progressive involvement

Contributions from political action committees in Colorado's sixth congressional district

Andrew Romanoff:  $0

Mike Coffman:  $865,451

Cory Gardner's Secret Meeting

Colorado senatorial candidate Cory Gardner spent last weekend with Tywin Lannister the Koch brothers at a palatial resort in Orange County, California.  He was there with fellow politicians Marco Rubio, Mitch McConnell, and others, doing something-or-other, which they won't disclose, but you can bet it has to do with spending a lot of money to try to win some Senate seats.

The Koch's spent $870,000 on security for the meeting.  All other business at the resort was cancelled, including the golf course.  The weekend was topped off with dinner at La Casa Pacifica, the one-time home and now the Shrine of Richard Nixon.  Theme of the meeting?  “American Courage: Our Commitment to a Free Society”.

Someone reported to the Nation magazine that 300 other billioinaires also attended the meeting with the goal of raising $500 million to take the Senate for the GOP and another %500 million "to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president."  (The source might exaggerate.  As the Nation itself notes, there are 492 billionaires in the United States.  Did 60% of them show up at the Koch soiree?)

Whatever the number, there's little doubt they will raise the billion dollars.  Koch's alone gave $400,000,000 in 2012, which is chump change for them.  (You'll miss the $100 you gave to Mark Udall much more than they will miss $400 mil.)

Cory Gardner's senate race against Mark Udall in Colorado is on everyone's radar screen.  Control of the Senate is likely to go down to the wire, and the prospect of flipping Colorado must be making Tywin Lannister's the Koch's mouth water.  It's a close race and Udall, truth be said, can be a rather wooden candidate.

Udall, however, will win.  Colorado is a purple state, not a red one, and Gardner needs to break out beyond the Republican base.  He knows this would be difficult, especially with his name all over the Personhood Amendment, i.e. a fertilized cell is a person.  Even many right-to-lifers don't support it.

So Gardner did the worst possible thing.  He flip-flopped with the lame excuse that he didn't know some of the implications of the Personhood Amendment, and he's oh-so-much-smarter now.  The truth is that Personhood was an albatross he tried to throw overboard because the state of Colorado is oh-so-much-bigger than the (very conservative) 4th congressional district he currently represents.  Gardner is going to be eating "Personhood Amendment" straight through to November.

150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre is approaching

On Nov. 29, 1864, several hundred soldiers, under the command of Col. John Chivington, killed an estimated 163 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in their village along Sand Creek in eastern Colorado.  Most of the dead were women, children and the elderly.

In addition to being a colonel the Colorado territory militia, Chivington was also a Methodist pastor, and he hated native Americans.  

Bishop Elaine Stanovsky of the United Methodist Church shares her thoughts on the Sand Creek Massacre in today's Denver Post:

Elaine Stanovsky didn't know much about the Sand Creek Massacre when she moved to Colorado in 2009. She learned, slowly, about the connection between the Methodists and the massacre. Now she wants to tell the truth.

This Friday, Stanovsky will be part of a spiritual pilgrimage to the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic site.  Dozens of United Methodists will join her to stand with descendants of those murdered at Sand Creek.

Tink Tinker, a professor at Iliff School of Theology, a United Methodist seminary in Denver, said, "Methodists, like all other white folks in North America, have a lot to atone for.  How (Christians) are going to do that, I don't know, but they have to begin where the Methodists are beginning, by paying attention to their history of violence."  (Tinker is a member of the Osage nation, and a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.)

Bishop Stanovsky shares her experience of learning about Sand Creek here.

Image by Howling Wolf, 1875, an eyewitness to the massacre.

11th Annual Breakfast for Humanity sponsored by Metro Denver Habitat

9News' anchor, Cheryl Preheim, opens the 11th Annual Breakfast for Humanity at the Infinity Events Center in Denver.  Hundreds gather each year for this event in order to be inspired by the work of Habitat and make a contribution to its work.

Governors, Mayors, and members of Congress have spoken at this gathering, but the star of the show each year is a message from one of our partner families.  This year, Angel Meza spoke, and introduced all of her children.  (Angel's house was the one President Carter worked on at the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Work Project last summer.)

Metro Denver Habitat is the fourth oldest Habitat affiliate, and the oldest west of the Mississippi River.  It has completed 500 homes, and plans to build 200 more in the next five years.  Every four minutes, a Habitat house is dedicated somewhere in the world.

Littwin nukes Gardner

Colorado's best political commentator, Mike Littwin, eviscerates Senate candidate Cory Gardner over Gardner's sudden 180 degree shift on the "personhood" amendment.  He was for it, then, as soon as he found himself in a state-wide race--a state which rejected "personhood" by 3-1--he got political religion and flip-flopped.  Snippet:

Even though Gardner was running for Congress and the issue was on the ballot and it was being widely discussed and he was passing out petitions in support of the personhood amendment and everyone else in Colorado knew what the amendment would do, Gardner says he somehow didn’t understand the bit about contraception.

Now this makes him either not too bright or not too curious or not too honest — and since he is both bright and curious, you can see the difficulty.

Read the whole thing and enjoy.

Hickenlooper with solid lead in Colorado

According to Quinnipiac's latest poll, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper enjoys solid leads against all his primary challengers:  48-39 vs. ex-Rep. Tom Tancredo, 46-40 vs. Secretary of State Scott Gessler, 47-37 vs. state Sen. Greg Brophy, 47-38 vs. former state Sen. Mike Kopp.

