A Publication Of News, Commentaries, And Various Topics Of Interest. Volume IV
Oct./Nov. 2013
INSIDE: The Conservative Governor Candidates Interviews When Government Lays Siege NO on Amendment 66
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IN THIS ISSUE: SECTION A
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contributors
Tamra Farah Jacqueline Cartier Monique Derr Kelly Jean Leggett Pat Francomano Douglas Bruce Matt Arnold Larisa Boliva Amy Mitchell Timothy J. Priebe Esq. Shawn Mitchell Richard Eleuterio Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt Debbie Bell The Forgotten Man Dr. Harley Ihm Subscriptions Available! You can subscribe to Common Sense News for only $49.99 for an entire year. Send check or money order along with your name and address to: Common Sense News 5555 Erindale Dr. Suite 102, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 Or call 719-302-1900 to pay with credit card. Copyright©2013 Common Sense News. All rights reserved. Common Sense News is distributed at over 1500 locations throughout Colorado and neighboring states. Limit one copy per person. The paper is for reading purposes only. Re-publication and/ or reproduction in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of the publisher. Common Sense News makes every effort to ensure accuracy in editorial content and advertising however Common Sense News and any of its board members or staff accept no responsibility or liability for inaccurate information provided by the advertisers or from editorial submissions.
ABOUT OUR CONTENT:
Common Sense News provides a voice for freedom-loving Americans who share many common values, yet have differing opinions on certain subjects. This publications’ staff and writers possess diverse worldviews. The content of Common Sense News does not necessarily reflect the views of the employees of Intermountain Media LLC. Page A-4
Letter from the Editor...................................................A-4 Letters to the Editor.......................................................A-5 Turn Your Angst into Action....................................... A-6 Snowed by Digital Privacy............................................A-7 School Choice –Homeschooling..................................A-8 Bloom Colorado Women..............................................A-8 A Political Divide...........................................................A-9 When Government Lays Siege...................................A-11 The Surveillance State................................................. A-12 First Amendment for Troops and Chaplains............A-13 Lana’s 2 Sense...............................................................A-16
SECTION B
Beware of Amendment 66................................................B-1 Do You Have a Right to a Secret Ballot?........................B-2 Pot Tax Not Grade AA.....................................................B-3 Was Colorado Statehood Fully Conferred Part 3......... B-4 Make My Day- What is it Really About?.......................B-5 Governor Candidate Interviews.......................................B-7 The Reality of a Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy.......B-9 City of Champions- Why it’s a Loser..............................B-9 Who is Like the Lord?....................................................B-12
ANNE’S 2 SENSE Recently we attended the Adams County Lincoln Day dinner where the Roaring 20’s was the theme. The food was great and it was so nice to see all of the great costumes everyone pulled together for the event. As we got through our meal several people spoke to the crowd and the Adams County GOP honored several of their members for their service to the group and to Adams County and also introduced many candidates for upcoming elections. Finally our keynote speaker was introduced. I had never heard Rafael Cruz speak and knew nothing of him other than he is Senator Ted Cruz’ father, I was secretly hoping he would get it over quickly as I had a long drive home. As Mr. Cruz began the room quickly quieted. Cruz outlined his young life in Cuba where he opposed the revolution and suffered persecution, imprisonment and torture. Mr. Cruz understands freedom and the lack of it at a very personal heart level and the importance of fighting for principle and liberty. Mr. Cruz, a Pastor, then began challenging Christian pastors for being silent in the face of attacks on Christianity. He emphasized that pastors can and should speak out on both political and social issues if we are to turn this nation around. I have heard many speakers before but Pastor Cruz gave one of the most inspiring speech/ sermons I can remember. I believe he was speaking Truth and that America needs to understand exactly where her roots are. At least 29 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence had been trained in schools whose primary purpose was the preparation of ministers. Those men didn’t put different hats on when they went to their downtown office of Declaration authoring, they took their Christian beliefs with them and created the most amazing nation on earth. Here are some things I have been considering. How many ministers take off their concerned liberty-lovingfreedom-fighting American citizen hats when they trot up to the church pulpit? How many church-goers never get to hear what American social and political issues look like from Godly perspectives? How many Christians and pastors stand up to take public political offices from the local school boards to county commissioners all the way up the ladder? Just when did our social conscience decide that Christians were not allowed to have an opinion or say so in the matters of the United States? WHEN WE LET IT! It might just be time to get moving folks! Our beloved nation is calling! Proverbs 29:2 says “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.” (NKJV) Hmm… Anne Vinnola with Pastor Rafael Cruz at the Adams County Lincon Day dinner
In the meantime… Common Sense News has some huge new things happening. Common Sense News has been advertising on Grassroots Radio 560 The Source, on 560KLZ am Monday through Friday from 5:007:00pm so listen for our ad! We are SUPER excited about our distribution and are adding new locations all across the state. We actually ran out of papers this month and had to wrestle with that. Our advertisers are having great results and we are thrilled. We believe we will be actually adding another section soon. (Shameless plug; if you want to advertise or write for us call 719-302-1900 or send an email to editor@ commonsensenewsusa.com We have a fantastic new art director, Craig DeLuca and we welcome him to the posse. He brings a great style and direction to our art design. We also have a website empress working with us. Jessica Arent, has created the beautiful new CommonSenseNewsUSA.com and we are building it bigger and better each day. Our Facebook page is gaining likes and Lana and I are learning to Tweet, well, sort of… BUT the BIGGEST news of all Common Sense RADIO is HERE! Every Saturday from 2:00 to 3:00pm on 1460AM KZNT our lovely hostess with the mostest will be Lana Fore Warkocz and will feature excellent guests and commentary. Conservative talk radio with a woman’s touch! Thanks from the bottom of our hearts for all of the support we are very blessed and appreciative.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor, Thank you! I read each and every article written and I am encoraged and happy that the truth is still spoken. Mr. & Mrs. John Garland - Guffey, CO P.S. I am passing my copy to my sister and I bet she subscribes as well! To the Editor: Common Sense News Does anyone else see what I see? The 82 million “free” bonanaza bucks to revitalize downtown and tourism is not just about money, coming in or going out. This super-sized developer’s dream, the chief developer being our august mayor, to create a city of Champions, a jewel in the Rockies, is about ego as well. If brought to fruition, it will be Bach’s legacy, his ignature achievement since he first purposed it and went after the money. When I heard that no taxpayer funds will be sought or needed for this ambitious endeavor, they could hear me laughing over on the western slope. What a hoot! Does anyone really believe there will not be cost overruns, budget imbalances,
unexpected contractual issues, etc. that will pop up, at remember now, NO expense to taxpayers. I won’t understand all the financial forecasts and complicated analysis behind such a massive undertaking but do know this....... the powers-that-be who want this to happen will ensure that the official reports to citizens are strewn with rose petals along the way, unless somthing major blows up and connot be neatly covered. The parade behind the mayor has already formed with glowing hosannas being sung by excited business entities. And I suppose if you find yourself not all excited over this vision, then kep quiet. Well I have a vision of my own.....focus on the glaring issues and imporvements needed all over this city first. M. Fields - Colorado Springs, CO M. Fields, We would like to draw your attention to the article written in this issue by The Forgotten Man. In this article it discusses the “City of Champions” project here in Colorado Springs, CO. The article starts on page B-9 and finishes up on page B-10. It has key points that would show the concern from other citizens in the city of Colorado Springs. Thank You from the Editor
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WE THE PEOPLE - COMMENTARIES FROM THE GRASSROOTS
Turn Your Angst into Action B y Ta m r a Fa r a h
Most of us have deep and strong feelings that all is not well in our state and our nation. You may feel just as strongly that there is nothing you can do to change it. To deal with our frustrations, we often login to Facebook, Twitter and forums to interact virtually with those who share our passions and to express our angst. A number of the citizens who first stoked the fires of the recall locomotive were venting in forums about the unconstitutional laws that made it under the Governor’s pen this year. Social media gives us a nice place to vent, and to share important information on issues. But, according to Jeff Hunt, social media expert and Founder/CEO at Discover Marketing, it is not a place where we persuade others to join our cause. We feel better slapping each other on the proverbial back and sometimes ranting in our posts, but these cathartic comments won’t help take back our state. So, what’s a constitution-loving citizen to do? How do you turn that angst into action? Lots of people have and you can, too! It’s not that hard, it just takes a commitment of a bit of time– and just about any amount you have to give will do. One of my first efforts as an activist in Colorado was in 1996. I always had a heart to help people in need but felt there was a wide un-bridgeable chasm to cross to reach them. As a capitalist I know a hand-up toward self-sufficiency is the solution, not repeated handouts. But what could I do to help as a suburban mother of two grade school kids? Then one weekend I read a front-page article in the Colorado Springs Gazette, announcing that President Clinton had signed the bill to end Welfare, as we knew it and mandating that individuals and families could no longer be lifers on government assistance. Though I was excited to see the end of life-long entitlements, since it has been proven they do not help the poor, my heart went out to those on assistance knowing that the new program–Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF)–would pose transition challenges. How would all the folks so accustomed to leaning on government assistance years on end be ‘ready’ to get a job within two years? On Monday I called the acting Director of the El Paso County Department of Human Services who had been quoted in the article, and soon I was at the round table with leaders in the community hammering out solutions. I recruited a cadre of volunteers and we conducted focus groups with single moms on welfare to find out what help they needed to make the transition. Their input was brought to the table, along with the ideas of others, and a mentoring program was born to help single-moms move from welfare to work. (My husband, Barry Farah, served as the board chairman of this group for five years.) There are always good partnerships to forge to help those in need become
