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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
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80%
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(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
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40%↓
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(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
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(R) Sheri Davis
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(D) Brianna Titone
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(D) Jerry DiTullio
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CO-01 (Denver)
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
(D) Joe Salazar
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
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State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
January 30, 2014 12:13 PM UTC
33 Comments
People with substance abuse issues need treatment, not judgment. Substance abuse is rampant in all socioeconomic levels due to easy access to, and over-prescription of, drugs like Oxycodone and Percocet, which can often be the first step to a cycle of dependency (and even harder street drugs). Telling the truth to oneself is the first step. Getting help for it from a licensed substance abuse counselor is the next. If you are suffering from substance abuse, please get help. Someone cares about you.
P.S. My heart goes out to the Udall family. They are strong people, and they can and will overcome this heartbreaking turn of events.
I'm sorry to hear about this, and I hope the younger Udall gets help for his addiction. I can't help but wonder what Colorado Pols would be saying about this if it were a Republican's son breaking into cars and getting caught with heroin…
It's only an issue for me when someone is hypocritical. When Rush Limbaugh became addicted to painkillers, it was AFTER he trashed other people (mostly poor, single, urban mothers) for it. There is a lesson to be learned by everyone — it can happen to you. Be humble. No one is immune.
I am not into hypocracy either.
So let Jed Udall be treated like a poor minority kid at age 26 who did the same things and face the same consequences. To do differently would be hypocritical.
If that doesn't suit Udall change the treatment for everybody. I am not holding my breath.
Atually, Moderatus, the question isn't hypothetical. Back in 2002, the Rocky Mountain News reported:
DENVER — Gov. Bill Owens' eldest son faces felony charges for allegedly vandalizing school buses and vehicles last summer, the Rocky Mountain News reported Tuesday.
School officials said damage was estimated at $4,200.
Mark Owens, 16, and two classmates at Smoky Hill High School, a 17-year-old and a boy who turns 17 next month, were arrested by Aurora police Oct. 2 for investigation of felony burglary and criminal mischief.
The case was presented to the Denver district attorney Thursday for consideration.
"No formal decision has been made at this time on filing charges," said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter.
"This is a family matter and we are working together as a family to deal with it," Gov. Owens said in a statement released through his spokesman, Dan Hopkins.
"Mark is accused, along with some others, of going under a fence and participating in vandalism that took place July 2002. We are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities. Mark is a good young man who made a mistake. He has made full restitution of $1,468 for the damage he caused," the statement from Owens concluded.
The story got a lot of attention at the time, including at Coloradopols. What I wrote pretty well summed up the response, which was that young Mr. Owens should be dealt with in the juvenile diversion program, like any other troubled young man, and the families private pain was not a proper subject for political discourse.
I am a very strong supporter of juvenile diversion programs. my wife used to work in them and we have personal experience of a fine young man who turned his life around after that. True, Jed Udall is no juvenile, but neither does he appear to be a hardened criminal. Treatment in such cases is hard and difficult, but I don't think prison would help him any more than prison would have helped young Mark Owens. As best I know, young Mr. Owens went on to rebuild a positive life and we can only pray young Mr. Udall will do likewise.
But the record does show, moderatus, that Pols is an equality opportunity supporter of compassion for young people in need of help and your assumption that it would have been otherwise if Udall was a Republican is flatly contradicted by what this board and other media did when a Republican governor's son was caught in a similar problem.u
There was a Coloradopols in 2002?
As I recall, it was called "Colorado Confidential" in those days…that was the name when I first started visiting here. I really don't remember when that was.
Thank you, Voyageur. You may remember Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle was in trouble with the law over drugs, too. At the time, many conservatives were asking liberals to back off. It was the right thing to do then, and it is the right thing to do now. Substance abuse is a family tragedy and the family deserves their privacy.
Mod- you wonder what Colorado Pols would say if it were the son of a Republican politician. I'm pretty sure that under those circumstances they'd say about what they've said about this one but you'd be dead silent.
Well said Nancy.
