Statetap: Lamborns pocket $20K from campaign; state min-wage inches up

Rep. Doug Lamborn and his wife Jeanie raked in more than $20,000 from the campaign that won him a fifth term in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District. Campaign finance reports show that Jeanie was paid $14,000 for managing the campaign, Lamborn was paid more than $3,500 for gas money (enough to travel nearly 5,000 miles) and $2,722 in interest on an interest-free loan he made to his own campaign. Spokesman Jarred Rego, who serves as both Lamborn’s campaign and congressional manager, said that all of those payments are justified. The $100,000 personal loan the congressman made during the campaign had been incorrectly reported to the FEC as interest-free, Rego said, a mistake he would correct. “The loan was always intended to be filed as an interest loan,” he told the Colorado Springs Independent‘s Pam Zubek. According to FEC guidelines, “if no prior formal note or agreement exists, the candidate must refund the accrued interest payments.” Rego did not address whether Lamborn intends on coughing up that dough.

statetap On Monday, Colorado state legislators asked the Department of Veteran Affairs to investigate the kind of care that veterans receive – or don’t receive – at state VA hospitals following the death of Rodger Holmes, a Vietnam vet whose hepatitis C and urology problems were allegedly neglected by the Grand Junction VA Medical Center in December. Chris Blumenstein, a former social worker at that hospital who resigned in protest (and received the first annual Colorado Independent Whistle Blower Award!), testified to the joint House and Senate state affairs committees on the matter, breaking down several times as he told a harrowing story of mistreatment and mismanagement. “Rodger’s treatment went very wrong,” he told the committees, “I think our veterans from all over the state deserve better and I think we need to learn from this.” Via the Denver Post.

In response to Boulder resident Patrick Murphy’s lawsuit, the city of Boulder finally released its cash-flow models used to project the financial viability of its planned municipal utility. Via the Daily Camera.

New year, new wages for some in Colorado: The state’s minimum wage rose 23 cents to $8.23 an hour effective January 1. The raise is nothing special — it’s a regular adjustment to reflect inflation, the Aurora Sentinel reports. Colorado Public Radio‘s Ben Markus goes through what other notable laws went into effect on New Year’s Day 2015 that mean something for Colorado workers. (The three biggest, he says are bolstered protections against wage theft, mandatory ‘single point-of-contact’ on foreclosures and an expansion of in-home care options.)

1 COMMENT

  1. If memory serves, wasn’t it Mark Twain who remarked something to the effect of “Congress being OUR (American) native criminal class”? And that was LONG BEFORE the days of signs such as: “Your Campaign Donations at Work” – or the like – resembling the ones we see on road projects.

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