( - promoted by Rocky Mountain Right - )
In 2006, the Democrats, Moveon.org and George Soros were pissed. Not only had George W. Bush survived his 2000 election, but he won reelection in 2004 handily. The most galling part of the 2004 election for the Dems was the state of Ohio. Ohio's Republican Secretary of State had not only kept out questionable ballots that would have benefitted the Dems, but the Secretary allowed in ballots for Bush that seemed unkosher to the lefties. Bush carried Ohio and got 4 more years. What to do? What to do?
The next election cycle, in 2006, saw the Lefties' creation of the Secretary of State Project or SoSP for short. The SoSP Project was co-founded in July 2006 by James Rucker, formerly director of grassroots mobilization for MoveOn.org Political Action and Moveon.org Civic Action. During a panel discussion at the Democratic Party's convention last year, we learned that the Democracy Alliance, a financial clearinghouse created by Billionaire George Soros and Progressive insurance magnate Peter B. Lewis, approved the Secretary of State Project as a grantee. This means the SoSP Project is effectively funded by Soros and Lewis.
The SoSP web site is proud of their achievements to date as well as their Soros funding. " We've helped to elect 11 of 13 election reform candidates in key states like Minnesota and Ohio. Winning in these states has made a difference already, and now we're gearing up for more wins in 2010. Potential donors should know that the SoS Project's startup and overhead costs are already fully funded. So your contributions go to providing money directly to candidates in targeted races and independent expenditure campaigns in critical states, not to our operational costs."
The SoSP, in 2006, targeted its funding efforts on the Secretary of State races in seven swing states -- Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, and financed our own Ken Gordon in Colorado, and Michigan. Democrats emerged victorious in five of those seven elections -- all except Colorado and Michigan.
The 2006 SoSP Minnesota victory had national ramifications two years later when Minnesota's 2008 U.S. Senate race was decided by the SoSP endorsed Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie. Since the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN for short, had endorsed Ritchie and contributed to his campaign, ACORN had a certain level of immunity when it came to counting ballots. On Election Night, incumbent GOP Senator Norm Coleman had won the election by a razor thin 300 votes. After weeks of challenges and rulings by Dem Secretary of State Ritchie, Al Franken became Minnesota's newest senator and the Dems 60th vote in the U.S. Senate. The 2,074 page Senate version of Obamacare passed a key cloture vote with 60 votes, the bare minimum. The Secretary of State Project had now paid off like a winning powerball ticket for the Democrats.
Now we have a new election coming up in 2010. In 2008, sitting Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman won election to the 6th Congressional District and this left a vacancy for Secretary of State. Governor Ritter appointed defeated Democratic State Senator Bernie Buescher to fill Coffman's term. He is the first Democrat to fill this slot in over 40 years. Since the SoSP participated in Colorado's last Secretary of State race in 2006, they are probably out for blood this time around.
This upcoming election cycle, the SoSP has so far only endorsed three Secretary of State incumbents. No new candidates yet. The current SoSP list includes Minnesota's Mark Ritchie, Al Franken's best friend. Since there is about a year to go before the 2010 election, there is no rush for the SoSP to endorse now. The SoSP uses another Soros' backed entity, ActBlue.com, to handle contributions. As a private 527 corporation, the SoSP can accept unlimited financial contributions and doesn't have to disclose them publicly until well after the election.
When you visit the ActBlue website, Secretary of State Buescher is well represented. Although not openly endorsed yet, his ActBlue account for Colorado's Secretary of State race already includes 35 financial supporters. Not bad for a guy who isn't even supposed to be on the SoSP radar screen.
A number of troubling events have occurred in Colorado since SoSP's birth in 2006. ACORN has set up shop in Colorado with a foothold in Aurora. After his 2006 win, our sitting Democrat Governor, Bill Ritter, saw fit to sign an Executive Order allowing Labor Unions to penetrate the state government. Because of this, the AFSCME has started a Local Union of Colorado State Employees more formally called Colorado WINS/AFSCME Local 1876 part of the AFL-CIO. They share the same Denver address with the SEIU local union. Our Colorado tax dollars now flow to the AFL-CIO in Washington. The newness of this AFSCMELocal has not prevented their parent from giving a couple of thousand dollars to Mr. Buescher in his quest to become an actual elected Secretary of State.
