A Cleveland Occupier was kidnapped and raped. In a totally unrelated story, one third of Occupiers say violence is okay.

I said before that the Occupier camps are full of criminals. We're seeing that play out.

On to the links.

Colorado

• A plan to regulate Colorado toilets just got flushed. I like the part where Sen. Gail Schwartz says that the government needs to issue regulations because the people are too stupid to do it themselves.
• Take a few minutes and check out the videos from the Independence Institute's Constitutional Law event.
• We all know that Democrats feed off of the donations of unions. For the Congressional hopefuls in the Democrat party, nearly a quarter of their fund raising came from unions. What was that about undue influence by political groups?
• Former CU regent Tom Lucero says CU doesn't have a budget crisis. Since that's the case, why doesn't CU just give back the millions in state funding they receive every year? I bet the legislature could find a better use for that money.

Everything else

• The Senate has finally decided that running guns to Mexican drug cartels is a bad thing.
• There's been a growing trend for governments, including the US government, to use private groups as Internet police. Why bother directly attaching a site when you can get an intermediary to do it for you?
• Ron Paul, the man who will never be president, has proposed a plan to balance the budget in three years without raising taxes. It's a plan Republicans should seriously look at especially since the Feds have rung up the second largest deficit in history.
• The CBO has a breakdown of the trends charitable giving.
• On a lighter note, the President's teleprompter was stolen. To which the President responded, "Umm, uhh, umm." Fortunately for insomniacs everywhere, TOTUS was recovered.

Governor: Scott McInnis 664, Dan Maes 590, John Hickenlooper 1

Senate: Ken Buck 982, Jane Norton 213, Tom Weins 74, Cleve Tidwell 19, Steve Barton 5, Vincent Martinez 1

4th CD:  Cory Gardner 688, Diggs Brown 192, Tom Lucero 159, Dean Madere 54

2nd CD: Stephen Bailey 88, Bob Brancato 56

U.S. Congressional District 4 Candidates

Cory Gardner

“This race isn’t about Republican or Democrat, but for every American afraid of losing their freedom. We need to send people to Washington that will stand up for people. I’m going to Washington to stand up to big spenders.”

Tom Lucero

“The Constitution is being kicked to the curb. We need to get the government out of the home, banking, health care businesses, and out of the way of small businesses who are the backbone of the Country.”

Diggs Brown

“While in Afghanistan, I was reading intelligent reports every day, and for the first time I fear for my Country. What’s with the government that is taking control and not listening to the people? I’m going to Washington to make sure they’re listening to you, and to kick some people in the butt.”

Dean Madere

“I’m angry, worried, scared about where we’re going. I’ve been involved in Tea Parties. I’m tired of voting for politicians. My grass roots are deep.”

U.S. Senate Candidates

Cleve Tidwell

“I’m a businessman, not an attorney or a politician. It’s time to put common sense business people in Washington.”

Tom Wiens

“I’m a rancher, businessman, and former State Senator. There is no respect for the people of Colorado because Congress doesn’t even read the bills before they spend a trillion dollars of our money. We need to vote for change one more time.”

Shawn Mitchell for Ken Buck

“I’m a lawyer, I’m a politician, and I’m from California. Lucky for me, I’m not the one running for office.”

(Ken Buck showed up later, but I had already left for the evening)

Colorado Governor Candidates

Dan Maes

“The Revolution is On. If you can beat the mob in NJ, you’re doing something. I know what it is to be an executive. The Governor’s office isn’t a playground for legislators.”

Special guest Matt Arnold, director of Clear the Bench Colorado was also there and spoke about the upcoming Colorado Supreme Court retention elections in November 2010, advocating a “NO” vote - what he called “the most important votes you probably didn’t no you could cast” - on the four Colorado Supreme Court justices facing the voters in November. I had to leave to attend to some personal business before he had a chance to speak, but the Coloradoan and Greeley Tribune were there also to provide coverage of the event. Unfortunately they didn’t provide any coverage of Matt’s speech and the questions he answered for almost 30 minutes. Go check out his website for more information on the movement. I’ll be doing an interview with Matt in the next couple of months and will have much more information for you at that time.

Thanks to the candidates that were willing to show up and meet with their potential constituents. For those that decided not to show up, it’s going to be hard to convince us that you’re willing to represent your district or State when you can’t even show up to answer questions and meet with those same people. Elected Government officials become less accessible after election, not more. Quite frankly, the American people are tired of sending people into office only to have them ignore the very people that sent them there.

All of the candidates for Congressional District 4 did well at the event. Cory Gardner was very sharp, and I appreciated his appeal to his family. To be honest, I’d rather be out in the backyard playing catch with my kids than sitting in front of this computer, but doing what I am here is more important to their future, so I have to take time away from that. Gardner seems to understand this as well. I know he’s had to sacrifice a considerable amount of time away from his family, as have the others running for office.

Tom Lucero was very good, and is now starting to take a stand on today’s issues and stand up for his record. I appreciated his candor and where he is on the most important issues. Diggs Brown just arrived home after another tour in the Army. Although he’s still making the transition from soldier to candidate, he did well in addressing the most pressing issues of the day. Dan Madere, a newcomer to politics, gave an impassioned speech when explaining why he decided to get into this race.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the candidates for U.S. Senate. I had hoped to hear from Ken Buck, but as I stated earlier I had to leave before he arrived from a previous commitment in Pueblo. The fact that he rushed to get her at all shows he knows the importance of meeting with the people in his home district.

Dan Maes was very impressive in his open comments and answers to questions. If he’s able to find a way to start raising some serious money and get some name recognition, he could give Scott McInnis a run for the opportunity to run against Bill Ritter. He definitely has many in the grassroots movements behind him.