http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/blog_rss/al (ahem) What is our country coming to? Earlier today, we learned about an offensive, racist billboard right here in Colorado--attacking President Obama and comparing him to terrorists. The billboard was created by Wolf Automotive, at their location here in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Check out the photo to the right, then join the pledge to boycott. http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/WolfAuto We called Wolf Automotive to ask them what their intent was in putting up that sign. The man we spoke with defended the sign, and indicated he has no intention of taking the sign down, and it was quickly apparent that he was a "birther." The "tea party" movement and the "birthers" are becoming more and more outrageous. They're in the thrall of demagogues like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Peter Boyles, Sarah Palin, and right-wing elected officials in Colorado like Senator Dave Schultheis--who sent out a statement last week comparing President Obama to the 9/11 terrorists who flew United Flight 93 into the ground. We'll defend anyone's First Amendment right to speak his or her mind. However, the "marketplace of ideas" that the First Amendment protects only works when everyone speaks out. If hate like that spread by Dave Schultheis and the owners of Wolf Automotive is allowed to go without a response, then we allow the perception that these ideas have merit. We have both the right and the obligation under the First Amendment to publicly reject ideas that we find abhorent and offensive. Please help us respond to this latest attack from the Right by doing a couple of things. First, please click on the link below and pledge to boycott Wolf Automotive until they take down this billboard. http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/WolfAuto After you sign the pledge, we'll provide you the phone numbers for the Wolf Automotive Group--they have four dealerships located in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Please take a few minutes to call and ask them, respectfully, to take their sign down. We want to respond, but we want to resist being dragged into incivility by the hatred that we're confronting. P.S. If you are on Twitter, please copy and paste the tweet below and share far and wide: Join the Boycott! Wolf Automotive Group in CO WY & MT proud of their anti-Obama, anti-Muslim, racist hateful billboard. http://bit.ly/4KLxtz P.S.S. Denver talk-radio host Peter Boyles has apparently been coordinating with Wolf Automotive for months on this. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108289 Cross-posted at ProgressNow Colorado http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhx http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhx/commentary#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:03:43 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZhx Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZhx/ At the ProgressNow Bat Cave yesterday (also known as my co-worker Jen's teeny windowless office), we got to talking about Scott "McLobbyist" McInnis and the coup recently scored on his behalf in the Republican gubernatorial primary. It's really odd that Josh Penry left the race so suddenly , isn't it? And most media reported that a big reason Penry left the race was an "independent committee" set up to fight off any challengers to McInnis. This immediately got us thinking about our call last May for an investigation of McInnis after he left a voice mail message, leaked on the internet subsequently, describing in detail 'his 527'--inviting questions about illegal coordination between McInnis and 'his' so-called "independent committees." What happened this week to Penry could be seen as a confirmation of our worst fears. What we at ProgressNow would really like to do is talk to McInnis about this, get his response to these potentially serious allegations on the record. Unfortunately, McInnis doesn't grant very many interviews. And some of the interviews he has granted haven't gone so well . But then we remembered, we've got McInnis on the record addressing these very questions: the voice mail! If Scott McInnis were to come clean about his questionable campaign activities as we've called for over and over again, here's how we imagine the interview going. Not a real conversation, obviously! It would be nice to have this kind of candor in the non-parody world, wouldn't it? http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR9 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR9/commentary#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:23:21 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR9 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZR9/ Statement on Scott "McLobbyist" McInnis Avoiding Primary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, November 9, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner, Founder at 303-931-4547 DENVER-- In response to reports that Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry is suddenly leaving the Republican race for Governor, Michael Huttner, the founder of ProgressNow Colorado released the following statement: "If this is true, it's the old D.C. lobbyist guard stepping out of the shadows to clear the field for Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis. McInnis' ties to lobbyists, oil and gas interests, and corrupt cronies like Tom DeLay can't help but make one wonder what's really going on when his primary opponents start dropping out of the race. This comes on the heels of awful press for McInnis, detailing his flip-flop away from his former stand in favor of women's health rights to the extreme right. So right after outraging the conservative base by avoiding a primary, he's alienating the vast majority of Coloradans who support a woman's right to choose. And it should come as no surprise that this story broke first in Washington D.C. instead of Colorado, since that's where 'McLobbyist's' best friends are. We call on McInnis to disclose which of his lobbyist friends helped push Penry out." ### http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR7 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR7/commentary#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:44:56 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZR7 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZR7/ As Colorado Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry hypocritically attacked the state government and Governor Bill Ritter during Colorado's ongoing budget crisis, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization demanded Wednesday that Penry come clean about immediate family members both recently hired and currently employed by Mesa State College. "It is ridiculous beyond belief that 'Pandering' Josh Penry misrepresents fiscal reality and vital state services for political gain, while his own family pockets state funds each payday," said ProgressNow Colorado Founder Michael Huttner. Penry's Misrepresentation  The  Denver Post  recently reported that despite Penry's attacks on Governor Ritter's so-called "hiring spree," most of the growth in state employment can be traced to simple population growth, increases mandated by the voter's passage of Referendum C in 2005, and legislation passed by the General Assembly--including legislation sponsored by Sen. Penry. (Denver Post,  "Analysis suggests increased Colorado state jobs may be overstated,"  10/11/2009) Penry's Hypocrisy  Last week, the  Grand Junction Sentinel  reported that state-funded Mesa State College "has a history of hiring former political workers and those connected to them," including Kristi Pollard, the recently-hired 'Interim Director of Development' at Mesa State and Sen. Josh Penry's sister. Jamie Penry, Sen. Penry's wife, is also a former Mesa State employee according to the  Sentinel . ( Grand Junction Sentinel , "Mesa State hires as campus grows, enrollment soars," 10/25/2009) "That Penry would make these lazy, irresponsible accusations, while his own family snaps up the very same high-paying state jobs Penry complains the loudest about, is just mind-boggling and laughable," said Huttner. "Penry at the very least owes the public a good explanation. I think he owes the public, and thousands of hard working Colorado civil servants he's insulted, an apology as well." "Finally," concluded Huttner, "we call on Penry to immediately disclose whether he personally has sought employment at Mesa State College while serving in the Colorado General Assembly, or at any time discussed the hiring of his family members with Mesa State officials."  