Colorado Politics, News and Inside Information

Playing the Gay card, again

Yesterday's House Judiciary Committee vote to kill a referred measure enshrining discrimination against gays and lesbians (i.e. barring gays and lesbians from ever marrying) into our state's constitution reflects how integral religious conservatives are to the GOP's political fortunes.

The only reason for pursuing such a ballot measure is to agitate religious conservatives to get out and vote Republican.  This same strategy was deployed in 2004 to mobilize religious conservatives in places like Ohio, where Bush narrowly won. 

These recurring, anti-gay ballot measures are clever and effective tools that allow evangelical churches to become part of the GOP's GOTV operations without technically crossing the line prohibiting tax-exempt entities from openly advocating for a particular candidate.

Enter Morgan Carroll?

With Jim Polsfut and Joanna Conti taking a pass on the 7th CD, is there renewed incentive for freshman State Representative Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) to jump in? Seeing how it is only May of 2005, there is plenty of time for her to make that assessment.

It's no secret Rep. Carroll was thinking of joining the fray earlier this year, frustrated that her pet legislative projects were being sacrificed on the altar of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's single-minded agenda (that's life in the shadow of the master strategist). With four Democrats in the race, however, it didn't make sense for Carroll to join an already crowded field.

Both Ed Perlmutter and Peggy Lamm carry with them significant baggage; votes, positions and professional work that will make party activists wince. As long as the race remains between Lamm and Perlmutter, their respective baggage is likely to cancel the other's out, for the most part. This could signal a potentially negative and bruising primary as Lamm and Perlmutter compete for the hearts and minds of the party's faithful by defining their opponent as politically suspect. Could Morgan Carroll exploit this opportunity by sneaking up the middle while Lamm and Perlmutter mud-wrestle?

Well, the keys to viability in any primary are Message, Machine and Money (not necessarily in that order). Let's see how Carroll measures up.

Chicken a la Dan Caplis

Several weeks ago when Congress was debating so-called tort reform legislation (which really should be called the Corporate Immunity Act), you could tune into KHOW many an afternoon to hear the always self-impressed Dan Caplis decrying "frivolous lawsuits." 

True to the hypocrisy inherent in his right-wing ideology, we learn today that Caplis has launched his own frivolous lawsuit against Glenn Spagnuolo for publicly revealing that Caplis assaulted a "pregnant woman of color" during a 1977 mini-riot he participated in as a CU student. 

Spagnuolo says the incident is well-documented and other witnesses saw Caplis engage in what his Focus on the Family soul-mates would call child abuse (i.e. attacking an unborn child).  According to Caplis, the lawsuit is filed under seal.  However, Spagnuolo's comments about Caplis were recorded at a pro-Ward Churchill rally and played repeatedly on Peter Boyles' radio show on KHOW. 

If Caplis is truly justified in his secretive lawsuit against Spagnuolo, why is he hiding its contents?  Or, is Caplis just trying to intimidate and silence Spagnuolo through "frivolous lawsuit abuse," not unlike his on-the-air bullying of CU for failing to silence Churchill?  Funny how Caplis' CU past is returning to haunt him in his anti-Ward Churchill crusade.  Or, to paraphrase Ward Churchill, Caplis' CU chickens are coming home to roost.   

The Elephant in the News Room

I'd like to be able to reference a news story in this post but I can't, no thanks to the "super-sleuths" in the Colorado press corps. Apparently, I have to get my news about the pro-family Bill Owens (according to the rumors, he is so pro-family that he has two of them) from the kid bagging my groceries at King Soopers. 

Surely, some reporter, maybe even someone at the irreverent Westword, has heard what seemingly everyone in Colorado is talking about.  Normally, I don't like it when reporters pry into the personal lives of public figures. However, when that public figure upholds himself as a scion of wholesome family values, then he is fair game.  Bill Owens vetoes a bill on emergency contraception information for victims of rape, citing the moral convictions of Catholic hospitals as the reason. Never mind that these hospitals accept public dollars and are licensed by the state. 

And where's the Focus on the Family political cult in all of this?  Rather than harassing Ken Salazar's wife they should be asking Bill Owens why he abandoned his.  There's a reason why the Gov. and Frances Owens are separated, but you'll never hear about the reason from the servile Colorado media. And, I know you didn't hear it here first.