This Saturday, August 11th at the NSRF we will hear from Greg Brophy on limiting large sums of money in political contests.
The NSRF meets on the second Saturday of every month from 9:00 am-11:00 am at Amazing Grace Church, 541 E. 99th Place in Thornton. Use the north door to enter. Admission is $5 per person. Coffee, orange juice, bottled water, fruit, & pastries are included with your admission.
http://tracer.sos.colorado.gov/PublicSite/homepage.aspx
The following is all you need to know about Faith Winter:
Although Winter was on the negotiating team that rewrote Senate Bill 1, a transportation funding effort, all twelve bills Winter sponsored in 2018 focused on increasing government regulations or increased spending.
None dealt with Colorado’s failing highway system, energy or K-12 education funding.
July 26, 2018 By Sherrie Peif
Thornton — If Republican State Senator Beth Martinez Humenik had just one message for constituents in Senate District 24 it would be to look at her record.
Martinez Humenik said she is proud of the way she’s been able to reach across the aisle and get things done in her first term of office. She believes that trait makes her better equipped to continue serving the people of her district for another four years.
Last session, Martinez Humenik put her name on 23 bills. She sponsored or co-sponsored 15 of those with Democrats and 14 of those were signed by the Governor.
Faith Winter
Her opponent, Rep. Faith Winter, D-Adams County, had four of the eight bills she sponsored or co-sponsored with a Republican signed by the Governor — three of those had Martinez Humenik’s name on them as well.
“I work very well, collaboratively across the aisle,” Martinez Humenik said. “Almost all my bills from the time I got elected have been bipartisan bills because I know the importance of working together to get things done for the people that we serve.”
Complete Colorado is taking a look at key races for Democrats in their effort to “take back” the Senate. Senate District 22 has already been profiled.
Winter did not return requests for interview from Complete Colorado.
Republicans currently hold a one-vote majority in the Senate, with seven seats term-limited — three Democrats, three Republicans and one unaffiliated, formally held by Cheri Jahn, who caucused with the Democrats. One more seat, Senate District 11 has two new contenders as Democrat Mike Merrifield is not seeking re-election.
Ten more seats are up for election with incumbents. Seven are currently held by Republicans to just three by Democrats. In all, Democrats need to win eight of the open 17 seats to gain control.
By contrast in the House, Democrats hold a seven-vote majority with seven Democrat seats open, five to term limits. Winter’s decision to run for the Senate opened her seat, as did Brittany Pettersen’s decision to run for Senate District 22. Lang Sias being selected as Walker Stapleton’s choice for Lieutenant Governor left the lone Republican seat without an incumbent in House District 27.
Winter outpaces Martinez Humenik in the fundraising effort, raising nearly $200,000 as of the last reporting period, with a large portion of it coming in Political Action Committee (PAC) funding from such organizations as the Public Education Committee, Colorado Conservation Action Fund, Political Education Committee — which is the group that spearheads Democratic Socialists of America’s political education work — and Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, to name a few.
Winter also has dozens of the individual maximum contributions ($400) from donors affiliated with large corporations, healthcare non-profits, education, anti-Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) groups and lobbying firms.
Winter had nearly $150,000 cash on hand at the end of the last reporting period.
Martinez Humenik on the other hand has raised just under $52,000 through the last reporting period. She started off the campaign with $10,000 in the bank and has $34,000 cash on hand.
Martinez Humenik has donated more than $8,000 of her own money to her campaign and has mostly small donations from individuals. She does have some PAC funding, but most is in $400 donations.
She is supported by such groups as the Colorado Medical Society Small Donor Committee, the Colorado Petroleum Marketers Association and the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers State Political Committee, to name a few.
Winter is part of a larger national movement by Democrats to make the 2018 races about identity politics, which is focused on women, Latinas and homosexuals.
According to Emily’s List — a non-profit whose mission is to “work for larger leadership roles for pro-choice Democratic women in our legislative bodies” — 52 percent of Democrats who have filed to run for state legislative offices are women and more than one-third of Colorado’s legislature is women.
Winter’s platform: “(Democrat) women will take back the Colorado State Senate” is in line with her involvement with the “Sister District Project” — whose motto is “The Blue Wave is Coming.”