http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm/commentary#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:55:15 EST http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRm Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRm/ At a press conference this morning, ProgressNow Colorado described how Norton's first financial disclosures include corrupt DC lobbyists organized by her sister and brother-in-law, both of whom are DC lobbyists.  They revealed a confidential invitation spearheaded by Norton's relatives and the lobbyist money that followed. The group also joined over 400 of its members in calling on former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton to sign the "Family Transparency Pledge" rejecting trips, gifts, campaign donations and benefits from relatives who are lobbyists. "A puppet of corporate lobbyists in her family, Norton is the DC lobbyist's dream candidate," noted Michael Huttner, Founder of ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization.  "It's only been a month and already Norton has a record of surrounding herself with corrupt DC lobbyists." Since the morning Norton announced her campaign, over 400 Coloradans have joined the call for Norton to sign the pledge.  She continues to refuse to sign it. "We call on Jane Norton to stop placing DC special interests in Washington and sign the 'Family Transparency Pledge' today," stated Huttner.  "We believe that Norton needs to reject trips or economic benefits through her relatives who are lobbyists." Norton has failed to sign the "Family Transparency Pledge": I, Jane Norton, pledge to the People of Colorado, that I am committed to fighting the undue influence of special interests in Washington, DC. Accordingly, I pledge that I will reject any trips, gifts, campaign donations or economic benefits that are provided to me through my relatives who are lobbyists by the companies that hire them to influence public policy. Download a printable .PDF copy of the Pledge here: http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/-/Family%20Transparency%20Pledge.pdf Norton's relatives who are lobbyists include: Judy Black  (Norton's sister) is a DC lobbyist  whose clients include those from the for-profit health care and medical device companies, oil companies, chemical companies and the banking industry . ( Washington Post , June 10, 2004; U.S. Secretary of the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, 9/10/2009) Charlie Black  (Norton's brother in law) head of BKSH & Associates  is a DC lobbyist and made a lucrative career of representing foreign oil companies, tobacco companies, drug companies, auto companies and defense contractors. ( Washington Post , 12/31/2007;  Business Week , 7/19/2004) and even Zaire dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.( People's Weekly World , 3/1/2008)   Black is so deeply entwined with tobacco companies he is known in Washington as "Mr. Tobacco." The well-connected Black used BKSH & Associates to cash in on the homeland security consulting bonanza after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was a consultant to Ahmad Chalabi, the CIA-connected Iraqi whose lies about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction promoted Bush's preemptive war on Iraq.  BKSH also coached Eric Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, before he testified on his mercenary company's massacre of scores of innocent Iraqis. ( PWW ) A sample of Lobbyists in Norton's Disclosures (amount date of donation): Alex Castellanos $2400 on 9/29,  a  CNN talking head recently exposed for being a media buyer for America's Health Insurance Plan's (AHIP) during the health care debate , he was an adviser to Bush/Cheney 2004, and known for being the "father of the modern attack ad,"  was the creator of the race-baiting Jesse Helms "Hands" ad  [ Politico , 10/15/09;  www.natmedia.com ; Greg Sargent,  The Plum Line , 10/15/08] Kristen Chadwick $500 on 9/22:   She lobbies   for the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Company (EADS).  Her work for EADS came under scrutiny recently after it was revealed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had written letters to the Defense Department asking it to reconsider a contracting requirement seen as disadvantageous to EADS.  Shortly thereafter, the Defense Department made the requested change, and EADS eventually won the $35 billion contract to manufacture the next generation of in-flight refueling tanker planes.( New York Times , 3/12/2008) Rick Davis $2000 on 9/30,  John McCain's on-again-off-again 2008 campaign chief, was one of the Washington uber-lobbyists behind McCain's political operation from Davis Manafort, who lobbied for Verizon and foreign governments, including some unregistered liaison work between Sen. McCain and a Russian oligarch [ NY Times , 5/20/08;  Washington Post , 1/25/08]  Davis came under fire for his conflicts of interest as McCain's 2000 campaign manager, since his clients SBC Communications Inc. and Comsat Corp. had mergers pending before Chairman McCain's Senate Commerce Committee. [ Politico , 7/11/07] Frank Donatelli $1000 on 9/29 , a former deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee and recently elected chair of GOPAC, now a lobbyist and director of federal public affairs McGuireWoods Consulting, where his past clients have included Anthem and Verizon [ www.opensecrets.org ; www.mwcllc.com ].  McGuireWoods  was part of the legal defense team for indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay , and was fined $4,500 by the FEC in 2005 on an unrelated matter for failing to file a quarterly report for its PAC in 2004 [ Richmond Times Dispatch , 11/24/05, accessed via Nexis 10/26/09] Benjamin L. Ginsberg $500 on 9/29,  GOP election lawyer who led the Bush-Gore recount, and currently a lobbyist at mega-lobbying shop Patton-Boggs LLP [ www.opensecrets.org ;  www.pattonboggs.com ].   Ginsberg resigned from the 2004 Bush campaign after it was discovered that he had consulted with both the campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth , but maintained, after the Kerry campaign filed an FEC complaint, that his dual roles were legal. [ Roll Call , 8/30/04] Susan B. Hirschmann $1000 on 9/30 , a former chief of staff to Tom DeLay, who went from Congress through the revolving door to become a lobbyist at Williams & Jensen, where her clients include AstraZenica, Pfizer, and Wyeth [ www.opensecrets.org ;  www.williamsandjensen.com ]   At DeLay's office, Hirschmann had worked with Jack Abramoff's office to arrange a famous trip to St. Andrews golf course in Scotland, with her husband travelling on Abramoff's credit card  [ Washington Post , 12/20/06].  Hirschmann was one of the top two congressional staff members to take privately financed travel between 2000-2005, totaling $85,000 over a 26-month period [ Washington Post , 6/9/06;  Center for Public Integrity , 6/8/06] Bob Livingston $500 on 9/10 , the one-time successor to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Appropriations Committee Chairman, who resigned from the US House during the Clinton impeachment after allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced.  Livingston became a lobbyist within a week of leaving Congress, founding the Livingston Group, which earned over $9 million in lobbying income in 2008 [ Times-Picayune , 8/13/09, accessed via Nexis 10/25/09; www.opensecrets.org ].   