Bruce Benson for governor

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:34 am, July 16, 2010

A few days ago I asked who  the Colorado Republicans should run for governor if Scott McInnis wins the GOP primary and then steps down. That scenario is making more sense every day, and it’s becoming more likely.
University of Colorado President Bruce Benson looks like the man who can make Colorado solvent and help it thrive.
And, at this point Bruce Benson has the best chance of beating Governor-elect John Hickenlooper who’s looking forward to an easy victory as a result of the political problems of Scott McInnis and Dan Maes. The Denver Post has declared both McInnis and Maes unfit to be governor, and so have I and other bloggers. Many, if not all, people posting on FaceBook agree.
Benson’s successes as the president of the University of Colorado, former chairman of the board of Metro State, the founder and builder of an oil and gas exploration business and as a two-time chairman of the Colorado Republican Party make him this year’s go-to man for Colorado and the GOP.
Colorado needs a smart, successful and honest governor who has proven that he can work across party lines both behind the scenes and with the state legislature. The state needs a governor who has started, grown and run a very successful business and knows the ins and outs of the energy and other industries. We need a senior statesman who has made fixing our troubled higher education institutions a personal mission. And we need a governor who knows how to run a large organization like the state government and work with a closely divided legislature as well with leaders in the private and nonprofit sectors.
Although Benson is a strong conservative and Republican, during his service as the president of CU and chairman of the board of Metro State, he has shown that he can put partisanship aside. He has shown that he is a creative problem solver, and he has more economic development skills than anyone else in the state.
If elected, Benson, who is 72, would immediately be treated as a lame duck. People would assume that he would be a one-term, transitional governor. Normally, being a lame duck office holder is a miserable experience for ambitious politicians. But Colorado politicians know we’re in a deep hole, and they may be more willing to work across party lines with a Bruce Benson than they would with the ambitious Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper.
Back in 2009, The Rocky Mountain news wrote a glowing review of Benson’s first year as president of CU. The impact graphs from the article, CU chief Benson makes believers of detractors:
“I think all of us that are university presidents think we’re pretty good at working with legislators,” [Stephen] Jordan, [president of Metropolitan State University] said. “But Bruce has a long, long history of working with political leaders and has access to people better than most of us do.”
That skill and others have earned Benson high marks as the first anniversary of his tenure approaches. He’s demonstrated that dedication and political savvy can be more valuable than an advanced degree, particularly when education funding is in jeopardy.
Even critics who publicly opposed the appointment of a millionaire oil man and big-time Republican to head the CU system are impressed.
“He proved me wrong,” said Stephen Ludwig, a Democrat and CU regent who voted against Benson last year.
Will Benson and his politically astute wife, Marcy, be willing to take the ball one more time for Colorado?
I hope so.
LINKs:
About President Benson: University of Colorado.
CU president Benson on short list of possible McInnis replacements. By Brittany Anas.
CU president discusses his plans for the future. By Nelson Garcia.
Who should Colorado Republicans run for governor? The Business Word, 7.14.2010.
Terrance Carrol calls on Scott McInnis to drop out of gubernatorial contest; Dan Maes must go, to. I outline scenarios for replacing McInnis and call for Maes to drop out. The Business Word, 7.13.2010.

Democrats again proposing tax on Internet purchases

by Rossputin | 9:23 am, July 16, 2010

In their never-ending desire to tax everything under the sun, a Democrat congressman and several Democrat co-sponsors are proposing a measure which would end up applying sales taxes to out-of-state purchases made on the Internet.

Please see my article on the subject for Human Events:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38065

Breaking: Hasan Foundation demands refund from McInnis

by Rossputin | 9:07 am, July 16, 2010

Press release from the Hasan Family Foundation.  McInnis’ cement shoes are getting heavier.

 

Dean Boehler Responds to Shadowy Liberal Colorado Outlook Attacks

by Ben DeGrow | 8:43 am, July 16, 2010

A couple days ago I reported to you about a strange tactic by the shadowy Left-leaning group Colorado Outlook attacking conservative Republican candidate Dean Boehler. Conventional wisdom would consider Boehler an underdog in the primary to moderate Republican, state representative Ellen Roberts. But the actions of Colorado Outlook sure suggest otherwise. This morning the Boehler [...]