more self-sufficient, yet the challenges that stir so many at this time are of a different ilk. Right now numerous folks have organized initiatives to fight legislation passed in the 2013 session; legislation that is bloating government and chipping away at our constitutional rights. What’s top of the list for October? Local school board elections and defeating Amendment 66. If you have even just a few hours a week, you can make a difference in the outcome of these very important items on the November ballot. Don’t underestimate power of getting out the vote on these critical items. We know what we want the outcome of an election to be, and we can tell everyone at the proverbial water cooler how strong we feel about it, but unless we help inform and persuade registered voters to cast their vote to protect our constitutional rights, we will have zero impact on the outcome of the election. I served in the final weeks of the Morse Recall. Did you know the Morse recall was won by just over 300 votes? How did we get those votes? For sure, it was the sum total of a plethora of efforts. Many things worked together to produce this result, like thousands of phone calls and doors knocked on; mail pieces delivered, radio and TV ads, newspaper articles, people at the polls with signs, yard signs in neighborhoods and along streets, etc. etc. Though we will never be able to measure ‘what made the difference’ many of the critical get out the vote efforts were because everyday citizens got off their couch and took their armchair expertise to the streets to help. Never underestimate the power you have to change your state and your nation! So, how can you help defeat with Amendment 66 and help support the right candidates for local school board races? Here are a few folks willing to chat with you and match your availability with the need: Amendment 66, contact Tyler Hart at tylerhart1@hotmail.com Douglas County School Board race, contact Leslie White with Americans for Prosperity at lwhite@afphq.org Jefferson County School Board Race, contact Sheila Atwell at executivedirector@ jeffcostudentsfirstaction.com or go jeffcostudentsfirstaction.com
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Email them today! They will connect your availability with the need. If you would like to find out what is going on with your local school board race, contact Tyler Hart and she will provide you with the steps to take! Together, we win! Tamra Farah is an activist who’s gotten off her couch a time or two to help save her state and her nation. tamrafarah@gmail.com or on twitter @tamrafarah
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WE THE PEOPLE
Are You Getting Snowed by the Impression of Digital Privacy? By Jacqueline Cartier If you think that the NSA is invading your privacy; beware, they to public exposure. There are constitutional challenges, but those are not the only ones. For example, Google touches every part of specifically address physical trespass issues which would then our lives, from our Android phones (nearly 75% of all cell platforms) have to be converted to digital trespassing... a difficult thing to to our shopping, books, news, calendar, travel, translations, images, prove, as the parameters are so vague. To complicate matters, YouTube, virtually anything we do on our computers and cell phones third-party organizations are not subject to constitutional privacy is influenced by Google. Yet, as technology has evolved and made laws. We are all operating under a fallacy of privacy. our life easier, we have paid a price; our privacy. In the digital world, Our founding fathers had no way of anticipating today’s where so much travels over the Internet, through sources that are technology. Even a few decades ago, we never imagined that a owned and operated by private sources, the expectation of privacy device the size of a wallet could send mail, make calls, search diminishes severely. Once your “private” email leaves your home, it for information, provide directions, take photos, and that nearly is open to the world, just as any information on a website is subject everyone would have one. Even those who try to maintain a small digital footprint have most of their personal information listed on someone’s computer which is transmitted online to various sources Pro Second Amendment Business that we do not control. Constitutional protections are limited in the virtual world of the Internet. The 4th Amendment of the Constitution protects against unreasonable search and seizure. In the 18th Century, that was MILITARY DISCOUNT rather straight forward; it protected you from government entering your domain and seizing paper and other physical goods; but what happens when that information is not physically with you but rather for active military in the “cloud”? What happens when it is transported over public domain (Internet) and is freely given to third-party entities? Who 670 HIGH TEA CT. owns and controls that information? According to Gmail, users FOUNTAIN CO, 808017 should have no expectation of privacy in email that they send. Their quote is, “Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, We are about QUALITY people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their NOT quantity. communications are processed by the recipient’s ECS provider in the course of delivery. Indeed, ‘a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.’ TROPHY IS Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44 (1979).” The same holds true for other social media messaging, like Facebook. In addition, TROPHY the Internet is global. If the website you use to store or transmit data is foreign owned, how does that affect U.S. constitutional rights? In this digital age, privacy is a fluid concept and subject to redefinition. While we continue to feign outrage at Snowden’s betrayal, we are also grateful for the information. The NSA operates like a James Bond spy thriller, specializing in something known as datamining. According to IBM, “Data-mining is about processing data and identifying patterns and trends in that information”. PRISM, the data-mining program, collects digital photos, stored data, file transfers, e-mail, chat services, videos, and video conferencing from nine Internet companies, utilizing their SIGAD-Signals Intelligence Activity Designator. However, we are to be comforted in knowing that these surveillance operations are permitted under the business records provision of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which compels MEMBER OF: businesses like Verizon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype, etc. to provide client information to the government, and are protected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISC) from privacy lawsuits. Oh, and by the way, the NSA keeps Continued on page A-10
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WE THE PEOPLE
School of Choice…Homeschooling By Monique Derr
Often I hear mothers lament over frustrations with public school. Unable to afford expensive private school options, the conversation tends to end in a sort of surrender…“I have no choice.” As parents, feeling cornered into troubling situations for our children in stressful. So may I stress this—we do have a choice. Homeschooling has been the forefront mode of education for centuries, and despite a shift to public school education over the last century or so, has continued to be an avenue many parents have chosen. According to the Department of Education, there are approximately 1.5 million children who are homeschooled in the United States. More significantly, is the increase in homeschooling spreading across the country. Since 1999, that increase has been 75%. Colorado recognizes a parent’s right to choose to educate their children at home, and the Colorado Department of Education outlines the Home School Law; laws for homeschool parents to follow as dictated by the state. Such requirements include things such as the need to inform your school district of your plans to homeschool each year, and to ensure your children are engaged in schooling no less than four hours per day. Their website lists further laws and expectations for homeschool families, as well as resources and tips, at http://www. cde.state.co.us/choice/homeschool. Reasons for parents choosing homeschool vary from concerns over education, safety, religious beliefs, and undesirable influences. Laura Benson, a mother of three boys, has homeschooled her children their entire school aged lives-going on seven years now. “My main reason for homeschooling has to do with the methods and materials used to teach in public school. I do not have faith that they materials produce the kind of citizenry we need in order to have moral leaders and an informed, thriving populace.” Benson feels that the level of education provided at public schools is not only inadequate, but too stringent for the unique and imaginative minds of youth. “American education is in trouble, and I don’t want my kids to fall through the cracks.” Shana Rogers, another homeschooling mom, recently turned to homeschooling after years of placing her children in the public school system. “I picked homeschool because of the neglect of safety and education [in public schools].” Bullying was a big issue, and “no measures were taken until it was at its highest peak.” For Rogers, homeschooling was a welcomed option when faced with frustrations relating to her children’s needs.
Another growing concern among parents is that of the implementation of the new curriculum standards called Common Core. Forty five states have adopted it thus far, and Colorado is among them. The objective is to even out the playing field and provide the same standard of education and testing criteria for children across the board. Benson argues that this approach is a weak response to a big problem. “Common Core focuses on results, without offering any solutions to address the reasons that the system is broken in the first place.” Parents find a problem in the lack of focus on the classics, on the rigidness of standardized testing, and on the universal nature of the program. For parents who feel they do not have a strong enough voice in their child’s education, homeschool may be a viable alternative. Critics shout warnings of children who will be socially stunted and awkward should they homeschool. After all, how can a child reach optimal socialization when they are not in a classroom filled with other kids each day? As homeschooling has gained in popularity, studies have been conducted to address this concern. Once such study, conducted in Canada, called “Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults” displayed results that dispelled accusations of social ineptness among homeschoolers. According to the study, homeschooled Canadian adults were more socially engaged, happier, and had higher incomes than their public school counterparts. With many other studies demonstrating the same findings, it is becoming clear that children can receive adequate-if not better-socialization opportunities outside of the public school system. Educationally, it is indisputable that homeschooled kids generally supersede other children in that arena. According to “Homeschool Progress Report 2009,” which surveyed more than 11,000 homeschooled students, homeschoolers scored 37 percentile points higher on standardized tests than the public school average. Ultimately, it is for a parent to decide what is best for their child. To each his own. But know that each of us has homeschooling in our toolkit, and that tool is ripe and ready for use should it be needed. As a parent, we must know our options, only then can we make the optimal choice for our children. Monique Derr has been writing for various publications for nearly a decade. She has a master’s degree in journalism and is currently earning her Ph.D. She is a writer, humanitarian, artist, and most importantly, a mother.
