and everything that follows them).
i can come off as a quote ‘sanctimonious ass’ at times, but I promise to buy you a beer after the primary.
for Triguardian. Can he afford that?!
is growing in scope
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
this quote highlights the illegal measures the big banks took to hide debt – (repo 105)
as part of swaps that currently have Greece sinking under crushing debt.
The swaps that DPS, New Mexico, New York, and other municipalities were not crimes in themselves, but the people who persuaded these municipalities to enter into swap agreements poorly advised their clients (in this case DPS) about the risk associated with a swap.
Laws may not have been broken, but that still does not absolve the person(s) responsible for the massive debts incurred – which in this case results in political consequences.
Agreed. The DPS Board should be held responsible if they were poorly advised or made bad decisions, say, because they didn’t understand.
Until an outisde audit- or any audit- concludes that DPS was in fact “poorly advised by Lehman” I think you shuold avoid lumping all swaps everywhere into the same pot with Greece and New Mexico.
Next thing you know we’ll be hacking up that water bond in Alabama that got flushed when the auction markets froze.
i have read so far.
And even with an audit, Boasberg, Bennet, Kaplan (the entire board) can say,
“Well the banks were not honest about the swap”
which would provide cover for this financial misstep.
The question i posed here, what is the political fallout?
I see boasberg as the most vulnerable.
You said this was a huge scandal. It’s not.
The market crashed, what news.
because the DPS members asked for the investigation late last week.
otoole, Yes, the Post’s timing is questionable seeing how that the editorial comes out on Caucus day, but the investigation was just requested (which some have said was aimed at the caucus as well).
Senate race aside, the Post has always had questionable stances editorially, (for instance their endorsement of Bush for re-election in 2004 – and I challenge anyone reading this to defend that decision), but I do not think the Post is in the ‘pocket’ of Senator Bennet.
This derivative swap issue is huge, and has the potential to make some heads roll.
Bennet may escape this issue as he is no longer at DPS and has not made a statement on the subject, but Boasberg could lose his post for the statements he has made in reference to the board, (which are his bosses) and for the fact that Colorado is one of those places where messing with ‘taxpayer’s money’ is one of the worst thing to do in elected office.
This issue did not influence who I support for the Primary, and may be too complex, frankly for most voters to influence the outcome of the caucus (but perhaps not the primary as time goes on).
I make this statement as someone quoted in this diary – and looking at the facts, I do not think in this day and age of the internet that the Denver Post or a Senator or Boasberg could cover up a scandal like the derivatives scandal, if the evidence bears out.
I will ask the readers here this question – if this same type of scandal – brokered by our own Chris Romer in New Mexico on behalf of JP Morgan caused Bill Richardson to remove his name from consideration for Commerce Secretary,
what will the same type of scandal do in this state?
Wade, the problems Richardson ran into are of a very different sort than this. Every public entity buys financial instruments of one kind or another, and some made decisions that turned out, in hindsight, to be less than prescient. That’s not at all the same as what entangled Richardson, and it’s shameful that you’re trying to connect the two things.
http://trujilloenterprises.com…
foot meet mouth
http://trujilloenterprises.com…
foot meet mouth
http://trujilloenterprises.com…
foot meet mouth
http://trujilloenterprises.com…
foot meet mouth
but the fact Richardson ran into some serious trouble over New Mexico’s use of credit swaps in some tainted deals doesn’t implicate DPS just because the district also bought swaps (which was an extremely common move for public entities).
and I don’t know how things will turn out with this DPS investigation, but if it follows the same path as the state of California, New Mexico, Alabama, which are all conducting investigations of the swaps with the banks that are oh so popular with the electorate, like AIG, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, then I expect this issue to become much more relevant heading towards August.
The DPS swap deals might have turned out to be costly and too clever by half, in hindsight, but the New Mexico deals were part of criminal enterprises.
Colorado State Senator and son of a former Governor, Chris Romer, Brokered the New Mexico deal.
(are you saying he is a criminal? I was not even willing to do that prior to an investigation…)
I believe that the national banking scandal that is what TARP was all about, is coming home to roost locally.
Friend to big banks = not who we want in office.