A few thoughts about Dan Maes and GOP voter strategy

by Rossputin | 8:26 am, July 16, 2010

Readers of these pages will know that I’ve spent very little time writing about Dan Maes, mostly because despite his performance at the assembly, I didn’t think he could win the primary. Well, the shoe is on the other hand now, and one would have to think that Dan Maes is the favorite to win the primary election with the ballots about to be mailed around the state. Therefore, I should probably start thinking about Maes a little. Here, then, for the few of you who are interested, are my initial pros and cons of Dan Maes:

Pros:

• A fresh face, and obviously a lot of energy to put into the campaign (and the job)
• Already has fairly strong Tea Party support, though probably a bit less than it used to be
• Seems to be improving as a candidate
• Not a “career politician” or “insider”, both of which are anchors weighing down candidates around the country

Cons:

• Essentially zero relevant experience
• A resume which may be susceptible to tearing apart by opposition research; many of us wonder if he has exaggerated the degree to which he is a successful businessman (the problem would not be the level of success but the exaggeration)
• At least a question of competence given the large campaign finance reporting fines, though his explanation of that whole mess is, on its face, reasonable
• Unwillingness to disclose personal or campaign financial records
• Question whether he can raise enough money to win the general election

At the end the day, I don’t love the idea of an extremely messy process, which a primary followed by the winner dropping out to be replaced by someone else would be.  But we can not let this race be won by John Hickenlooper.

My gut instinct is that Maes cannot beat Hickenlooper, that he’s vulnerable on too many fronts, and that the GOP has a better chance with a new candidate.

For those who agree with me, and I realize that many of my readers don’t, this brings up a very difficult question:

If you think that Maes has a better chance of beating Hick than McInnis does, but if you think that another candidate has a better chance than either of them, AND if you think that there’s no chance Maes would drop out of the race after winning the primary but some chance that McInnis could be convinced to drop out, then does it make sense to vote for McInnis?  In other words, should you vote for McInnis even if you like Maes better than McInnis with a view toward getting a replacement candidate?

The huge risk here is McInnis.  My friends who have known him for a long time all say the same thing about him, almost exactly in the same words: “Scott is all about Scott.”  So, betting that McInnis’ ego will allow him to be convinced to get out of the race is probably no better than a 50/50 proposition.  And I doubt whether he’d tip his hand in advance if he were thinking that way…and it’s hard to decide whether he should no matter which way you want this to go.

What a mess…thanks to the puppet-masters who pushed the almost-sure winner, Josh Penry, out of the race early on.  Maybe it’s not too late to get the guy who should have been the nominee all along back in the race, but it’s not going to happen unless one or both of the current candidates make an extremely difficult, self-less, and potentially incorrect decision.

Citizen Auditors can win cash prizes

by Amy Oliver | 7:42 am, July 16, 2010

Become a Citizen Auditor and win $2500! Mothers Against Debt, the Independence Institute, Liberty on the Rocks and Americans for Prosperity are sponsoring Citizen Auditor training throughout Colorado.
Become a citizen auditor and win cash!
The Independence Institute will conduct classes to teach concerned citizens how to use the state’s Transparency Online Project (TOP) web site, our [...]

Amy and Board Monkey ask for help

by Amy Oliver | 6:57 am, July 16, 2010

Courage Classic 2010

Board Monkey, a.k.a. Damon Sasso, and I will participate in the 2010 Courage Classic to raise money for Children’s Hospital.  The 157-mile bike ride through some of the most beautiful but most challenging terrain in Colorado will be July 31-August 2. If we are still alive on Monday, August 2, we will provide updates during the Amy Oliver [...]

Is Walker Stapleton really OK with tax increases?

by Rossputin | 6:09 am, July 16, 2010

I have not spend a lot of time thinking about the State Treasurer’s race, but this video clip of candidates J.J. Ament and Walker Stapleton causes me real concern about Stapleton.  I would really like to hear him questioned about the statement, made in the below video, that he is “not against taxing and spending increases.”  Are you serious, Walker?  (I don understand the video was edited, but those words do seem to stand on their own…)

Stapleton’s resume is good and he talks a good game about “putting taxpayers first”, but how does that mesh with saying he’s not against tax increases?

