It is generally accepted that it will take $100 million to win the Democratic Nomination.  If John Edwards is to have a shot, he needs to get a lot of help from his fellow Trial Lawyers. 

The Washington Post is reporting that three candidates, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and John Edwards are all vying for the trial lawyer's contributions.  One fundraiser, Joseph W. Cotchett of San Francisco supported Edwards in 2004, but will be raising funds for all three this year.

Biden is getting significant support because of his efforts to block tort reform (nice guy).

Winning the backing of trial lawyers is a significant coup for Democratic candidates. The 55,000-member American Association for [Occasional] Justice, which advocates for trial lawyers, ranks fifth on a list of the nation's 100 largest donors since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The group's members gave more than $27 million to political candidates during that period, with 90 percent going to Democrats.

I can't claim to be unhappy with this situation.  All of these funds will be sucked up and used in the Primary Season.  Only one of these folks will be on the ticket.

Republican State Senator Nancy Spence has proposed SB 140, The Effective Teacher's Act.  She wants to identify good teachers and eventually push them toward low performing schools, although the bill doesn't seem to address the latter goal.

I favor this bill but it could be improved:

1.  There is no need for a safety clause.  This is such a good idea that if it passes and is signed, no one that I can think of is likely to try to defeat it via an initiative.  Safety clauses are an affront to the public and should be avoided where possible.

2.  It has a sunset clause, which I like, but the two year clause is too soon.  How about ten years, with commission term limits?

3.  It creates a mechanism for collecting funds for its purpose, but doesn't say what is to happen if the commission is not renewed.

4. This might become a very large fund, especially if the fund is used to push high performing teachers toward low performing schools.  Is it wise to make expense reimbursement a percentage of the fund's size?  It is easy to imagine winter meetings being held in the Bahamas if the commission had $100,000 a year to spend on itself.

5.  Wouldn't it be wise to consolidate the three data bases rather than create a fourth?  Multiple data bases are an administrative nightmare both for those doing data entry and those trying to use them.

I hope this bill gets a few modifications and then is passed.  It is a good idea.
-------
Thanks to ColoradoSenateNews.com

I am not a welcome "guest" in the Gazette Telegraph's editorial pages.  Not only did they not choose to publish my proposed editorial, Sean Paige, Jeff Thomas, and Scott McKibben lacked the courtesy to acknowledge its receipt.

Here is what I submitted:

Since I started blogging about six months ago, I've noticed a difference in attitude between the liberal MSM and the conservative MSM toward blogging.

Liberals accept and promote blogging and individual liberal bloggers.  Conservative papers like the Gazette Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal try not to mention bloggers, and when they do, they attempt to ridicule and downplay their significance.

In the last 45 days, the Gazette published a George Will editorial which claimed that 99.9% of the 100 million blogs worldwide were unserious and implied that the remainder should be ignored as well.

A week later, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial by Joseph Rago who asserted that blogs were "written by imbeciles to be read by fools."

This month, the Gazette took another swing at blogs by reprinting a Sacramento Bee article by Rick Kushman.  In it, he repeated a claim by CBS pollster that only 8% of the population read blogs.  "I think you all must blog each other" David Poltrack said in a cute quote.

Lets begin with an examination of the Will and Poltrack statistics.  Will didn't stop to consider that even if one tenth of one percent of blogs were serious, that was still 100,000 serious blogs world wide.

Poltrack's statistics may be close, but if anyone should know the power of blogs, it should be the CBS pollster.  The biggest black eye in CBS News history came when four blogs made it clear that Dan Rather had used bad National Guard forgeries to try to impact the 2004 election.

Yes, it took CBS months to come clean and for Rather to exit "gracefully."  That incident made it clear that the authors of some blogs are not imbeciles and the only "fools" reading those blogs were the MSM executives who thought no one else was reading them or cared what was written.

Newspapers are "old media."  When Radio and TV came along, they claimed that people who wanted more than headlines had to go to print for the full story.

Recently, the editor of the Gazette told of receiving $20 from a reader who wanted a story told.  He commented that it didn't have the space to print every story, and that it had to make choices.

The advantage of bloggers is that the "ink" is free and the space is unlimited.  If a blogger has special knowledge of a subject, he can write on it with his only cost being his time.  Because of search engines like Google, people who have an interest in his subject will find him.