Bloom Colorado Women! By Kelly Jean Leggett
I recently had a conversation with someone who told me he has not voted since the 1980’s because there really is no point. I once heard somewhere that in reality there is no such thing as not voting – you either vote by voting or you vote by staying home. When you vote by staying home you double the value of someone else’s vote. That really stuck with me. Local issues directly affect us more than presidential elections so why don’t we pay more attention to them? Ballot measures in every election are important. These measures can include amendments to your state constitution, bonds, levies and mayoral, school board and city council elections as well as many other issues. Local elections determine the quality of life in our communities, schools and the safety of our neighborhoods. Local elections are where the most relevant policy decisions of any government are made. It is quite ironic that there is lower voter turnout in local elections when those are the elections where voters have the greatest say in who represents them. I’ll be honest. I did not realize how important local politics are. As with state and federal governments, your tax dollars are being used and you have the right to know what they are being Page A-8
used for. Of course, I knew that but I hadn’t really considered that I might have more of an impact on how those funds are appropriated within my community. Today I talked with several people in the hopes that I could get a better handle on how to figure this whole local side to politics out without having to go to city council meetings. Who has time for that? Interestingly, I found that most people are only really zeroed in on a limited number of issues and often times only one. That doesn’t paint a complete picture for me. One of the gals I spoke with brought up my last article (September 2013) that called for us to start talking politics. As
WE THE PEOPLE
Bloom ColoradoWomen!(continued) we explored that notion further she had an idea of forming casual groups to get together once a month to talk about the issues in a more social and relaxed setting where there’s no expectation of foreknowledge of the who’s who in Colorado politics or even the current issues at hand to learn while connecting with other women who are interested in seeking the truth so they can make up their own minds… a sort of Kitchen Table Talk. Historically, we have seen that women can accomplish great things. Back in our homeschooling days we hosted a Great American Women Masquerade where the girls in our homeschool support group came dressed up as their favorite Great American Woman and then presented why they picked the woman that they did. I spoke about Laura Ingalls Wilder and how she didn’t start writing until she was 60 years old. She simply wrote about the life she had already lived. I then gave each of the girls a flower explaining that we all bloom at different times because each of the women that had been chosen were of varying ages. Is it possible that there is an untapped reservoir of wisdom and strength within the women of Colorado? What if we came together with all our various experience and points of view to discuss this community that we share? Maybe, just maybe… it is time for Colorado women to bloom! To continue this conversation please visit, The Uneducated Housewife’s Guide to Politics at uneducatedhousewife.blogspot.com.
A Political Divide By Pat Francomano
years, as has the sense of class warfare. It has spread deeply We live in a time, according to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), “every among the people and there is indeed an ideological war being bit as dangerous as the break-up of the Union before the Civil War.” waged. There is a palpable clash of ideologies: Left vs. Right. He made this remark during a recent budget debate while blasting Let’s look a bit more closely at the warring factions. Senator Ted Cruz as being part of “the most extreme tea-party On the Left we have a political view called Progressivism, wing” of his party, and for his “ideology-driven obstructionism.” which believes that government’s power and bureaucracy can The obstructionism he means is getting in the way of business-as- solve all of man’s problems. Its methods are coercive government force to intervene into the economy and into the private lives of usual, liberal social programs, like the behemoth Obamacare. individuals, in order to achieve the utopian promises of equality and He was of course overlooking his own party’s “ideologysecurity. Its adherents don’t realize utopia is unachievable. driven obstructionism,” as seen in Senator Harry Reid’s handling of On the Right we have a political view called Libertarian senate rules and in President Obama’s refusal to compromise with Conservatism, which believes that government’s power and the GOP. bureaucracy must be limited. It believes in individual liberty, the In any case, his remarks do highlight a growing political free market, private property, and that individuals have a right to the divide in America, on the other side of which are those who also fruits of their labor. Its methods are voluntary. Its adherents make see these as dangerous times, but for a different reason. These see no promises other than that a free market will provide achievable our time as one in which America is at a tipping point—politically, betterment of society. economically and socially—away from a constitutionally limited The free market is the process of all the millions of spontaneous, government. voluntary transactions of buying and selling, producing and This political divide has clearly been heightened in recent
Continued on page A-10
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WE THE PEOPLE Are You Getting Snowed by the Impression of Digital Privacy? Continued from page A-7 these records forever, that’s right, never deleted! Recently, agents in 74 countries demanded detailed information from Facebook on over 38,000 users, covering the past 6-months alone; they complied under the umbrella of immunity. However, no need to worry about abuse because the data collected is regularly reviewed by the FISC (yes, the same guys guaranteeing corporate immunity). Yet, this is not the most dangerous breech to your personal privacy… you are! All of those electronics that are designed to make life easier, do so by collecting data. From your “smart appliances” that track specific daily usage, to the GPS on your cell that allows you to locate the nearest Starbucks; you are monitored as easily as if you were wearing an ankle bracelet, except you are a prisoner to convenience. A debit card verses a check; a transponder instead of cash; a phone app for directions or information; a store’s Loyalty Card; the photos you upload on Facebook; Siri/Robin assisted searches, phone calls, and appointments; the use of email verses postal; Netflix verses a movie theater; Google searches; online shopping verses the mall; Kindle rather than a bookstore; GPS instead of Rand McNally… all of these conveniences require data that we provide freely to third-parties, who maintain extensive files of information about our daily activities and interests. Combined, they create a composite and traceable pattern of activities, motivations, and predictable behavior. Worse than the government having all of this information; so do thousands of strangers that work in these organizations, providing a security threat much greater than our government. When it comes to privacy, the NSA isn’t our biggest
problem. However, the worst perpetrator of your privacy is you! Social media is the death of privacy and we are its primary contributors. Check out someone’s online profile and what do you see? Name, profession, location, birthday, schools attended, job resume, hobbies, personal interests, family photos, places they’ve been, political beliefs, religion, list of friends, relatives, acquaintances and their detailed information; professional affiliations, favorite films, books, TV shows, music, sports, pets, favorite foods and restaurants, posted activities, and the most telling of all, photos. Who needs the NSA when we have become slaves to convenience and exhibitionists of our lives, not to mention voyeurs of others? Jacqueline Cartier www.CartierWinningImages.com
A Political Divide Continued from page A-9
consuming among free people, which thereby allocates scarce resources efficiently. Progressives don’t understand the free market; they don’t trust the free market; they don’t trust individuals. They think they can make better choices for the individual than the individual can make for himself. They believe they can control all those millions of transactions and allocate resources more efficiently than a free market. They believe this partly because they see the economy as a static thing. They believe, for example, that if taxes are reduced by X dollars, then revenue will be reduced by X dollars. But this is not true, because any economy, free or otherwise, is not a static thing. It’s dynamic, it reacts to changes. Push it here and it pops up there. For example, four times in US history, in the 1920s under Coolidge, in the 1960s under Kennedy, in the 1980s under Reagan, and in the 2000s under G. W. Bush, federal income tax rate cuts led to increased revenue—and the rich paid more income taxes—because taxpayers reacted to the changes. And because an economy is dynamic, Government’s coercive intervention into it interferes with the free market. It distorts price signals, it misallocates scarce resources. In many cases, by guaranteeing against failure, it kills incentive to take responsibility. And it stifles individual liberty. There are ample examples of the failure of Progressivism’s means of using government coercion to achieve utopia: Prohibition;
the War on Poverty; failed Green energy companies, in spite of huge subsidies and loans; Obamacare, already wreaking havoc on private business, and there will still be thirty million people uninsured. So why do so many people continue chasing unachievable utopian promises? One reason is because their goals are unattainable, and so they never get to actually see their failure. A second reason is because utopian goals seem like good causes. Thus people are lured to continue to chase utopia in the name of countless good causes. Along the way, everyone is caught up in the coercive, libertystifling methods used to reach those goals. The result is unachieved goals and less liberty. This is ironic, because the very thing stifled is liberty, and it is liberty that allows spontaneous, voluntary markets to come about and provide the means of achieving what is actually achievable toward the betterment of society. But as long as people choose to believe in the utopian results promised, they and the Progressive elites who make the promises will continue chasing an impossible end. And there will be no narrowing of the political divide. Pat Francomano is a freelance writer living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is a retired software engineer and holds a master’s degree in mathematics. His writing interests are on political, economic and social issues as they affect individual liberties.
Why do I want to be Sheriff: Over the last 10 years I have served at the Sheriff’s Office, as the Commander for the Emergency Services Division. In my role as Commander, I performed two primary duties, as the Deputy Fire Marshal and Director of Emergency Management. I am P.O.S.T certified by the Sheriff’s office as a law enforcement professional. During my years of service, we responded to very dangerous and life threatening incidents and events, that befell our community. My responsibilities as the Incident Commander were to assess and respond to emerging and dynamic threats. I had the honor and privilege to lead the finest first responder professionals from the various divisions in the Sheriff's office, sister agencies as well as local, state and federal responders to combat and mitigate the threats and risks, to the lives of our citizens. I am very passionate and dedicated to the protection of our way of life, especially when it comes to the safety of our fellow citizens, our families and our community.
Paid by the Committee to elect Jim Reid. Page A-10
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My Initiatives:
33 Years Experience in Public Safety
• I am committed to an efficient form of government with the highest respect and regard for the taxpayer dollar • Supporter of responsible gun ownership • Accountable and responsive leadership • Data Driven Patrols and Predictive Policing • Mental Health/Community Based Solutions • Early Childhood Education • Protecting our youngest and most vulnerable citizens • Continue to build on existing programs.
