Local Right-Wing Group’s Spokesman: “Stop Being Poor”

“Getting Chick-Fil-A for everyone during the recalls.” Via Facebook

On a couple of rare occasions, we've discussed a conservative advocacy group known as Compass Colorado, which has been on the ground in our state for a couple of years now. Compass Colorado, according to the Denver Post's Lynn Bartels, was founded "to blunt liberal group ProgressNow and similar efforts in the state." Back in February of 2012, as one example of their work, we took note of a video spot from Compass Colorado that very audaciously misused charts and old data to imply Colorado's unemployment was growing when it was in fact declining. At that time, Compass Colorado was headed by former Tom Tancredo spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton. Today, the executive director of Compass Colorado is Kelly Maher of Revealing Politics fame.

Maher appears to have hired a new communications director for Compass Colorado by the name of Jonathan Lockwood. Lockwood was press secretary for Colorado House Republicans during this year's session, and also an area political director for Rep. Mike Coffman's congressional campaign in 2012. On Lockwood's Facebook page, there's a photo of him buying Chick-Fil-A for recall workers in Arvada (above right).

Here's another photo of Lockwood that has been making the rounds on Twitter in the last few days:

Photo by Josh Scott via Twitter

Which we sincerely hope is a joke. And either way, it's very difficult to imagine a more offensive message coming from the spokesman for a major conservative advocacy group.

There are some other, penumbral questions that present themselves with Mr. Lockwood, who from his Tweets does appear to be openly gay, and these photos–like proudly shopping at Chick-Fil-A? But we believe it is more appropriate to leave those questions for our readers to sort through themselves.

View the original article here

Peter Boyles Critiques Local Coverage of the Hudak Recall Effort, as Only Peter Boyles Can

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

In the heated battle and drama surrounding the efforts to recall Colorado State Senator Evie Hudak, accusations of malfeasance and misrepesentation have been thrown back and forth, a gubernatorial candidate has proffered obscene gestures, and local news outlets have entered the fray to parse out the truth and report on the contentious issues raised by the two sides.

Never the wallflower, KNUS 710AM radio talk show host, Peter Boyles, has become the media point man for the Recall organization, hosting the organizers Mike McAlpine and Laura Waters in daily appearances for updates and rallying cries. As you might guess, the tone of the show these days is combative and loud.

When KDVR Fox 31's reporter Eli Stokols and KCNC CBS4 Denver's Shaun Boyd ventured into Arvada and Westminster to report on the Recall and efforts to thwart it, they were not spared from Mr. Boyles cutting criticism and confrontation.

We've provided some audio clips from The Peter Boyles Show for you to hear exactly what Peter Boyles thinks of their journalistic efforts:

1. Peter and Joe Neville, lobbyist for Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, respond to Eli Stokol's report identifying paid signature gatherers for the Hudak recall effort as having criminal records, which supports claims purported in door hangers and robo-calls by Hudak supporters. The root of Mr. Boyles' complaints seem to lie mostly with the organizations defending Hudak against the recall, whose methods to investigate recall works Boyles refers to as "underhanded", "Brownshirt technique" "gestapo-esque" and "very, very KGB". Misters Boyles and Neville accuse the Democracy Defense Fund as 'gift-handing' information to Stokol's for his report. Further criticism from Neville and Boyles refers to Stokols' reporting that DDF "fundraised" $30,000 to fund their efforts when it appears the money was donated in large amounts by few donors. Finally, Boyles charges Stokols for not forwarding information concerning the potential crime of threatening phone calls from someone associated with the Hudak recall.

2. Boyles calls Stokols' piece "bad journalism", claiming that DDF gave Stokols information critically important to the report, while refusing to return Boyles' phone calls requesting answers to his questions. Further criticism from Boyles falls to Shaun Boyd's report on the recall in which she interviews Hudak. Boyles mocks Hudak's appearance in the piece a, saying that "Evie is now part of 'Shaun's people'".

3. Boyles facetiously adopts the song "Eli's Coming" to mock Stokol's supposed failures in his report. Also in this segment, Boyles lays out his case against Shaun Boyd's report, which reported that Hudak claimed that she had nothing to do with the organized opposition to the recall. Peter calls "BS" on that claim, but doesn't back up his assertion.

4. This clip includes audio from Shaun Boyd's interview with Evie Hudak, complete with Peters peanut gallery commentary and editorializing.

View the original article here

Hickenloooper Responds Poorly To Local Fracking Ban Wins

Gov. John Hickenlooper.

As the Colorado Independent's John Tomasic reports:

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper says he understands citizen concerns about neighborhood gas drilling but maintains that passing local laws restricting the activity is the wrong way to address the problem.

“The fracking ban votes reflect the genuine anxiety and concern of having an industrial process close to neighborhoods,” Hickenlooper said in an email to the Independent. “Yet local fracking bans essentially deprive people of their legal rights to access the property they own. Our state Constitution protects these rights.

“A framework exists for local communities to work collaboratively with state regulators and the energy industry. We all share the same desire of keeping communities safe.