Do all blogs put out junk as Will and Rago would have you believe?  Not at all.  Newspapers often publish editorials on Federal Court issues that are of dubious quality.  Editors would do well to consult SCOTUSblog.com before publishing if they want to sound knowledgeable.

Eugene Volokh is a respected libertarian law professor who runs Volokh Conspiracy.  He doesn't draw Rago's "fools" to his blog.  Recently, several law students credited his blog and the people who were making comments with sharpening their own writing and speaking skills.  They thought that the blog, itself, was leading them to better grades.

I recently met Dick Wadhams and told him I was a blogger.  His comment was that blogs had helped John Thune beat Tom Daschle in 2004.

My guess is that if Wadhams is elected to lead the Colorado Republican party, there will be more emphasis on the internet.

I recently gave a talk to some El Paso County Republicans that I titled "While you were Out-The Democrats took over the internet."  The Democrats are very effective at using YouTube, Wikipedia, Google Bombs, and blogs to demonize Republicans and promote Democrats.

Republicans don't even notice, in part because their conservative media is telling them to take no notice.

While the Gazette is trying to downplay blogs and pretend that they have no influence, liberal blogs are quoted by name as authoritative sources about weekly in both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post.  They have also been quoted by name on Denver's PBS station.

If the Gazette is attempting to damage blogs by its negative coverage, it is only partially successful.  It is discouraging conservative readers from going to conservative blogs.

If only the liberal MSM outlets had the same Neanderthal view of liberal blogs that the conservative MSM has of conservative blogs.  Alas, that is not to be.

A few years ago the Republicans were asleep when Common Cause pushed an initiative through that damaged Republicans and helped Democrats.

One of the slick proposals was to authorize "small donor committees."  These committees can accept no more than $50 from each individual.  If they accept no more than $20 the names of the donor's names are not reported.

Further, small donor committees can contribute ten times the maximum contribution that a PAC or individual can contribute to a candidate.  It doesn't take much imagination to see that unions can contribute unlimited amounts to candidates using this mechanism, and they don't even have to tell their members where the money is gong.

I want to see more Republican Small Donor Committees.  I plan to start one myself.

I thought it might be useful to write on the subject.  We will start with the Secretary of State's "Colorado Political Campaign and Finance Manual" :

Using the Manual:

This manual provides guidelines and helpful tips for proper compliance with the law. It is also a very useful guide to conducting research. You may wish to begin at the end – with the Appendix – and read Art. XXVIII, CPF/FCPA statutes and rules, and review the filing forms before beginning the training chapters.

!!!REMEMBER: You must read Article XXVIII of the Colorado Constitution; Colorado Revised Statute (C.R.S.) Title 1, Article 45 and the accompanying Campaign and Political Finance Rules to fully understand Colorado Campaign and Political Finance procedures and requirements!!!

Chapter I E:  Small Donor Committees

Article XXVIII introduced a new committee entity to Colorado campaign finance regulation: The small donor committee. Small Donor Committees are a form of a political committee. This committee may only accept contributions of $50 or less from natural persons. Please review the following before registering as a small donor committee:

Definitions: Art. XXVIII, Sec. 2(14)
Registration/Amendments: C.R.S. 1-45-108(3), Campaign and Political Finance Rule 3.1
Disclosure Requirements: C.R.S. 1-45-108, C.R.S. 1-45-109, Campaign and Political Finance Rule 4
Amended Reports: Campaign and Political Finance Rule 4.2
Filing Dates: C.R.S. 1-45-108(2)(a), and Campaign and Political Finance Rule 5
Contribution Limits: Art. XXVIII, Sec. 2(14) and Sec. 3
Sanctions: Art. XXVIII, Sec. 10

Tip 1: Small donor committees will be treated as a “single” committee if established by the same group of persons. [Art. XXVIII, Sec. 2 (14)(c)]

Tip 2: Small donor committees have higher contribution limits than other committees.(Art. XXVIII, Sec. 3)

-----
As I get to each section, I will come back and add links.  I will likely be working on the project for a week or two. 

John Edward's attempt to buy a blog audience has backfired.  Iowahawk has a very funny parody of the situation.  You probably don't want to read it if you are easily offended.