How is Stapleton’s view of TABOR different from John Hickenlooper’s?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy26LqHnJQY

Better late than never: US Chamber of Commerce finally pushes back against Obama and Congress

by Rossputin | 5:55 am, July 16, 2010

Finally, after dipping their toes in the water of getting along with socialist, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is blasting the Obama Administration for a raft of anti-business policies.

In addition to the Chamber’s own poll (linked below), Gallup has released a poll which shows the urgency in the mind(s) of the public about economic issues – and that relates directly to the Democrats’ disastrous recent poll numbers and their open admission that there’s a real chance of the GOP taking back the House of Representatives in November. (It will be interesting to see when the media start speculating about the chances of a Republican Senate as well.) The Gallup poll shows that the top two answers to the question of what is the most important problem facing the country, totaling 53% of respondents, are “economy in general” and “unemployment/jobs”.  The third answer “dissatisfaction with government” isn’t happy news for the jackass party either.

Combine this with an ABC analysis of their own recent poll and you have a death sentence for Democrat electoral prospects: “If the question has been when Obama owns the economy , it looks to be now – not at a happy time, given 9.5 percent unemployment. He’d made slight progress on this key issue, inching ahead from 45 percent approval on the economy in March to 50 percent in June. That’s now gone, down 7 points in this poll to 43 percent, with 54 percent disapproving, a new high. And ’strong’ disapprovers outnumber strong approvers by a record 41 percent vs. 20 percent.”

Two weeks ago, for the first time the betting odds of a Republican House traded over 50% at Intrade.com and it’s now trading about 55%.  Betting on a Republican Senate has also perked up, though less substantially, now trading around 18%, up from about 15% a few weeks ago.  Here’s the long-term chart of betting on a Republican House of Representatives.

Back to the Chamber of Commerce… In open letter to the president and Congress, dated July 12, 2010, the Chamber chastizes them in no uncertain terms:

They neglected America’s number one priority—creating the more than 20 million jobs we need over the next 10 years for those who lost their jobs, have left the job market, or were cut to part-time status—as well as new entrants into our workforce. Instead of continuing their partnership with the business community and embracing proven ideas for job creation, they vilified industries while embarking on an ill-advised course of government expansion, major tax increases, massive deficits, and job-destroying regulations.

The Chamber scoffs at every bill coming from Congress being called a “jobs bill” without Congress actually having any understanding of the measures’ impact on jobs and urge a focus on actual job-creating legislation, including:

• “We therefore urge Congress and the administration to immediately support at least a temporary extension of all the tax relief passed in the prior decade.”
• “Congress should also reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate, which is among the highest in the world, and address the fact that the United States is the only major economy that double taxes overseas earnings.”
• “Modernize” entitlement programs to get spending under control.
• Allow more oil and gas drilling to create jobs and to increase government royalty revenue.
• Pass pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea now.
• Rebuild America’s infrastructure with private investments.
• Reduce the regulatory burden on business.

The Chamber’s letter is supported by a poll they took of American small businesses which shows that “small business owners and voters are deeply concerned about the impact government expansion and debt are having on job creation.”

Much like my argument that Goldman Sachs and General McChrystal got what they deserved for supporting Barack Obama, the US Chamber of Commerce is reaping what they sowed by playing footsie with an obvious Marxist, a man who hates wealth creation because he hates wealth (though presumably not his own.)

I’m glad to see the Chamber fighting back now. I hope they’ve learned their lesson.  Remember the frog and the scorpion…and never forget the true nature of Barack Obama and “Progressives” in Congress.

