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Wow! First it was the attack ads from Colorado Outlook labeling Senate District 6 candidate Dean Boehler as being too “extreme for Colorado”.   Now, it appears a Denver-based law firm is trying to influence the primary by sending out slick ads supporting Dean’s opponent, and calling her “conservative to the core”.

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Many Republicans opened their mail today to find an attack piece against Dean Boehler, Republican candidate for State Senate District 6.  The mailer took the form of an over-sized, two-sided, color postcard.

The mailer, sponsored by a group called Colorado Outlook, says that, "Republican Tea Party Candidate Dean Boehler is too conservative for Colorado."  (A little research shows that Colorado Outlook was incorporated by several liberal mouthpieces from the Denver area.)  It goes on to call Dean, "a dangerous choice for Colorado."  Throughout the rhetoric-laced mailer, the authors try to tie Dean Boehler to the Tea Party, as if that's a bad, scary thing.

In this year, of all years, these liberal Denver operatives couldn't be more wrong-headed if they tried. (Which I'm sure they have.)  Guess what?  The Tea Party is very active in southwestern Colorado!  Along with the 9/12 Project and other conservative groups, the Tea Party shares a huge amount of popularity in State Senate District 6.  What were they thinking?

Two other odd things about this hit piece against Boehler.  First, Dean hasn't been officially endorsed by any Tea Party or 9/12 group.  Don't get me wrong.  Dean Boehler shares many of the same values as the Tea Party movement, and has spoken in front of many Tea Party and 9/12 Project audiences.  In fact, Dean considers it a compliment that Colorado Outlook associates him with the Tea Party!  He wears the distinction proudly.

The other question that comes to mind is this...  Why would a liberal political organization try to interfere in a Republican primary?  That's right.  Dean is in a primary race with State Representative Ellen Roberts.  Why would Colorado Outlook care which candidate faces off against incumbent Democrat Bruce Whitehead?  Good question, huh?

I mean, why not wait to spend their money on the general election after the outcome of the primary is known?  "That," as Shakespeare wrote, "is the question."

Apparently, they believe Dean Boehler is too dangerous to allow him to challenge Bruce Whitehead.  You see, Dean Boehler IS dangerous.  He is dangerous to tax & spend liberals.  Dangerous to unfunded federal mandates.  Dangerous to groups who seek to curb our Second Amendment rights.  Dangerous to federal bureaucracies seeking to infringe on our state's rights.  And, perhaps, most dangerous to those who believe more government control is the answer to every social problem.

So, to the Republican voters of State Senate District 6, ask yourselves one question?  If the liberals are so afraid of Dean Boehler, shouldn't he be the one you WANT representing you in the Colorado State Senate?

Just thinking out loud.

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As the primary race for Colorado's Sixth State Senate District heats up, one thing is certain.  Republican Dean Boehler has energized the conservative base.

At meeting after meeting, whether Tea Party, 9/12 Project, or everyday conservatives, Dean's message of limited government, lower taxes, and state sovereignty has struck a chord.  At every meeting, the message from the Republican voters is the same.  "It is time for a real conservative Republican candidate."

Dean has even garnered endorsements from some impressive Colorado conservative leaders.  Among them, former U.S. Senator William Armstrong, former Club 20 Chair Kathy Hall, State Senator Kevin Lundberg, and State Senator Dave Schultheis.

With a grassroots campaign, Boehler came out of nowhere to take 67% of the delegate vote at the District Assembly in April, earning top line on the ballot.  He has now moved into contention with a well-financed, incumbent opponent.  If the past year has taught us anything, it is that the establishment candidate, whether Republican or Democrat, cannot rest on their laurels or take conservative voters for granted.

Republican voters, especially, are tired of politicians who compromise their conservative principles under the guise of being "moderate"  or "non-partisan".  Remember, the dictionary definition of non-partisan is supporting the interests or policies of no single political party.  What we need at this critcal time in our state and our nation, are candidates who have loyalty to conservative principles.

As Dean Boehler often tells voters, "our conservative principles and strict adherence to the Constitution will help Republicans take back the majorities in both the state and national legislatures."

Let us hope so.

I am Kaarl Hoopes, a conservative, pro-growth, family value, first time candidate.  I am running to bring principled, common sense representation to House District 32.  I believe in putting the people first - and government second.  My website is: http://KaarlHoopes.com.

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Cary Kennedy for Treasurer

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Welcome to Colorado’s state Senate District 35 where a sign reads: “Give me your sexual deviants, your pedophiles and your rapists.” Well, that’s the way it should read according to state Senator Joyce Foster (D-Denver). According to The Denver Post columnist Vince Carroll, Foster told him in referring to convicted sex offenders, “I'm the only elected leader who has ever stood up for this population…I became their voice. I heard horror stories from these people.”

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Yesterday, Senator Morgan Carroll introduced legislation allegedly closing the loophole created by the US Supreme Court in its Citizens United decision. The real threat is foreign corporations and people trying to influence Colorado elections. According to Carroll in a blog posting, “Today Rep. Paul Weissmann and I introduced SB203 closing the disclosure loopholes and closing the foreign corporation loophole.”