According to its website the organization “aims to ensure that all Americans have equal representation and our government works for all people, not just the minority in power.” However, the organization admits its purpose is to make the representation and the power more progressive by organizing “volunteers into local teams based on where they live, and “sister” this deep blue energy with swing districts across the country to support strategic state races that matter.”
Candidates supported by this effort are “paired with teams of volunteers who are holding fundraisers, making calls, writing postcards, and even planning canvassing trips.”
Tammy Story, who is running against incumbent Tim Neville in Senate District 16, is the only other “Sister District Project” candidate.
Winter made a name for herself in 2018 by leading the #MeToo movement at the Capitol. She successfully lead the expulsion of fellow representative Steve Lebsock, in an unprecedented workplace sexual harassment fight, the first expulsion in more than 100 years.
Lebsock recently told Denver Radio personality Karen Kataline, who was filling in on the Jimmy Lakey show, that the accusations were all part of a larger plot that included U.S. Congressman Ed Perlmutter and the chairwoman of the Colorado Democrat party Morgan Carroll targeting Republican men in the State Senate, where Republicans hold a one-vote majority.
Although Winter was on the negotiating team that rewrote Senate Bill 1, a transportation funding effort, all twelve bills Winter sponsored in 2018 focused on increasing government regulations or increased spending. None dealt with Colorado’s failing highway system, energy or K-12 education funding.
According to her campaign website her main focuses are on family, transportation, conservation and women’s rights.
Martinez Humenik’s views on the issues:
Gun Control — “Colorado has some of the strictest gun control measures in the United States. The federal government was here this year talking about them. We can make all the laws we want to, but we can’t control people’s behavior. We have a shortage of mental health providers. It’s even more critical in our rural communities. We have to find a better way to provide access to them and the care that is needed.”
Energy — “What has happened when we put all our eggs in one basket? 100 percent of anything is not a good thing. We have a plethora of natural resources here that we should be able to tap into. We have very strict restrictions to make sure it’s done responsibly. If we restrict setbacks to 2,500 feet, the state of Colorado’s economy is going to go down. People are going to lose jobs. This is all being driven by groups out of our state. If oil and gas go away, you will see a lot of new taxes and fees, and Colorado will become a state where business does not want to come in.”
The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) — “Having our tax laws the way they are helped us be successful through the recession. People just want us to be good stewards of their money. TABOR was voted on by the people. And until it is voted on by the people to take it out of the constitution, we have a duty to obey the laws of the constitution. While I believe it can be restrictive in some ways, I believe it was designed to do that so there wouldn’t be overspending. And whether people like it or not, it actually serves Colorado pretty well.”
Educational Choice — “I am in favor of parental choice for education. The public school system doesn’t serve every child the best it can. Parents need to have the opportunity to make that choice for their children.”
Growth — “Colorado is leading the way. We have a lot of diverse people coming together to lead the way and find what’s works best for Colorado. Right now, we have a lot of businesses moving here and we’re thriving so our economy is doing well, but the influx of people moving in is driving the housing market up to the point where a lot of the people who grew up here can’t afford to live here anymore. It’s a catch 22.”
Transportation — “We should have been addressing this and planning for this growth years ago, but nobody did it. Private/public partnerships are what we’ve been looking at for about five or six years now. I don’t know why people have an aversion to that because that’s the way we’re going to be able to fund some of these, and/or build coalitions with other groups that have funding. The state has to fund what is already in statute, so what has gotten cut in the past to make up for it is transportation and education.”
Overall Martinez Humenik said she works hard working with others on issues that make sense .
“I have built a solid reputation at the Capitol,” Martinez Humenik said. “Anyone is welcome in my office, no matter what their issue is. It has always been that way, and it will always continue to be that way. I’m willing to listen. I work very hard because what happens to the people I serve is very important to me.”
This Saturday at the NSRF we will hear from Colorado State Senator Beth Martinez Humenik, and Adams County Commissioner candidate Joyce Thomas. Both are on the ballot this November.
Beth won SD-24 four years ago giving Republicans control in the Colorado State Senate. If she isn’t re-elected, the Senate could shift to Democrat control and that means more government spending, higher taxes, more regulations, and laws as Democrats try to control your life.