Does it hurt when you make these kid of gigantic stretches? Do you warm up first or just go for it? Are you even the slightest bit sore after? Does aspirin help?
I would think that it would Rep. Romer taking a hard look at your alleghations, more than anywone else.
I did this with Ken Gordon once.
And I bet you never heard the end of it.
I heard once, that a public entity was involved in a complicated financial transaction that resulted in several convictions of public officials. The list of those conviced would have been longer, but the local news paper’s coverage was so slanted that some big names got a pass
Maybe that’s not what has happened here, but can you prove it didn’t’?
And by “tomorrow” you mean some unspecified time in the future?
You call the issue “huge” and say it could “make some heads roll”. You characterize the transaction as “messing with taxpayer’s money” and call it a “scandal.”
You should cite your sources- clearly you have access to as yet unreferenced and perhaps unpublished audits that show wrong doing. Which and where?
Yes, you threw in a “if the evidence bears out”, which implies both that there is evidence of wrong doing and that it just needs investigating. If you’re referring to the “news release” already posted her on Pols and referenced in the Post, it’s a bit of a stretch to call it “evidence.” It would be more accurate to describe it as the innuendo and musings of a few. Or even the well timed complaints of some Romanoff supporters, two of whom approved the transaction they now question.
Perhaps the diary was updated – but where were you quoted?
Your question is just slightly more loaded than the famous “when did you stop beating your wife” More like “when did you stop beating your wife…if she was in fact your wife, or if you even have one, or she wasn’t a man”
i Just reviewed all the recent DP edtorials- the only thing related to public schools is Vince Carroll wondering whether we even need them or something.
Nice trick haveing access to the news before it is published.
How do you do that? Can you do the weather or the lotto numbers? Or maybe just the sports page?
Did DenPo contact you for contact? If so, what’s your connection to the DPS?
Can you cite a source other “it’s come to my attention” because as useful as that source can be, it sounds an awful lot like another poster who has cited ” I have heard…”
Hey, waitaminute I get it, maybe this is just made up stuff. Cool I always wanted to try and write for the Onion
Mike Shnahan Files to Run for Gov, Cutler to be LtGuv
Denver Post to Change Name – DenPolst
Denver Post to Change Name – Denver Pist
Hey this is fun- just making up the news.
This is ridiculous.
Why are you for Romanoff?
Susan Greene’s Tuesday Column
Susan Greene writes Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Reach her at 303-954-1989 or greene@denverpost.com.
It is not technically an “editorial” which is why I missed it when I went to look for it. And I probably wouldn’t have seen it at all because I don’t usually read Susan Greene.
But it is a reasonable summation of the situation, even if it makes you and Wade look foolish.
That does appear to be the “editorial” that has ofoole’s knickers in a bunch.
I’ll ask again, what on earth leads ofoole to believe some of these school board members deserve “respect”? Kaplan as much as admits she doesn’t understand swaps, even though she voted for the policy she’s now harping on.
Could the same be true for bloggers who see the word “swap” and immediately think it has anything to do with the mess in New Mexico? After all, both states conducted transactions in dollars! Doesn’t that mean they’re the same?
These kind of innuendo slurs have become a hallmark of a certain brand of Romanoff supporter. It’s really a shame his supporters are sullying the reputation of a devoted public servant.
and it is not innuendo – the New York Times explains it clearly enough
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03…
is embroiled in trouble isn’t because his administration bought derivative swaps. It’s because of a pay-to-play scandal involving his PAC, involving financial institutions funneling contributions to his PAC in exchange for winning contracts. This has NOTHING to do with what the DPS board members are complaining about. There is NO connection.
Remember 2008 primary season? He’ll now be beating this drum because unlike the rest of us, his tendency to exaggerate/lie/tell big whoopers always overcomes his ability to stick with the facts, particularly if the exaggeration benefits his candidate.
Recall with me now, if you will, how Edwards was going to win the caucuses, was going to win Iowa, was going to be the next president of the United States, even though the only poll that showed that was the freeped poll posted almost weekly at Daily Kos.