Here is what the website Coloradopols.com is saying about this State Senate race.

A noteworthy turn of events reported in the Montrose Daily Press this weekend--as our readers know, one of the GOP's best pickup opportunities in the Colorado Senate this year is considered to be the sprawling southwest Senate District 6 seat, occupied by Jim Isgar until last year. Now held by Democrat Bruce Whitehead, Republicans across the state are eagerly looking at this seat as state Rep. Ellen Roberts' next upwardly-mobile career stop.

Except, as the Daily Press reports, there's a bit of a problem:

Area Republicans held their district assembly in Ridgway Saturday, and one race for sure will be on the Aug. 10 primary ballot.

Republican 6th Senate District candidates Dean Boehler and state Rep. Ellen Roberts move on to the primaries.

At the assembly, 110 of 148 delegates from the Senate district were in attendance, including all of Montrose Countys 42 Republican delegates.

Boehler is the top name on the primary ballot, with 66.4 percent of the delegates votes. Roberts had 33.6 percent. [Pols emphasis]

And just so there's no questioning who's taking credit for this, from the conservative blog Rocky Mountain Right:

Boehler attributes his large margin of victory to a grassroots effort of conservative Republicans, including members of the Tea Party and 9-12 Project.

That's right, folks, the sitting state representative considered the Colorado Republican Party's #1 state senate pickup opportunity...barely managed to get 30% at assembly. Now that doesn't mean Roberts won't ultimately win the SD-6 primary election in August, of course, put it's hard not to interpret such a dismal performance at the assembly as anything but a vote of no confidence in Roberts by local conservative activists.

And why, do you ask? Well, despite attempts by Roberts to shore up conservative credentials this year--witness her failed legislation to turn legislative debates over local health care policy into a politicized brouhaha about "Obamacare"--she has a reputation as one of the more moderate Republicans in the General Assembly. She has a history of working with Democrats on energy and education issues, casting a key vote in favor of the new oil and gas drilling protections.

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Conservative Republican Dean Boehler emerged with 2/3 of the delegate vote at Colorado's 6th State Senatorial District Assembly on Saturday.  Boehler, from San Miguel County,  filed papers to enter the race just two weeks ago.

Colorado's 6th State Senatorial District, considered a hotly contested race for Republicans, consists of 8 counties in the Southwest corner of the state.  The district includes Archuletta, Dolores, LaPlata, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, San Juan and San Miguel counties.

Boehler faces a primary race against State Representative Ellen Roberts for the State Senate seat currently held by Democrat Bruce Whitehead.

Boehler attributes his large margin of victory to a grassroots effort of conservative Republicans, including members of the Tea Party and 9-12 Project.

Check out Dean's website at:  www.deanboehler.com

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Despite a severe economic downturn and reduced government revenues, local school districts continued spending on “perks” and non-education related spending. In Sunday’s The Denver Post, reporters uncovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-education related spending. This included purchases from Starbuck’s, various restaurants and out-of-state conferences.

The arrogance of the education community, as evidenced in this article, is astounding. As legislators continue to say there is nothing left to cut, I hope they find it at these school districts. Unfortunately, the fat cats in administration won’t suffer the financial pushback, our kids will.

 Liberal State Rep. Jack Pommer (D), fresh on the heels of a meltdown last week in a house committee, has now gone "off message" once again. In a rare moment of honesty, Pommer says what he really thinks about businesses - they are all out to swindle hard-working Coloradans and flee the state.

When the proletariat rise up against the capitalist pigs you can bet that Jack Pommer will be right there, AK-47 and bowie knife in hand, leading the glorious charge.

I saw a post from my good friend Ben at Mt. Virtus announcing that Scott McInnis had endorsed Mark Hurlbert for SD-16, the seat being vacated by Sen. Dan Gibbs. At first, my shock was why would McInnis endorse in a GOP primary and risk alienating some delegates and volunteers?

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Yesterday, I became aware of a blog entry on Morgan Carroll's (D, SD-29) website critical of Attorney General John Suthers position against retention of three Colorado Supreme Court justices.

Sen. Dave Schultheis recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election to SD-9 in 2010. As Ben DeGrow reports, conservative Rep. Kent Lambert may be announcing his candidacy for the seat later today.

Lambert will be the de facto nominee if he declares his candidacy. While Schultheis was facing a primary opponent in Tom McDowell who will likely continue to run, McDowell has proven time and time again that he does not have the temperament for public office and has demonstrated a propensity for making ludicrous statements that is at least as strong as the outgoing Schultheis.

McDowell has predicated his candidacy on expanding the big tent of the Republican party and has put that goal into practice by:

• Randomly accusing center-right bloggers of being "social conservatives" trying to drag down the party, usually levelling the charge at blogs that rarely or never discuss social issues.
• Libelling several Republican campaign operatives for no apparent reason.
• Throwing an odd tantrum at a conservative commentator for "name-calling" Mark Udall.
• Railing at activists about "social conservative" conspiracies.
• Constantly deriding primaries as damaging to the party; before declaring himself a primary candidate against an incumbent legislator.