How McInnis Plans to “Fix” Plagiarism Scandal

by Ari Armstrong | 12:10 am, July 16, 2010

If you want to know what Scott McInnis is thinking in the wake of the news that the water articles he submitted for $300,000 contain lengthy plagiarized sections, he is again talking to the Denver Post. Apparently his theory is that, if he pretends the…

Why Dan Maes is unfit to be governor

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 6:25 pm, July 15, 2010

There’s an old saying among winning speculators: “Don’t fall in love with a stock.” This is because no stock goes up forever. Sooner or later all stocks stumble and must be sold.
You can say the same thing about Dan Maes, Scott McInnis or Barack Obama. Never fall in love with a politician. Sooner or later they’ll lie to you and do dumb things.
Yet, some people still pine for Enron and Richard Nixon. It makes no sense, but investors and voters can be very irrational. It’s hard to admit that you made a mistake when you picked the wrong stock or bet on the worst horse on the track.
In Colorado, we Republicans must face the fact that both of our candidates for governor have failed us by being unethical. And while Dick Wadhams says primaries prepare candidates for general elections, we’re once again learning that primaries teach us things we don’t want to know about leading candidates.
We now know that McInnis and Maes are incompetents, each in his own way.
Republicans, independents and most Democrats want their governors to be honest and competent. These guys won’t be able to overcome the fact that they’ve branded themselves as dishonest and incompetent. Voters know that, and they won’t change their minds, regardless.
So we know that if either Maes or McInnis stays on the ballot for the general election, Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper will win 60% to 65% of the votes. He may be hard left, but despite his double talk, he’s got a very much better brand in Colorado than Maes and McInnis do.
A landslide victory for Hickenlooper will make it impossible for Republicans to win back the legislature. It will let Obama Democrats reGerrymander Colorado Congressional and legislative districts and control the state for another 10 to 20 years, or more.
McInnis is done even if he stays on the ballot and wins the primary. I don’t need to explain why. His habitual lying and bumbling have destroyed his political career.
Back on June 4, I called Dan Maes toast because McInnis looked unbeatable, unless he screwed up. McInnis screwed up and Maes has a good chance to be the GOP’s candidate for governor.
But like McInnis, Maes doesn’t have a chance to become governor. Like McInnis, it’s time for Maes to be honest with himself and drop out of the gubernatorial race.
Here’s why:
He’s almost as slippery and dishonest as McInnis. He plays the blame game almost as unbelievably as McInnis and Obama.
If Maes becomes the GOP candidate, Democrats will hammer at the $17,500 in fines that he has had to pay for violating campaign finance reporting laws and regulations. Democrats will quote Maes as saying the fines amounted to nothing more than a traffic ticket. Then he said the fines were the equivalent of a pile of traffic tickets.
I can see the Democrats’ attack ads now. Yes, they’ll exaggerate and they’ll be unfair, but who said Democrats or Republicans play fair? Ask Hillary Clinton and “Both ways Bob” Beauprez. Negative ads work better than positive ones in political campaigns. So these headlines may give you an idea of what’s to come:

Do you want a traffic ticket scofflaw as governor? Vote for Dan Maes.
Dan Maes is no law and order guy!
Dan Maes paid only $17,500 in fines. He should have paid more than $27,000.
Dan Maes can’t run a political campaign. Do you want him to be in charge of Colorado?
Dan Maes blames his daughter. Who will he blame next?
Dan Maes says his customers don’t deserve itemized bills. What will he hide from you?
Dan Maes has paid himself $42,000 for driving his car? What will his perks cost you?
Dan Maes has never been elected dog catcher. Now he wants to be your governor?