An interesting web page on Colorado Judicial Discipline has just popped up on knowyourcourts.com.

I am becoming more and more convinced that the Commission on Judicial Discipline operates as a fraud on the people of Colorado, designed more to tolerate rather than prevent judicial misconduct.

I received this as a forwarded email.  I haven't seen it anywhere else.  It is from Retired Air Force Colonel Earl Heal to the President and others on Feb 3, 2007:

            The discussion with a Congressman last night was interesting when Mr. Bill O’Reilly on Fox News made a comparison to Neville Chamberlain and current failures of liberals to recognize a threat to the nation. May I suggest an even more significant comparison that may be better understood because it is more recent.  

 

            From a military perspective there are few comparisons between Viet Nam and Iraq , but the similarities politically are scary.  America had essentially won the Viet Nam war by February 1968 with the success over the Tet Offensive.  Do not take the word of a military officer on this because the liberals treat us as liars.  Will they take the word of General Giap, senior officer of North Viet Nam ?  Or perhaps the officer who took command of Siagon when it fell in April 1975?  Their statements have been published repeatedly and more recently in the Wall Street Journal. Both gentlemen said unequivocally that after the Tet disaster, they were finished and would have quit the battle, except they began to realize the effect of the liberals, and by name Jane Fonda and John Kerry, on America ’s political front.  Instead of closing the war by perhaps 1969 with 40,000 KIA’s, the war dragged on for years and killed another 20,000 Americans, America’s diplomatic strength was crushed,  and our military morale was decimated.  The next result was that over a million Cambodians were killed, and an unknown number of South Vietnamese.  In a classified briefing at the time, we knew that 1,000 South Vietnamese in Danang alone were executed the first night of North Viet Nam ’s takeover just to show who was in charge.  Of course, the public never heard of these atrocities.  History can not deny that the blood of these people rests on the hands of those liberals who denied the politicians the strength to finish the war.

 

One of the most troubling things about being forced to pay union dues (see next post down)  is that we know that our own money will be used to support candidates with whom we vehemently disagree.

Unless I am mistaken, Federal Law can prevent that from happening, but we will need to be proactive and make a request.

In 2006, the Colorado Secretary of State issued rules that would have required CEA to ask us.  CEA sued and got them overturned for CEA and AFT.  Other unions must still comply.  The Independence Institute has a web page on the issue.

Maybe I can get the experts at Independence Institute to provide information on how to duck the CEA deduction as well.  There will be many teachers in Colorado Springs who will want to know when they discover what is happening.

We are not a union family.  I did belong to a union at one time, but that was in a state that was not a right to work state. 

It was my first job, and I was a grocery carry out boy.  I was paid five cents an hour over minimum wage, and just by chance, the union dues were five cents an hour.  I gained mightily by belonging to a union!  If I had had a choice, I would have happily forfeited the extra nickle because I was paying social security and other taxes on it, but I never saw it.

Colorado isn't a right to work state, but it is close.  The Labor Peace Act makes it difficult for unions to organize union shops.  In a union shop, all employees are required to pay union dues, whether they belong to a union or not.  Had HB 1072 not been vetoed, my wife would not have had the option not to pay union dues.

Make no mistake.  Colorado elected a Democratic Governor who is determined to see a bill like 1072 passed and signed into law.  There will be another version, and he will sign it. 

Yes, he will make a big show of ensuring that his allies in the legislature "negotiate" with business, but the negotiations will be hollow.

People I know will be paying union dues against their will before the year is out.

Tonight Bob Schaffer was on the Aaron Harber show.  He is a good politician and it is quite clear that he wants people to think he is the only candidate who can win the 08 Senate race.

The man is quite glib.  The show was very entertaining.  It plays again on Sunday at 2 pm.

He has some baggage from 04 that was not addressed.  The report in the Denver Post that after he lost the Senate Primary he used his PAC to try to defeat three Republican legislators (and succeeded) is very troubling to me. 

There is the possibility that the report is wrong, and if so, I'd like to know that. 

If it is truthful, I have a big problem with that kind of conduct.  It has the GREAT potential to make favorable 2010 redistricting impossible.  Republicans could end up with two of the seven Congressional districts and no chance to take back the legislature far into the future.

