December 14, 2011
November 22, 2011
Join Summit Dems for a Reception Honoring State Rep. Millie Hamner 11-30-11
From Summit County Democrats: an invitation to a reception honoring State Representative Millie Hamner.
Please see the image below (or its pdf) for more information.
Contact Dan Gibbs for questions and RSVP: dan@dangibbs.com dan@dangibbs.com
Reception Invitation. Info/RSVP: Dan Gibbs dan@dangibbs.com
Contact Dan Gibbs for questions and RSVP: dan@dangibbs.com dan@dangibbs.com
Printable pdf of the invitation above: Invitation to Rep. Millie Hamner Event 11-30-11
Posted on November 21, 2011 by Summit Dems Webmaster Peggy Madsen.
November 3, 2011
Summit Democrats Meeting November 9, 6:30 pm!
Dear Summit County Democrats and Friends,
Please join us for our November Meeting!
We will be meeting on November 9th, at 6:30 at the Silverthorne Library.
Our scheduled speaker will be going over our new House and Senate district maps. We would also like to invite you to learn more about becoming a Precinct Committee person.
Please plan on stopping by and saying hi and learning about our March Caucuses and Assembly.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Sincerely,
Your Summit County Executive Team
August 16, 2011
JOIN US! Summit Dems MIXER Thursday, August 25, 2011
Join your Summit Dems for food, friends and conversation, 6-8pm at Downstairs at Erics in Breckenridge, Colorado, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011. Rep Millie Hamner will be there!
Summit Dems Mixer 08-25-11.
MORE INFO:
enlarge the invitation above!
Posted by Summit Dems webmaster Peggy Madsen.
August 3, 2011
Congressman Polis Community Forum Event! August 17, 2011.
Summit County Democrats,
Please Join Congressman Polis for a Community Forum. You must register, so please see details below!
Summit Community Forum
Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) is hosting a Community Forum on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 in Frisco at the Summit County Community and Senior Center to meet with constituents, listen to their concerns, and answer questions regarding legislation currently before Congress.
The event is open to the public, but seating is limited. Participants must register in advance. To RSVP, either fill out this online form or call (303) 484-9596.
Who: Congressman Jared Polis
What: Summit Community Forum
When: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 12:00-1:00 P.M.
Where: Summit County Community and Senior Center, Hoosier Room, 0083 Nancy’s Place, CR 1014, Frisco, CO 80443
Members of the media should RSVP by emailing
Chris Fitzgerald or calling him at (202) 225-2161.
Jennifer and Julie
Posted by webmaster Peggy Madsen.
July 15, 2011
Summit Dems Annual Picnic Sunday, July 31, 2011.
Summit Democrats Summer Picnic
When: Sunday, July 31, 11:00am – 2:00pm
Where: 306 Creekside Drive, Frisco, CO
Description: Join the Summit Dems for a great potluck picnic in the terrific setting of Walter Byron Memorial Park in Frisco!
Posted by Summit Democrats webmaster Peggy Madsen.
July 7, 2011
Summit County Democrats! Cystic Fibrosis Walk July 23rd!!!
Dear Summit County Democrats and Friends,
Megan
We will be walking in Dillon on July 23rd to help support and fund raise for Cystic Fibrosis. Our team’s goal is $500. Please help The Democrats raise money for this devastating disease by clicking below. Any amount will help as 90 cents of every dollar goes to research!!
Making a donation is easy and secure! Just click this link: http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/SummitCountyDemocrats
Then, “Click to Donate” or “Register to Walk” button on this page to go to make a donation that will be credited to our team. Any amount you can donate is greatly appreciated!
http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/SummitCountyDemocrats
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States and right here in our Summit County Community. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF. However, we continue to lose precious lives to CF every day. That’s why your help is needed now more than ever to ensure that a cure is found sooner – rather than later. To learn more about CF and the CF Foundation, visit www.cff.org<http://www.cff.org/> Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those with CF! Thank you for supporting the mission of the CF Foundation and GREAT STRIDES!