And next, you have to look at how Maes has performed as a candidate. Yes, he’s worked hard and claims to have traveled more than 70,000 miles to political events.
But he hasn’t given any indications that he knows what he would do if he were elected.
I’ve covered him at several events, and I’ve interviewed him a couple of times. I’ve posted stories about him about 108 times since last September.
And I’ve never been able to really pin him down on how he would fix the state’s budget. Neither has anyone else. Maybe we asked the wrong questions? Mostly, he agrees with Scott McInnis. He’s a “me too” politician who apparently hasn’t done enough homework.
Maes has no experience in politics or government to draw on.
Yes, he has posted his plan on his web site. It doesn’t build confidence.
Last Sunday, the Denver Post gave Maes, a self-described entrepreneur and sales manager, a chance to sell himself to voters.
He failed miserably. He offered no new ideas, no specifics and no indications that he really knew what he was talking about. This is not the kind of candidate who inspires volunteers, voters or contributors.
Indeed, contributors who know Dan Maes best have been especially wary of him all year. Not even the Tea Party has come through as he hoped.
Why hasn’t he been able to close the sale?
Dan Maes apparently didn’t impress contributors enough to get them to give him much money. If people who heard him speak one or more times and have met with him one-on-one won’t hire him, why should Colorado’s voters?
One of the first indications I got that Maes is a little too slippery for me and for his own good was that he repeatedly told potential supporters that his fundraising was improving and that he was raising more money and that he had 700 or so contributors. Then the financial reports would come out and show dismal results. That didn’t sit well with me, and it probably turned off other potential backers.
Then Maes failed to disclose his income tax returns as candidates for governor are expected to do. What is he hiding? It can’t be good news. If his tax returns showed he made a lot of money and made big contributions to his church and other charities, you can be sure that they would have been published long ago. They weren’t.
Maes promises to apply his executive skills and experiences to governing Colorado. His biggest company had 65 employes. That’s tiny compared with the number of employes reporting to the governor. And just because he ran a company doesn’t prove that he was good at it. Maes has never named his companies or employers, as far as I know.
What would the Democrats’ opposition researchers discover if they were sicked on Dan Maes? We don’t know. He’s never told us enough about his career to help us understand where he’s coming from.
Every candidate is a target for his or her opponent. Every politician has made mistakes and tries to cover them up. Every politician uses double talk and avoids offending important special interests.
But only a few politicians are honest and competent enough to win the support of voters. Dan Maes is not one of them.
 

Wadhams: GOP Voters will choose nominees

by elpresidente | 4:09 pm, July 15, 2010

GOP Chair Dick Wadhams seeks to quell talk of write-in candidates and candidate race-switching in the lead up to the August 10 primary, as rampant speculation escalates on the heels of plagiarism allegations against gubernatorial frontrunner Scott McInnis: “I am proud of the open and fair nomination process that began this past March when more [...]

DailyCaller buys KeithOlbermann.com

by Rossputin | 3:04 pm, July 15, 2010

H/T Mike R.

In the funniest news of the day, the Daily Caller announced that they have purchased the URL KeithOlberman.com and that Olbermann is threatening a lawsuit against Tucker Carlson’s organization.

Rubbing salt in the wound: “And in the meantime, Tucker Carlson may be reached at his personal email address, keith@keitholbermann.com.”

Republican Governors Assn. says it’s still committed to beating Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 3:03 pm, July 15, 2010

Following up on my phone call inquiry about ColoradoPols’ false claim that the Republican Governors Assn. was withdrawing its support of a GOP candidate in Colorado, the RGA e-mailed this press release
RGA Statement on Erroneous Reports in Colorado
Republican Governors Association spokesman Tim Murtaugh today issued the following statement in response to erroneous press reports involving the Colorado governor’s race:
“We are as committed today to our efforts in Colorado as we were a week, a month or two months ago.
“Our goal has been, and remains today, to ensure that Coloradans do not have to suffer through four more years of Bill Ritter’s failed policies of raising taxes and killing jobs – and that means defeating John Hickenlooper. We will not waver from that goal.
“It is unfortunate, however, that the news media has chosen to whip itself into a frenzy and run with unsubstantiated rumors that are patently false.”

Denver Post editorial says Scott McInnis and Dan Maes are unfit to be governor

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 2:37 pm, July 15, 2010

The Denver Post wants Republican leaders to find a new candidate for governor, if they can, and they may not have the power to do so.
Both Scott McInnis and Dan Maes, the two GOP candidates for governor are ethically challenged and unfit to be governor, the Post says.
A GOP vacancy committee can name a new candidate only if both Scott McInnis and Dan Maes drop out before the primary or if McInnis wins the primary and then drops out.
McInnis is an old political pro and understands his prospects even though he’s not ready to admit it.
Maes has refused to quit despite major campaign finance accounting stumbles as early as last January. Therefore, he may wrongly feel that he has nothing to lose by staying in the race and losing to Governor-elect John Hickenlooper. And he may be right as long as he is willing to leave Colorado after the election. His name will be mud here for a long time. This is because the media, bloggers and politicians will spend the next four months questioning his ethics and smarts if he stays in the race.
LINK:
GOP without a viable candidate in governor’s race; Colorado voters deserve two credible choices for governor in November. Neither Scott McInnis nor Dan Maes fits the bill on the Republican ticket. Denver Post editorial.