• El Paso County Public Services, Executive Director • El Paso County Sheriff’s Office • Emergency Services Commander, (10 yrs) POST Certified • Emergency Services Agency, Chair (5 yrs) • Management County-Wide Ambulance Service • State Waste Tire Board, Chair (4 yrs) • Homeland Security, Former Chair (9 years) • Executive Fire Officer (National) • 20 Years Military Service, (Retired First Sergeant)
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
Budget Games and Freedom Wars,
When Government Lays Siege By Shawn Mitchell
There was tragic news out of Wyoming today. Five National "blockade"). As part of closing Great Smoky National Park, Park Service employees who were ordered to cap and seal Old the government, without notice, closed the Foothills Parkway, a Faithful geyser were scalded to death when the apolitical geyser major thoroughfare through Blount County, Tennessee. The sudden closure separated schools from homes, leaving refused to cooperate with political games. children and families on opposite sides of the “Barrycades.” The Sometimes you have to laugh and make a joke to not school bus has stopped running. Families must carpool over what locals describe as "white knuckle routes" to bypass the cry or get mad. main artery. Of course, if the Democrat operatives known as the Our country is fast becoming unrecognizable as the land national media covered this blight the way they'd cover a Republican of the free and the home of the brave, or as the Constitutional president who acted similarly, he would be toast. Instead, the Republic we learned about in school. It almost seems officials are president is zealously shielded by an institution unworthy of the testing us, gauging our tolerance. It started before the Fundamental title “free press.” Transformer. We swallowed theatrical molestation and harassment at airports, and expanded surveillance of communications. Targeted I propose it is time for civil disobedience. Barrycades raids and audits of political activists by federal agencies provoked should not be tolerated. little more than angry posts and tweets. Revelations the NSA is as good as in our bedroom spawned ironic humor about how our I'm not talking about spitefully closed property that is calls, e-mails, and posts are courageous acts. normally staffed and maintained. Rather, I'm referring to the Now, armed agents block Americans from places--including contrived introduction of barriers to grounds that are open and homes, businesses, and roads--that have nothing to do with the generally ignored by federal staff--the places that reasonable budget or the shutdown—to see if they can; to see if media dogs people know have nothing to do with the budget or the shut down. will bark; to see if anyone cares. I submit these provocations shouldn't be accepted. I propose Where is this going? When the heavy vehicles roll across the that like the veterans at the WWII Memorial, we defy petty tyranny Maginot Line, will our white flag already be up? where we see it. We walk past yellow tape onto open trails. We The administration’s choices of targets to harass Americans drive over cones and stop for pictures. We push aside barriers that are both farcical and sinister. If the administration is throttling were introduced to harass us. federal beneficiaries, then why are PBS and NPR still broadcasting? Just depends who counts as friends or enemies? We return the president's contempt with our own The government sent seven security guards to shoo veterans freedom and defiance. away from the WWII memorial. Senator Rand Paul noted, that, sadly, is two more than were present at Benghazi. What does it say I attempted to live this charge myself on a recent Saturday, about an administration that takes down the Amber Alert website, driving expectantly through Boulder to the popular hillside parking but leaves up the president’s community-organizing “Let’s Move” lot of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. I hoped some site? gendarme or Bastille would bar the way, but no such insanity yet. (There’s no rhyme or reason why—a federal facility’s lot is more It says plenty. integral to government operations than the hapless inn and marina owners the government has taken hostage.) When a malicious administration trucks in barriers to Viewing the purple mountains and amber fields, I wondered blockade unstaffed, open air monuments; when it lays traffic what our forebears would make of a government so cynically hostile cones to keep cars from stopping at pullouts to photograph to the liberty of its people. But it’s up to us to keep our Republic Mt. Rushmore; when it cones off the parking of privately owned and preserve freedom in this generation, and to find the path how. Mt. Vernon; when it orders inns, restaurants, and marinas to Common Sense Magazine contributor Shawn Mitchell shutter their operations; in short, when it bullies and harasses recently completed his service in the Colorado Legislature, after people about things unconnected to the budget or shutdown, three terms in the House and two terms in the Senate. Most recently, and spends more money and labor in the bullying than if it just Shawn sat on the Senate Business and Health Committees. He ignored the parcels, then we know this isn't about administering maintains a private law practice in the Denver Metro Area. the "shutdown." It is a petty, punitive president spitting his Previously, Shawn worked as Special Counsel to the Attorney contempt at political opponents and the American people. General, where he was a legal policy advisor to former Colorado The implications are grave. Radio host and author Mark Attorney General Gale Norton. Levin observes when government controls our healthcare, then it will really have us by the throat. Next budget standoff, they might Shawn writes a weekly column for Town Hall Finance at TownHall.com. He close hospitals, deny doctors’ pay, or restrict medical supplies. is the former president of the Colorado Chapter of the Federalist Society, Sound far-fetched? The administration has already a national organization of scholars, judges, lawyers and law students that legal reform and limited government. Shawn served 3 years on made school children pawns in its vendetta. Indeed, it arguably promotes the Rocky Mountain News Board of Editorial Contributors. He writes and committed acts of war against the American people. (See speaks often on issues of policy and politics.
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Shawn received a B.S. magna cum laude from Brigham Young University and graduated from law school at the University of California at Berkeley. Shawn married Yvette Fuller in 1983. They have seven children and are active in their church and schools. His hobbies include rock climbing, hiking, and iPhone photography on frequent walks in Colorado’s beautiful outdoors.
719-695-0532 www.garretspainting.com Page A-11
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
The Surveillance State By Richard Eleuterio
Do you know you are being watched? Who’s watching you? Our federal government is watching us all. Why is our government watching us? Does our government perceive that there is an imminent danger to its citizens or perhaps to itself? The answer is complicated. In a free non-authoritarian nation the survival interests of the government and its citizens usually coincide. In that instance the government is answerable to the people. But what if the government has determined that it alone is capable of deciding what the people should know? Our founders knew that power can, and most likely will, be abused by those in leadership. The Executive Branch is subject to oversight by Congress. But what if Congress abdicates its oversight responsibilities? Then figuratively, the fox is guarding the hen house. During colonial times, occupying British troops were issued “general warrants” in Massachusetts allowing them to forcefully enter any home or business without warning or probable cause in search of alleged contraband. In 1761 James Otis argued
unsuccessfully in a British colonial court to end the use of these “general warrants”. The memory of these assaults by the colonial governments on the people’s right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects…” is enshrined in the 4th Amendment. Quoting in full: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized. The American Government today seems to act with the assumption we are incapable of conducting our own affairs, or even be left alone and unobserved. It contends that the resulting “chaos” of ending or even limiting this surveillance would damage our national defense. A question arises. Is this really a concern for national or government defense?
Page A-12
The NSA, IRS, EPA, HHS, DOJ, Federal Reserve, and many more federal bureaucracies are watching us. Their tools include monitoring cell phones, internet communications, and direction finders in automobiles, searches of health records, and background checks for gun transactions. Knowing our habits, health, daily activities, and weaponry access is a potent tool and some would say the golden key to total control of all our lives. Indeed, the instruments of the modern surveillance state would be the envy of despots throughout history. When a government places a “TOP SECRET” stamp on a file of what it alone has determined is sensitive information, data is kept secret from foreign enemies but also from us citizens. There may be completely rational reasons for this. However isn’t it dangerous for a government to take a position that we the people can’t be trusted? When politicians hold the position that we citizens can’t be trusted they are motivated to watch us more carefully and withhold sometimes politically sensitive information from us.
If the government doesn’t trust us should we trust them? Perhaps you are not fearful of government snooping. After all, you are innocent of any wrong doing and have nothing to hide. Think of this, knowledge is power. While most Americans like to believe that potential despots do not exist in our population, the evidence does not bear this view out. We have Huey Long in Louisiana, Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall in New York City, the Chicago political machine under Bill Dailey, and who can forget Aaron Burr who wanted to change our Republic into an Empire with himself as Emperor! Remember, our founders believed that those in power would abuse it and that government exists only to secure our unalienable individual rights. Today there is a return to the “general warrants” of colonial times with technology making unnecessary the government breakdown of our doors. With and without the accord of secret courts, our homes and businesses, in fact our persons, are constantly being searched, seized, and probed. Any government given the tools of tyranny will put them to use. The final question to contemplate is, why provide them with the tools? As Thomas Jefferson once said: “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Born in New York City, Richard Eleuterio lived most of his life in Southern California. He is now a retired commercial insurance broker living and writing for the last 5 years in beautiful Colorado Springs. In writing his goal is to impart his readers with new knowledge about the legacy of our great nation’s past and how it affects the present.
DON’T TREAD ON ME!
