Crooks and Liars has the video.

A story broke last week that Rick O'Donnell, the Repub candidate for the 7th CD, may have broken the law by hosting the head of the EPA at a recent big money fundraiser. Federal law prohibits government officials from raising money for candidates.

Now, Ed Perlmutter is keeping the heat on by calling on O'Donnell to release the names of everyone in attendance. No links for this. I just read it in a press releases that's being emailed around.

Well here's some good news from today (well sort of, thanks to soon up for re-election John Evans). Senator Deanna Hanna got an excellent bill passed through the Education Committee.

Here's the brief description they give out on the daily calendars down there "Senate Bill 067 -- Suicidal Behavior in Higher Ed." Yikes right? Well, what it does is it would allow Universities to include a waiver for all incoming students to designate a person to call if they are reported to or are observed displaying suicidal behavior. It is "common sense" legislation in my view, I know of several suicide stories from college, and this bill could have possibly prevented at least some of them.

You see, as it stands today Universities are prohibited from contacting or releasing information to ANYBODY in regards to their student body. This is due to current Federal Privacy Laws. However this waiver would allow the appropriate person (designated by each university) on campus to contact whomever the student designated on the form in case they displayed suicidal behavior. Sounds great right, the waiver is optional for the student, and the school actually designs it in the way it feels is appropriate for their campus.

What's the problem? Well, evidently Senator Evans felt like it would be better to have a "pilot program" instead of simply passing the bill as it was intended, to go out statewide. Now, thanks to Senator Evans the wording in the bill will allow for as few as one public university in this state to institute this program over the next two years. [Read: It could also be allowed in ALL state universities, but when it can be as few as one, it seems doubtful it will be all or even close to it]. After the two-year "Pilot" period, the program will be judged and then will either sunset (die) or used at every State School in Colorado.

This is good legislation that has been mucked up by compromise because John Evans isn't sure about suicide prevention, what a shame. Still, a big cheers for Senator Hanna.

Excerpts from the just-posted Rocky story:

Five constituents who live in House Minority Leader Joe Stengel's district today formally requested an ethics investigation of the Littleton Republican, saying he charged taxpayers for working on days he was on vacation in Hawaii, taking the bar exam and campaigning.

Stengel, a Littleton Republican, on Monday reimbursed the state $891 for nine days he billed last year, seven while in Hawaii and two days for taking the bar exam. He alternately said he used "bad judgment" and blamed the criticism against him on "election year politics."

ProgressNow Action network member, and ethics complaint signer, Bill Cisney provides the zinger:

Bill Cisney, 65, of Littleton, was among those who signed the ethics complaint that was delivered to Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.

Cisney pointed out that Stengel last year was one of the leaders in the effort to defeat Referendums C and D, two tax measures on the November ballot.

"Joe made a point of talking about people lining up at the trough to get their share of the windfall from Referendum C," he said. "I guess the difference between Joe and everyone else is he didn't have to line up."

And fellow Republican Andy McElhany, the Senate Minority Leader, takes a swipe as well:

Republicans have been slow to publicly criticize Stengel, in part because he is in a leadership position.

But fellow minority leader Andy McElhany of Colorado Springs, head of the Senate Republicans, broke rank Tuesday.

"It stretches the limit of credibility," he said, of billing for so many days.

Below is the text of the network email that just went out:


Dear Network Member,

While it's legal for Colorado House and Senate leadership to be compensated for legislative work performed out of session, they can't ethically bill taxpayers for days that they didn't work. House Minority Leader Joe Stengel needs a reminder of that.

The non-partisan Legislative Council reports that in 2005 Stengel collected a check for 240 of the 247 days out of session, including Saturdays and Sundays. According to the Rocky Mountain News, Stengel claims that the 7 days he didn't work were the major holidays.

So those 240 days Stengel billed included the 5 days he spent vacationing in Hawaii, time campaigning for gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman, traveling statewide as Chairman of the campaign against Referenda C&D, and 2 full days taking the bar examination.

Take a stand for ethical government. Call on Joe Stengel to return the taxpayer money he received improperly by clicking here:

Link

Please also forward this to others and invite them to join you in standing up for ethical government.

We'll hand deliver this petition to Stengel and share it with Colorado media and with taxpayer advocacy groups throughout Colorado.

Sincerely,

Michael Huttner
Executive Director

The Dems want the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Abramoff scandal. If this happens, it's a HUGE problem for the righties.