A report in 2007 claimed that a third of his firm's income came from foreign governments  [ NY Times , 10/17/07]  Livingston was once part of a team of investors that tried to open a restaurant with Jack Abramoff before scandal broke and the deal fell through. [ Roll Call , 11/17/05] Scott W. Reed $500 on 9/25,  Bob Dole's 1996 campaign manager and now a lobbyist and founder of Chesapeake Enterprises  [ www.opensecrets.org ], has lobbied and consulted with numerous clients, including the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, who hired Reed along with Charlie Black [Real Estate Finance Today, 7/17/00, accessed via Nexis 10/26/09].  Other clients included American Taxpayers Alliance, a group that ran attack ads to sway the 2002 Illinois Supreme Court elections in favor of a pro-US Chamber of Commerce justice candidate. [Forbes, 7/21/03]  Reed inherited the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan as a client from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff after Sen. McCain launched an investigation into Abramoff's activities.  [ The Hill , 5/8/07] Ed Rogers $500 on 9/25 , chairman of The BGR Group, which he founded with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, lists Citigroup, the Kurdistan Regional Government, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Raytheon among his clients.   Rogers was exposed engaging in a campaign to undermine Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, contradicting the official policy of the White House in Iraq  [ www.bgrdc.com ;  www.opensecrets.org ; CNN, 8/24/07] Norton has yet to disclose why she never registered as a lobbyist: Norton refuses to explain why she never personally registered as a lobbyist, even though she was the head of "Government Relations" for a health insurance lobbying organization. The press yesterday to the company confirmed Norton headed "the lobbying arm" of the company. ( Colorado Independent , 9/14/2009; Washington Times , 9/14/2009) Between 1994 and 1999, Norton was the Director of Government Relations for the Medical Group Management Association, the public policy and lobbying arm of a for-profit health trade lobbying organization.  (Denver Post, December 19, 1999)  Yet an extensive search of state and federal lobbyist disclosure records has not found any lobbying disclosure records by Norton. (U.S. Secretary of the Senate Lobbyists Disclosure Database and Colorado SOS Lobbyist Database) The entire time, it appears that Norton never registered as either a federal or state lobbyist. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRf http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRf/commentary#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:47:48 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRf Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRf/ Colorado Pols recently mentioned a story in the Denver Post about the "early" (as in six months or less, with an intensified supervision program) release of some prisoners due to budget cuts. The story mangled the arithmetic and wrongly suggested problems in Willie Horton overtones. The right wing Colorado Springs Gazette even helped defuse this controversy and defend Governor Ritter, because in the end it was good public and fiscal policy. The Post reporter simply read far enough in to get excited and stopped doing his job. There's been a lot of concern about the quality of reporting on local political issues, more so since the closure of the Rocky Mountain News earlier this year. A couple of weeks ago I attended a workshop in Denver on "Saving the News," and the loss of the Rocky's competitive newsroom was the center of the discussion. What motivates media to get the story right if there is no business interest in doing so? In the middle of thinking about that question, I was interrupted by another egregious example of the Denver Post getting the story wrong. Maybe the worst yet, yesterday's ZOMG newsflash from the Post, titled "State audit blasts Colorado's CollegeInvest" - CollegeInvest, the agency that runs Colorado's student-loan forgiveness and scholarship plans, lost track of many of the students it was supposed to help, managing to distribute only $91,000 of the $3.8 million lawmakers expected it to hand out last year. The agency also spent $12 million in administrative expenses, not including salaries and benefits for 37 employees, a state audit found. CollegeInvest gave 76 students a total of $91,000 in Early Achievers Scholarships in fiscal 2009, which ended June 30, state auditors said. [...] Auditors found that for the past two years, CollegeInvest had more than $12 million in administrative expenses, not including salaries and benefits for 37 employees. The agency spent almost $10 in administrative costs for every $1 disbursed in the Early Achiever Scholarships, the audit said. The premise of the story is obvious: CollegeInvest spent $12 million to hand out $91,000. Except that's a flat-out lie, the Post was forced to note in a correction published today. Because of a reporting error, an editorial on Page 10B on Friday about CollegeInvest said the division incurred $12 million over four years to get its scholarship program up and running. That amount covered all of CollegeInvest's operations, which includes scholarship programs, college savings plans and student loans. As in billions of dollars worth of operations. Meaning that they're complaining about 1% of CollegeInvest's total operations. And this article's whole premise, "$10 in administrative costs for every $1 disbursed," is nonsense. And oh by the way, NOT AN EDITORIAL EITHER, but thanks for the irony. Isn't it great how they ran a fine-print correction that only a fraction of the readers of the original story will ever see? Isn't it going to be great when this story is repeated correction-free in a Republican campaign commercial next year? All I can say, companeros, is this wouldn't have happened in 2008: not with my friend Bill Menezes at Colorado Media Matters on the case, not with the Rocky Mountain News competitively checking the facts. There are still some good reporters out there like Rocky survivor Lynn Bartels, but many checks and balances in our local media culture have been lost. People ask me all the time what worries me most about 2010, and I've got to say at this point it's not the righties. The decline in the quantity and quality of local political news, substituted with ill-informed sensationalist drive-bys like this, represents a much more clear and present danger to our common good. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZSy http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZSy/commentary#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:16:40 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZSy Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZSy/ Apology Demanded for Sexist, Degrading Remarks During Official Business State Sen. Shawn Mitchell's suggestion that a witness 'imagine' committee chairwoman 'in her underwear' latest in a string of unprofessional incidents by Senate Republicans FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 4, 2009 CONTACT: Bobby Clark, Executive Director at 303-905-8375 DENVER-- ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization, called Friday for apologies from two state Senate Republicans: Sen. Shawn Mitchell and Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, following sexist and degrading remarks toward a female Senator from Sen. Mitchell during a legislative committee hearing earlier this week. During a hearing of a legislative committee tasked with investigating alleged abuses by the state's workman's comp insurer, Mitchell told a witness at the conclusion of his testimony that if he was nervous he should "relieve that" by "imagining the chairwoman in her underwear." Mitchell also stated that this is "what I do when I'm nervous." "It