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FIRST AMENDMENT FOR TROOPS AND CHAPLAINS? By Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD
The U.S. Congress is now considering two amendments, sections 529 and 530 of the NDAA 2014, that would protect free speech for chaplains and all troops, to pray publicly according to their faith, and speak about their conscience, moral, or religious beliefs without fear of reprisal. Can military Chaplains pray publicly “in Jesus’ name?” Can troops voice any moral objection to homosexuality? Yes and no. The First Amendment protects freedom of religious speech, but sadly domestic enemies of the Constitution oppose freedom. President Obama “strongly objects” to the proposed amendments, because allowing free religious speech by our troops could disrupt “good order and discipline,” he says. But don’t our troops deserve the same freedom they sacrifice to defend for others? I’ve fought this political battle for years, as an Air Force Academy graduate and former Navy Chaplain. I defended my Jewish Sailor’s right for kosher food, and my Muslim Sailor’s right to pray to Allah on the ship’s microphone. But in 2006 the Secretary of the Navy wrote a bad policy, SECNAVINST 1730.7C that required “non-sectarian” prayers outside of Sunday chapel. My supervisor justified censorship, explaining on tape, “if you pray in Jesus’ name, you can be punished.” I read the policy and said, “I volunteer to be the first punished.” I received written permission to wear my uniform during public worship. Then I stood outside the White House on a Thursday morning in full military regalia and said a prayer on national television. I refused to make speeches or answer media questions, but my prayer ended with the words “through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” I took a stand for freedom, by violating the Navy’s unconstitutional policy. Brass wanted to punish me quietly, but instead I demanded my legal right to a court-martial trial. The Navy Judge ruled that “public worship” was only safe inside of Sunday chapel, but “worshiping in public” could be punished as a crime anywhere else. I was found guilty of worshiping in public, and disobeying “lawful” orders, based solely upon the bad Navy policy 1730.7C. Tears of joy came to my eyes, as I remembered Peter and John in Acts 4, who were ordered to stop preaching in Jesus’ name. They obeyed God rather than men, and were flogged, but rejoiced to share in Christ’s suffering. Five hundred newspapers reported my conviction in September 2006, and it caused a national revival. I had an 85% public approval rating, and 300,000 Americans signed petitions to Congress. I showed my documents to the Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, and the next day he spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate, saying he was “besieged” by bloggers, emails, and phone calls demanding freedom for chaplains. By order of Congress, the Secretary of the Navy repented and rescinded the bad prayer policy 1730.7C, restoring freedom for Navy chaplains to pray “sectarian” prayers. We won that war, but I lost my battle. The change was never grandfathered back to my case, so I was honorably but involuntarily discharged. I lost my career, pension, and home, but I kept my soul, and I refused to deny Christ or water down my prayers. In five years my organization has delivered 4.5 million faxes to Congress for pro-life, traditional marriage, and religious freedom, and helped change laws in 12 states. This October the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on legislative prayers. Yet there is no positive law allowing freedom of speech and prayer for chaplains and troops. If you think there should be, sign a free petition at http://FaxCongress.com. Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, PhD lives in Colorado Springs. His full bio, contact info, and 70+ proof documents are here: http://prayinjesusname. org/invite-speaker Page A-13
Dr. Benjamin Carson
Director of Pediactric Nuerosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital & Best Selling Author of America the Beautiful
Dr. Kenyn Cureton
Vice President for Church Ministries
at Family Reasearch Council Author of ‘Lost Episodes’
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PUTTING THE
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2014 is a critical year for our State, the mid-term elections are upon us and there have been several candidates who have decided to enter the race to represent us in House Districts, State Senate, U.S Senate and many other offices. We will give you an opportunity to write in with your support or opposition in these crucial races. Take the time to meet these fine candidates, it takes a special “servant leader” heart to want to change Colorado back to the conservative State it once was. Some of these candidates are vying for your vote in primaries, so get involved now. Caucus time is fast approaching, more to come on that in upcoming issues, so stay tuned… My love and appreciation to all those who make this publication possible and now our new radio show! We couldn’t do this without our Heavenly Father and you and for that….I thank you.
GOLD ANTIQUES
After only 4 issues, Common Sense News has now brought you Common Sense Radio! What perfect timing, with all that’s going on in our cities, our counties and in our nation. Not only can you read this amazing paper, but now you can now tune in with us every Saturday from 2-3pm on AM1460 or live-streaming at www.kzntradio.com. Join into the conversation with us; we are libertyGod-fearing patriots who work relentlessly to bring you updates and information which will explain the deterioration of the country and our constitution that we all face as Americans. On October 12th, we launched our new radio show featuring conservative women who fight for our principles and liberties. Strong women, like Debbie Healy, Kanda Calef and Anne Vinnola. Thanks ladies for all you do in securing liberty! Our podcasts will be available online at www.commonsensenewsusa.com just in case you missed it.
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This coming November 5th, you will be casting your vote on Amendment 66. We have highlighted this issue right here in Common Sense News. This MUST be a NO vote (See page A-6, B-1 & B-13). I cannot express this enough. We have provided details for you to do your own research as well as who to contact for more information. Vote NO on Amendment 66. Period. Lana with her beautiful grand-daughter Gracie Mae
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Fall is in full swing and this happens to be my favorite time of the year. Many of us are making plans for family gatherings and the approaching holidays, but some in the political spectrum must continue to bring you important issues and news which will ultimately affect you and those you love. Common Sense News is looking out for you…(Thanks for that, O’Reilly!)
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Page A-16
UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME - COLORADO’S OWN GOVERNMENT
Beware of Amendment 66
By Douglas Bruce
Route 66 is a famous highway; Amendment 66 is a fiscal dead end, taking over a billion dollars yearly in new state taxes. Here are three strikes against #66 almost no one knows. The first is its bogus ballot title. TABOR (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) requires a tax increase ballot title begin, “SHALL STATE TAXES BE INCREASED ($X) ANNUALLY...?” When the state title board first met, the fiscal estimate was just under $1.5 BILLION yearly. A cost 50% above their failed 2011 tax hike would be fatal, so the teachers’ union sought a rehearing. The state agreed to lower the tax estimate one-third, to just below $1 BILLION. It declared that reduction corrected an innocent ($500 million) mistake. Would a private analyst making such a “mistake” keep his job? No. Should those who deceive voters get huge pay raises? No. Are they morally fit to teach your children? The second scam is the ballot title omission. State law requires ballot titles list major features fairly. Tax payers love TABOR; tax spenders despise it. So state employees hid the fact that #66 repeals TABOR’s constitutional guarantee of a uniform income tax rate (equal protection, the same for everyone). Today’s rate is 4.63 percent of federal taxable income. #66 establishes three tax rates. The union wants a five percent rate for persons earning up to $75,000 taxable income (an 8% hike), but then use Obama’s class warfare playbook to demonize “the rich” (those making over $75,000). Such “evil people” (like employers) will pay 5.9% on income above $75,000, a 27.4% increase. But corporations escape the #66 tax hike altogether, so we end up with three income tax rates, not one. The third trick is their proposal. They amend the constitution to repeal TABOR’s flat rate income tax, but everything else is ordinary law. Any statute can be changed by our legislature any time, even voter-approved ones. If gullible voters pass #66, politicians can apply the 5.9% rate to incomes over $50,000, then $25,000, $10,000, and eventually all income over $1. That means no voter approval for hundreds of millions in new taxes. They planned this because their ballot title says the tax after the first year can raise whatever is collected, ignoring the legally-required “annual” (year by year) limit. Saying the tax is “for the children” is the biggest lie of all. No child gets one dollar. It goes to direct pay raises or to prop up pensions. The state treasurer, who sits on the retirement board, has written it can offset the $25 billion deficit in profligate political pension plans paying nearly all state and local government workers (not just teachers) nearly full salaries for life, for not working. Most government school employees are not teachers. How is a 20% pay raise to clerks, union representatives, bus drivers, lawyers, and psychiatrists “for the children?” Income taxes raised in some school districts are redistributed to others; many will get less money than they do now. “Reforms” the politicians passed this spring cost no money and will be repealed after getting this huge tax hike. That practice is called “bait and switch.” Since 1970, national per-student school spending has soared 189% AFTER inflation. Are schools improving? No. Liberals told us Amendment 23 in 2000 would solve their “funding problem.”
They lied. Referendum C in 2005? Another lie. Even this year’s state marijuana tax, Prop. AA, promotes that buying drugs is “for the children.” We need to cure government’s addiction to our money. Total CO education spending is over $10,000 per student. For 25 students per classroom, that exceeds $250,000. If a teacher gets $50,000 in salary and benefits (for working nine months per year), where does the other $200,000 (80%) go? Sure, we need buildings, utilities, books, and some administration, but 80% for overhead is obscene. Failures of our socialized babysitting factories will not be solved by writing a check. Money cannot fix discipline problems, fire incompetent teachers, or improve academic performance. 66 also spends more on teaching illegal aliens than teaching citizens. Is that fair? The voter guide admits state spending has soared 34% in four years, violating TABOR. Business won’t invest in states constantly piling on more taxes. That’s why Colorado’s economic recovery is slower than in states that cut taxes. Say good-bye to good jobs. The only valid reforms are parental choice and school competition. Freedom always works; centralized control always fails. Vote “NO” on Amendment 66, then distribute fliers (from HYPERLINK “mailto:taxcutter@ msn.com”ta xcutter@msn.com)at store exits and email and phone everyone you know. The teachers’ union will spend millions to get their billion dollars a year; $5 million in campaign ads would reap a 200-to-1 annual return on their “investment” in our enslavement. We must resist. Do it for the children. Douglas Bruce, a former prosecutor, legislator, and county commissioner, authored The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) constitutional amendment voters approved in 1992. He can be reached at HYPERLINK “mailto:ta xcutter@msn. com”taxcutter@msn.com.