Run, Kent, run.

Two Republican challengers have announced for State Senate District 5. The district is nearly evenly divided between Republican and Democrat voters and is currently held by Gail Schwartz (D).

The challengers announced so far are are former CD-3 candidate Wayne Wolf and Bob Rankin (who has a website compete with an odd soundtrack).

This seat will be a prime pick-up opportunity for Republicans and both candidates deserve to be watched carefully.

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Winners and Losers

Winners
Josh Penry:  On top of a strong showing by staff and supporters, Penry gave good speeches and destroyed McInnis in the straw poll.  He is clearly winning the hearts and minds of the Republican establishment.
 
Lieutenant Governor Candidates Sally Clark and Amy Stephens:  Both were working the room for their chosen candidate and coming across very well.  Either one would be a good choice for a fresh female face in statewide politics and add balance to the top of the ticket.  
 
Cleve Tidwell:  He may be crazy, but he will be legendary in Colorado politics for years to come!  You almost have to wonder if he is actually really smart and running this campaign to keep us all amused. 
 
Michael Bennet: With no consolidation around a GOP candidate, he can focus on winning his primary and allowing the GOP to tear itself apart in theirs.
 
Peggy Littleton:  Several other CCD5 candidates are on the state central committee, but none of them were there.  This is a seat that will be won by shoe leather and determination.  Early indications are that Littleton is willing to work a lot harder for this seat than any of her opponents. 

Read more...

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Douglas County has three streams running from South to North. The Cherry Creek, East Plum Creek and West Plum Creek all eventually flow into the Platte River and the water then makes its way down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. Many of Colorado's first settlers made their homesteads on these three rivers. The West Plum Creek ends at Sedalia, Colorado, founded in 1865. This land along the West Plum Creek is Horse Country as it has been for over 140 years.

On Saturday September 19 th, the Douglas County Republicans held their annual picnic. They chose the Wiens Ranch as this year's site. We are still over a year away from the next statewide election but politics was heavy in the air. The Wiens Ranch is owned by former state Senator Tom Wiens and his family. The spacious ranch has over 1,200 acres along the West Plum Creek and it was a wonderful location for the GOP picnic.

GOP hopefuls for Governor, U.S. Senator, Congress, State and Local races were present to meet and greet the GOP faithful. The weather was perfect, the conversation was joyful, and all had a good time.

Gubernatorial hopeful Dan Maes addressed the crowd. Having been an employee and business owner over the years, he said "I know what its like to sign the two sides of a paycheck."

J.J. Ament, running for State Treasurer, brought cheers when he talked about how concerned he was how much the noise coming from the Colorado State Capital is sounding more and more like the noise coming from Washington D.C.

Scott Gessler, running for Secretary of State, talked about how that office is the first line of defense against voter fraud by organizations like the disgraced Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Tom Wiens was the host of the Picnic and he spoke to the throng. Although not yet a formal candidate for U.S. Senate, he was graciously received with the other candidates. He talked about how the 2010 election is the chance to send people to Washington that will work for us instead of taking from us.

Candidates for Governor who were at the picnic included Mr. Maes and former congressman Scott McInnis.

Candidates for U.S. Senate included Ken Buck, Ryan Frazier and Jane Norton. Congressman Mike Coffman attended as well, along with candidates for the District RE-1 School Board and county offices.

Many of the attendees at the picnic are the men and women who built Douglas County from a thinly populated rural ranching county into the true modern metropolitan world that it is today. It is quite fitting that the picnic was held in one of the more historic areas of our state.

Mike Robinson is Senior Partner at Robinson & Henry P.C., a Castle Rock law firm.

Brian DelGrosso was selected to replace Don Marostica last night at the State House District 51 Vacancy Committee and joins the swelling ranks of appointed state legislators. The Coloradoan reports:

DelGrosso grew up in Cheyenne, where he served as a legislative aide for one session while in college. He also began delivering pizza for Domino’s as a college student in Cheyenne, where he eventually was nominated for management training.

That led to him becoming the operations director for 20 stores, overseeing 300 people and accountable for the finances of the businesses.

Today, he owns three restaurants, two in Loveland and one in Windsor.

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Read today's columns by Robert Samuelson in the WaPo and by Ross Douthat in the NYT.

They both highlight the problems that hard left, pro-union policies favored by Gov. Ritter and his Democrat majorities in the Colorado General Assembly have created for California, New York, Illinios and other blue states.

It will be interesting to see whether Colorado Republicans tar Ritter and the Democrats as Californiated Lefties.

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Looks like the state house Dems have some splainin to do. Kind of nice how the Dem communication flack tries to point fingers. Stealing good ideas is just business as usual, makes perfect sense.

GOP pols steamrolled, steamed