After last weekend, I’m done with Wade. He’s nothing more than The Tool with a radio show.
you mean when i called out Barron X for something this site said
so writing a diary which called out another diary, which printed something the editors of this site state is ‘never appropriate’ is wrong to you?
if defending the integrity of what passes as blogworthy on this site offended you MOTR, then by all means, be done with me.
I’m talking about your inability to call out people that joined within an hour of each other on a Friday to engage in a smear diary.
But I should have figured you would think we are all still talking about the Barron diary. I forget sometimes about your odd fixation with certain topics.
Hey, Dick, God forbid anyone join Colorado Pols and provide fact-based commentary. That really sucked, right?
Like any dick named Cheney, its clear you believe facts should be dismissed in favor of rhetoric. Better yet, dismiss the facts because they come from someone “new.” That’s sound neo-con thinking.
And we should all give you credibility because you use the pseudonym Real Dick? That’s standing behind your opinions. I’m sure people are always saying, “My most trusted sources of political commentary are the New York Times, Washington Post, and Real Dick.”
Just a suggestion: there must be a porn site where you can provide comments. That might be a more appropriate venue for you, Dick. I think there might be a site out there called, Real Dick and His Self Licking Ice Cream Cone. Given what I have read of your comments to date, that should be right up your “alley.”
And for the record, Dick, that’s a smear campaign. Next time you’ll know the difference…
(My apologies to anyone named Richard.)
That sig line and that comment came from JO, a wondrously popular poster here that supports AR.
But boy, your panties sure are in a twist. Can’t say I blame you–things didn’t quite go as planned last night, did they?
Are you sure you aren’t the one that should be writing some soft porn for Playboy? This was outstanding. Hard to believe you didn’t pick up more votes in your school board race with that sweet mouth of yours.
We had a primary in 2008? With actual voting?
Hey, here’s an article that explains how Gold Nanoparticles and Lasers Kill the Brain Parasite That Causes “Crazy Cat Lady” Syndrome.
It may or may not have anything to do with any current DPS school board members, but it is a good explanation of something complicated (and wicked cool).
Sure, that NYT article explains something, it’s just not clear how it applies to the DPS Board.
Plenty of people understand them.
Some of them even worked for or work for DPS.
Some even post here- late, on old threads that perhaps no one is watching, but, apparently, that is no problem to you.
For example-
http://coloradopols.com/showCo…
that’s why our economy is doing so well. Even the venerable Alan Greenspan is on record as saying how much these creative financial instruments helped our economy in those halcyon days of the most recent bubble boom. Sure seems like he understood them.
But people who claim a certain expertise and sure knowledge of these “instruments of mass destruction” (Warren Buffett) are full of puffery.
Interest rate swaps are a roll of the dice, pure and simple. And for financial industry advisors, managers, etc, it is a heads I win, tails you lose proposition. They will get there fees on both sides of the deal. So it is always in their interests to promote and recommend these products because that is what they are compensated to do.
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it” (Upton Sinclaire)
Do you have a source for your Greenspan claim?
So you are saying that sawps are always inherently dangerous to all participants and should never be used?
Are you also saying they should be illegal?
are always inherently dangerous to those who don’t understand them, which is most people. I think it is unreasonable to expect lay people to understand them. Unless someone spends their entire working life dealing with them, I doubt that they will really get the concepts and the risks and will simply defer to the “experts”.
Greenspan quote: “The use of a growing array of derivatives and the related application of more-sophisticated approaches to measuring and managing risk are key factors underpinning the greater resilience of our largest financial institutions …. Derivatives have permitted the unbundling of financial risks.” — May 2005
Source http://www.thefool.com
Sounds like Greenspan was saying this like they are a good thing.
and I think we see from the last two years how wrong that assumption was.
I think Buffett was specifically referring to “credit default swaps” which have never been mentioned in connection to DPS.
As for the larger question- were interest rate swaps like DPS entered respsonsible for the financial melt down – I’d say it was highly unlikely. These are not the instruments that overleveraged Lehmman, Bear Stearns, et al.
But if you think swaps should be prohibited as a part of financial reform here in the US – make the case. If your candidate thinks that, he should make the case.
is not to prohibit the freedom to undertake risk, but rather to prohibit the exploitation of some by others, or the assumption of risk in ways which eventually impose a public burden.