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UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME
Do You Have a Right to a Secret Ballot in Colorado? By Matt Arnold Most Coloradans – indeed, most Americans – would answer this question with an unequivocal “Yes!” Of course we have that right… Remarkably, many of our state’s public officials (including several county clerks), party officers, and “public-interest” advocacy groups believe otherwise, and are taking their case to court. Imagine a situation in which nosy neighbors, special-interest advocacy groups, political parties, and/or government officials can not only know how you voted – but try to take advantage of that knowledge to pressure you in your job, your housing, or in your participation in the civic arena. Imagine any or all of these groups using this knowledge to pressure you to vote the “correct” way – or suffer the consequences (losing your job, access to benefits, or just plain “outing” you). Imagine having someone come up to you at your job, getting in your face and saying the chilling words “We know how you voted” – and it’s going to go bad for you and your family. Actually, you don’t have to imagine – because just this situation is alleged to have occurred during a recent recall election in Colorado. No, not THAT Recall Election (last month’s historic ouster of state legislators Morse and Giron), but an earlier (March 2013) recall vote in the small town of Center (in Saguache County, CO). Election officials in the Town of Center were alleged to have violated the secrecy of ballots cast in the March 2013 Center municipal recall elections, exerting undue influence on voters and potentially affecting the outcome of the election. Additionally, election officials and other government employees (including Town Housing Authority officials) and partisan supporters of the recall were alleged to have engaged in voter intimidation, including delivery and collection of “pre-filled” mail-in ballots and/or pressure to fill in mail ballots in the presence of officials or partisan activists. Some voters were (allegedly) threatened after the vote.
in) elections in our state and nationally. Remarkably, many of our state’s public officials (including several county clerks), party officers, and “public-interest” advocacy groups seem to claim that despite clear constitutional language insisting that secrecy in voting is preserved, that secrecy in voting is not a fundamental right, and that public officials have the authority to determine how individuals cast their votes. Do You Have a Constitutional Right to a Secret Ballot in Colorado? Colorado’s Constitution guarantees secrecy in voting; Article VII, Section 8 says (excerpt): All elections by the people shall be by ballot, and in case paper ballots are required to be used, no ballots shall be marked in any way whereby the ballot can be identified as the ballot of the person casting it. The election officers shall be sworn or affirmed not to inquire or disclose how any elector shall have voted. … Nothing in this section, however, shall be construed to prevent the use of any machine or mechanical contrivance for the purpose of receiving and registering the votes cast at any election, provided that secrecy in voting is preserved. [emphasis added] The Colorado Supreme Court recently held a hearing in a case (Jones v. Samora, 13SA148) that could determine if your rights under the Colorado Constitution are upheld - or, once again, “interpreted” out of existence. (Read more about this case on www. clearthebenchcolorado.org) The implications of the court’s ruling in this case could affect the outcome of all future elections in Colorado. The sanctity of the secret ballot is critical to voter confidence in the fairness of our elections – indeed, it’s critical to whether citizens have the confidence to participate in voting, period. Do you have a right to a secret ballot? We’ll have an answer in a few weeks…
Secret ballot a fundamental right? Voter intimidation has a long and sordid history in Colorado and nationally, reaching epidemic proportions in the “machine politics” era of the 1930’s and 1940’s (heyday of the notorious New York City and Chicago political machines). More recently, both Presidents Nixon and Obama have notoriously used the IRS to target political opponents. Historically and internationally, totalitarian regimes have plastered a veneer of respectability over their control of the populace by holding elections where “big brother” could know how the state’s subjects voted - and all but the boldest “toed the line” by voting the “correct” way. Colorado voters passed a Constitutional amendment in 1946 (Article VII, Section 8) in response to voter intimidation and machine politics - stressing the importance of the secret ballot to allow citizens to vote their conscience free of outside influence or fear of reprisal (including by government officials). Unfortunately, the sanctity of the secret ballot has been steadily eroded over time (most recently with the widespread advent of mail ballots), undermining the integrity of (and confidence
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Matt Arnold is a strong, principled leader and American patriot. He is a military veteran (currently a Captain in the Army Reserves), an active advocate for education reform and gun rights, but best known as the founder and director of Clear the Bench Colorado, a judicial accountability group providing independent analysis and commentary on our judicial system. (www.clearthebenchcolorado.org)
UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME
Pot Tax Not Grade AA, Lays an Egg By Larisa Boliva Proposition AA is too much! If all marijuana taxes pass, Denver’s total tax rate would be 52%. This elitist plan subverts the will of voters. It would reverse the 2012 election decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana by making it too expensive to buy. Add the many new punitive business “fees” imposed without voter approval and the total will drive consumers back to tax-free, fee-free black markets run by organized crime. The legal system wants that result for job security. Which is easier and safer for them—processing college kids for having a joint in their pockets or catching violent criminals? Prop. AA discourages the lawful adult use citizens voted to tolerate. It is also a tax on a tax--15% on sales by a grower, then 10% more on the tax-added price at retail stores. Politicians can raise that 10% surtax to 15% without voter approval, in violation of the constitution (TABOR). Other taxes are now added on top of that, like the 2.9% state sales tax and the local sales taxes, though none was voter-approved to apply to marijuana. Multiple layers of taxation on growing and retail selling are inefficient and bad for the economy. These three state taxes should be voted on separately. Excess taxation to enforce laws against illegal sales will increase illegal sales! That is irrational policy. The cost to enforce new regulations is less than old law enforcement costs, so there is no need for added taxes. It is a bad idea to have two retail sales tax rates for one product. No tax should target a single product, nor be used to control behavior. We could end up with different and overlapping sales tax rates for hundreds of different products. Who wants a more complicated tax code? Variable tax rates prevent tax stability needed by business and consumers. Asking for one rate and then raising it without voter approval is a sneaky bait-and-switch tactic. The ballot title conceals the ultimate tax cost; we should not reward state deceit. Voters approved medical marijuana in 2000 without any excise tax. There were no bad effects or added costs; another tax is not needed here either. The 2.9% state sales tax cannot legally apply to marijuana sales; it is not part of this tax increase. The state did not tax retail marijuana sales last year and the constitution requires voter approval to change tax policy that increases tax revenue. Yet this 10% sales tax is cumulative to a new 2.9% illegal state sales tax on marijuana that voters never approved. Government has already enacted marijuana fees to pay for regulation. Three more state taxes is too much. The state will enforce its laws anyway, with or without added taxes and fees. Government should not tax activities it discourages, like drug use. The more government succeeds, the less revenue it gets. Counting on tax revenue from a product illegal under federal law is risky. We are now told to smoke marijuana in order to raise taxes “for the children.” That is a cynical excuse. The inflated school construction “need” of $18 billion won’t be solved by this maximum tax support of $40 million, which is under one-quarter of one percent. This is more emotional manipulation of voters.
Page 27 of the Blue Book pamphlet sent to voters made a $3 million “mistake” in adding two numbers. If state “experts” can’t do that third-grade task right, do they really need a $70 million annual tax? When they learn to add, they will find plenty of money to perform their legitimate functions. The government is too big and wastes too much money now. Deny them extra revenue and force them to set better spending priorities with existing state spending that has grown almost $3 billion (34 percent) in the past four years, over 40 times the amount of this tax. Every time we raise taxes, government sucks more money from the private economy to spend on itself. Businesses won’t relocate here or create jobs in a stagnant economy. We should compete with other states that are lowering taxes and growing jobs. Don’t strangle legitimate business investment. Don’t undermine the will of the voters. Vote “no” on Proposition AA. It’s Absolutely Awful. Larisa Bolivar is Executive Director of No on Proposition AA. A former dispensary owner and medical marijuana advocate, she resides in Denver.
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UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME
Was Colorado Statehood Fully Conferred? By Amy Mitchell
Part 3 There is Precedent for a Win.
The Federal Government promised to “extinguish Title” (transfer title away) to the states upon conference of Statehood. This promise was not honored; the federal government controls 36.63% of Colorado’s land. But, all is not lost, there is precedent. Other states have succeeded in compelling the federal government to transfer the land to the states; finalizing the conference of statehood, and allowing those states to gain equal footing among all the states of the union. Congressional and supreme court rulings explained below shed light on the motive of the federal government
refusing the necessary quantity of those lands upon which to erect iron works.” As Missouri contended back in 1828, is the federal government retaining control of Colorado’s minerals and natural resources for federal use or as collateral for the national debt? Multiple Supreme Court rulings show legal precedence which supports a favorable outcome for Colorado. 1) “Whenever [i.e. once] the United States shall have fully executed these trusts, the municipal sovereignty of the new states will be complete, throughout their respective borders, and they, and the original states, will be upon an equal footing, in all respects whatever.” “. . . the United States never held any municipal sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of soil in and for the territory ... of the new States ... except for temporary purposes, and to execute the trusts created by the acts of the Virginia and Georgia Legislatures, and the deeds of cession executed by them to the United States, and the trust created by the treaty with the French Republic of the 30th of April, 1803, ceding Louisiana (The Louisiana Purchase) (Pollard v. Hagan, 1845). 2) The federal government holds territorial lands “in trust for the several states to be ultimately created out of the territory.” (Shively v. Bowlby, 1894)
and the precedent for Colorado to gain possession of its land. In 1828, the “western states” (Illinois, (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida) struggled with the issue; the title to the land had not been fully transferred to each of these states. They banded together and relentlessly pressured congress by sending petitions addressing their grievances: 1) the federal government did not honor the promise given upon entering statehood, 2) the state cannot tax the federally-owned land and therefore cannot adequately fund education and 3) the states cannot grow their economies due to the fact the federal government was hoarding their abundant mineral and natural resources. Along with petitions, resolutions were passed and delivered to congress by multiple delegations to congress to press the issue. On January 26th, 1829, it was communicated to the Senate and House under No. 726 2d Session, in written form, addressing the APPLICATION OF MISSOURI FOR A CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM OF DISPOSING OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. The general assembly declared the refusal to transfer the land title to the state of Missouri as an infringement of the compact between the United States and this State; and that the State of Missouri would not have consented to not to tax the lands when unsold, nor would they have agreed to allow nine-tenths of the land from ever becoming the “property of persons in whose hands they may be taxed”. Missouri also contended in their statement to congress; “the general (federal) government has absolutely reserved from sale upwards of seven hundred acres of land, under a supposition that it contained lead ore. It has reserved from sale all the salt springs belonging to the government, and the lands contiguous thereto; and it has, through the Executive, refused to sell large districts of country supposed to contain iron ore, except in alternate sections, thereby, in effect,
3) In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court called these Enabling Acts (statehood agreements) “solemn compacts” and “bi-lateral [twoway] agreements” that are to be performed “in a timely fashion” (Andrus v. Utah, 1980), 4) Congress passed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). In this act “Congress declares that it is the policy of the United States that the public lands be retained in Federal ownership, unless ... it is determined that disposal of a particular parcel will serve the national interest.” (FLPMA, sec. 102(a)(1)). In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared that Congress cannot change the “uniquely sovereign character of a State’s admission into the Union, particularly where virtually all of a State’s public lands are at stake” (Hawaii v. OHA, 2009). Unfortunately the federal government of 2013 is out of control. It will be a tough battle and worth the fight. In the 2013 legislative session Senator Scott Renfroe sponsored SB 13-142 - A BILL FOR AN ACT CONCERNING THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EXTINGUISH TITLE TO ALL AGRICULTURAL PUBLIC LANDS AND TRANSFER TITLE TO THE STATE. This bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Appropriations Committee. Stay tuned to learn about the plan for 2014. Amy Mitchell is a 5th generation Coloradan with roots established in Colorado in 1846 before it was a State. She is a self-appointed activist and a leader in the Republican Revolution, a founding member of the El Paso County TEA Party, a true patriot and small business owner.