Colo. Secretary of State Won’t Opine About GOP Replacement for McInnis on Ballot for Governor

by Laura Victoria | 2:17 pm, July 15, 2010

Colorado Secretary of  State, Bernie Buescher, just announced his office will not give an opinion of what would be a legal ballot substitution for Scott McInnis – the disgraced Republican candidate for governor.  McInnis is the subject of a plagiarism … Continue reading →

Pres. Obama and the House Dems: Let Mikey eat it

by Mary Smith | 2:01 pm, July 15, 2010

House Democrats carried Pres. Obama’s senseless economic agenda and now face an almost certain bloodbath in the midterm elections. And the White House is, um, otherwise occupied. “One House Democrat compared their relationship with the White House to the 1970s Life commercials starring ‘Mikey,’ the kid whose brothers trick him into eating the cereal,” The Washington Post reported.

Pres. Obama and the House Dems: Let Mikey eat it

by Mary Smith | 2:01 pm, July 15, 2010

House Democrats carried Pres. Obama’s senseless economic agenda and now face an almost certain bloodbath in the midterm elections. And the White House is, um, otherwise occupied. “One House Democrat compared their relationship with the White House to the 1970s Life commercials starring ‘Mikey,’ the kid whose brothers trick him into eating the cereal,” The Washington Post reported.

Glimpsing a K-12 Future: Pension Transparency and Education Entrepreneurs

by Eddie | 12:48 pm, July 15, 2010

It’s the middle of July. It’s hot outside. If they’re not swimming in the pool, people are more interested in political scandals than education stories. That’s too bad.
Whether we realize it or not, I’m beginning to believe I am lucky enough to be coming of age during a truly transformational time in public schooling and [...]

Tom Tancredo calls on Scott McInnis to quit governor’s race; RGA is NOT out of Colorado

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 12:12 pm, July 15, 2010

Tom Tancredo is calling on Scott McInnis to drop out of the governor’s race, according to Adam Schrager at Channel 9. Link is here. 
But the Republican Governor’s Association is NOT pulling out of the Colorado Governor’s race, as falsely reported by ColoradoPols. 
An RGA spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, describes the Colorado Pols report as “Fiction.” And “Nothing has changed,” he declared in a phone interview.
“The RGA has been and remains engaged in Colorado,” he said in the phone interview, adding: “Our goal has been and continues to be defeating John Hickenlooper and getting rid of the entire Ritter legacy. Nothing has changed. We don’t get involved in primaries. Our role has been to this point engaging John Hickenlooper. Colorado Republicans will decide who their nominee is. We wait to see who the winner is and we will support that winner.”
A lot of people appear to be working to make sure McInnis is not that “winner.”
Last night on the Caplis and Silverman show, KHOW 630′s Dan Caplis was the first prominent Republican to call on McInnis to drop out, and former U.S. Rep. Tancredo is the first former elected Republican to make the same demand. I called on McInnis to drop out Tuesday.
The Denver Post followed on Wednesday and today numerous conservative bloggers at http://www.peoplespresscollective.com and saying McInnis must get out of the race. And blogger Rossputin, a highly respected conservative blogger, has joined me in calling for McInnis’ primary opponent, Dan Maes to drop out, too. This is because Maes is seen as being unqualified to be governor and a sure loser in a run against Obama Democrat Governor-elect John Hickenlooper.
As I’ve been warning, if McInnis stays on the ballot, all Colorado Republicans will be hurt in what’s supposed to be a GOP year.

18th Century ship found at World Trade Center site

by Rossputin | 11:21 am, July 15, 2010

Even with all the gripping current political news, this story is by far the most interesting news story I’ve seen today:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/18th-century-ship-found-at-trade-center-site

Way out of the box — Jane Norton for Governor???

by Rossputin | 10:59 am, July 15, 2010

I was inspired toward this idea by reader Brian.  Not sure if this is what he meant or if I just inferred it from his words…

How about Jane Norton becoming the replacement candidate for Governor?  She’s the best qualified, and getting out of Buck’s way in a race that she seems likely to lose anyway would then allow Buck to support her.