There are currently a million more registered voters in Colorado than there are actual voters. You can thank the lack of voter role purging and cleanup for that. That creates a lot of room for shenanigans by ACORN and its buddies.Since Mr. Buescher will be the acting Secretary of State when the 2010 ballots are counted, he must feel pretty good about the final vote outcome next November. Come to think of it, he will oversee Colorado's U.S. Senate and Congress races as well. This must make acting Senator Bennett and Betsy Markey sleep well at night
The Republicans have reacted to this entry of Chicago-style politics into our Rocky Mountain state by offering up Scott Gessler in opposition. Mr. Gessler may become a burr in the Chicago style saddle of the SoSP. Scott Gessler is a Lawyer who offices in Downtown Denver. His practice concentrates on Election Law. He has 16 years in as a U.S. Army Reservist. He has been a Federal Prosecutor. Gessler is not a lightweight.
The SoSP has a litmus test to get an endorsement. Their web site states the requirements for an endorsement which includes:
**-"Election officials should not place onerous requirements on or attempt to intimidate non-partisan voter registration groups. (such as ACORN)
**-Efforts to suppress the vote through onerous requirements, such as unconstitutional photo ID laws, must be opposed.
**-Efforts to raise voter participation of citizens who often face special barriers, such as students, military personnel, low-income people and minorities - including Election Day Registration - should be endorsed and actively supported."
Amazingly, Mr. Buescher feels the same way as the SoSP. He doesn't like a photo ID requirement to vote and likes it when a person shows up to vote and registers on the spot. ACORN joins in with their approval of these onerous methods to make Mr. Buescher, the SoSP and ACORN a loving threesome. Scott Gessler is in direct opposition to the SoSP way of voting.
One thing appears certain, if you vote for Bernie Buescher to become Colorado's Secretary of State, a lot more votes ala Chicago, will be counted, including dead people, people who have left Colorado, non-people, etc. If you vote for Scott Gessler, a lot more legal votes will be counted and the votes will likely reflect the actual number of Coloradans who live here.
I live in Colorado. I vote Gessler.
" You know, comrades," says Stalin, " that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how." From Memoirs of a Secretary of Stalin's by Boris Bazhanov.
Mike Robinson is Senior Partner at Robinson & Henry P.C., a Castle Rock, CO Law Firm.
Perhaps feeling nervous about hinging his own political career on Senator Who and the soured deal with Andrew Romanoff, Bill Ritter has decided to drag Mark Udall and Bernie Buescher into his suicide pact with Michael Bennet on the eve of Andrew Romanoff's entry into the Democratic primary. The Ritter for Governor campaign blasted out a fundraising email on behalf of Bennet (is it even legal for a state committee to plug a federal candidate?) that reads in part:
Michael has only served for a short time, but he has already earned a reputation in Colorado and in Washington as a serious, thoughtful and straightforward public servant.
This is not surprising because no matter what the context -- business, government, or public education -- Michael has built a long record of success, of doing big things, of not shrinking from hard choices or entrenched interests. We don't need to tell you that we need more of that in Washington.
Please stand with us as we stand with Michael. We fully support Michael's campaign for election in 2010, and are asking you to join us in this effort.
The email was signed by Ritter, Udall, and Buescher.
KEN SALAZAR CONFIRMATION HEARING KICKING OFF: Getting a sitting Senator confirmed by the Senate isn't much of a challenge.
BOB SCHAFFER NEW BOARD OF EDUCATION CHAIR: "I think this is going to be a particularly activist board on education leadership, and I think we're going to be able to accomplish our goals in a bipartisan manner."
BUESCHER SWORN IN: One of the greatest failures of Ritter's administration will surely be passing over qualified professionals like Rosemary Rodriguez for this job and instead using it as an unemployment offices for Democrats looking for the next office to hold.