Congratulations to the New Senators Congratulations Gentlemen! After a hard fought grassroots battle, we are pleased to have two new Republican Senators. Senator George Rivera SD3, and Senator Bernie Herpin SD11 Page B-4
UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME
Make My Day Law-What is it really about? Timothy J. Priebe, Esq.
While teaching my Legal Tactics course, I encounter numerous questions that relate to the “Make My Day” law. Students will express an idea on how they believe the law works and what protections it provides. Many times however, the student is completely wrong and has based their understanding on the law from people or internet based discussions that are incorrect. This is not a new phenomenon. Ten years ago when we moved to Colorado Springs, we were looking at property in the Black Forest area. Our Realtor, who was really good at his job, provided us legal advice on the Make My Law. He told us that if we found someone looking into our windows, we could shoot them and then pull their body into the house and claim it was a Make My Day shooting. According to our realtor, if we did this we would not have any problems with the law. I told him it might be best that he sells homes and not disburse legal advice. So how did we end up with the Make My Day Law? When introduced in 1985, it was called the Homeowners Protection Act and Colorado was the first state to enact such a law. During the time of its introduction, State Senator Dave Wattenburg, who was an opponent of the law invoked the now famous monicker, “Make My Day.” The phrase, “Go ahead, make my day”, comes from the 1983 movie ''Sudden Impact'', in which actor Clint Eastwood, playing Detective Harry Callahan, holds a gun on a criminal suspect and says, ''Go ahead, make my day,'' daring the suspect to give him an excuse to shoot him. Assuming somehow that the phrase would turn off voters from wanting this law passed, the name stuck and today is actually misquoted by the courts as the proper name for the law. What protection does this statute provide us should we be involved in a self-defense related shooting? First, it is important to start off with the main purpose of the law. The first subsection of the law states: The general assembly hereby recognizes that the citizens of Colorado have a right to expect absolute safety within their own homes. Continued on page B-6
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UNDER THE GOLDEN DOME
Make My Day Law-What is it Really About?
continued from page B-5 With that proclamation, this law allows a person who is in a dwelling to use any degree of physical force, up to deadly physical force, to defend themselves or any other occupant of the dwelling against an intruder under certain circumstances. The first requirement under the law is that the intruder must have committed an “unlawful entry” in your dwelling. This means that if the person is in your dwelling with your permission then the Make My Day law would not apply. It is important to remember, however, you always have the ability to defend yourself or others even if the elements of Make My Day law do not apply. The next requirement is that in addition to the unlawful entry, the occupant must have a reasonable belief that the intruder has committed or is about to commit a crime in addition to the unlawful entry. This is where I start to lose people when I am explaining the law as most people are not aware of this requirement. The mere fact that someone has broken into your dwelling is not enough. You have to have a reasonable belief that they have or will commit an additional crime. The reason for this requirement may be to protect that truly innocent person who is standing in your living room at two in the morning after making an unlawful entry into your house but is not there to commit any additional crimes. Fat chance? Perhaps but I did not write the law, I am only here to explain it. It is important to note that the courts have stated that the inquiry focuses on the reasonable belief of the occupant and not the actual conduct of the intruder. So if you can explain your actions based upon what is considered to be reasonable, you will go a long way in being able to use this law in your favor. The final requirement is that the occupant reasonably believes that the intruder is going to use any degree of physical force, no matter how slight, against any occupant in the dwelling. Again, most people are unaware of this requirement. So contrary to the stories you may have heard, if the intruder is on the way out your door after stealing your TV, you can’t shoot them. However, if the intruder for whatever reason turned and acted in such a manner that you reasonably felt threatened, the situation changes. So if all of the required elements apply what does this law do to protect you? Depending on the situation, it could be quite a bit. As opposed to a straight self-defense claim, the Make My Day law provides two important immunities to the defender. The first immunity relates to a criminal charge brought against you for the injury to or death of the intruder. If all of the elements apply, the defender will be immune from criminal prosecution for the use of force against the intruder. The second immunity relates to any civil liability that the intruder may have due to the injuries or death that occurred to the intruder. The first immunity should not be considered a “get out of jail free” card anytime there is a force applied against an intruder of a dwelling. You could still find yourself arrested, jailed and charged with a crime under certain circumstances. The law provides that you can file a motion requesting that the court dismiss all charges against you because all of the elements of the Make My Day law apply to your situation. This motion can be filed early in your case and hopefully granted by the judge. If denied, a person could then raise the same issues with the jury at trial. You could injure or take the life of an intruder and then subsequently be sued by the intruder or their family for those injuries or death. Again, the Make My Day law allows the defender to file a motion requesting that the court dismiss the civil lawsuit as the immunity would apply. While this is just a simple explanation of the law, it is imperative that you learn and train yourself for situations where you may have to use force to defend yourself or someone else. This includes both physical training as well as educating yourself regarding what the law allows you to do or not do. Without knowing the law, you could end up defending yourself in a court of law. Timothy J. Priebe is an attorney licensed in Colorado and California. He maintains his practice in Colorado Springs. He has been practicing law for 18 years and focuses on business law and estate planning. He is an NRA certified instructor and provides NRA certified classes. He is married and has two children. He and his family enjoy all outdoor activities.
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ELECTIONS - INTERVIEW WITH THE CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR Why did you decide to run for governor? I'm running for Governor because the people of this state deserve better. They should have a Governor for all of Colorado; a governor with Colorado values. We need a Governor with experience to be effective on day one. We are out of time for on the job training, blue ribbon panels or a vision that is "To Be Determined". Angela and I have been married 23 years. We have three children and one son-in-law. Cycling is my only real hobby. Of course, I enjoy shooting and reading as well. I graduated from Wray High School and Colorado State University with a degree in Animal Sciences. We lost our dog in 2006 and haven't replaced her yet. She was awesome. What experience can you bring to the table and what has prepared you for this job? I'm a farmer with twenty years of experience running my small business. I've been in the legislature since 2002 working on the big issues that matter to everyone, like education, transportation and the economy. Plus, I've a broad base of knowledge of more parochial issues like water policy, outdoor recreation, and the public employees' retirement fund. What is your leadership style? My leadership style is to listen, gather information, seek advice, think, and then seek solutions that don't compromise my values. What sets you apart from your other opponents? The two things that set me apart from anyone else running is my broad base of experience and my ability to relate to the middle of Colorado. I have a long record as a thoughtful conservative leader with the highest degree of integrity. I'm the only one who can become just the fifth Republican in over thirty years to win a state-wide contested race in Colorado. What are the 3 biggest issues facing Colorado today and what do you plan to do to improve them? We face a huge fiscal challenge caused by continual expansions of entitlements in Colorado. We will not have enough money for education or any other core function of government within three years. The good news is that we can reform the entitlement programs and put people back on a path to independence from government control. We already know exactly how to do this; we just have to have the courage to get started. We have to create an environment in Colorado where businesses can flourish. We need a stable and less burdensome regulatory environment. Right now, businesses have too much political risk in Colorado. We have to implement the key education reforms that have recently passed. The status quo in education is just not acceptable. 1 fun fact that few people know about you. And finally, I have grown watermelons on my farm for years. They are my signature crop. But I'm actually allergic to watermelon.