Location of Walk: Crow’s Nest in Dillon. (Near playground)
Registration: 8:00am, Walk starts at 9:00am.
Sincerely,
Julie Charneskie
Jennifer Cassell
Co-Chairs, Summit County Democrats
Posted by Summit Dems Webmaster Peggy Madsen
Winners and Losers of the 2011 Colorado Legislative Session
Winners and Losers 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 9th 2011
CONTACT: Kjersten Forseth, Executive Director, kjersten@progressnowcolorado.org
DENVER: As the Colorado General Assembly prepares to adjourn later this week, ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest online progressive advocacy organization, released the following list of “2011 Colorado Legislative Session Winners and Losers.”
“This year, heroes on both sides of the aisle distinguished themselves, while others dramatically failed their responsibility to the people of Colorado to effectively govern,” said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Kjersten Forseth. “Here is a progressive recap of the heroes and the zeroes.”
WINNERS
1. The #coleg hashtag on Twitter, and every citizen of Colorado who followed it.
This year, legislators in both parties, staff, journalists, and activists of all stripes agree on one thing: 2011 is the year that Twitter came of age in the Colorado General Assembly. Using the hash tag #coleg to consolidate Twitter messaging about the legislature proved a massive success, with breaking news and information flowing out of the Colorado Capitol much more quickly than ever before. Twitter is a critical resource for virtually everyone following the legislature.
2. Colorado Latinos, defended by progressives against the right’s anti-immigration onslaught.
Attempting to mimic the “success” of Arizona’s controversial and unconstitutional attacks on their Latino population, Colorado conservatives introduced a shocking number of similar immigrant crackdown bills in the legislature this year. Numerous horrible and discriminatory bills were killed, thanks largely to progressives in the Colorado Senate. This legislation would have unfairly targeted Latinos, legal or not, and would have severely damaged Colorado’s reputation and economy.
3. Colorado voters whose rights were protected.
Colorado’s new right wing Secretary of State Scott Gessler has proven to be a disaster. Gessler has neglected the duties of his office, late in supplying critical information on elections to legislators just as one example. But he has invested large amounts of his staff’s time on a so-far fruitless quest to “identify” voters he believes “may not be citizens.” Gessler’s push for authority to purge the voter rolls in the legislature failed after Gessler was unable to prove any of his suspicions, and evidence came to light that the whole campaign was very likely unfounded. The rights of Colorado voters were upheld.
4. Colorado consumers, protected from predatory payday lenders.
In 2010, Colorado consumers won a huge victory in the legislature over predatory payday lenders. New reforms of this industry were put in place that freed Coloradans from payday lenders’ endless two-week cycles of debt, and brought interest rates closer to something you might call fair. This year, the payday lending industry attempted to undermine these reforms, and substantially increase their profits at the expense of consumers. Despite an intense lobbying campaign and the industry’s huge donations to right wing legislative campaigns in 2010, this legislation was killed by progressives in the Senate Local Government Committee.
5. 3 GOP Colorado women Senators who voted for civil unions.
Proponents of basic rights for Colorado’s commmitted gay and lesbian couples came very close this year, with a bill to institute civil unions passing the Colorado Senate! Three Republican women in the Colorado Senate bravely stood up to the rest of their caucus and supported civil unions: Sen. Jean White, Sen. Ellen Roberts, and Sen. Nancy Spence. Although we don’t always agree on every issue, progressives are grateful to these three Republican Senators for doing the right thing.
6. Minority Leader Sal Pace.
Elected to lead a caucus relegated to a one-seat minority after an extremely close election, Minority Leader Sal Pace emerged as a fiery advocate for progressive interests in the Colorado House. Minority Leader Pace didn’t let his caucus’ minority status prevent him from calling out the right-wing majority on their irresponsible budget cuts, senseless attacks on Latinos, or doing the bidding of corporate lobbyists instead of Colorado’s working families. Although he wasn’t always able to stop the majority from passing bad legislation, Pace is a big reason why the citizens of Colorado know about what they’ve done.