Bernie Buescher has gotten his wish and been appointed Sec. of State. The Rocky Mountain News offers this insight into Ritter's selection:
Some political observers say it was Buescher's close ties to Ritter that sealed his fate. Buescher and Ritter both advocated for Amendment 58, which would have closed tax loopholes for oil and gas developers, especially on the Western Slope. The amendment was defeated.
In the meantime, Andrew Romanoff will probably end up running for Senate even if he doesn't get the appointment. As for Ken Gordon? Well, he'll have to go back to spamming online polls.
Bill Ritter has announced the Secretary of State finalists. They are Ken Gordon, Andrew Romanoff, and Bernie Buescher.
As I wrote several weeks ago, Ritter had a real opportunity here to appoint someone with real experience who would put the job before politics. By opening up the process to applicants, he offered a little hope that he was actually looking for someone based on qualifications and not cronyism. Several excellent (and yes, Democratic) candidates applied including Denver County Clerk Rosemary Rodriguez and former Denver County Clerk Sherry Jackson.
Instead, Gov. Ritter has opted to use the position to reward his political allies and has given us a list of candidates who are only going to use the office to advance their own careers.
This all begs the question: if Ritter was just going to give the appointment to one of his allies and ignore the qualified candidates, then why did he put on the charade of taking applications in the first place?
With John Salazar looking very likely to take a cabinet post in Barack Obama's administration, there is a strong possibility of a 2009 special election in CD-3. What hasn't been reported much in the blogosphere are the rampant rumors from the Western Slope that John Salazar just doesn't like being a Congressman all that much and was considering stepping aside in 2010 anyway.
Here is a quick look at some of the potential candidates on both sides for CD-3.
The Republicans
The Democrats
Gov. Bill Ritter has an important choice looming on the horizon.
Mike Coffman unfortunately came under fire largely as a result of seeking higher office. By running for congress only two years after becoming Secretary of State he caused his attention to be divided between campaigning and focusing on his office's duties. Even more disruptive was the fact that by running for congress he had painted a giant partisan bulls-eye on his back, every Democratic group in the state was taking shots at him and making it even harder for him to get his job done. Do we really want to repeat this when Andrew Romanoff or Bernie Buescher decide to run for congress or when Ken Gordon gets an itch to run a primary against Ken Salazar?
Rosemary Rodriguez, Sherry Jackson, and Jessica Lovingier all have served as county clerks. While Lovingier, a Republican, is a long-shot; Ritter ought to give priority to Rodriguez and Jackson if he is serious about making sure the office is in competent hands.
If Ritter would rather engage in transparent political pay-back and naked partisanship then Romanoff, Bueshcer, or Gordon would be excellent choices.
By opening the process up to applicants as opposed to simply appointing someone, Gov. Ritter is at least offering a ray of hope that he is honestly looking for the most qualified candidate. Let's hope he follows through.
Denver Post columnist Susan Greene decided to use her editorial slot to deride Sen. Wayne Allard for expressing an interest in becoming Chancellor of CSU.
It is curious that Greene had none of the same outrage over defeated would-be Speaker of the House Bernie Buescher floating his name. While Allard, a native of the area and alumni of CSU, attracts scorn apparently for being a Republican; Bernie Buescher seems to get a free pass even though he never attended CSU and hails from the opposite side of the state.
In fact, Buescher also applied to replace Mike Coffman as Colorado's Secretary of State. What we have here is a retiring United States Senator considering doing something to help his alma mater as opposed to an unexpectedly defeated politician desperately looking for any political appointment. Susan Greene's blind partisanship shines through on this matter.
Update (4:07 PM): PolitickerCO reports that Bernie Buescher is also interested in being U.S. Attorney.
Bill Ritter: "I don't know why Bernie Buescher lost but it sure as hell couldn't have been because of me!"
Ritter also dismissed the notion that the apparent loss by Grand Junction state Rep. Bernie Buescher, who was the heir apparent to speaker of the house, was a referendum on Ritter.
"She may feel it as a referendum on me," Ritter said of Buescher's opponent, Republican Laura Bradford. "But I don't think that is fair or accurate. There were a lot of things going on in Mesa County."
Ritter praised Buescher as "just a fantastic human being."
For general inquiries, tips, and blogroll requests; please email: info@rockymountainright.com