I used to volunteer at an outpatient community substance abuse facility for kids. You would be surprised whose kids were in there. Addiction knows no politics, religion, socioeconomic status, neighborhood, age, gender, level of education, etc. It is an equal opportunity tragedy.
Can't the news media, including Pols, leave family alone? This should not have been posted in my opinion.
All the best to the Udall family.
Short answer…no. The media will not leave family busts alone. As long as the Udalls aren't seen as getting special treatment due to their status it will very quickly bcome a non-issue.
Mark got special treatment back in the 70's when he had his drug conviction. Mark's father was a Senator. Mark's kid will get special treatment. If the kid was black or hispanic he would go to prison. Mark didn't. His kid won't.
correction: Mark's father was a Congressman for about 30 years, not a Senator.
Nowadays it's a different social /mass media world. It's not like when the press politely ignored all of Kennedy's women, as poor old Bill found out. If there is perceived special treatment and people choose to make a big thing out of it, it could be a problem. But since this kind of thing is so common among pols of all stripes these days, I doubt it will have much political impact.
Andrew — I agree the rich get richer while the poor (and people of color) get prison. Data bears that out. The War on Drugs was a disaster because it was applied unevenly across socioeconomic and racial strata. Still, substance abuse is a family tragedy, no matter whose family it is in. The best response is support for the family and treatment for the individual — regardless of who they are — black, white, brown, etc., wealthy or poor.
In the real world that happens unevenly. Apply the same rules to everbody. If a 26 year old minority kid would get thrown in jail, do the same for Udall's kid. If jail is not the remedy for Udall's kid let all the others out too. If the rich and powerful were treated like common folks, I bet the rules for common folks would change too.
Sometimes jail can wake a person up. Sometimes not.
Been there, done that, own the T-shirt. It's gonna be a rough road for all of them for a while. A long while.
Oh, and Andrew. Fuck you, you insensitive bastard.
Ralphie, you must feel it is the right thing that Mark and Jed will skate, while Blacks and Hispanics rot in jail. Bigot.
A word of friendly advice here A.C.
Sometimes it's best, especially when you're personally ignorant of the conversation you've just inserted yourself into . . . and even sometimes when you're just ignorant altogether, . . . to shut the fuck up !!!
There's plenty of other places on this diary, or on this site, to be the ignoramus you are — leave this one thread alone if you have any decency at all !
Didn't sound all that friendly big D.
That's as friendly as it's going to get, Andrew, as long as you keep going for the Asshole of the Year Award. It's a tough competition, but you're definitely a contender.
Give Andrew a chance to calm down – he might make it past the Libertad phase and become a functioning member of the site.
Andrew – a lot of us have been around this site for an age or two. We tend to be a bit skeptical of the potential of new posters, especially those coming from the hard right. The standards for right-leaning posters seem to have plumetted from the old days.
And yes, this is the Internet. If you don't have a thick skin, you haven't been around open forums on controversial topics much.
Thanks for understanding.
See, it's funny because even though it's been proven from their own mouths that the GOP is full of racists and bigots, Andy proves his point by setting up a straw man and knocks him down with a hi-larious argument. Touche', Andy.
You better bring better than that, Andy-San. Right now, you're not even up to Libertad standards.
I don't know if they will skate or not. What I DO know is that you're an asshole.
By the way, you ignorant little fuckwit–read what I posted. I never said Udall's son would skate. YOU did. If you want to call me a bigot because of what I believe, that's fair. But don't call me a bigot because of what YOU believe.
Don't let him get to you, Ralphie…anyone who can't see the monumental hypocrisy of a Right-Wing troll calling someone else a bigot is being damned foolish…or, at least….Fladenesque.
He hasn't gotten to me, Curmudgeon. I'm having fun. I love to be given an opportunity to point out what happens when somebody pees in the gene pool.
The righties on social media are going nuts. Pols was right about that, anyhow.
Sad to hear. I hope he gets the help he needs. No need to point fingers or pile on. I trust both of his parents will spend the bulk of their time near him, wherever he is giving him constant support. Blessings to them all in a challenging time.