Category: Politics

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Just no! The Denver Post is off base in wanting to get rid of the electoral college

The Denver Post is just wrong in wanting to change how the election of the President is conducted. Instead of using the electoral college, they want to use the national vote.

This is just wrong. It seems to me that they have forgotten the civics and American government classes.

The electoral college was set up to lessen the influence of big states and cities. And lessen the influence of political parties. It has raised the importance of rural communities and smaller states.

As close as the elections have become, the importance of the smaller states has become important. For example, Colorado has become a battleground state and it has brought all of the presidential candidates to campaign here and not only in the Denver metro area.

Finally, they are totally inaccurate when they say millions of votes aren’t counted. They are all counted and important. The elections are too close and too important for people not to vote.

www.denverpost.com/2019/02/01/colorado-electoral-college-popular-vote/

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I’m getting tired of this election already, are you?

I’m getting tired of this election already. It’s been going on too long and the yelling, lying, boasting and accusing is getting worse.
If you watch CNN, MSNBC or Fox News all you see are stories on the election. Even the potential hurricane hitting Florida is more about how it will impact the Republican National Convention than how it will impact the millions who live in Florida.

We can’t even get away from it by watching non-network stations. Since I live in Colorado and we are a swing state we are getting bombarded by political ads on tv on most of the channels.

Plus we are getting robo-calls for candidates and robo-calls from PACS pretending they are doing a survey but it is so slanted that they are promoting a candidate.

I’m ready for November and the election to be over. But between now and then I expect to blasted with misinformation from both sides that will continue to turn me off to both candidates.

I just need to figure out which way I’m going to vote and being a swing state, it’ll actually matter.

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Disappointed by governments blindly canceling commercial fireworks in Colorado

I am extremely disappointed that local governments are blindly canceling commercial firework programs in Colorado this year because of the dry conditions. While being prudent is always good, it could have been handled in a more systematic manner.
For example, Sheriff Ted Mink of Jefferson County canceled all the commercial fireworks displays in his county. I think this was short-sighted and a political move to appease some of the mountain communities. It was an easy way out.

Sheriff Mink probably should have reviewed each of the commercial programs individually.  This is more a risk-based approach and would have fit the largest county in the state of Colorado. One that encompasses the western metro Denver area up into the mountains.

One commercial firework display that was a casualty that probably shouldn’t have been is the city of Westminster. It is located within the northern suburbs of Denver and completely surrounded by a community. It is set off at a park. The fire danger is low and the potential of spread is low. In fact, if you move that display less than one-quarter of a mile it wouldn’t be in Jefferson County.

Now I agree that displays in the foothills and mountains should have been canceled this year, it is just too dry. But displays that are in the metro area being canceled for the reason that they just fall within Jefferson County is just plain short-sighted.

I found that it interesting that people wanted the Colorado Rockies to cancel their fireworks display this year. This display is in the middle of downtown. It had no chance of starting a wildfire. None at all. But thankfully the Denver Fire Chief and Colorado Rockies used good reason.

Thankfully and finally people are not using personal fireworks and these have been banned. These should be permanently banned in Colorado. These devices cause more injuries and damage than any commercial fireworks could do in a lifetime. I urge the Colorado legislature to permanently ban them.

We need to be prudent and safer this summer. It’s extremely dry and there have been many fires around the state because of this drought. But we need to use common sense and a risk-based approach in the future. To have a blanket restriction on commercial shows is not a good way to manage a county or state.

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The Flagship University in Idaho is THE University of Idaho

The Idaho State Board of Education opened up a can of worms yesterday when they required the University of Idaho to remove flagship from its mission.
For those of you who don’t know, the University of Idaho was established before the state of Idaho became a state. It is even written into the state constitution. Not only that, Idaho is the land-grant institution, operating in 42 of the 44 counties. According to Dr. Duane Nellis, the University of Idaho President, the University of Idaho touches 400,000 people through its extension programs. No other college or university in Idaho comes close.

Building upon that, the University of Idaho contributes nearly $1 billion to the state of Idaho economy, that is 1.9 percent of the Idaho economy. That is a tremendous amount of money for a state like Idaho. Continue reading “The Flagship University in Idaho is THE University of Idaho”

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Get out and vote today Colorado! Vote Yes on 103!

Today is election day in Colorado. Make sure you get out and exercise your right and vote!
In Colorado, we have a big choice today, whether we want to fund our schools at a rate that makes them sustainable or a rate that continues their decline.

In today’s world, we need students who are educated and creative. The more that school’s are required to cut, the more they will cut the optional items like the library and art. These are essential in creating well-rounded students that will continue to develop our great country.

Vote Yes on 103 and support Colorado schools.

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The Birther’s just need to move on

The whole debate over where President Obama was born needs to be over. As we move towards the 2012 Presidential Election we need to be focusing the debate on issues facing this country so we can choose who should lead our country for the following four years.
The President put an end to this discussion this morning when he released his long-form birth certificate. It should be over.

But some people don’t believe it and refuse to accept it.

What I find kinda ironic is that many, if not most, of the birthers believe in states rights. The State of Hawaii has issued the President’s birth certificate, the form every Hawaiian gets. It also recognizes that he was born in the State.

But the birthers failed to accept that. So much for states rights.

It’s time to end the bs and move onto real issues.

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Adams County residents need to wake up, county commissioner’s wasting our money

The Denver Post ran an investigative report this morning in the Sunday paper on the Adams County Commissioners and how one county commissioner could be giving friends and relatives an unfair advantage.
I want to thank the Denver Post for this article and how it has exposed wasted and nepotism among the county leadership. As a resident of Adams County, I am really frustrated how our money is being wasted by our elected leaders.

This story focuses on Alice Nichol, the county commissioner for District 2 in Adams County.

In the Post’s article, they found:

  • Three of Nichol’s relatives, including her husband, sit on the county Board of Adjustment, which hears appeals from developers seeking variances from county ordinances.
  • The county’s public works director hired a second son-in-law of Nichol’s as a zoning inspector in 2007. The son-in-law quit four months later.
  • A longtime family acquaintance who once worked as Ron Nichol’s supervisor is the dominant consultant for people with business before county boards, including the Board of Adjustment.
  • Nichol steered a $1.6 million furniture contract for the new county administration building to a fellow board member at Adams County Economic Development Corp. — a contract that has already mushroomed to nearly $2.3 million.
  • One of her daughters, Ronda Reagon, is a “business support specialist” at the Adams County Economic Development Corp., which received $576,064 from county taxpayers last year.
  • In her two campaigns for county commissioner, Nichol paid nearly $17,000 to four family members. The main beneficiary was her daughter Renee Stark, who received $15,338 for work ranging from developing brochures and ads to “reimbursements and media.”

This is just an absurdity and shows that changes need to be made in Adams County.

Continue reading “Adams County residents need to wake up, county commissioner’s wasting our money”