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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, March 8, 2010 CONTACT: Bobby Clark, Deputy Director at 303-905-8375
DENVER: Responding to news that the online retailer Amazon.com has terminated relationships with business affiliates in Colorado in protest of a new state law, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization released the following statement:
"After profiting from millions of dollars in direct sales to Colorado residents for years, Amazon is determined to protect their unfair advantage over local brick-and-mortar retailers," said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark. "This year, the Colorado legislature passed a law to enforce collection of taxes for online purchases, leveling the playing field between massive online merchants like Amazon and local retailers who pay their taxes and employ Coloradans.
"Rather than comply with the law as Amazon already does in many other localities where they collect sales tax on purchases, they chose to 'make an example' of our state, and unfairly punish their own business associates for political gain. Amazon clearly expects Coloradans to react hastily and in anger, but our state's citizens understand who is manipulating the situation for their own financial and political benefit.
"Local companies like the Tattered Cover Bookstore and Ultimate Electronics, who employ thousands of Colorado residents and pay their sales taxes back into the community, have suffered greatly while Amazon profited from an unfair advantage. With millions of dollars in badly-needed revenue set to make its way into the budgets for Colorado's schools, roads, and health care, standing behind Main Street over online behemoths like Amazon is an easy choice."
Senator Michael Bennet's support of using Senate rules to pass strong healthcare reform including a public option have been gaining support. Over thirty Senators including members of leadership such as Senators Reid, Durbin, and Schumer have declared their public support--not only for passing fixes to the Senate healthcare bill that would make it more in line with the priorities of the House bill, but to add a public option that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will reduce the deficit.
From Senator Udall's office:
Senator Udall shares President Obama’s over-arching priority of enacting meaningful and comprehensive health reform that will increase quality and access and put our system on a sustainable track by lowering costs for small businesses, taxpayers, and American families. As part of reform, he continues to feel that inclusion of a public option to go head-to-head with private insurers could play a significant role in bringing down costs and offering more affordable options to Coloradans. He thinks it’s important that such a plan – like the one approved in the House bill – negotiate reimbursement rates while competing on a level playing field with the private sector, and if such a plan comes up for a vote under the reconciliation process, he would vote for it.
It makes sense that injured people should get help as quickly and with as few hoops to jump through as possible, and deserve to be treated fairly by insurance companies. There's an important bill before the Colorado legislature that needs your support today if you agree.
Insurance policies often include dense 'legalese' language that allows insurance companies to unfairly take money from injured people who get restitution for their injuries from other sources. That's just wrong, it allows these insurance companies, who have already been paid to provide coverage, to "double-dip" by reaching into the pockets of an injured person even if the injured person has uncompensated losses such as unpaid medical bills or treatments not covered by their insurance--not to mention lost wages, or future medical expenses.
If you agree with me that this is wrong and needs to be fixed, click here to sign our petition in support of Colorado House Bill 1168:
Insurance companies say they're for 'reforming' the legal system, but because of their contract language insurance companies can interfere with the settlement process for injury claims at will. This makes voluntary settlements more difficult and leads to unnecessary, wasteful, and costly litigation--exactly what insurance companies say they don't want.
What's more, insurance companies in Colorado are allowed to get paid twice--once through the premiums they charge to cover people to begin with, and again by taking an up-front cut of whatever restitution victims manage to get from responsible parties. When that happens, injured people who have uncompensated losses are left hurting.
The fact is, injured people, not insurance companies, are the ones who must pursue restitution after an accident. Insurance companies sit idly on the sidelines, without helping, and then swoop in after a settlement is made to take money from the injured person--a victim who has already paid their premiums!
The solution: fully compensate the injured for their losses before insurance companies get to take their cut. Sign our petition urging the Colorado legislature to support House Bill 1168.
Amendment 54 is dead. May it rest in peace, forever undisturbed.
I think it is worth recalling what Amendment 54 was all about. While i don't often rely upon the mainstream media to explain issues related to work life and democratic process, i think their perception of this bill gives a good overview.
There was one newspaper that approved of Amendment 54, the Aspen Times. Their entire editorial comment in support consisted of,
Newspapers opposing Amendment 54 included the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, The Mountain Mail (Salida), Pueblo Chieftain, Longmont Times-Call, Grand Junction Sentinel, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Boulder Weekly, Cortez Journal, The Durango Telegraph, Yellow Scene Magazine, and the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
Some of their comments, and a brief roundup of other labor issues after the fold.
Did you know that it's legal for predatory lenders to charge as much as 521% interest on payday loans? That's not a typo.
