That’s the nickname that my friends at Complete Colorado have hung on freshman Democrat Congresswoman Betsy Markey.  And it seems appropriate. An article from The Hill and featured on Complete Colorado describes Markey’s new ad campaign where she pretends to be offended with congressional approval of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, a.k.a. TARP.  In fact she claims:

Maybe it’s my 20 years as a small-business owner, but these Wall Street bailouts really offend me… No one ever gave me a bailout.

Bailout is just another word for cop-out…And here in Colorado, that’s not how we do business.

Oh please. Does she honestly expect me or any other voter in the 4th CD to believe that she would have stood up to Nancy Pelosi and voted “No”? Since the vote was taken in October 2008, before she was in Congress, there is no way to know how she would have voted. I guess we are supposed to take her at her word. As someone who has kept track of her voting record, I would bet dollars to donuts that Markey, who went against the wishes of her constituents and with Pelosi on Obamacare, cap and trade, card check and the stimulus, would have voted yes.

Markey has yet to prove that she has or can challenge her party’s leadership. She may be a blue dog democrat, but she’s one with all bark and no bite.

On my radio show today GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes said his “short list” for Lt. Governor includes someone from Weld County with both executive experience in the Governor’s mansion and legislative experience as an elected member of the Colorado General Assembly.  Face the State has speculated that it might be either Senator Kevin Lundberg or Senator Scott Renfroe.  He wouldn’t say whether he was considering a man or a woman.

Neither Lundberg nor Renfroe has executive experience.

So who does? I thought of Greeley Mayor Tom Norton who served as CDOT director under Governor Bill Owens and was president of the Colorado State Senate during the 1990s.  But that was really just a wild guess — one that I don’t think is accurate.

A listener provided a great guess.  Someone who endorsed Dan Maes well before Scott McInnis’ “water” gate scandal. Someone with both executive experience as the head of DORA and legislative experience as the elected representative from HD 50.  I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of this person.  My apologies to my friend Tambor Williams, who would make an excellent Lt. Governor.

Tambor most recently appeared on my show to explain her role on the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

Tambor would be a great choice, but then I am biased because I think Tambor would also make a great Governor. Remember this is all just speculation. Maes will make his announcement tomorrow. Until then, have fun speculating.

The term “jobless recovery” always has left me confused.  In fact, I’ve pondered the term on my show on more than one occasion. I don’t claim to be an economist but words should mean something.  So, exactly how can we be in a “recovery” when unemployment remains high — especially considering how much of our children’s money we have spent in a feeble attempt to keep unemployment below 8 percent as Christina Romer and the Obama administration promised?

Fortunately columnist Al Lewis clarifies for everyone. First he explains the prevailing description of our current economic situation:

After trillions of dollars worth of Federal Reserve maneuvers and government-stimulus spending, it became more benignly known as “the recovery.”

It’s since been called the fragile recovery, the sluggish recovery and even the jobless recovery. With the national debt at staggering levels, you could even call it the expensive recovery. But it’s always the recovery. Never, the recession.

Just last week, Fed officials actually began calling it the “slowed” recovery.

Refreshingly Lewis doesn’t buy the term “recovery” and calls a spade a spade:

To call it any kind of a recovery is profoundly blinding…

Why?

We rarely hear from unemployed economists, because economists work for banks, and banks get bailouts, or they work for governments that tax and print money. If more economists got pink slips, we’d likely hear more about the damage that double-digit unemployment does to an economy over an extended period of time.

As Lewis puts it, we never really recovered in the first place.

In a video appearance before the Western States Transportation Alliance, Congresswoman Betsy Markey “spends the whole beginning of this greeting talking about potential taxes to pay for spending in a surface transportation bill” reports Who Said You Said, which posted the video.

Markey’s implication that taxpayers aren’t sending enough of their money to Washington begs a couple of questions. First, what has Washington been doing with the money it already has? Let me answer that in part.  A new project of mine, Mothers Against Debt (check out MAD on FaceBook too), reported that the Federal Highway Administration gave Arizona $1.25 million to build special squirrel bridges “so they don’t end up on the menu at the road kill cafe.”

Second, the federal government will spend roughly $3.7 trillion this fiscal year. If infrastructure is a proper function of government, why isn’t Washington prioritizing its budget so that infrastructure gets funded appropriately?  Let me answer that one too, because roads and bridges aren’t a priority for those currently in power.

So let’s clarify all this.  Squirrels are a higher priority than drivers and taxpayers. No wonder our children’s national debt is more than $13 trillion.

It seems that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Democrat gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper can’t get along.

