March came in like a lion. Now it’s going out like a lion.
Where the hell is the lamb?
Republicans can’t beat Democrats in Colorado lately, so they’ve taken to beating each other up instead. As Lynn Bartels and Alan Gathright of the Rocky Mountain News explains:
It’s a she-said, they-said dilemma that has the House looking at changing its ethics rules. Rep. Debbie Stafford, of Aurora, said that a fellow Republican in the House told her she would be a target in future elections if she supported a construction-defects bill that the homebuilders industry opposed.
Republican leadership said the exchange never happened, that Stafford’s story has changed several times and that she is simply mad at the homebuilders for helping kill an unrelated measure she introduced this session. Stafford stands by her story, but said she doesn’t plan to file any sort of complaint…
Stafford said that a number of people lobbied her to vote against House Bill 1338, including Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, the assistant minority leader.
She said Balmer told her that she would receive heat from the Colorado Association of Homebuilders if she ran for another office. And she said Balmer mentioned that the group has been generous to Republican candidates in the past.
The 2008 Republican State Party Motto: “If you can’t beat ’em, beat each other.”
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House Bill 1114 seeks to break the stranglehold that taxi cab companies have on the industry in Denver, and it has the companies worried. As Alan Gathright of the Rocky Mountain News explains:
An independent Yellow Cab driver says a supervisor offered him and other cabbies up to $110 if they’d call state lawmakers and urge them to kill a taxi deregulation bill up for a hearing today.
In a sworn statement, Yellow Cab driver Mengisteab Desta said a supervisor offered to knock off two days of lease fees for drivers who called lawmakers.
A company executive Wednesday denied cabbies were offered payment.
The allegation hits as the House Transportation and Energy Committee votes on House Bill 1114 this morning.
Meanwhile, a political watchdog group says it will ask the secretary of state to investigate whether Yellow Cab paid drivers to call lawmakers in violation of lobbyist registration laws.
Failing to register as a lobbyist is a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
“Our concern is that Yellow Cab is using its leverage with its cab drivers to pressure them to call legislators and oppose the bill – regardless of whether they believe it’s a good thing or not,” said Chantell Taylor, director of Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government. “It appears to be an end run around state lobbyist registration requirements.”
The cab companies shouldn’t be paying drivers to lobby against the bill
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