Out of state payday lenders have flocked to Colorado in the last decade because the once right-wing Colorado legislature passed a loophole in 2000 that exempted these predatory lenders from having to charge reasonable interest rates. You've seen them--they cluster along main streets and in low-income neighborhoods, preying on hard-working Coloradans and taking more than $80 MILLION in interest and fees out of our economy every year!
In these times, banks, credit card companies, and these payday loan sharks are making record profits on the backs of Colorado consumers. If we organize, we can take on the payday loan shark industry. We don't have to wait on Washington DC to do anything-the power is right here in Colorado's legislature. They broke it in 2000, and they can fix it today. We want our state legislature to act.
Jane Norton's Ad Campaign Bought and Paid For by D.C. Lobbyists FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 CONTACT: Bobby Clark, Executive Director
DENVER: Responding to news of former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton's forthcoming ad campaign, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization, released the following statement:
"The people of Colorado are fed up with corporate lobbyists running things in Washington, and no amount of advertising can whitewash Jane Norton's ties with corporate special interests," said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark. "With as many right-wing lobbyists as Jane Norton has surrounded herself with, it's not surprising that the only ideas we've heard from her so far are straight from the tired old right-wing insider playbook."
There’s a bite-sized “100 Grand” bar, a “Sugar Daddy,” a can of cola and a bottle of pesticide. It’s all inside a McDonald’s “Happy Meal” bag.
The goody bags were delivered to the Capitol today by liberal group, “ProgressNow” Colorado in response to a series of appearances GOP candidate for governor Scott McInnis is making across the state to protest Democratic-backed proposals to eliminate tax exemptions and credits for a variety of industries and products.
[...]
“Scott McInnis has failed repeatedly to identify his own plan to balance the state budget,” ProgressNow Executive Director Bobby Clark said. “Instead, McInnis has shown why he earned the name ‘McLobbyist’ – the only position he ever seems to have is the one that corporate special interests tell him to have.
“Working families, senior citizens and students around the state are making sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on, and suspending a small percentage of the tax breaks for business that cost Colorado billions of dollars every year is not too much to ask for.”
Sean Duffy, a spokesman for McInnis, said ProgressNow is wrong to claim it represents working families.
“With continued stunts that ignore the facts and make light of hundreds of families every day coming home to find out that a breadwinner has lost his or her job, they’re only deepening their own irrelevance,” Duffy said. “Scott McInnis is the only candidate for governor who is out talking to the workers and small business owners who are going to be hit hard by these tax increases.”
So where would McInnis cut? Duffy said the former congressman believes the state should look at efficiencies like merging departments.
Which ones?
“We don’t know. We’re looking at it,” Duffy said...
Have you heard Jane Norton's latest radical idea? Taxing your groceries, medicine and health care!
Speaking before a small group of hardcore conservatives this week, Norton asserted that both a "national sales tax" and a so-called "flat tax" were two options she supported. (Ft. Morgan Times 2/9/10) These tired old right-wing ideas have been discredited for years because they would shift the tax burden away from the wealthy while hitting seniors, students, working families, and the poor.
By every objective measure, a national sales tax on virtually all goods and services (estimated by proponents to be 19% or higher) would shift the tax burden away from the wealthy and hurt seniors, students and working families.
And the "flat tax" is no better. The Brookings Institution says that a flat tax would raise the tax burden for many workers from 30% to nearly 40%, while eliminating most popular deductions for things like healthcare. The only people a "flat tax" benefits are the rich, who would pay a much smaller percentage of their income than they do today.
Click here to tell Norton that these are bad ideas:
These are the latest in a recent string of radical ideas from Jane Norton. She recently told a "Tea Party" gathering that the Department of Education should be abolished. She's said that the federal government should have "no role" whatsoever in health care (this means you, Medicare recipients). And Norton even claimed that President Obama cares more about "terrorist rights" than protecting Americans.
Add your comments and help us send Jane Norton a message that mainstream Colorado rejects her radical ideas. Thanks for demanding better from our public leaders.
Colorado is in the middle of the greatest economic and fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. Working families, senior citizens, and college students around the state are making sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on.
Right now in the Colorado legislature, a crucial debate is underway to close specific loopholes and suspend a few special-interest giveaways in order to fund essential services like schools, health care, and public safety in a balanced way. But corporate lobbyists are pulling out all the stops, pressuring your representatives to shift the burden onto the middle class and preserve these giveaways--the legislature needs to hear from you today.