Of the five AdCo Commissioners, four are Democrat and Joyce wants to add another Republican voice to the county’s governing body.
Both (and all Republican) candidates need your support, time, and money to stop the blue team.
We’ll also receive an update on the oil and gas presentation from a prior meeting.
The NSRF meets on the second Saturday of every month from 9:00 am-11:00 am at Amazing Grace Church, 541 E. 99th Place in Thornton. Use the north door to enter. Admission is $5 per person. Coffee, orange juice, bottled water, fruit, & pastries are included with your admission.
Next month we will hear from Greg Brophy on limiting large sums of money in political contests.
Click for Beth Martinex Humenik’s Facebook Page
Click for Joyce Thomas’ Facebook Page
Some economic migrants are using children as chits, but the problem is fixable — if Congress acts.The latest furor over Trump immigration policy involves the separation of children from parents at the border.
As usual, the outrage obscures more than it illuminates, so it’s worth walking through what’s happening here.
For the longest time, illegal immigration was driven by single males from Mexico. Over the last decade, the flow has shifted to women, children, and family units from Central America. This poses challenges we haven’t confronted before and has made what once were relatively minor wrinkles in the law loom very large.
The Trump administration isn’t changing the rules that pertain to separating an adult from the child. Those remain the same. Separation happens only if officials find that the adult is falsely claiming to be the child’s parent, or is a threat to the child, or is put into criminal proceedings.
It’s the last that is operative here. The past practice had been to give a free pass to an adult who is part of a family unit. The new Trump policy is to prosecute all adults. The idea is to send a signal that we are serious about our laws and to create a deterrent against re-entry. (Illegal entry is a misdemeanor, illegal re-entry a felony.)
When a migrant is prosecuted for illegal entry, he or she is taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals. In no circumstance anywhere in the U.S. do the marshals care for the children of people they take into custody. The child is taken into the custody of HHS, who cares for them at temporary shelters.
The criminal proceedings are exceptionally short, assuming there is no aggravating factor such as a prior illegal entity or another crime. The migrants generally plead guilty, and they are then sentenced to time served, typically all in the same day, although practices vary along the border. After this, they are returned to the custody of ICE.
If the adult then wants to go home, in keeping with the expedited order of removal that is issued as a matter of course, it’s relatively simple. The adult should be reunited quickly with his or her child, and the family returned home as a unit. In this scenario, there’s only a very brief separation.
Where it becomes much more of an issue is if the adult files an asylum claim. In that scenario, the adults are almost certainly going to be detained longer than the government is allowed to hold their children.
24-hour Drop Box Sites – Accessible by Car and/or Walk-up
All locations open on Monday, June 4.
* = Drive-thru site
| Adams County Economic Development* | 12200 N. Pecos St. | Westminster | 80234 |
| Adams County Government Center – East Entrance* | 4430 S. Adams County Pkwy. | Brighton | 80601 |
| Adams County Justice Center* | 1100 Judicial Center Dr. | Brighton | 80601 |
| Anythink Library – Wright Farms* | 5877 E. 120th Ave. | Thornton | 80602 |
| Aurora Municipal Center | 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy. | Aurora | 80012 |
| Aurora Motor Vehicle | 3449 N. Chambers Rd. | Aurora | 80012 |
| Bennett Motor Vehicle* | 355 S. First St. | Bennett | 80102 |
| Brighton City Clerk* | 500 S. 4th Ave. | Brighton | 80601 |
| Commerce City City Clerk* | 7887 E. 60th Ave. | Commerce City | 80022 |
| Commerce City Motor Vehicle | 4201 E. 72nd Ave. | Commerce City | 80022 |
| Federal Heights City Clerk* | 2380 W. 90th Ave. | Federal Heights | 80260 |
| Hilltop Village* | 13762 Colorado Blvd. | Thornton | 80602 |
| Kelver Public Library | 404 E. Front St. | Byers | 80103 |
| Margaret Carpenter Recreation Center* | 11151 Colorado Blvd. | Thornton | 80233 |
| Martin Luther King Jr Library | 9898 E. Colfax Ave. | Aurora | 80010 |
| Northglenn City Clerk* | 11701 Community Center Dr. | Northglenn | 80233 |
| Perl Mack Community Center | 7125 Mariposa St. | Denver | 80221 |
| Strasburg Sheriff’s Substation* | 2550 Strasburg Rd. | Strasburg | 80136 |
| Thornton City Clerk* | 9500 Civic Center Dr. | Thornton | 80229 |
| Westminster City Clerk | 4800 W. 92nd Ave. | Westminster | 80031 |
| Westminster Motor Vehicle | 8452 N. Federal Blvd. | Westminster | 80031 |
Author: Vince Bzdek & Ernest Luning – June 3, 2018 – Updated: 25 minutes ago
Starting this week, Colorado’s unaffiliated voters will begin casting ballots in the state’s primary elections for the first time ever.