Or, what about the other way around?  Buck becomes the candidate for Governor.  That would be fine, too, especially as Buck’s experience is also managerial.  Either Buck or Norton is better qualified than either McInnis or Maes, and they’re both more electable.

It’s a win-win for Colorado’s two best canidates for the two biggest elections.

I know it’s an extreme longshot, but I think it’s a GREAT idea.  I think it would require either Dan Maes getting out of the way now, along with McInnis, so a vacancy committee could fill the blank with Norton or Buck, or it would require going through the primary and then having the winner get out, again a longshot given the egos of those involved.

Denver Post, Channel 7 build case for dumping Scott McInnis

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 7:51 am, July 15, 2010

“Researcher says McInnis lied.” The Denver Channel 7.
“McInnis lying, says engineer.” The Denver Post.
As if that Channel 7 headline and that Denver Post headline aren’t bad enough for Scott McInnis, the disgraced Republican candidate for governor who’s been accused of plagiarism, the Post story is even worse. That’s because nobody who has been following this story will believe anything McInnis or his campaign spokesman are saying, given McInnis’ record of duplicity. During the gubernatorial campaign, he’s been caught making numerous statements that weren’t true.
The Post, KHOW’s Dan Caplis and I are among those calling for McInnis to drop out of his race for governor. While McInnis says he  won’t drop out, that’s hard to believe. It looks like he’s stalling while he figures out how and when he  will exit. Many GOP leaders think he will and should drop out, and they appear to be working behind the scenes to make that happen.
The Post story shows that McInnis is using misstatements in his fight for his political life. The paper quotes McInnis’ explanations in interviews with various media over the last couple of days about how he plagiarized articles about water in Colorado and about his dealings with Post. Then the Post corrects the record in a way that, I think, shows that McInnis continues to try to mislead voters. 
In each case, McInnis is shown to be either a liar or just incompetent. I’ve never seen anything like it in more than 50 years of following political scandals.
Example from the story in today’s Post:
STATEMENT: “The Denver Post ran a story that was 150 (thousand dollars), and we called them up and said it was 150 but it was a two-year fellowship,” McInnis said Tuesday on the “Caplis & Silverman” show. That statement came in response to a question about why it was initially reported that McInnis had received $150,000 for his fellowship with the Hasan foundation and then later it was reported as $300,000.
FACT: The Post did initially report that McInnis was paid $150,000 for the fellowship. But neither McInnis nor his staff called The Post to explain that the $150,000 amount was actually an annual fee for two years. The Post learned the full amount was $300,000 only after reviewing tax documents from the Hasan foundation. A reporter then called the campaign for confirmation and published the new total in a story on June 16.
Clearly, McInnis has been trying to blame his assistant, Rollie Fischer, for his plagiarism. But the engineer yesterday told Channel 7 that he thinks his friend McInnis misled him and is misleading the public. Fischer thinks McInnis should stay in the race.
Fischer says McInnis sent him a letter that McInnis had prepared for Fischer to send to McInnis. The letter that the McInnis campaign prepared for Fischer to sign had Fischer taking full responsibility for the plagiarism. Fischer said that he would not sign the letter, which is republished in Channel 7′s story. See link below.
In addition to trying to blame Fischer for his plagiarism, McInnis and his supporters are trying to demonize the Post and call it unethical. They seem to think that if they blame the media, the public will forgive McInnis. That tactic never saves politicians from themselves.
While McInnis continues to dig a deeper hole for himself, Fischer still hasn’t explained several things.
He says he thought McInnis would use the information in a race for the U.S. Senate, but how did he think his client would use the 23 “articles”?
Were the “articles” he delivered to McInnis the same ones that McInnis gave the Hasan Family Foundation as his own work edited and rewritten by McInnis in any way? The 12 articles that I’ve read look like they were dictated by a chatty and sloppy McInnis. They don’t look like they were written by a professional engineer.
Neither man’s story makes much sense to me.
LINKs:
McInnis lying, says engineer. By Michael Riley and Joey Bunch.
Researcher says Scott McInnis lied; Rollie Fischer: I didn’t know he was making money on articles. By Tom Burke, Arthur Kane and John Ferrugia.
 