Colorado loses billions of dollars each year in needless giveaways of your tax dollars for things like fast food packaging, corporate electric bills, even delivering junk mail to your home. The Governor and legislative leaders have proposed eliminating some of these loopholes. In response, corporate lobbyists flooded the state capitol, pushing a proposal to tax your groceries and medicine instead--a terrible idea that would hit average working families the hardest.
Please take 30 seconds right now: tell your legislators to reject corporate lobbyists and close these special interest loopholes to balance Colorado's budget.
With revenue to fund Colorado's vital public services plummeting in the current recession, we need everyone to come together and do what is necessary to ensure that our citizens are healthy, our streets are safe and our children have the education they need to compete in the global economy. It's time for corporate and other special interests to pay their fair share, and suspending a small fraction of the over $2 billion Colorado loses every year in corporate loopholes and giveaways is not too much to ask.
Thanks for standing up for what's right in these challenging times. Together, we'll see Colorado through today's tough choices and emerge stronger.
DENVER: As citizens from around Colorado gathered today at the state capitol, asking Big Business to pay their fair share to help balance Colorado's budget, ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark released the following statement:
"Working families, senior citizens and students around the state are making hard sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on, and suspending a small percentage of the tax breaks for business that cost Colorado billions of dollars every year is not too much to ask for.
It was dismaying, but not surprising, to hear today that former Congressman Scott 'McLobbyist' McInnis has weighed in on the side of Big Business and against Colorado's middle class families, praising business' lobbying efforts to kill this important budget-balancing legislation. Instead of paying their fair share to help balance Colorado's budget, business lobbyists actually proposed charging sales tax on groceries and medicine--a move that would cause true hardship around the state, hitting those who can least afford higher taxes the hardest. What's more, McInnis fails once again to provide an alternative that would enable the state to meet its obligations.
Scott McInnis and his Big Business lobbyist friends should be ashamed of themselves for proposing we tax the neediest Colorado families before they give up a single one of their precious corporate giveaways. It's unconscionable, and the voters of Colorado won't stand for it."
The Denver Daily News follows up on ProgressNow Colorado's "early Christmas present" -- a copy of the Colorado budget -- to former congressman Scott McInnis.
Former Congressman Scott McInnis is being asked by his opponents for concrete details on how he plans on balancing the budget if elected governor.
But the McInnis campaign maintains that it is too early to be suggesting specific budget-balancing measures, noting that the budget McInnis might receive as governor in January 2011 would likely be drastically different than what lawmakers are currently working on.
The issue has become a talking point for Democrats who are fighting McInnis’ chances to beat Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in 2010.
ProgressNow Colorado sent McInnis an “early Christmas present” last week when they showed up at his campaign headquarters in Greenwood Village with the state budget in hand. The group is citing a recent interview with McInnis in which he said he wouldn’t have an accurate budget to work with for at least a year.
[...]
But McInnis campaign spokesman Josh Green says his opponents are taking the comment out of context. He said what McInnis was referring to is that the current budget doesn’t give a truly accurate picture of what McInnis would need to begin balancing in 2010 if elected governor.
“We’re still nearly a year out from the election — it’s been one of the earliest cycles in memory — Scott naturally is not going to come out with a detailed plan for the budget, and frankly, as the legislative session goes forward, the budget is going to change and everything’s going to change itself,” said Green. “To say Scott doesn’t have a plan, that’s not quite accurate.”
[...]
But Democrats keep turning their attention back to McInnis’ budget-balancing strategies, arguing that the former congressman from Grand Junction has no real ideas.
“If he’s going to criticize his opponent’s position, then he needs to actually have positions of his own,” said ProgressNow member Bobby Clark. “It’s a cop-out to say he doesn’t have a copy of the budget.”
The last word from ProgressNow's Bobby Clark (disclosure: my boss) is what's most important: Scott McInnis has indeed offered many suggestions for the budget -- where it suits him, like calling for the repeal of FASTER and its millions for badly needed transportation maintenance. McInnis offers specifics when it suits him, then claims he can't offer any specifics when doing so might not cast him in the most positive light. The point he makes is that budget conditions are almost certain to change between now and the time he would hypothetically take office as governor, but doesn't that call into question the promises McInnis has made?
I've been doing this for a while, I certainly understand that challengers benefit from being able to nit-pick at an incumbent's decisions without having to make them. But for the good of our state in these difficult times, we need to insist these come-lately right wing 'saviors' put their budget plans in writing. Our future is too important to let "McLobbyist" have it both ways.
