Traditionally Untraditional

Welcome to September. Enjoy your stay.

Colorado’s 7th congressional district is still considered the most likely seat to change party hands in 2006, with Democrat Ed Perlmutter poised to defeat Republican Rick O’Donnell. According to The Washington Post political blog, “The Fix,” Perlmutter is in good shape because it is hard to stereotype him as a liberal Democrat.As USA Today reports, new polls in five states show Democrats will gain seats in the U.S. Senate but are more likely to take control of the House. The tide may be turning for Democrats because of voter disagreement with the current state of the country, highlighted by issues like the Iraq war, the economy and corruption on Capitol Hill.

———-

There is another immigration hearing in Colorado today, hosted by Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in Greeley. With any luck, it will be a little less pointless than Wednesday’s Aurora hearing hosted by Republican Sen. Wayne Allard, which The Denver Post dismissed as “political theater.”

The supposed purpose of the hearing was to advance Congress’ work on immigration reform. It was a prime opportunity for Allard to illuminate one of the most significant issues of the year and help break the logjam among House and Senate Republicans.

But of course he had no such thing in mind. Instead, Allard skewed the hearings, allowing only hand-selected witnesses to testify. He must have been tempted to hear from all sides, but the devil made him cast the event as political theater. Protestors who marched outside, including many who wanted to testify, got more attention than the witnesses. And, the protestors represented a broad range of views.

———–

Local union officials say they will not oppose Denver’s bid to win the 2008 Democratic National Convention because of concern that a new hotel in the city is not a union hotel. As George Merritt of The Denver Post reports:

Labor issues in the city have focused on hotels, and particularly the new, city-bonded Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center. None of Denver’s hotels are union, and some Democratic delegations say they must stay in union hotels.

Officials in opposing cities have seized on Denver’s labor issues as the Democratic National Committee looks to name two finalists this month…

…Minneapolis-St. Paul and New York are the other finalists for the convention, and, unlike Denver, both have union hotels.

Still, officials with Denver’s host committee now can say that labor is not formally opposing the bid as they make their case to national Democrats. Denver Area Labor Federation president Leslie Moody confirmed Thursday that the group voted unanimously to “lay over” a previous resolution opposing the bid.

———-

If you earn only the minimum wage in Colorado, then you, sir, are dumb and incompetent.
That’s what KVOR radio host Joseph Michelli says, anyway. As Colorado Media Matters informs us:

Discussing a Colorado ballot initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage, on his August 29 radio show, Newsradio 740 KVOR host Dr. Joseph Michelli asked, “I mean, is that the way it works — is just life is what it is? Life is what it is. You get dealt a hand, and some people are going to get squat, zero, nada. And because of that we should lift the minimum wage just to compensate for the fact that they’re dumb and incompetent. Is that it?” Michelli added, “I mean, because that’s not the free enterprise system. That is communism, isn’t it?”

———-

Republican Charles Sylvester is running for governor as an unaffiliated write-in candidate. As Margie Wood of The Pueblo Chieftain reports, Sylvester says that he is a “mostly traditional candidate who’s campaigning nontraditionally.”

If by “nontraditionally” he means, “with no hope of winning,” then we completely agree. But we may be in the minority here. According to his Web site, a guy named Dave says he’ll vote for Chuck.

Comments are closed.