Time to get out, Scott

by Rossputin | 7:29 am, July 15, 2010

To the extent that there was ever a glimmer of a possibility for Scott McInnis to survive the water paper plagiarism charges, they were, in my opinion, dashed last night by a news report saying that Rollie Fischer, the 80-something year old man whom McInnis was trying to blame for the plagiarism, is calling McInnis a liar.

Also, although there’s nothing actually wrong with it, the (apparent) fact that Scott McInnis was paid $300,000 for papers which Fischer did almost all the work on but was only paid a few thousand dollars, looks unbelievably bad.

It’s also being reported by the reporter who interviewed Fischer that Fischer was unaware that the roughly 20 articles he wrote were going to be sold or published.  He understood the information was to be used for background for McInnis so that he would be better versed in water law during a political campaign.

Hearing the letter which the McInnis campaign sent to Fischer to have him sign, a letter in which Fischer would take full blame for the whole mess, makes one cringe.  According to the reporter, Fischer feels that he gave McInnis exactly what McInnis asked him for, which was background information about water issues.  Since it was only for McInnis’ education, Fischer felt no need to attribute to sources in his papers. Fischer is probably wrong in saying he had no responsibility to attribute.  Indeed, Fischer’s answer does lend credibility to a McInnis claim that he was unaware that any of the work was not original.  Nevertheless, the fact that the story has no clean resolution makes it probably insurmountable for McInnis who, as I’ve said before, doesn’t have a deep well of charisma or goodwill to rely on.

 

Scott, it’s over.  Get out.  No scheming, no maneuvering.  Get out now.

Colorado State House Breakdown: Plenty of Tough Races Up for Grabs

by Ben DeGrow | 6:44 am, July 15, 2010

On Tuesday I shared an update of the state senate rankings and concluded that Republicans still have a good shot at recapturing the majority (at least before the Scott McInnis fiasco unfolded, the effect of which on down-ticket races remains to be seen). It’s time to update the state house rankings, and there are a [...]

Donald Berwick’s Five-Year Plan v. the iPhone

by Brian Schwartz | 6:00 am, July 15, 2010

Paul Howard and David Gratzer, MD write
Last month, Apple released its new iPhone, a faster and more powerful version of its ever popular computer-phone. It’s a remarkable device – particularly remarkable given that its machine ancestors were large and expensive, often filling whole buildings yet able to crunch fewer numbers than [...]

Midweek Update – more harassment from Colorado Ethics Watch (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) vs. Clear The Bench Colorado

by CTBC Director | 3:03 am, July 15, 2010

The politically motivated attack (er, “complaint”) by complaint factory “Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) against Clear The Bench Colorado reached a new low this week when CEW (pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) Director Luis Toro attempted to file a subpoena (appearance to testify) for a date on [...]

Fox 31: Republican Plan B?

by elpresidente | 12:12 am, July 15, 2010

“I hope McInnis can survive this and I think he can. And I still will support his campaign. But, gosh, this was supposed to be a great year for us Republicans — and now we have to deal with this crap”–Tom Tancredo, speaking to Fox 31  

CD 7 Candidate Ryan Frazier Newsmax Interview

by elpresidente | 12:01 am, July 15, 2010

In contrast to the hotly contested GOP Senate primary between Ken Buck and Jane Norton and the recent campaign scandals surrounding GOP Gubernatorial candidates Dan Maes and Scott McInnis, the contest in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District featuring Ryan Frazier and Lang Sias has been extremely low-key, even as it remains competitive going into the August [...]

Playing the Race card

by Al Maurer | 10:49 pm, July 14, 2010

I think the NAACP may have played the race card once too often. On Tuesday the organization “adopted a resolution condemning “racist elements” in the Tea Party movement and calling on the movement’s leaders to repudiate bigotry,” as reported by Fox News. NAACP leaders have referenced an incident in March when Tea Party protesters allegedly [...]

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