How Dare You Do What I Did Wrong

Republicans are back trying to pull redistricting maneuvers in Colorado after a U.S. Supreme Court decision several weeks ago that validated redistricting efforts in Texas from 2003. When Colorado Republicans still controlled the state legislature in 2003, they rammed through a last-minute redistricting plan that would have severely crippled Democratic efforts in several contested seats, most notably congressional district seven, by moving voter registration numbers heavily in favor of Republicans. Colorado courts later ruled against Republicans for their last-minute plan because a Colorado judge had already drawn the new maps in 2002 when legislators couldn’t come to a consensus.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has set a precedent for allowing similar maneuvers in Texas, Colorado Republicans are trying to go back to those GOP-favored maps. Any potential ruling would not affect races in 2006 but could bring big changes in 2008. Of course, redistricting could be done again after the 2010 census. Confused? Read the Associated Press story and see if that helps.

According to SurveyUSA, Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard is the least-popular Senator in the entire country (which Colorado Confidential pointed out yesterday). You may not have heard about it, however, because SurveyUSA’s media partner, 9News, didn’t bother to report on it.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate say that Republican policies squeeze the middle class of America, and to illustrate their point, they are using a Lakewood, Colo. family as an example. Anne C. Mulkern of The Denver Post reports that Cindy Sovine, her husband, Noah Miller, and their five-year-old son Jonathan were featured on Wednesday at an event at the U.S. Capitol. “Middle-class families are struggling with higher gas prices, they’re facing ever-rising college tuition costs and … rising health care costs,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.  “The Republican Congress hasn’t noticed, and it is time for a change.”

The Bob Beauprez campaign for governor continues to just sit around waiting for Bill Ritter to do something so they can figure out how to respond. As Dan Haley of Haley’s Comments reports:

Just hours after Bill Ritter’s campaign issued a press release saying his candidacy would be endorsed Thursday by a bipartisan group of Colorado district attorneys and various law enforcement, Bob Beauprez countered with his own DA endorsements…

…The “we have DA supporters, too” e-mail follows closely on the heels of last week’s dueling veterans’ policy releases. Ritter’s camp released his pro-military/veteran statement last Wednesday morning, and Beauprez followed about two hours later. But Beauprez spokesman John Marshall says his boss’s veterans policy was posted on their website a few days earlier.

Maybe they’ll wait until after November to see if Ritter won the gubernatorial election before they decide how to respond to that.

Republican State Rep. David Schultheis is criticizing Gov. Bill Owens for his actions during the special legislative session earlier this month. Schultheis says that Owens’ actions handed Democrats a major win, although he’s careful not to point fingers back at himself. Schultheis voted in favor of the very same package of bills that he has been critical of Gov. Owens for agreeing to.

As April Washington and John C. Ensslin of the Rocky Mountain News report:

In the weeks after the special session, some angry Republican lawmakers have turned on Owens, accusing him of selling out his party for his own personal gain after he leaves office. Dan Hopkins, a spokesman for Owens, dismisses such assertions, characterizing some GOP lawmakers as disingenuous.

Schultheis and several Republicans voted for House Bill 1023, the flagship measure that requires proof of citizenship or legal residence to receive most state services. In fact, when the bill was passed, Schultheis praised certain provisions in it.

On Wednesday, Schultheis acknowledged his vote on the bill might seem inconsistent. “Usually, I’m very consistent, so it might seem to some that I’m not,” he said.

I’m usually consistent, except when I’m not. Ladies and gentlemen, your Republican leadership at the state capitol!!!

Schultheis is one of the head honchos of the ultra-conservative Republican Study Committee (RSS), a group that believed the most important illegal immigration issue that could be presented in the special session was to make English the official language for all governmental services. Yes, this was their top issue, and it led to this beauty of a quote from another member of the RSS: “Pressing ‘1’ for English is not acceptable when calling a government agency. It is a blessing to be bilingual as an individual, but a curse to be a bilingual country,” said Sen. Brophy (R-Wray).

Former Gov. Dick Lamm is taking heat for comments he made in a speech about illegal immigration

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