certainly looks like Shawn Mitchell singled out the chairwoman of the committee, Sen. Carroll, with his sophomoric, suggestive comment for no other reason than her gender and position of authority. How childish of him to insult not just Sen. Carroll, but women everywhere who daily face the silliness of sexism and trivialization in our culture," said ProgressNow Colorado board member and former Lt. Governor Gail Schoettler. "As a former elected official who's been subjected to behavior like Mitchell's in the past, I believe that we have to call this out every time it happens, and we absolutely must hold elected officials who stoop so low accountable." "What Mitchell did was bad enough, but it signals another problem," said Schoettler. "As we saw before when Sen. Scott Renfroe referred to a 'Biblical' death penalty for gays or Sen. David Schultheis spoke of his 'hope' that babies might 'have AIDS,' Senate Republicans seem willing to tolerate demeaning and ugly rhetoric from their members, and Minority Leader Josh Penry is either too weak or tone-deaf to get control of his caucus. This isn't just another case of right-wing extremists going off the reservation--it's a failure of leadership." ### http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNB http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNB/commentary#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:44:52 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNB Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNB/ If you've heard of Michelle Malkin, you've probably heard about her new book attacking "President Obama and his team of tax cheats, crooks and cronies." What's sickening is that Malkin's 'Culture of Corruption' is at the top of the New York Times best-seller list, promoted heavily by FOX News and an extensive network of conservative media outlets determined to destroy Obama's presidency. As the health care debate has heated up, this right-wing noise machine has cranked up the volume of attacks on Obama -- inciting extremists to disrupt town hall meetings and other events, sometimes violently. And now Michelle Malkin is attacking Michael Huttner, who just wrote a new book for community organizers who support President Obama. Huttner is also the founder of ProgressNow -- a network of progressive statewide organizations that includes ProgressNow Colorado (proceeds from this book are directly funding ProgressNow's work building progressive infrastructure in red and blue states). Malkin wrote that Huttner's 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America was aimed at "every nutroots activist out there" and was a bid to "dislodge conservative authors" from best-seller lists. Let's take Michelle Malkin up on her challenge -- and put this book on the best-seller list.  If you think, as we do, that empowering people to get involved in their communities is a cause worth supporting, please click one of the links below to buy Michael Huttner's new book right now: http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Help-Obama-Change-America/dp/0981709176/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1249668626&sr=8-6 http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780981709178   (links to independent bookstores in your area) While Michelle Malkin may be slandering the President to sell books, Michael Huttner is empowering a new generation of Americans to take action in their own communities. His book has been praised by progressives across America, including Gov. Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington and the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. If you believe in empowerment politics -- and not the politics of personal destruction -- please invest $7.77 today in helping us build the progressive movement by supporting Michael Huttner and standing up to Michelle Malkin. Thank you. We can't do this without you. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ59 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ59/commentary#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:41:30 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ59 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ59/ Call for Rep. Cory Gardner to Repudiate Fringe Conspiracy Theory Gardner makes contradictory statements to different media outlets after vaguely endorsing widely discredited smear FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, August 21, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547 DENVER--ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization, demanded Friday that state Rep. Cory Gardner repudiate fringe right-wing smears against President Barack Obama. At a public meeting earlier this week, Gardner made vague statements in response to a question about President Obama's "citizenship" that appeared to endorse widely-discredited claims by fringe elements that Obama is not legally eligible to serve. In later comments to reporters, Gardner's campaign manager said that Gardner "finds it very curious that this could all be ended if he just released the 'long-form birth certificate' and put it to bed." [1] "It's one of the most ridiculous smears to come out of the right wing's reckless desire to undermine President Obama any way they can," said ProgressNow Colorado founder Michael Huttner. "The idea that Obama is somehow not a citizen of the United States has been debunked all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and is only given the time of day by fringe talk radio hosts, conspiracy theorists, 'Tea Party' mobs and morally bankrupt politicians like Cory Gardner and Tom DeLay. He should be ashamed of himself for giving these absurd lies any credibility with his audience at this meeting." Many Colorado Republicans, including Rep. Mike Coffman, have flatly repudiated the "birther" conspiracy theory when asked by reporters. [2] Even fringe right-wing journalist Ann Coulter refuses to endorse the "birthers," recently saying "it's just a few cranks out there" who subscribe to the idea. [3] A unanimous vote in Congress in July--including Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado and Rep. Coffman--affirmed Obama's legal eligibility. [4] "The worst part about this for Gardner is his willful manipulation of two media outlets to carry different messages," Huttner continued. "On the same day that Gardner's campaign manager told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that Gardner 'has doubts' about Obama's citizenship, Gardner tells the Denver Post 'I think Obama is a citizen!' [5] It's obvious what Gardner is doing: he wants the state's newspaper of record to print one thing while other media outlets say something very different to his base." "For Gardner to try to escape association with this fringe conspiracy theory, while endorsing it out of the other side of his mouth it to rile up right-wing support where it suits him, is sleazy politics at its very worst," concluded Huttner. ### [1] Fort Collins Coloradoan, Gardner: Obama 'most likely' citizen, 8/21/2009. [2] Examiner.com, 7/29/2009. [3] Washington Times, 8/5/2009. [4] Final vote results for Roll Call #647, 7/27/2009. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll647.xml [5] Denver Post, 8/21/2009. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ5B http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ5B/commentary#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:02:22 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZ5B Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 3 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZ5B/ ProgressNow Colorado Requests Investigation of Property Crime Committed During Right-Wing Protest Staff member's car vandalized over pro-health care reform flyer visible on seat FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, August 10, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547 DENVER-- A car owned by a ProgressNow Colorado staff member was vandalized over the weekend during a right-wing protest against health insurance reform. ProgressNow Colorado staffer Michael Ditto was attending a public "Government at your Grocery Store" event Saturday in Brighton, Colorado, held by Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Golden, when his vehicle was seriously damaged in the parking lot. A report was filed with the Brighton Police Department. Police are reviewing surveillance tapes of the parking lot for evidence. "We are calling for a thorough investigation of this act of vandalism at a right-wing protest," said ProgressNow Colorado Founder Michael Huttner. "There is absolutely no excuse for anyone who comes to a public gathering to be intimidated. In this case thankfully no one was hurt, but thousands of dollars in damage was done to Mike Ditto's car." A pro-health care reform flyer was lying on the back seat of Ditto's car in plain sight, which is thought to have been the motivating factor for the crime. Both side mirrors of Ditto's Chevrolet Cavalier were broken off and left hanging by cables, and numerous dents and key-scratches can be seen in photos taken by Ditto and Brighton Police directly after the event. ProgressNow Colorado is asking for the assistance of Adams County District Attorney Don Quick in the investigation of this crime. In addition, if any members of the public witnessed the incident, ProgressNow Colorado asks them to immediately contact the Brighton Police Department at 303-655-2333, and optionally to send an email describing what they saw to info@progressnowcolorado.org . ### http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRJ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRJ/commentary#comments Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:14:18 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRJ Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRJ/ Contrary to rumors that every Tea Partier and and Glenn Beck devotee in a 500-mile radius would converge on a small medical clinic for the homeless in downtown Denver today for a rare chance to yell at Nancy Pelosi herself, things didn't turn out quite the way protest organizers in D.C. expected. Per discussion at Colorado Pols about the off-putting rhetoric in use by these protesters, although reduced in numbers they didn't disappoint (right). I'm pretty sure "arsenic for seniors" means they would die, but who thinks of arsenic at the first choice for poison anymore? It's all about ricin in the 21st century, Fox News did its number on this one some time ago--I digress. As you can see the ubiquitous "dead fetus guy" made his inevitable appearance (offensive material blacked), and this time he had a friend: "put term limits on politicians not seniors." Separated they kind of are what they are, but together they have this whole new kick-ass message: "Obama kills babies and seniors." Noted! This bashful fortysomething (in pink, ducking behind innocent senior citizen) definitely gets the irony award for her sign, "is Botox covered under commie care?" OTOH, maybe she just wanted to know? Answer: it's probably not, but I don't think my health insurance covers Botox either. There were some other signs that most well-adjusted people would characterize as over the top, and the right-wingers present were mostly pretty agitated and looking to yell. And for a good while, yell they did. To that extent, these protesters lived up to the image they're quickly building for themselves. But it was different, too--they couldn't disrupt the press conference inside the building, so their primary measure of success was never obtainable. And over time friendly "Health Care Now" signs began to fill in the crowd. Eventually the pro-reform crowds at least equaled the Tea Party/912ers. That to me is significant since, as every progressive in Colorado knows after turning this state from red to blue, it's a lot more fun to be on the offensive. The growing problem for the Tea Party/912/"Anything Obama proposes is EVIL!" crowd is that their extreme rhetoric didn't make sense to Americans over the stimulus, or clean energy, and it makes even less sense on an issue like health care. Yes, there probably is a percentage of Americans who hear "public option" and immediately think "Soylent Green," but that's why they're on the fringe. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRM http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRM/commentary#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:00:27 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZRM Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZRM/ I started working for an organization called the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network in mid-2004. Between that time and today, what started as a blog and a small email list run out of my boss Mike Huttner’s law office has grown into an organization (ProgressNow) with a presence in 12 states and a total email network of over 2.5 million people. We’re described as a key part of what conservatives dismayed by progressive success in our state call the “Colorado Model.” This term is usually used in some kind of shadowy, conspiracy-theory conjuring hushed voice, and includes names like “George Soros” and “The Four Horsemen”—maybe with someone in the background making scary ghost noises. I’ve never met George Soros so I’ll have to take their word for how scary he is. Honestly, the term “Colorado Model” doesn’t really mean much to me—for the last five years, though, it’s apparently been my day-to-day life. I got into politics very much by accident after a right-wing activist named David Horowitz came to my school and tried to get professors I respected fired. This made me and a number of my friends at school very angry; we wound up in the legislature testifying against 2004’s failed “Academic Bill of Rights.” At some point during that battle, my current bosses noticed me and offered me this job. Being a middle-performing television salesman and history major wondering what the heck I was going to do after college, I eagerly accepted. In the last five years I’ve watched with pride as our role in Colorado politics has grown. ProgressNow, working with a network of the finest people and organizations it has ever been my privilege to know, has played an important role in progressive victories all over the state. Using new media technologies and outreach methods first pioneered by Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, we grew Huttner’s list of 600 or so friends and associates into a network of hundreds of thousands in Colorado alone. We have leveraged this network to empower Coloradans to take action on issues before the legislature that impact their daily lives. We have fought against “Lexus Lane” toll roads and unfair price hikes by Xcel Energy. And we have held right-wing politicians rigorously accountable for their record, policies, and statements. Last week, Weekly Standard columnist Fred Barnes appeared in Denver to discuss the present state of the “Colorado Model.” My boss Huttner was there, and managed to get an autograph from Barnes on the issue of the Standard that features his column about our work (above). Having listened to Barnes’ remarks about our effectiveness, I’m obviously flattered: but a little concerned that conservatives trying to understand ‘the secret’ of our success are missing the point. For Barnes and his fellow conservatives, it’s all about the money—as he tells the story, a small network of “rich Democrats” who made all these sweeping changes in Colorado politics happen with giant checks. I’m grateful to the donors who see enough value in our work to financially support it, but Barnes’ fellow conservatives know that all the money in the world can’t change reality. If it could, I think it’s reasonable to assume they would have done it a long time ago. What progressive funders in Colorado did, starting in 2003 and continuing to today, is identify key areas where progressive infrastructure was lacking—the right complains about getting rolled over by the novel “Colorado Model,” but