I agree with his view that McCain's actions after losing in 2000 (McCain-Feingold) disqualify McCain for the Presidential nomination.  I wonder if Schaffer has considered the possibility that his own 2004 actions might disqualify him as well.  Petulance is so unbecoming in a politician.

The Gazette Telegraph also had a story on 41.  It had a paragraph that was very interesting to me: 

Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, filed a resolution earlier this week to submit to voters in 2008 a question that would require a 60 percent vote to pass any statewide measure.

I wonder what would happen if only Democrats voted for this.  Would the voters in swing districts that the Democrats currently own (like John Morse) be willing to recall them over this?

Of course, this would backfire if Republican legislators voted for it.  I wonder if they are smart enough to avoid this.

Jarad Polis is the multi millionaire who thinks that qualifies him to be the US Congressman from CO2, assuming that Mark Udall runs for Allard's seat.

He thought that he could make a name for himself by financing Amendment 41.  He succeeded.

Amendment 41 is an ethics in government Constitutional Amendment that is so tightly written that the children of government employees, from the Governor down to the lowest paid janitor cannot accept college scholarships.  It prohibits Colorado University Professors who win Nobel prizes from accepting them.  In short, it is draconian.

To make matters worse, its language plainly prohibits the legislature from loosening it up in any way.

Of course, some (but not all) the Democrats in the legislature are unserious about adhering to the oath they take and are willing to make unconstitutional modifications.

Polis wants to see the changes made because it will lower his negative profile.  This week, he paid the House minority leader, Mike May and issued a threat. 

It is actually a toothless threat because of his past actions of funding 527s to beat Republicans.  In fact, he said "'I played a large part in your minority status." 

The Denver Post is reporting that House Minority Leader Mike May of Parker said entrepreneur Jared Polis threatened to campaign against Republicans if May blocked a vote on legislation to fix the amendment's flawed language

May Reports that Polis "wigged out" over the issue.

I actually hope the guy gets the nomination in 2CD.  I know I would have a lot of fun writing about him.  He's rich, but neither careful nor clever.

I must admit I am surprised. The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that Governor Bill Ritter has vetoed HB 1072.  It may be the smartest thing he could have done in his short career in office.  If he had signed it, any claim that he intended to govern as a moderate would have gone out the window as the ink went on the paper.

"In substance, I agree with House Bill 1072, and I made that clear to labor," Ritter said Friday. But, "there should have been dialogue about it. That didn’t happen."

The Denver Post also has a report.

Amendment 41 is a big mistake.  I didn't vote for it, so I am taking none of the blame.  The blame goes squarely to the candidates and office holders who were afraid to speak out about how flawed it was.  That includes Republicans and Democrats.

Now there is a proposal in the legislature to blame the voters and to try to take away our initiative rights by requiring a 60% majority to pass an amendment.

I think that legislators who vote for this approach and who were silent about 41 run a real risk of facing a recall election.  Safe seats might not be quite as safe as legislators think.

Enough said?

I'm going to pass on looking for other tagees,  I grabbed my calculator just to see how many repetitions it would take before the 100 million blogs would all be tagged, assuming everyone played as intended.

6 to the 10th power (10 levels of tagees) is 60,466,176.  I think 6 to the 14th exceeds the current population of the earth.

This is a giant chain letter, and fails for that reason.

I will list my six foibles, though.

1.  I wear shorts to shovel snow, and other strange places.

2.  I have a 5 year old grandson whose parlor trick is that he can do square roots of perfect squares and understands what he is doing.  His immediate complaint about entering Kindergarten was that they didn't teach math.  They moved him up with the first graders and his new complaint is that they are only doing single digit addition.  His current favorite math game is "I'm thinking of a number between ..."  And yes, he understands the number line, so one or both of the numbers can be negative.

3.  I can hold my own in a conversation with almost anyone on almost any subject, with some exceptions.

4.  I am tone deaf, so music is an exception.

5.  I have no tolerance for "occasional Republicans."  Occasional Republicans are worse than RINO's in that they are quite willing to sabotage elections and suffer in the minority in the hope of one big conservative win somewhere in the future.  I BLAME the occasional Republican crowd for some of the troubles we are having in Colorado and the nation.

6.  I almost never get mad.  However, if someone messes me over, they are quite likely to have an opportunity to read about it.  Hence, the blog and other outlets.