And...Just Too Rich

Jared "Amendment 41" Polis triggered the "millionaire's amendment" by spending more than $350,000 on his own campaign.

Politicker is reporting that the other two candidates are looking for ways to collect three times as much in donations.

Darth Vader Wants Answers

Ok, we were chuckling as we wrote this title, but we know that many, many public officials and employees look on Jared Polis as the Darth Vader who financed Amendment 41 without bothering to read it first.

He is calling for an investigation of the state school board expense account. He claims to have never made a claim for funds but the records seem to say otherwise. It isn't a big amount, but the story will be interesting to follow because if he really didn't take the money (likely), then who did? Where did it go?

It turns out that Polis did take a $200 gift but his Amendment 41 doesn't seem to apply to him. Others, according to the Rocky Mountain News aren't happy:

But the idea of Polis accepting a gift when other elected officials could not rankled critics of Amendment 41.

"This reflects an arrogance that says the law applies to everyone but me," said Katy Atkinson, who led the unsuccessful campaign to defeat Amendment 41.

Polis did not report the gift on his disclosure forms to the secretary of state.

"The rules never seem to apply to him," said Mary Alice Mandarich, campaign spokeswoman for one of Polis' opponents, former Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald.

Boulder Has Its Own Foreign Policy Take 2

Mark Udall once joked that the difference between Colorado Springs and Boulder was that Boulder has its own foreign policy.

Then, he proceeded to announce that he would be introducing a bill requiring the President to adopt the Iraq Study Group recommendations, forgetting that foreign policy is the prerogative of the president.

Of Course, Mark Udall has now also introduced a bill that ties the President's hands on Iran. Iran could detonate a nuke on the Mexican side of the Mexico Border and the President could not respond if this short sighted legislation were to pass.

Now Jared Polis, author and patron of the Polis Amendment (aka Amendment 41) is making his own foreign policy as reported by USA Today. He has declared us invaders and occupiers and claims to be embarrassed to admit it. Since he doesn't have the clout to talk to a real ambassador, he bestowed the title on the first guy he met (think Kentucky Colonel = Iraqi Ambassador):

Polis arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, local time, and has already done an online chat at Colorado Confidential and blogged at his campaign website about his first day there. In the blog post, he discusses a conversation he had with an Iraqi intellectual he euphemistically refers to as "the Ambassador:"

As we conversed, I didn't want to say "our occupation" or "our invasion" because even though we both knew that was true, I didn't feel it was polite to remind them by overtly stating it. So early on in the discussion when I was searching for words to ask what they were respectively doing 'before the, er, before the ... ." The Ambassador, observing my pause, kindly offered up the more diplomatic term "regime change" and we thereafter used that term liberally."

The Polis candidacy is an attempt by one left wing foreign policy flake who sees no value in the constitutionally mandated separation of powers to exchange places with another.

So Be It

Eric Sondermann makes an interesting point today:

While [ Joan ] Fitz-Gerald has proven experience and a fair number of more traditional constituencies in her corner, such as unions and former Democratic politicians, the 2nd Congressional District is less "New Deal Democratic" than other Democratic strongholds, said political analyst Eric Sondermann.

"Labor doesn't hold as much sway. It's more of a 'green,' higher-education, Moveon.org area," said Sondermann, a political analyst who worked on the campaign to pass Amendment 41, which was backed by [ Jared ] Polis.

Perhaps we shouldn't write "Mark Udall, Boulder" or even "Mark Udall, Eldorado Springs." Eric Sondermann suggests it should be "Mark Udall, MoveOn.org." So be it.

So Many Ideas, So Little Talent

It turns out that Jared Polis is officially looking for a logo. He's even willing to pay $200 in prize money for the best idea. Here are a few he might consider:

1. Picture him in a lawn chair under helium balloons trying to cross the continental divide. Each balloon is marked "Amendment 41." Members of the Colorado legislature are on the mountaintops shooting at the balloons. (This builds empathy for Polis)

2. Picture him as a one winged angel standing on a giant sack of money.

3. Superman has a logo and wears tights. Picture Jared Polis in tights. No, on second thought...

4. His two major campaign themes seem to be that he is openly homosexual and that he gave Colorado Amendment 41 without reading it first. Instead of a superman like "S", he could have two interlocking capital "G's," one slightly below and to the right of the other. They could stand for "Gay and Gullible."

Think what we could do if we really put our mind to the task. Only the talent is lacking.

Yearly Kos

5280 reports that Mark Udall's campaign manager was at Yearly Kos, along with Jared (Amendment 41) Polis, and Jay Fawcett.

The laugh of the weekend must have come when Hillary Clinton spoke of "The Rule of Law" in a panel at Daily Kos.

Maybe not. The Democrat concept of "the rule of law" is more accurately described as "Anything a Republican does is a crime and we're going to investigate and prosecute."

Did you know that Congress has over 300 investigations going? That factoid came out of the Sunday talk shows this weekend.

Wishful Thinking

From the YearlyKos convention, Colorado Confidential reports:

DNC Chair and Blog Godfather Howard Dean kicked off a stream of politicians and dignitaries headlining the keynote speaker forum. Colorado's 2nd congressional candidate Jared Polis strolled the halls and Sen. Mark Udall was also expected to drop in Saturday.

Is there something in the water in Chicago? We were under the impression that there was an intervening election and a decent man named Bob Schaffer standing in the way of that particular title. Almost anyone can be a Kentucky Colonel, though.

Also, is that THE Jared Polis of Amendment 41 fame? Cherish this time Leslie and Wendy. You are walking among the greats of our era. Just don't drink the water.

Polis' Confusion Continues

Today, the Rocky Mountain News reported:

As expected, millionaire Jared Polis has made the biggest fundraising splash so far. He already has supplemented his campaign with $155,000 out of his own pocket. Individual donors have chipped in $301,542. After expenses, he has more than $400,000 in the bank.

Just last week, we reported that Polis was confused in his own mind when he told the Vail paper that he was so far ahead in fund raising that he didn't need to put his own money in the race.

Polis was confused about the contents of Amendment 41, as well. It will be entertaining to see what else he is confused about.