they’ve had the Independence Institute since the 1980s. The fact is, what we built in Colorado is a smarter, more modern version of what the right has had for years in terms of message development and distribution. Advances made in social networking and online outreach created new opportunities, but the simplest explanation for progressive success in Colorado was simply the fielding of equivalent resources to what has dominated the local political scene for decades. As soon as we were hitting back with a progressive message at the same level of sophistication and permanence we were confronting, right-wingers in Colorado began to lose. Did they lose because we were better at agitating the public than they were? Having been to a few right-wing events, and met the “Swastika Guys” of the world, I’m inclined to doubt it—they still corner the market on visibility and audacity. Did they lose because these scary progressive donors had more money than conservatives to spend winning hearts and minds? Of course not. They lost because they were on the wrong side of history. They lost because the voters of Colorado decided the “solutions” conservatives were offering to the state’s growing challenges weren’t working. They lost because when the people of Colorado went to the conservatives for answers on issues like education and healthcare, they were given tax-cut rhetoric and diatribes about gay people. They lost because they were no longer effectively representing the people of Colorado. All that was missing was permanent infrastructure, to spell out the full extent of the right’s failure to govern responsibly for the voting public—we knew we could count on the rest to work itself out, and we were not disappointed. That’s the “Colorado Model” as I’ve lived it these past five years, and my gratitude to those who support our work behind the scenes, however great, can never equal my gratitude for the citizens who made every success we claim credit for possible. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNY http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNY/commentary#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:05:40 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNY Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNY/ National Right-Wing "Astroturf" Groups Organize "Local" Anti-Health Care Protest ProgressNow Colorado calls attention to national usual suspects hiding behind "local" effort FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, July 28, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547 DENVER-- As yet another right-wing protest to President Obama's agenda prepared to kick off in Denver, this time against reforming and expanding access to health care for all Americans, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization released the following statement: "Once again, national right-wing attack groups are disingenuously trying to attack the President's health care reform agenda," said ProgressNow Colorado founder Michael Huttner. "Using deceptive language and hiding behind local front groups to create the appearance of 'grass-roots' anger, these out-of-state interests are misrepresenting both themselves and the citizens of Colorado who desperately need health care reform." The protest being held today has been advertised as a 'grass-roots rally' organized by the local right-wing Independence Institute, but in their announcement is the rally's 'co-sponsor,' a relatively unknown group called Patients First. [1] Patients First is operated by the well-known national right-wing organization known as the Americans for Prosperity, the same organization involved in the planning of other right-wing "grassroots" protests in Denver--including February's anti-stimulus rallies, and the infamous "Tea Parties" held in April and July. [2] "As you can see, this isn't even about health care," Huttner continued. "These are the same out-of-state right-wing millionaires who paid for the 'Tea Parties' and the 'anti-stimulus' protest in Denver last February. Their sole interest is in fomenting trouble for the President and his agenda, whatever the issue of the day may be. They are attempting to gain electoral advantage by bashing everything the President does, and scaring up local residents to create the false impression that their 'anger' is shared by the public. In fact, these Americans for Prosperity protests are timed to coincide with a national bus tour! They're about as 'grass-roots' as Kim Jong Il's last birthday party. "ProgressNow Colorado calls on the organizers of today's 'protest' to disclose how much money and assistance they received from national attack groups, and to stop misrepresenting themselves as in any way reflecting the views of the people of Colorado," Huttner concluded. "It's a joke." ### [1] Independence Institute. Rally Against Government Run Health Care - Denver . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [2] Americans for Prosperity. July 4th Tea Party Rallies in Colorado . Retrieved 7/28/2009.   Facts: Patients First? The Reality of Americans for Prosperity's "grassroots" organization. Patients First is a project of the organization Americans for Prosperity. [i] They purport to represent patients, but the evidence shows something entirely different. Americans for Prosperity is a Corporate Astroturf Group .  AFP's Chairman is David H. Koch, who with his brother Charles runs the largest private corporation in the United States, Koch Industries. [ii] [iii] Together, the brothers run the Koch Family Foundations, one of the largest single contributors to right-wing causes, including Americans for Prosperity. In 2008 alone, Koch Industries spent over $20 million on lobbyists in Washington, DC alone. [iv] Americans for Prosperity's activities in addition to opposing health insurance reform include opposing anti-tobacco laws, denying the existence of global warming, opposing financial industry regulation, and sponsoring the so-called "tea parties." [v] AFP's president, Tim Phillips, has a long resume of working for corrupt corporate lobbyists, including Enron and Jack Abramoff, with his former business partner Ralph Reed.  In 1998, Phillips engineered the direct mail campaign for the sweatshop owners of Saipan, arguing to conservative Christians that "Chinese workers 'are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ' while on the islands, and many 'are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand.'" [vi] Rhetoric vs. Reality When corporate shills like Americans for Prosperity claim people don't want the government to fix healthcare, it flies in the face of reality. Poll after poll shows the vast majority of Americans is in favor of more government involvement in health care coverage: As we also have found in our tracking polls since February, clear majorities support a variety of methods of expanding health insurance coverage, including Medicaid expansion ( 74 percent ), an individual mandate ( 68 percent ), an employer mandate ( 64 percent ) and a public plan ( 59 percent ). [emphasis added] [vii] [i] Patients First Website, http://joinpatientsfirst.com . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [ii] SourceWatch.org. http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [iii] SourceWatch.org. http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [iv] OpenSecrets.org. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?lname=Koch+Industries&year=2008 . Accessed 7/28.2009. [v] SourceWatch.org. http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_For_Prosperity . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [vi] Center for American Progress. Tim Phillips, The Man Behind The 'Americans For Prosperity' Corporate Front Group Factory . May 29, 2009. http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/05/29/afp-timphillips-astroturf/ . Retrieved 7/28/2009. [vii] Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, July 2009. http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7945.pdf . Retrieved 7/28/2009. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZN8 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZN8/commentary#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:02:18 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZN8 Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZN8/ ProgressNow Colorado Demands McInnis, Penry Stand Up for Public Health in Mesa County Why Are Scott McInnis, Josh Penry Silent on Mercury Dump? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, July 24, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547 DENVER-- As elected officials around Colorado grew increasingly wary of Department of Energy proposals to store large quantities of toxic mercury near the city of Grand Junction, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization released the following statement: "We demand that Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis and Josh Penry stand up to protect the public health now," said ProgressNow Colorado founder Michael Huttner.  "It is unconscionable that days after the Department of Energy presented plans to store toxic mercury at a Mesa County landfill, in violation of previous agreements, they have remained silent. "Yesterday, Rep. Steve King, Republican from Grand Junction, told reporters that he would oppose any attempt by the Department of Energy to transport mercury to Mesa County. [1] Governor Bill Ritter also announced his opposition to this proposal. [2] Both of them are to be commended for taking swift action to protect the public health," Huttner said. The area's other representative in the General Assembly, Sen. Josh Penry, 'could not be reached for comment' according to the Grand Junction Sentinel . [3] Scott McInnis, who represented the area in Congress from 1993-2005, has also been completely silent. "It's totally unacceptable," concluded Huttner, "and the people of Mesa County should demand accountability for their failure to act." ### [1] Grand Junction Sentinel. Rep. King: Feds should look elsewhere to store mercury. 7/23/2009. [2] Grand Junction Sentinel. Ritter says he'll oppose mercury on West Slope . 7/24/2009. [3] Grand Junction Sentinel. Local officials lukewarm on idea of storing mercury within Mesa County . 7/22/2009. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNL http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNL/commentary#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:51:35 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNL Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNL/ Don't get me wrong, I had the best haddock roll of my life in Kennebunk. True story. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNQ http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNQ/commentary#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:37:48 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZNQ Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZNQ/ Call to Help McInnis Learn Colorado Geography ProgressNow Colorado Members Pool Funds to Purchase Scott McInnis Geography Textbook after hypocritical "Moving Mountain" website fiasco FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, July 06, 2009 CONTACT: Michael Huttner at 303-931-4547  DENVER:  ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization, vowed Monday to help gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis learn the geography of the Centennial State he aspires to lead, after reports circulated over the holiday weekend that he needs some serious remedial help in this department.  "Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis has clearly spent too much time lobbying for his corporate friends in D.C. and not enough time focused on the state he lives in," said ProgressNow Colorado founder Michael Huttner. "McInnis, like Bob Schaffer, thinks all mountains look the same."  Local political blogs discovered after the launch of McInnis' new website that a large photo on the front page, emblazoned with the headline "What do you want for the future of Colorado," was in fact a photo of Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada. The photo was subsequently replaced with an image of the Flatirons near Boulder, but not before the image of Canadian mountains was captured and widely distributed. [1] McInnis' "moving mountains" mistake comes a year after he criticized former U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer for his use of an out-of-state mountain in an ad declaring, "Colorado is my life!"  "What's unbelievable about this is McInnis actually had the nerve to criticize Bob Schaffer after his campaign switched Alaska's Mt. McKinley for Pikes Peak in a television ad," Huttner continued. "McInnis told Schaffer in the  Grand Junction Sentinel  last year that one can 'only absorb' one or two such mistakes. Does this mean McInnis has already used his free pass?"  [2] In an effort to help McInnis avoid making this kind of embarrassing mistake in the future, ProgressNow Colorado launched a grassroots fundraising campaign to purchase McInnis a copy of  Geography of Colorado , an excellent textbook by Joy Clapp and Paul C. Stevens.  "We don't want Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis to be unable to distinguish Colorado from Canada," Huttner concluded. "Our members are happy to put politics aside and help McInnis learn the difference."  ### [1]  Colorado Independent, 7/2/09. "Candidate McInnis moves mountains - from Canadian Rockies to Colorado" [2]  Colorado Pols, 5/18/08. "Schaffer: A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZgG http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZgG/commentary#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:20 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZgG Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 1 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZgG/ Nearly $1.4 Million dollars PER DAY. That's what the health industry lobby is spending in Washington right now to defeat healthcare reform.1 Let's fight their money with our voices and get real healthcare reform. Those of us who have insurance are seeing our premiums go up at twice the rate of wages,2 higher and higher deductibles, and shocking tactics by insurers to avoid paying claims. More and more employers are dropping insurance altogether because they just can't afford it any longer, adding to the ranks of more than 47 million Americans who have no insurance.3 That's why polls show the vast majority of Americans support healthcare reform that includes a "public option" - public health insurance that would compete fairly with private insurance companies and offer consumers greater choice, expand coverage to more Americans, and ultimately lower healthcare costs.4 So why are there so many news reports that a public option is in trouble? You think maybe that has something to do with the millions of dollars that Big Insurance is throwing around in Washington?5 Congress and the President are seriously focused on healthcare reform for the first time in over fifteen years. We can't afford to let Big Insurance defeat healthcare reform again. Please support the public option: http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/publicoption We'll hand deliver this petition to every member of Colorado's Congressional delegation - both senators and all seven of our representatives - on July 13th at their offices in Washington. Bills are already moving through committees in the House and Senate. Whether or not a public option remains on the table will be decided in the next couple of weeks. Please take action now: http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/publicoption Thanks for speaking out. 1 Legislating Under the Influence, Common Cause, June 24, 2009. 2 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual Survey. September 2008. 3 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 4 Building on Success: The Role of Public Coverage Programs in Health Reform, Center for American Progress. 