“These bans may or may not result in new legal challenges from mineral rights holders, individual companies or others. No matter what happens we won’t stop working with local governments and supporting regulations that can be a national model for protecting public health and safety.”

Our view: the political balance between the need to produce energy and the desire by local communities to protect health and safety depends on trust. Gov. John Hickenlooper's problem is that he has lost a good deal of that trust since taking office, and to the extent that his objective as governor was to "make peace" between the energy industry and his fellow Democrats, he has failed. At this point, Hickenlooper has been pigeonholed by his own statements and actions as an unreasonably, and on occasion deceptively, pro-industry governor.

The people who worked to pass the moratoriums on fracking will not be encouraged by this latest statement. Hickenlooper's first words in response to the success of these local bans should not be in defense of the oil industry's "property rights." We're honestly surprised to see such persistent tone-deafness from Hickenlooper on this issue. He risks perpetuating the disaffection with base Democrats sensitive to this issue, a problem that began the first time he claimed to have "drank frack fluid," going into an election year. Subsequent gaffes involving top staffers have strongly reinforced this perception. He could try to fix the problem if he didn't all-but-ignore the concerns of local residents in every statement he gives; Hick always talks about mineral rights, completely glossing over the concern about having a "right" to feel safe from environmental harm in your own house.

With Colorado politics maybe more polarized than ever, Hickenlooper needs the Democratic base. He cannot count on transpartisan charm to win re-election in 2014. With a weak field of GOP opponents but an energized GOP base fired up to vote against him, Hickenlooper's electoral future is with his fellow Democrats, the same people he keeps alienating with his own "folksy" arrogance on this issue. And don't take our word for it: the polling data clearly indicates as much.

It's why we believe the biggest threat to John Hickenlooper's re-election is John Hickenlooper.

View the original article here

Gov. Hickenlooper: Local Control Is Best, Except In Colorado?

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Just last week, Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado was questioned by a health care professional who asked the governor why he continued to be a party to a lawsuit against the town of Longmont even as they continue to pick up the pieces from devastating flooding.  He evaded any definitive answer but did say, “We didn’t do that because we wanted to, and “we will certainly address all the issues.” 

If you haven’t seen this video, take a look. It’s worth seeing the reaction from Gov. Hickenlooper.

It appears that Gov. Hickenlooper is willing to stump for the oil and gas industry and oppose water, air, and public health protections from oil and gas drilling at all levels of government.

This past August, the Western Governors Association (WGA) of which Gov. Hickenlooper is chair, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell all but telling her to butt out of regulating fracking on federal lands, despite the fact that Jewell is responsible for managing these publicly owned national parks, forests, rivers, canyons and deserts.

Essentially, the governors argued in their letter that the Interior Department can ignore it's responsibility to manage these national parks and lands because Western states already have systems in place to effectively regulate oil and gas operations. Gov. Hickenlooper signed the letter.

So, Gov. Hickenlooper opposes the federal government creating well safety standards for oil and gas fracking operations on federal lands because local control is best, but at the same time has two lawsuits against the town of Longmont opposing local control.

Last year, Gov. Hickenlooper filed his first suit because Longmont passed strong public health and safety standards for oil and gas operations within town limits to protect their residents.

His second lawsuit came against Longmont this past July where he joined the state’s top oil and gas lobbying firm, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, in opposition to its citizens passing a ban on fracking operations within city limits.

Do industrial oil and gas operations belong within city limits? The Governor has admitted that fracking is "an industrial process that no one wants in their backyard", yet he seems to be going to bat for the oil and gas industry even at the expense of our public health, and safety.

Maybe Gov. Hickenlooper supports strong oversight at the state level of oil and gas operations? Not so fast.

Gov. Hickenlooper has a track record of opposing, weakening, or creating loopholes in public health protections such as opposing additional funding for oil and gas inspectors and creating loopholes in groundwater protection rules for companies such as Anadarko and Noble in northeastern Colorado. 

In fact, just a few weeks before the WGA letter, the Hickenlooper Administration awarded the state's biggest oil and gas polluter, Anadarko Petroleum Corp., with an "Outstanding Operator the Year Award" for 2012 despite their 70 spills – 38% of which caused water contamination.

If we're going to protect our way of life, small businesses, ranches, farms and our families, we need Gov. Hickenlooper to do better. If his administration is unwilling to protect Colorado residents, then he should expect and accept that local governments will step in.

We recognize the importance of oil and gas in our economy and we also know that development can be done with reasonable safeguards for our water, air and land. Our small businesses, families, communities and long-term economic prosperity depend on those precautions

View the original article here

Proyecto: IMÀGENES DE LA CULTURA LOCAL

El presente proyecto se ejecutò en la IE:10054 ASM -Chacupe Bajo

El presente proyecto se ejecutò en la IE:10054 ASM -Chacupe Bajo

Total Views0Views on SlideShare0Embed Views0

View the original article here

Local Government Guide to Social Media - 2012 FACC Summer Academy

Likes0Downloads0Comments0Embed Views0Views on SlideShare0Total Views0Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here