First Mayor Hickenlooper embraced global warming and former Green Jobs Czar Van Jones, while Candidate Hick doesn’t share the same enthusiasm for either.

Candidate Hick criticized Governor Bill Ritter’s new oil and gas regulations until part of his Mayor Hick base — the Eco-Left — got mad. Now he is backtracking. Oh, wait, Hick’s clarifying.

And now, Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado reveals that Mayor Hick supported the proposed “crash tax” for any visitor who has an at-fault accident within the city limits of Denver:

Hickenlooper’s office again defended the idea, this time through spokesman Eric Brown, and this time a little more forcefully. “We support it. This ordinance follows through on part of the 2010 budget presented to and approved by City Council last year,” Brown told the Denver Daily News.

Yet Candidate Hick has a different take as Todd summarizes:

“We support it,” the Mayor’s office said unequivocally.  And even though John Hickenlooper sees a horrible economic injustice of the fact that good drivers subsidize the accident response costs for bad drivers, and even though he needed to right the injustice of other kids in the sandbox not playing fair (never mind the fact THOSE districts may have been concerned about the injustice of good drivers subsidizing the bad), the Mayor still says, “I don’t think we’re terribly wedded to it one way or the other.”

Hick also says, if he is elected Governor, he will sign legislation banning crash taxes.

Let’s get this straight.  Mayor Hick wants the crash tax because Denver spent too much of your money and need the cash to help plug the $100 million budget shortfall.  Candidate Hick knows the crash tax wars won’t play well statewide on the campaign trail so he isn’t “wedded to it one way or the other.” And he would be willing to ban them if elected.

Confused? Understandable.  So is Hick.

Every year I watch the Greeley Stampede Independence Day Parade. Usually, I am half of the broadcast team for 1310 KFKA. This year, Scooter McGee took my place so I could simply enjoy the parade from the comfort of the mobile studio. Because I didn’t have to broadcast, it afforded me the great luxury of observing the crowd as onlookers watched the parade. And as I have done for the last few years, I provide my parade observations:

First, it was held on Saturday, July 3, to accommodate Sunday religious services, which I think is a kind gesture but it’s odd having the 4th of July parade on July 3rd. This really messed up my internal calendar.  Today, feels like Sunday instead of Monday.

Second, it’s still boring. I’ve been critical of the Stampede parade in the past because it is sterile.  A few years ago, the Stampede Committee put a stop to the traditional water gun fights.  They also put a stop to throwing candy and politics.  As a result, the parade is dull and one dimensional.

There is one thing that really struck me — how they received elected officials, candidates for office and their supporters. The reaction seemed to reflect the mood of a country that has little faith in its political institutions as the economy continues to falter.

When the Democrats, including Congresswoman Betsy Markey, Denver Mayor and gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper, and senatorial candidate Andrew Romanoff, passed by my spot, there was no booing, hissing, clapping, cheering or jeering. There was nothing — just erie silence.  The only attention they got was when my colleague George Gray briefly interviewed all three for the parade broadcast.

Last year , Markey was met with silence as well.  But this was different.  It seemed directed at the entire political class. I have no idea if they got the same reception along the rest of the parade route but it was nothing but silence from my position.

In this very conservative community, Republicans didn’t fare much better. There were polite claps but not the usual cheering.

This tells me that candidates, especially incumbents, will have to work a little harder for every vote.  This is a tough crowd.

Congresswoman Betsy Markey has time to play  UPS union member and get some TV face time:

But she has no time to answer constituent questions or questions from me.  Questions that I have posed to Markey’s office that have gone unanswered:

• Before the Cap and Trade vote I sent several emails asking which way she was voting. Neither she nor her office ever responded, but apparently she did speak with Denver Post columnist Susan Greene.
• After her yes vote on ObamaCare, I asked her to come on my show to explain her vote.  Her spokesperson Ben Marter responded once but never with any available times for an interview.
• Immediately after Mexican President Calderon’s address to Congress I sent an email to Marter asking if Congresswoman Markey stood and applauded when Calderon criticized the new Arizona law on illegal immigration.  I also asked if she supported his characterization of Mexico’s violent crime being traced to the US and the sunset of the “assault weapons ban.”
• On Saturday, I sent an email asking her position on legislation requiring states to allow collective bargaining for first responders, especially considering that both Fort Collins and Weld County voters have rejected such measures.

Markey delivers for UPS but not answers for voters.  Thanks to WhoSaidYouSaid for keeping an eye on Betsy Markey.

Colorado Democrat State Party Chair Pat Waak is simply glowing over the new jobs report that caused the stock market to tank today.  In the press release posted below, Waak claims that hundreds of thousands of mothers and fathers “here in Colorado and across the county were able to return to the workplace after a period of unemployment.”