7. Rep. Betty Boyd.
Rep. Betty Boyd came into this legislative session with the primary goal of passing a healthcare insurance exchange system into law in Colorado, a key component of federal health care reform designed to broaden access and reduce the costs of health insurance. After building a coalition of support including business interests and health care advocates, Rep. Boyd’s hard work was nearly undone by partisan foolishness and vicious attacks by the Tea Party. But the exchange bill, passed by the legislature and now awaiting the Governor’s signature, is proof that her months of effort was not in vain.
8. Rep. Millie Hamner.
Freshman Rep. Millie Hamner, a former superintendent of Summit County Schools is quickly becoming a go-to expert on education issues in the legislature. A key bill of Rep. Hamner’s to speed teacher certifications was signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper last week. As education continues to be a focal point of debate in the legislature, watch for Rep. Hamner’s star to continue rising.
9. Rep. Tom Massey.
Republican Rep. Tom Massey has established himself as the leading moderate in the House majority. Progressives have repeatedly turned to Rep. Massey for support on a range of issues from education to health care. This year, Rep. Massey worked with House minority members to alleviate some $90 million in proposed cuts to public education. Massey earned the gratitude of teachers, students, and families across Colorado.
10. House Speaker Frank McNulty.
House Speaker Frank McNulty is a winner this session, ironically, because of the failure of his caucus’ agenda. To some extent, deserves what he got: extremists he helped elect to the legislature quickly turned on him when he told the press last year that favored right-wing “priorities” like repealing transportation funding and restoring tax breaks for big business would not be at the top of the House’s agenda. Although McNulty’s caucus tried hard to make a liar of him, introducing dozens of embarrassing, unworkable bills, just about all of them were killed–in most cases by progressives in the Senate. McNulty has more reasons to be thankful that his House’s extremist agenda failed than he will likely ever know.
LOSERS
1. House Speaker Frank McNulty.
Despite Speaker Frank McNulty’s promises to pursue a moderate agenda before the session, several incidents this year raise serious questions about his ability to lead the Colorado House of Representatives–or keep his promises. McNulty could have done much more to prevent the attacks by his caucus on Colorado’s Latino population, apparently relying instead on progressives in the Senate to do his dirty work. McNulty held this year’s budget negotiations hostage for days over teacher pensions, an embarrassing and ultimately fruitless attack on public education. McNulty also purposefully sabotaged an attempt to reach a bipartisan compromise on new congressional districts, subverting fellow Republicans and receiving intense criticism from the media.
2. Majority Leader Amy Stephens.
House Majority Leader Amy Stephens became a poster child this year for everything that is wrong with the right wing in Colorado. After working across the aisle and with business interests for months to develop Colorado’s new health care insurance exchange, Stephens nearly wrecked the entire effort after being attacked by the Tea Party. Initially caving to their irrational demands, Stephens threatened to kill the bill unless a new amendment was included forcing Colorado to withdraw from so-called “Obamacare.” After intervention from the Governor and other stakeholders Stephens flip-flopped again , and the health care exchange will become law with bipartisan support, but Stephens sent a message loud and clear that she is not a good faith partner–and can’t be trusted with important legislation by either party.
3. Joint Budget Committee members Lambert, Becker, Gerou, “The Breakfast Club”.
One of the most embarrassing moments for Colorado this year came relatively early in the session, when three members of the Joint Budget Committee, Sen. Kent Lambert and Reps. Jon Becker and Cheri Gerou, voted against a tiny appropriation to keep school breakfasts free of charge for Colorado’s poorest children. This vote quickly turned into a public relations nightmare, with Sen. Lambert lecturing reporters on how seriously he takes his responsibility to “earn money,” and Rep. Gerou’s infamous defense, “we are not looking to starve the children of Colorado.” After being ridiculed in editorials and days of negative press coverage, another Republican, Sen. Keith King, stepped in to restore these funds and put a stop to this self-inflicted disaster.