And both major parties have crowded, competitive primaries up and down their ballots for the first time in decades.
Colorado voters in both parties are faced with contested primaries for an open seat for governor. There are also crowded races for state treasurer in both parties and for attorney general among the Democrats, as well as what’s shaping up to be primaries in six of the state’s seven congressional districts and a smattering of heated contests in legislative and other races.
Coincidence?
Experts say no. Most primary voters will be facing more choices than ever this year, thanks to the change in voting rules.
“We’re in new territory. This is the first time the Democrats have had a complete blowout hootenanny in a long, long while,” says pollster Floyd Ciruli, alluding to all the contested races in the Democratic primary for governor.
“The Republicans are apoplectic, too. This is a heavy-duty election. Everyone’s going to be working the unaffiliateds,” says Ciruli, who’s been keeping tabs on the opinion of Colorado voters for decades.
Posted onMay 29, 20186:30 am CategoriesDenver news, Politics
Colorado gubernatorial candidates Victor Mitchell (left to right) Greg Lopez, Mike Johnston, Donna Lynne and surrogate for Jared Polis, Courtney Krause, get situated for a panel during Colorado State University’s Water in the West Summit at the McNichols Building, April 26, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)
We’re less than a month away from the primary election in Colorado. So I’m going to do my best Oprah impression and tell you that you get to vote, and you get to vote, and yes, even YOU get to vote.
That’s because this year, unaffiliated voters — all 1.2 million of them — will be able to participate in either the Democratic or Republican primary on June 26 for the first time in the state’s history. All primary ballots will be mailed out in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out on mail from your local county clerk.
Just remember, if you’re an unaffiliated voter and you want to vote in next month’s primary, you can only return one ballot. Voting in both primaries will invalidate your ballot.
Though there’s numerous races, right now we’re going to focus on the gubernatorial slate. Here’s who you can vote for next month, in case you forgot or missed all the TV and Instagram ads:
FOR YOU: After state assemblies, here’s who’s still running for governor of Colorado
Democrats
Former state senator Mike Johnston
Former state treasurer Cary Kennedy
Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis
Republicans
Former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez
Former state representative Victor Mitchell
Businessman Doug Robinson
State Treasurer Walker Stapleton
So who’s leading the pack in both parties? Read more …
Author: Marianne Goodland – May 22, 2018
State Rep. Steve Lebsock, D-Thornton, talks with reporters on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017, about a polygraph exam he took that he says disproves allegations in a complaint filed by state Rep. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, that he sexaully harassed her. (Photo by Ernest Luning/Colorado Politics)In the category of “you can’t make this stuff up” comes the latest entrant: Former Colorado state Rep. Steve Lebsock, in one of his final acts as a Democrat, helped a fellow Democrat with her eye on his former House seat get onto the ballot.
Lebsock was booted from the General Assembly on March 2 for allegedly sexually harassing, then retaliating against a fellow lawmaker and other women at the Capitol. An hour before the 52-9 vote, he switched his party affiliation to Republican, leaving the choice of who would fill the vacancy to the Republican Party.
Perhaps his final gift to the Democratic Party was to help a Democrat running for his Thornton House seat. Lebsock and his by-then former legislative aide, Elizabeth Strickland, collected signatures on behalf of Jacque Phillips, who made the ballot on April 19 with 883 valid signatures — just 12 more than required.