Perhaps she missed the memo that most of the 431,000 jobs created were temporary Census Bureau jobs. But everyone else read it.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 323 points, suffering its third largest decline this year and closing below 10,000. And at 9.7 percent, the unemployment rate is still well above the stimulus projected rate of 8 percent. Chances are it will go up again once the census jobs are complete.

She goes on to urge Republicans to join Democrats as they continue to expand government payrolls at the expense of the private sector. I doubt she will get many takers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Grace Lopez Ramirez
(303) 623-4762 x112 Office
(303) 877-8173 Cell
glramirez@coloradodems.org

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Waak’s Statement on May Job Numbers

DENVER — Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the May jobs report.  In that report, the Bureau announced that 431,000 jobs were created last month, including 41,000 private-sector jobs.  As a result of that job creation, the unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent.  As those numbers illustrate, national job growth is now a continuing trend, stemming in large part from bold Administration actions including the Recovery Act, tax credits for working Americans, extended unemployment benefits, and hiring incentives.  Those actions are putting money into the pockets of middle-class Americans and fueling economic recovery and job growth.  Over the next several weeks and months, President Obama and Democrats in Congress will seek to build on those efforts with additional recovery legislation, including by extending unemployment benefits for several more months, providing critical assistance to states, and expanding job-creating tax credits.

In response to the news on May’s jobs numbers, Colorado Democratic Party Chair Pat Waak issued the following statement:

“Today’s job numbers tell the story of the good news that echoed last month through hundreds of thousands of American households as mothers and fathers here in Colorado and across the country were able to return to the workplace after a period of unemployment.  Although our national unemployment rate remains far too high, we are beginning to emerge from the catastrophic recession of the last two years.  Even as we do, President Obama and Democrats remain committed to doing everything possible to promote continued economic growth and job creation.

“It is simply not possible to replace the 8 million jobs lost in the economic fall-out of the recession overnight.  However, today’s numbers illustrate that our country is now moving in the right direction, in large part due to the decisive actions taken by President Obama and Democrats in Congress to promote economic recovery.  We have come a long way from one year ago, and our economy continues to improve.  Gov. Ritter is taking aggressive steps to help Colorado regain economic health and restore economic growth and opportunity throughout Colorado. Companies continue to relocate to and expand in Colorado.

“In the coming weeks and months, Democrats in Washington will work to solidify that improvement.  I hope that Republicans in Congress can finally be counted on to put away their destructive economic policies of the past and join with Democrats in cementing positive growth.”

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A little noticed article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan raises some big questions.  The newspaper reports that bills introduced into both the House and Senate would provide tax cuts for small breweries such as the Fort Collins Brewery and New Belgium Brewing Company.  The purpose of both pieces of legislation is too make the breweries more competitive with larger breweries and to create jobs:

Paul Gatza, director of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, said research conducted at Harvard indicates that the bill would create 2,700 jobs in the first 12 to 18 months and an additional 375 for the next four years for the nation’s breweries.

‘A company the size of New Belgium could save around 12 percent on its annual federal excise bill every year,’ Gatza said. ‘For everyone else in the Fort Collins region, it would mean a 50 percent cut on federal excise tax.’

Congresswoman Betsy Markey, whose district includes both the Fort Collins Brewery and New Belgium Brewing Company , is a co-sponsor of the House bill.

Now for the rest of the story…

Does Markey’s support for tax cuts signal a change in economic and political philosophy?  Could the woman who voted yes on Cap and Trade and ObamaCare, two enormous tax increases, suddenly realize that tax cuts actually spur economic activity and create jobs? Color me skeptical.

Or could her support for the tax cuts be for a different purpose?  According to the Federal Election Commission, New Belgium founder Jeff Lebesch and CEO Kim Jordan donated $4800 each to her campaign. I’ll let you decide, but at least now you know the rest of the story.

Democrat senate candidate and former Colorado Speaker Andrew Romanoff doesn’t want to “politicize” the controversy surrounding the White House’s job offers if he were to drop out of the Senate race, clearing the field for Governor Ritter appointed Senator Michael Bennet.

Several stories worth reading:

Denver Post’s Romanoff confirms job offers

Email with job descriptions from White House to Andrew Romanoff

Politico’s White House stumbles

Politico’s White House wants to avoid primary

Couple of points: This type of political “horse trading” is unethical at best and illegal at worst. Time for a special prosecutor. In Colorado we don’t like this type of political corruption.  Second, this president sold himself as being above the political fray.  So much for Obama’s embrace of transparency.