5 Legislating Under the Influence, Common Cause, June 24, 2009. In addition to lobbying expenditures, the health industry has spent about $373 Million on campaign contributions to members of Congress since 2000. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCl http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCl/commentary#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:24:36 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCl Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 2 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZCl/ Sent to a few thousand friends in Rep. Salazar's district today: The time is now to speak out for clean energy and environmental protection. A critical vote in Congress on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is set for Friday, and we need our own Rep. John Salazar to support this bill. That's why I'm writing. Can you take two minutes right now to call Rep. Salazar's D.C. office, and let them know that you want him to vote for the Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)? Time is short: please call his office now at 202-225-4761. This is one of the most important votes Rep. Salazar will ever cast. The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) sets practical, science-based limits on pollution linked to climate change, and puts the country on the path to building a national New Energy Economy. ACES offers our country the most important opportunity in generations to jump start our economy, create millions of new, good-paying jobs, and set the stage for America to compete and prosper in the 21st century. Please call right away, and thank you for doing your part at this critical moment. Sincerely, Leslie Robinson Garfield County resident http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCD http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCD/commentary#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:18:42 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZCD Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZCD/ A warning for all those litigious Colorado rightwingers embracing Twitter this year, from The Hill : Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis have threatened to sue a pro-Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) group over a posting on Twitter using their names. Attorneys for Gingrich and Anuzis wrote a pro-EFCA group on Wednesday, asking them to disable a posting by the anonymously-owned “EFCANOW” handle, which asked followers to sign a petition supporting the labor legislation, and included Gingrich’s and Anuzis’s Twitter handles. The suit marks a first for the political use of Twitter, which has taken off amongst lawmakers, political figures and interest groups since earlier in the year. The complaint gets to the heart of one of the most common practices of the site: directing a message toward another user -- even if the two don’t know each other -- by using an “@” sign. “The posting falsely purports to have been written by Messrs. Gingrich and Anuzis and includes the Mark as well as the Twitter ‘handles’ of the foregoing individuals,” attorneys wrote in a letter. “The posting is deliberately designed to fraudulently induce readers into believing that…Messrs. Gingrich and Anuzis all support EFCA.” The attorneys alleged that the posting, of which the authorship is unknown, violates the pair’s trademark and publicity rights, and invokes tresspassing and wire fraud laws, and maybe even so-called “RICO” laws, which are traditionally used to target organized crime groups... Holy crap, RICO? The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act? Over a Tweet? The problem is that the person who sent the "Tweet" in question was simply using the 'direct message' function in Twitter, which enables one to send a message directly to accounts prefaced with an 'at sign' (@). In this case, @newtgingrich. I don't claim that everyone on Twitter fully understands what they're doing, but this was clearly not an intent to steal Gingrich's identity, just to have a little perfectly legal fun with it. Embarrassed once somebody explained to him what actually happened , Gingrich sent out this carefully worded Tweet a couple of hours later: A false story was planted this morning about my sueing [sp.--Pols] twitter. This is totally false and we have repudiated it with the media And that's technically true--according to the letter sent by Gingrich's lawyer , he's threatening to sue the person who sent the "Tweet," the domain name registrar, and the web hosting company that hosts the site the message directed to. So no, not suing Twitter itself --but it's no less ridiculous. The moral of the story? Well, someday, somebody's going to pull this on Tweet novice Dave Schultheis, and he should probably take a deep breath before calling in Scott Gessler. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxm http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxm/commentary#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 17:08:07 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxm Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZxm/ We were all disappointed by news yesterday that  House Bill 1274 , the bill to repeal Colorado's death penalty and shift resulting savings to cold case criminal investigations, had been effectively gutted in a surprise move by a few Senators. But contrary to what you may have read, there is one more chance to fix House Bill 1274 and repeal the death penalty: Wednesday morning there will be a conference between the House and Senate to reconcile their two respective versions of the bill. Remember, the House passed a  death penalty repeal,  not a diversionary substitute bill! The conference committee can revert the bill to the House version or something close, and send it back to both chambers for another vote. It all comes down to tomorrow, the last day of the legislative session. Can you call key representatives and Senators--either right now or early tomorrow morning--and tell them you want House Bill 1274 passed in its original form? Senator John Morse: 303-866-6364 Senator Brandon Shaffer: 303-866-5291 Senator Dan Gibbs: 303-866-4873 Representative Ed Vigil: 303-866-2916 Representative Karen Middleton: 303-866-3911 Representative Beth McCann: 303-866-2959 Representative Lois Court: 303-866-2967 Representative Sue Schafer: 303-866-5522  Representative Ed Casso: 303-866-2964 You can call your own legislator or others, too--visit  www.leg.state.co.us  for a phone directory.  Also please take a moment now or in the next few days to thank  Rep. Don Marostica (R)  for his vote for House Bill 1274 earlier this session. Call him at 303-866-2947. With the legislative session required by law to end tomorrow, legislators are hard-pressed to get through all the remaining legislation on the calendar. Please be respectful of these hardworking representatives, and their staff if you reach one of them instead. Feel free to call this evening,  right now if you like,  they're working late tonight and are in early Wednesday morning. Leave a detailed message if no one can take your call. Friends, whether we ultimately win or lose in this particular fight, I want to tell you that I am  enormously proud  of the thousands of phone calls and emails our members have sent in support of repealing the death penalty in Colorado this year. It has been a privilege just to watch you all take action. You're a credit not just to our great state, but to the progressive wisdom that's slowly changing our country. Thank you. http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxf http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxf/commentary#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 19:57:43 EDT http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/al/CZxf Alan Franklin http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/profile_picture/1b6fb917dd91e10cc0_ge5omv53a.jpg Alan Franklin 0 http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/comment_rss/CZxf/