Curiously, the poll also noted that, by a 52-43 margin, Coloradans opposed stricter new gun control laws, but they support requiring background checks for all gun buyers by an 86-13 margin! 

Governor Hickenlooper issues proclamation

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper today announced a proclamation that temporarily renames Colorado’s tallest majestic mountain peaks -- also known as 14ers -- after individual active players on the Denver Broncos football team. The mountains will go by their new names for one day only -- on Super Bowl Sunday.

The full text of the proclamation:

WHEREAS, the State of Colorado is confident that the Denver Broncos will beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII; and

WHEREAS, the Denver Broncos gave Coloradans a lot to be proud of this season, including becoming the first team in NFL history to score more than 600 points in a single season and winning the AFC Championship; and

WHEREAS, Seattle makes some, well, OK beer; and

WHEREAS, the Seahawks have a 12th man, whatever, while the Denver Broncos have the greatest fans -- men, women and children -- in pro sports; and

WHEREAS, we are proud of the majestic mountains in Colorado, which is home to 53 14ers – the same number of players on the Denver Broncos’ active roster; and

WHEREAS, Peyton Manning bears a symbolic resemblance to Mount Elbert, the tallest 14er in Colorado, because he stands tall as an extraordinary leader of the Broncos; and

WHEREAS, Matt Prater kicks the football long – an NFL record 64 yards long – and could be compared to Longs Peak; and

WHEREAS, the Broncos offensive line stands together, like our Collegiate Peaks, rooted into the earth and preventing anyone from getting to Peyton Manning; and

WHEREAS, there are many other connections between other 14ers and players as referenced below;

Therefore, I, John W. Hickenlooper, Governor of the State of Colorado, do hereby hurry up and proclaim Sunday, February 2, 2014,

President Carter's morning devotion at this summer's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Denver

 

Raise the Roof!

Wednesday night's celebration of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project--Raise the Roof!--was attended by nearly 4000 people.  They were there to celebrate the building of 11 new homes and 15 rehabs in the Globeville neighborhood of Denver, and, more broadly, to celebrate the entire 30 years of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

The evening featured video stories of partner families, and scenes from the first three days of the build.  Metro Denver executive director, Heather Lafferty, welcomed the crowd, thanked them for their hard work and their financial contributions, lauded the work of volunteers and introduced President Jimmy Carter.

President Carter recalled the many sites of the Carter Project over the years.  The very first project was in Brooklyn, New York in September of 1984.  This year's Project will conclude in New York City today and tomorrow.  In more recent years, the Carter Work Project has tried to alternate between a domestic site and an international one.  International sites have included Mexico (three times), the Philippines, Hungary, South Africa, Haiti (twice), and Korea.

Carter said that, when he left the presidency, he and Rosalynn had a long discussion about where they wanted to place their energies and influence.  They chose Habitat for Humanity.  (Millard Fuller once told me that, in his first meeting with the Carters, he asked, "Are you interested in Habitat for Humanity, or are you really interested in Habitat for Humanity?"  The Carters looked at each other and said, "We're really interested.")  

President Carter concluded, "If you want your life to have meaning, if you want your life to have purpose and stand for something, if you want your life to make a difference, you'll get involved with Habitat for Humanity."

One portion of the evening was typical for a Habitat event:  a partner family in the spotlight.  After Pres. Carter's speech, he and Rosalynn presented the key to a new Habitat home to Angel Meza and her family.

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood were present, made brief remarks to the crowd, and said they were encouraged into singing a song or two by President Carter.  Said Brooks, "When President Carter asks me to do something, I say, 'Yes, sir.'"  They sang two songs, to the great delight of the audience. Isaac Slade, of the popular local band, The Fray, capped off the evening. 

Globeville and Habitat for Humanity

Globeville has not been a well-known neighborhood in the city of Denver.  All that most people know of it is that they can see St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church from I-70.

Part of the reason Globeville is not well known is that it is somewhat disconnected from the rest of the city because of rail lines, industrial areas, the National Western Stock Show complex, and the South Platte River.  The neighborhood is home to about 4000 people, and has a poverty rate of about 28%.  

The area was originally settled by eastern Europeans.  Now, the neighborhood is majority hispanic.  Many are native--54% of the residents were born in Colorado, as opposed to 42% in the rest of the city.  Many are also immigrants.  About 25% are foreign born, mostly in Mexico (16% is the average for the city).  Over 50% have less than a high school education.

Habitat Metro Denver has been involved in Globeville the past few years, and made the neighborhood the spotlight of this year's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project (JRCWP).  The work project has placed Globeville centerstage in our city, and has served as a catalyst to inspire a number of community organizations to work toward redevelopment of the neighborhood.  The Carter Work Project is building 11 new homes in Globeville this week, and rehabilitating 15 others.

Metro Denver Habitat is one of the top affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International.  This past summer, Metro Denver Habitat celebrated the construction of its 500th home.

The affiliate is the 4th oldest Habitat affiliate--San Antonio was the first--and the first to be organized west of the MIssissippi River.  Metro Denver Habitat is about 15th of all US affiliates in house production, and typically in the top ten in best practices.

Top image:  Neighborhood landmark St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church.

Bottom image:  Students at Laradon Elementary School thank Mrs. Carter.