Wednesday Open Thread

Ready, set...

Comments

[Alan Smitheee]

Does the retrial of Lisl Aumen damage Ritter? I am not sure why the CSC ordered a new trial - faulty jury instructions or something - but it seems if her conviction is overturned, it reflects poorly on the prosecution.

[Phoenix Rising]

The Ohio Coingate scandal keeps reaching further. Now it appears that Noe was spending Ohio's cash at a fundraiser for President Bush, handing out money to attendees to cover their "donation".

At what point I wonder does this begin reaching the RNCC and RNSC (?); Ohio's GOP is in this up to their necks, with all three Gubenatorial candidates (the State Auditor, AG, and SoS) tied in. Noe was a Bush Pioneer as well; I hardly think that he would be uninvolved in broader GOP fundraising... If this hits other national Republican organizations, it will add on to the DeLay scandals and other recent over-reaching from the GOP; in other words, it could drag down the whole party.

[Jason]

What is a 'Bush Pioneer' exactly?

[FairVote?]

How 'bout that Denver Election Commission...

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_2746297

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_2766670

[Phoenix Rising]

"Pioneers" are Bush supporters who raise over $200,000 for the campaign. In generic terms, Mr. Noe made himself a major player using Ohio state worker's compensation funds, according to the allegations (which are the subject of a recently-convened Federal Grand Jury as well as an FEC investigation).

A quick search over at OpenSecrets.org reveals that in 2004, Mr. Noe contributed sgnificantly to the RNC, the Ohio GOP, and several other GOP campaigns and PACs. The site doesn't compile information on fundraisers, so it's hard to tell what else he got involved in...

[festivus]

The Post editorial page has been conspicuously silent on the workplace discrimination veto. Seems cowardly to me, since we can be pretty sure how the ed board feels about it. Even a News editorial condemed the veto, albeit it was burried in an editorial about other vetos. How about the Denver papers grow some balls and call the veto what it is - sanctioned discrimination made possible by political pandering.

[Kenevan McConnon]

I wonder if the run up in coin values is realted to this scam. It sounds as if he was mainly trading American coins pre-1900.

In some cases these coins have gained in value by as much as 400% since 2000. My collection is almost exclusively American coins and it gained 300% since my last appraisal in 2001.

Coin collecting is totally unregulated and it would be very easy to launder money trading coins. This may end up being really ugly for the Repugs.

[Phoenix Rising]

The Toledo Blade has been doing some excellent reporting on this, Kenevan, if you want to see more.

Yes, the run-up in prices is related: Noe had an interest in a company that performed coin grading services. He would purchase coins that were potentially under-graded and have them re-evaluated by the company; this gave him a reliable way to show investment value.

[jeffcogop]

Any thoughts on Speaker Romanoff calling Governor Owens a racist? Read Dan Harsanyi's column in today's Post. I always thought Romanoff was too clever by half.

[Phoenix Rising]

Romanoff was just responding to Owens' own poor language choice.

When allowing the crime bill to become law, Owens noted: "I have historically and consistently opposed hate crimes legislation, as it creates a perception that crimes against certain categories of citizens are somehow more reprehensible than crimes against everyone else."

According to that logic, we'd still have cross-burnings being charged as criminal trespass misdemeanors and not hate-crimes felonies. I think Romanoff wasn't too far off in that respect. Harsayani was too snarky by half in his column - one might even go so far as to say he was an a**.

[Ter Ducken]

Consider the source. Harsayani is a shill for Republicans in the same manner that Diane Carman is a shill for Democrats.

[galo]

The concept that all individuals should be treated equally under the law is hardly "poor language choice." Hate crimes, which contend that committing a crime against someone who is _____ is worse than committing a crime against someone who is not, are, ipso facto, implying that group is different and deserves special treatment.

The governor, along with many other freedom-loving Coloradoans, apparently holds personal responsibility above demographics when it comes to crimes. I fail to see how that makes him a racist, or how it could be construed as poor word choice.

[Jason]

Thanks Phoenix Rising. I was not aware of that term. Plus, I am no Bush historian(please Lord don't ask me to be one either).

[Phoenix Rising]

Jason, NP.

Galo:

The term "hate crimes" does not apply to a certain group of people; it applies to the application of fear and terror tactics to ANY group of people distinguished by the categories covered (race, gender, age, etc.). It isn't limited to whites attacking blacks or straights attacking gays - it works the other way around as well. The purpose of hate-crimes law is to discourage prejudice and the application of criminal acts to terrorize a population.

It is a fallacy to allege that hate crimes law is merely punishing people more for attacking certain groups; these acts are instead concurrent crimes of their own, designed to denigrate a group of people or to promote terror among that group.

Is it worse to spray-paint a swaztika on a Jewish Temple than on a Christian Scientist's? Is it worse to burn a cross on an African-American person's lawn than on a KKK member's? These and other acts have history and symbolism, and a purpose beyond vandalism or trespass. Hate crimes law assigns an appropriate seriousness to an otherwise minor crime.

[jeffcogop]

So, Romanoff was right to imply that Owens was a racist? That sounds very intolerant. It almost seems hateful. Perhaps worthy of hate crime status.

[Kenevan McConnon]

Laws habituate citizens to virtuous behavior. Hate Crime laws force at least basic tolerance. For some reason, Owens is for hate and against helping citizens being their best. Pissant.

[Phoenix Rising]

Romanoff didn't say Owens was a racist - he said that he would have hated to have had Owens' views prevail during the civil rights era. This country's acceptance of African-Americans hasn't improved based solely on the kindness of former racists; it took legislation and experience, and prejudice still remains today (it's only been 40 years...). The distortions on the GOP side never let up, do they...

[Phoenix Rising]

Has the Governor signed either of the election reform bills yet? I don't see press notices indicating he has signed or vetoed either SB-198 or SB-206 (?), which respectively create authoritative paper ballots and enhance ethical standards of elections.

Why would the governor have any trouble with either of these bills, which were promoted on a largely bi-partisan basis and in conjunction with the reform commission created in part by the governor?