4. Rep. Randy Baumgardner, Kevin Lundberg, and Kent Lambert, the kings of immigrant bashing.
A number of Colorado legislators and candidates for office visited the state of Arizona on a ‘fact finding tour’ last fall. They brought back with them plans for multiple pieces of legislation intended to mimic that state’s SB-1070 “show me your papers” law, unconcerned that Arizona’s law was already stuck in expensive court proceedings and widely believed to be unconstitutional. Although many conservatives in the legislature took part, three Republicans–Rep. Randy Baumgardner, Sen. Kevin Lundberg, and Sen. Kent Lambert, led the charge to pass every conceivable kind of anti-immigrant bill, both mirroring and well in excess of what Arizona proposed. Their efforts were a total failure, and a waste of the legislature’s time that set back conservative relations with the Latino community by decades. Great work, guys!
5. Secretary of State Scott Gessler.
Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s drive to pass legislation giving him the power to purge the voter rolls of anyone he “believes is not a citizen” set a new low for unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. Based on evidence that Gessler admits has not been verified and figures that vary wildly, he wasted the legislature’s time, as well as that of the United States Congress in “testimony” there, in a failed pursuit of authority to verify voter rolls he already has! In the end, this embarrassing spectacle had only one purpose: to spread baseless fear and suspicion of minority voters.
6. Rep. J. Paul Brown.
Rep. J. Paul Brown could be one of the most unqualified representatives to ever serve in the Colorado General Assembly. Elected on a Tea Party wave in 2010, nobody seemed to pay attention to his wild conspiracy theories about the United Nations and threats of civil war in response to fictitious gun confiscation plans. In the legislature, he has argued against accountant ethics classes, stood practically alone in votes against children’s health care, and has been strangely obsessed with making it easier to hunt bears. Rep. Brown is becoming a poster child for why voters need to pay attention all the way down the ballot.
7. Republican Study Committee of Colorado and the Tea Party.
Barely a blip on the media’s radar this year, a significant shift in Colorado politics occurred when a number of conservative legislators, including House Speaker Frank McNulty, abandoned the arch-conservative Republican Study Committee of Colorado led by extreme ex-Sen. Dave Schultheis. Although most legislators who cut ties with Schultheis claim to still support his agenda, the Tea Party’s vicious attacks on fellow conservatives like Rep. Amy Stephens over the health care exchange bill might be too much for the old-school power brokers to tolerate.
8. Rep. Robert Ramirez.
Progressives tried once again to pass a bill giving the children of undocumented residents of Colorado the chance to attend college at the same rates paid by other state residents. This would have allowed students on a path to citizenship to continue their education and maximize their future contribution to Colorado’s economy. Freshman right wing Rep. Robert Ramirez cast a deciding vote to kill this legislation, but has said since that he would work with proponents to pass something similar next year. As a key vote against opportunity this year, Rep. Ramirez is a loser. If he keeps his word and works to pass it next year, he’ll move to the winner’s column.
9. Committed LGBT couples in Colorado.
Poll after poll has shown that attitudes toward basic rights for gays and lesbians in Colorado are changing. Large majorities of our state’s residents now support civil unions for committed LGBT couples. This year, many conservative legislators stepped up and did the right thing, giving great hope to advocates for equality–even as the legislation failed in a committee controlled by old-line conservatives on the wrong side of history. It is with sadness that loving, committed LGBT couples in Colorado must still be considered losers this year, but next year will come and progressives will try again. It’s going to happen, and soon.
10. New GOP chairman Ryan Call, who thinks you are stupid.
New Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call got off to a bad start after his election in March, when he laughably claimed on a television news interview that it was his party who sought to save funding for public education from the huge cuts that were once thought necessary. But Call’s claim is disputed by the facts, and by numerous press accounts of the budget battle. It doesn’t really matter, though, because nobody believed a word of it . Not a great start to four years of trying to convince the state’s voters than you can be trusted.