Christmas Comes Early for Scott "McLobbyist" McInnis Santa Delivers McInnis Copy of Colorado Budget, Eliminating His Excuse for Dodging Questions
Denver, CO--Speaking outside former Rep. Scott McInnis' offices today, Santa Claus offered the following statement:
"First of all, Merry Christmas to the great state of Colorado! Santa cares very much for all the boys and girls in your state, and I'm pleased to report that the majority of you have avoided my 'naughty list' this year.
I was troubled to hear in a recent interview that Scott McInnis doesn't believe he can 'get his hands on' the Colorado budget, and that it might take a year before he can! Because I do a great deal of business on the internet these days, I know the complete Colorado budget for this year, along with Governor Bill Ritter's budget recommendations for next year, are available at the Colorado state government website.
When I heard about Scott's problem, I knew exactly what he needed for Christmas this year: a complete, printed copy of the Colorado budget--wrapped in a lovely red bow! Next time Scott is asked about his budget plans, he won't be able to say he 'can't get his hands on them.' And remember, boys and girls, it's naughty to tell a lie!"
Stupak and Nelson have finally given the liberals in the House a serious, principled reason to walk away. The dynamics still argue that they won't do it for this or any other reason, and that they will simply allow women to get shafted. (There is apparently no limit to the amount of shit the left must be forced to eat to get this bill passed.)
But the stakes are now higher for liberals than they have been. Voting to restrict a woman's ability to exercize her right to abortion in half the country is as much of a gut check as voting for a bill that doesn't contain a public option. Some might actually calculate that it's a bridge too far. And those who were already leaning toward voting against the bill for all those other reasons will now feel much more secure that they are standing up for liberal principles when they do it.
There is such a thing as the straw that broke the camel's back, even for liberals who desperately want to pass health care reform. This might be it.
Diana DeGette and Louise Slaughter are not on the bandwagon to eliminate a fundamental right for women.
They say the new compromise is possibly unconstitutional, and that they and other pro-choice House members could still reject it.
The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee says the House must stick close to the Senate's version of health care reform or risk losing the 60 votes needed to pass it in the Senate.
I agree with Howard Dean that this version of HCR should be DOA.
Colorado faces a crisis in providing the quality education to our children they deserve, and radicals are preparing for new attacks on our public schools next year.
Last week, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, speaking to an audience of "Tea Party" right-wing radicals, reportedly called for the abolition of the United States Department of Education.[i] That's an incredibly reckless and foolish idea. The Department of Education administers billions of dollars of direct funding each year for public schools all over the country, including hundreds of millions to Colorado--not to mention direct responsibility for everything from student loan and scholarship programs to accommodation for children with disabilities.
Schools in Colorado are being closed due to a chronic inability to provide for them. Abolishing the Department of Education won't do anything to solve real problems, it's just fringe rhetoric. Sign our petition to Norton, demanding she get serious about education:
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado ranks 40th in the nation in education funding per student. As a percentage of personal income, Colorado ranks an abysmal 49th in our commitment to funding public education.[ii] Our state faces an ongoing fiscal crisis that is likely to hamper our ability to properly meet the needs of our children for years to come. Colorado public schools rely on federal funds to meet the needs of all of our children, from AP whiz kids to those most in need of extra support.
That's the reality, but what do extremist conservatives want to talk about? Radical nonsense. Abolishing the Department of Education. At a time when leadership and innovative thinking is needed more than ever, the right is out of touch with the needs of Colorado's most important institutions.
Sign our petition: tell Jane Norton to get serious about education, not pander to extremists.
We got some interesting hate mail in response to our action alert about this billboard:
We're used to hate mail from right-wingers. When your stated mission is to counter the right-wing on every front, it comes with the territory. So in keeping with that mission, I'm happy to share some of those messages with you tonight. Other than removing personal details, the spelling and grammar are unedited.
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.
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.
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
Recently, Sen. Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) said this to his followers on Twitter: "Don't for a second, think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the U.S. Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's Roll."
As reported in today's Denver Post, Ed Kowalski, a director for the New York-based 9/11 Families for a Secure America, said Schultheis was "clearly" referring to United Flight 93, the plane that hijackers flew into the ground on 9/11. (Denver Post 11/12/09). "Let's roll" reportedly were the last words from one of the passengers just before they attempted to storm the cockpit.
Schultheis claims in the Post article that he wasn't referring to Flight 93 and comparing President Obama to Al Qeada terrorists. But that's baloney, and we all know it.
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?
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."
There’s a bite-sized “100 Grand” bar, a “Sugar Daddy,” a can of cola and a bottle of pesticide. It’s all inside a McDonald’s “Happy Meal” bag.
The Denver Daily News follows up on ProgressNow Colorado's "early Christmas present" -- a 
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