Derivatives clearly need to be better regulated, because they facilitate the creation of a house of cards of risk taking diffused through the economy. Interest swaps, while perhaps requiring regulations appropriate to them, do not suffer from the same defect.
Part of the nature of a complex division of labor which mobilizes information-intensive expertise upon which others rely, is the difficulty of ensuring that the agent is acting in the principal’s interests, rather than in the agent’s own at the principal’s expense. This is a challenge to be faced through legal design, not shunned as somehow inherently contrary to human welfare. Clearly, the ubiquitousness of principal-agent relationships, and their extraordinary usefulness in producing wealth and utility of various kinds, militates against any crude prohibition of such relationships merely because of the potential for abuse. Rather, an understanding of the economic and legal theories of agency should be mobilized in the attempt to mitigate against the opportunities for abuse, while carefully avoiding any curtailment of the opportunities for mutual and public benefit.
of the complex modern world is that the information embedded in it exceeds the capacity of individuals to encompass. The California energy crisis of 2000-2001 was in part due to aspects of the energy markets that no one understood, and the effects of certain kinds of regulatory reforms on those markets.
Such complex markets require complex regulatory architectures, to be sure. But those architectures are frequently challenged to keep up with the complexity of the markets they are regulating, and to meet the intense information gathering and processing demands involved. The mere fact of complexity is not an argument against the existence of its components.
No wonder The Tool is worried about this article. To say it’s unflattering is an understatement. Not only did she vote for it, twice, but she attended specific discussions that explained the details.
Maybe it’s time for Jeannie to retire. DPS’s Board deserves better than this.
Reminds me of that other famous woman’s quotes
Barbie by Mattel, 1992
And for ease of reference, here’s where you can see that otoole is a pathological liar, consistently telling lies about verifiable facts:
(1) denying Bennet co-sponsored legislation he clearly did co-sponsor (http://www.coloradopols.com/showComment.do?commentId=287125);
(2) falsely accusing Bennet supporters on Pols, “Some of you have even used the phrase ‘my campaign told me’ in your posts. You are holding yourself out as a mouthpiece of the campaign.” — notably, otoole never said who wrote that or where, when I repeatedly asked him who said such things (http://www.coloradopols.com/showComment.do?commentId=287121)
(3) saying an anti-Romanoff diary “shows that … the Bennet crew getting very nervous about Romanoff’s momentum” even though it was written by a righty Constitution Party member, and no Bennet supporters even defended the diary (http://www.coloradopols.com/showComment.do?commentId=291491)
There probably are more; note that Otoole has racked up this impressive record of lying in just a few weeks on pols.
Otoole doesn’t even defend himself when I have basically taunted him repeatedly with the truth about his lies. I’m not sure whether he knows his statements are indefensible or whether he’s a coward in addition to a liar. Either way, he’s such an awful repeat offender that it’s now my special job to call him out for the liar he is, every time he posts.
I’m wondering if posts like the ones you refer to are really from R’s trying to stir up the D primary. Sort of like that fat man’s “Operation Chaos” in 2008 designed to confuse and comlpicate the D presidential primary.
… some speculate he’s a sock puppet for an existing user to say particularly harsh & indefensible things; but maybe he’s just a R masquerading as an AR supporter to cause trouble. Hard to figure out what goes on in a crazy man’s head.
More from our friends that even take offense to my saying that they make a good strawberry cheese cake.
Do they have anything good to say about their own candidate that doesn’t involve fabrications or exagerrations?
It is really and honor to see Colorado Pols bloggers and commentators have such a record of perfection. Because most of you have sat on a Board of Directors and run for office, you know so much. Because you have such agile minds and depth of experience, anything that comes your way will be immediately understood. Therefore, you’ll never have to go back and reassess your vote to make sure you did the right thing. You’ll never have to ask for additional information to make this assessment. And when you don’t get the information, you’ll just be able to figure out if you are meeting your responsibilities by reading your coffee grounds in the morning.
If this sounds like you, look in the mirror. The reflection you’ll see is called a simpleton.