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.

Media Matters Flakes Out Again

I am a retired Army Officer. I spent three years teaching ROTC. I taught college sophomores. I am outraged at a Media Matters article castigating Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman for not recognizing "Jared Polis College ROTC service." They were commenting on this Daily Camera story.

In my day, the ROTC classes at the freshman and sophmore level were just that, classes. There was no military obligation. Students weren't issued uniforms. Other than an awards ceremony that recognized academic achievement, freshmen and sophomore students didn't stand in formation. No one considers a student who attends these classes to have "served" their country.

In the early 1980's, when I taught, Military Science instructors were under pressure not to flunk students who signed up for the course and didn't show up for classes. I gave a student an A who never showed her face in class. I found myself having to provide the instruction to her privately when she discovered that I would be flunking her.

To have anyone equate this lax environment with real military service as Media Matters has done is offensive. If it is allowed to stand, ROTC detachments will be overrun with future politicians who cynically want to have a military service box checked without any fear of being put in harms way.

This isn't intended to be a slap at Jared Polis. It is unlikely that he thought about being a politician at the time he was taking ROTC. Life's circumstances change in unforseen ways, and they have changed in good ways for him. We don't want to accuse him of being a cynic at 18.

At the same time, we who have served would dishonor ourselves to allow Media Matters to make their comments without challenge.

Jared Polis isn't helped by this kind of mindless carping. Silverman and Caplis aren't damaged, either. The same cannot be said for Media Matters.

The 2d CD Blogging Debate

Our friend (who we have never met) at Liberal and Loving It pulled off a coup. He got the three candidates for the 2d CD seat being vacated by Mark Udall to debate on the internet.

Because there would be 14 separate links, we will only link the blog and let the reader scan down. The last post is dated January 29th.

One of the reasons that we point readers to that debate is that it is a good window into the mind and motivations of Mark Udall, who went unmentioned.

They all want to get rid of the Bush tax cuts to fund their pet projects. None is admitting that they expire in 2010 regardless, and there is no money to be had from them.

Only Jared Polis among them didn't aspire to be a grandparent, and we would guess that their mention of the subject was a gentile subconscious dig by the other two, but perhaps not.

None seemed to know or want to admit that Ted Kennedy was the major author of No Child Left Behind. They all chafed at the impacts of that law.

There is much more. It is a good read, but if you are a conservative, don't expect much there that will make you happy. On the other hand, if you want to sample the environment that brought us Mark Udall, it is there in full liberal flower.

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.

Frugal Bob Schaffer

A mini-scandal is brewing on the state board of education concerning reimbursable expenses. One member, in one year, claimed almost $26,000 in expenses.

Bob Schaffer continued his record of protecting the taxpayer, spending just over $500 in the same period. The scandal, if it is a scandal, won't touch him.

Jared Polis got going away gifts and a $3500 going away party. It must have been some party. There are a lot of weddings that don't have that kind of budget.

Polis is in a hurry to distance himself from the scandal and has offered to reimburse the state.

CBS4 has the story.

Polis and Shafroth Will Debate, Fitz-Gerald Too Busy

KBDI's Independent Thinking will host a debate between Jarad Polis and Wil Shafrothto be aired at 8:30 on January 10th.

Former Colorado state senate president Joan Fitz-Gerald also is seeking the democratic nomination but declined an invitation to participate in the debate, citing prior commitments. A request for dates that would accommodate Fitz-Gerald's schedule went unanswered.

"We'll leave an empty chair, in case she has a change of heart or change of schedule," said Caldara who added that he intends to challenge the candidates on a variety of issues such as Iraq, climate change, ethics in government and campaign finance.

We will be watching.

We have no idea why Fitz-Gerald couldn't make time on her schedule. Jon Caldara is such a teddy bear. No kidding!

Charges Flying in 2CD

It looks like Jared Polis took money from five folks who contributed to the Swift Boat political campaign in 2004. Most people wouldn't care, but in Boulder the reaction is "Gaaassp."

Joan Fitz-Gerald is making as much hay as possible, or so reports the Boulder Daily Camera.

"How does Jared even know these people, who traditionally give only to Republicans?" [ Fitz Gerald campaign manager Mary Alice ] Mandarich said of the donors.

Gaaasp!

The Denver Post reports that the Polis campaign has a comeback:

Polis' campaign manager, Wanda James, countered that Fitz-Gerald's campaign looks more and more like "a front for the oil and gas industry."

She said Fitz-Gerald has taken more than $24,000 from Excel employees.

Gaaassp! Gaaassp!

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.

Democratic Circular Firing Squad?

The Denver Post has a bit more on Raf Naboa, the blogger who gave us those wonderful quotes about Joan Fitz-Gerald, Will Shafroth, and the brothers Salizar.

A fool and his blog are soon parted.

That's the moral of the short career of Raf Naboa, whose hoped-for 15 minutes of fame ended about 4 seconds after he used his position as "director of outreach" for Jared Polis to reach out and trash leading Colorado Democrats.

Fired!

It turns out that the guy looking for the Jared Polis logo got fired for his comments about well known Democrats like Ken and John Salizar. His former employer was apparently Mike Merrifield.

Maybe he will go back there and start a contest for a Merrifield logo. There is fertile ground there. We can't wait.

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.

Great Quotes

It's hard to watch Mark Udall without watching the Democrat race to take his seat. Here are some useful quotes from a Jared Polis insider:

Shafroth is a nice guy who's been looking to run for office for a long time--he has no deeply held convictions that anyone can see, and if he's elected, he'll be a decent enough Member who will likely go on to lead the Caucus of the Obscure, and not achieve anything remotely worth remembering.

Fitz-Gerald is your traditional main-line establishment politician. She's a state senator from Jefferson County, and she runs the Senate with an iron fist. Essentially, the folks that gave us 12 years of Democratic ineptitude are the folks who are backing her. If you love John and Ken Salazar, and you hunger for the kind of bold, visionary leadership that they provide, you'll simply adore Fitz-Gerald.

Mark Udall has to love the latter quote, given that both John and Ken Salazar are trying to help him appear more moderate. It's a lost cause, but it is fun to watch Democrats try to out liberal each other.

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.

The Money Race in the Second CD

The Denver Post said last year that the winner of the of the Democratic primary in the Second CD would be the most liberal candidate. I have the link, and will post it the first time the Post tries to pawn off the "moderate" label for Boulder Liberal Mark Udall.

Three Democrats are in the race to replace Udall: Jerad Polis, most famous as the multi-millionaire who pawned Amendment 41 off on an unsuspecting Colorado public; Joan Fitz-Gerald, the President of the Colorado Senate, and Will Shafroth whose name recognition is so low we had to look it up.

All have released their money reports for the last quarter. Polis and Shafroth both raised about $300K, with Fitz-Gerald coming in last at $240K.

There is some confusion in Polis' mind as to whether he is putting in his own money. He promised to match web contributions dollar for dollar, which would indicate that he is putting his own money into the race.

At other times, he claims he is not.

Polis said he doesn’t know if he’s going to spend a lot of his own money.

“Right now, we raised more money than our opponents, so there wouldn’t be any reason to spend any more money,” he said. “If there’s a lot of special interest money coming in from the other sides, I will certainly believe in myself enough to invest it.”