GREG BROPHY
Please tell me a bit about your family, hobbies, education, parents, pets etc. Born outside of Detroit, my parents moved when I was young to build a better life for us in Chicago. I grew up in a middle class neighborhood outside of Chicago and after working hard in high school, I became one of the few in my graduating class to be admitted to a top school. After undergraduate at Yale and Law School at Michigan, I started my career as a federal prosecutor in DC. I was then mobilized by the United States Army and sent to Bosnia. During my service in the military I served in Special Forces, Airborne and JAG units. After coming back to America, I went back to Illinois to help run a construction company, and earn a business degree at night. 17 years ago I packed everything I had into my Jeep and drove to Colorado. I married Kristi and together we have a beautiful daughter Sofia, and a son on the way. Why did you decide to run for governor? We have it in our power to remake our state. To make our state a place where you can be judged on where you’re going in life, judged on what you’re going to build, what you’re going to create. That’s why I moved here 17 years ago. We can make a better place to live than we have now. Texas, Utah, Oklahoma and Wyoming are all eating our lunch economically – we need a state that encourages people to take risks, start businesses, and raise families. What experience can you bring to the table and what has prepared you for this job? As Secretary of State, I’ve overseen a sprawling department of our government, which we’ve taken from a sleepy, log-jammed office to doing some of the most innovative things in the country. We’ve slashed budgets and fees – all the while made it easier for people to start businesses and get through regulation. What is your leadership style? Our current Governor lacks vision – his accomplishments in office can be summarized by the new state logo tax payers spent millions of dollars developing. It’s nice and pretty, but there’s nothing behind it. We need direction. We need to chart a course as a state and work together to achieve it. That’s exactly what I’ve done as Secretary of State. What sets you apart from your other opponents? My opponents are all good men, and friends of mine. We were friends before the beginning of this campaign and will be friends after, but we need someone who’s had experience leading people and delivering results. Essentially, a Governor is the CEO of multi-billion dollar corporation. As Secretary of State I’ve delivered results. As Governor I’ll do the same. Making speeches and votes is admirable, but now is the time for proven, effective leadership, and I’m the only candidate who can bring that. What are the 3 biggest issues facing Colorado today and what do you plan to do to improve them? Our economy is failing. Businesses are leaving. Regionally, our unemployment is incredibly high. As Secretary of State I’ve been in the
SCOTT GESSLER
(Continued on page B-8)
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ELECTIONS
(Continued from page B-7)
trenches, creating innovative solutions that help people start businesses and create jobs. I’ll do the same thing as Governor. Our education system is failing. Almost half of our low-income kids don’t graduate high school, and few move on to college. We do have pockets of excellence – but if we don’t do something we’re essentially writing off half of our young minds to minimum wage jobs for the rest of their lives. I refuse to accept that. Our constitutional rights are being torn apart by an overzealous legislature. Our ability to protect ourselves is being traded by Hickenlooper so he can gain political points with interest groups in Washington. I’m a gun owner. My family has received death threats since I was elected as Secretary of State. I choose to own a firearm to protect my family. The Constitution guarantees every Coloradan that right. 1 fun fact that few people know about you. When I was in my twenties I rode my bicycle across the country. Please tell me a bit about your family, hobbies, education, parents, pets etc. I was born in Denver to Italian immigrant parents. My father was a trucker and my mother worked at Joslins Department Store for over 20 years. I have two brothers. I attended St. Catherine’s Elementary, Holy Family High School, and University of Northern Colorado. I married my wife Jackie in 1977. We have 2 kids, 6 grandchildren, and a mini-golden doodle. I enjoy riding my motorcycle and trap shooting. Why did you decide to run for governor? To stand up for average Coloradans like me who see our state going out-of-control. I will fill the leadership vacuum created by John Hickenlooper and reverse the radical left wing course on which he has set the state. What experience can you bring to the table and what has prepared you for this job? I started out as a civics teacher at Drake Junior High then after elected served in the Colorado State Legislature for 6 years, 2 on the Joint Budget Committee. Then I spent 12 years as the Region 8 Director for the US Department of Education under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. After that I spent 5 years as the president of the Independence Institute. I was then honored to represent Colorado’s Sixth Congressional District for ten years from 1999-2009. What is your leadership style? When you bring passion and fairness to the job, people follow. My goal is to fight for every citizen and not allow the corrupt insiders to take advantage of the rest of us. What sets you apart from your other opponents? My opponents are decent men but I have the greatest chance to be successful in the general election. When elected, I will lead our state back to limited government and not just talk about it during the campaign. What are the 3 biggest issues facing Colorado today and what do you plan to do to improve them? 1. Education; In order to create a true renaissance in education the system must be infused with a greater degree of creative stimulus. Nothing does this better than school choice for parents and students. It will be the toughest public policy battle we can undertake, but the most important to win. Indeed, we must improve education for students at all levels. 2. Business and infrastructure: I will make sure that the transportation infrastructure is improved and maintained for commerce. With our national business-friendly ranking continuing to fall year after year under Hickenlooper, I will make it a top priority to attract new businesses and good paying jobs to Colorado. 3. Return to a familiar Colorado: Begin the rollback of the radical left-wing policies being forced on Colorado. We have a live-and-let-live attitude in Colorado, but the radical Democrats are so out-of-touch that they want to keep forcing more government on us. That will stop on my watch. 1 fun fact that few people know about you. I learned how to play the accordion as a child.
TOM TANCREDO
Editor Note: All of the Consertative candidates for Governor were given the same questions for this interview. Common Sense News reached out to Mike Kopp’s campaign but didn’t receive a response in time to print.
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LOCAL ISSUES FREMONT COUNTY
The Reality of a Fremont County Sheriff's Deputy By Debbie Bell Psst... you. Yeah, you. Let me offer you a job. Not just any job! Oh, no. This is a special job. First, you must attend an academy and become certified, which will set you back about $5,000 of your own money and five or six months of your personal time. Don't expect reimbursement or salary during this intensive training. Next, you have to spend hundreds out of your own pocket to buy all of your own uniforms. Now, expect to work nights and weekends and holidays for years to come, missing out on your kids' soccer games, school programs, maybe even their first steps. Never forget to kiss your children goodbye every time you go to work, because you are putting your life on the line every single day. All this for a salary of less than $28,000 a year or enough money to qualify for food stamps as a family of four. Ready to go to work? Is this a job you would want for your son, your daughter, your grandchild? This is the reality of a Fremont County Sheriff's Deputy. Few are interested. Even those applicants who are hired rarely stay longer than a year. And another "help wanted" posting starts the entire cycle all over again. Sheriff Jim Beicker has a slew of budgetary problems. Low salaries for difficult positions is just one of them, but adding insult to injury, Fremont County is the only county in the entire State of Colorado that forces deputies to buy their own uniforms with no allowance. The Board of County Commissioners believes that we, as a county, can do better than this. We all have the opportunity with Ballot Question 1A on Nov. 5, which seeks a 1 percent sales tax increase for the sheriff's office. Perhaps you have heard the cold statistics. I won't bore you with numbers, but we have those readily available if you are interested. Instead, I would like to ask you a few more important questions. Do you want full-time animal control restored to Fremont County? Your "Yes" vote on 1A will provide the resources necessary to return professionally trained, full-time animal control officers to the sheriff's office.
(Continued on page B-11 )
City of Champions: Why It’s a Loser
COLORADO SPRINGS
By The Forgotten Man
Colorado Springs Mayor Bach has proposed a central plan for the city of Colorado Springs, allegedly costing roughly $218 Million (only a proposed $61 Million is anticipated to come from private sources) to build four "attractions": 1. a downtown stadium and event center, replacing the current privately-owned Sky Sox stadium and competing with the privately-owned World Arena; 2. the U.S. Olympic Museum that isn't even located at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and alleging that a Visitor's Center will bring more tourists than are already attracted to the USOTC; 3. U.S. Air Force Academy Visitor's Center, similarly alleging that a Visitor's Center will bring more tourists than are already attracted to the USAFA; and 4. a Sports Medicine Center at the University of
Colorado, Colorado Springs, which presumably will bring "medical tourists." The City for Champions (CfC) proposal, that is all the buzz in the elite circles of Colorado Springs, points to the government gravy train as the engine for economic revitalization for the most Conservative city in Colorado rather than free markets. An unhealthy alliance between wealthy development interests and city government is conjuring up the best ways to gamble your money. With their tools of secrecy, cronyism, deception, and governmental tricks, they intend to strong arm us into doing what they believe is the best thing with our money. Something is rotten folks and one (Continued on page B-10)
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Page B-9
LOCAL ISSUES
City of Champions: Why It’s a Loser By The Forgotten Man (Continued from page ) only has to scratch the surface to see the end-game. CITY FOR CHAMPIONS INCEPTION It is apparent that the CfC proposal is the pet project of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The DDA embodies some of the most distasteful aspects of government and private business collusion. It acts as a quasi-governmental entity consisting in large part of real estate development interests that hold the Mayor’s ear and define the direction for urban renewal activities in downtown Colorado Springs. Notable active board members of the DDA are developer heavy-weights Chris Jenkins of Nor’wood Development Group and Chuck Murphy of Murphy Construction. From the city government-side, City Councilors Jill Gaebler and Merv Bennett also sit on the board. To further elicit support of the CfC proposal, an organizing committee of more government and business leaders was composed. The El Pomar Foundation, Philip Anschutz (owner of the Broadmoor and the Gazette), Dick Celeste (former Colorado College President), UCCS, USAFA, and the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitor’s Bureau all promoted the idea. The DDA, with tax dollars and private contributions raised chiefly by Nor’wood, commissioned a study by a collection of out-of-state urban planners from socialist strongholds like Maryland, Washington D.C., New York and California, who call themselves the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The ULI came highly recommended by Nor’wood. It is with little wonder that, given the urban carnage that exists in the above-mentioned states, the ULI recommendations pointed to the need for heavy Communist-style central planning. The logical next step was the pursuit of untapped sources of government funding, namely the Colorado State Regional Tourism Act, that doles out money to localities with cunning developers for the attraction of more tourist dollars. The recommendations of the ULI litter the CfC proposal that subsequently was submitted by the Mayor to garner RTA funds. The fingerprints of developers are all over this proposal. It is noteworthy that Nor’wood pumped $800,000 into Mayor Bach’s election campaign, that Chuck Murphy owns land in the proposed development zone and also sits on the RTA board, and that the Mayor and a couple of the City Councilors come from the same social and business circles as the developers already mentioned. Who do you think is most likely to get the CfC development contracts?
All of these governmental tricks have been used to buy time. The plan of the CfC masterminds appears to be to get the state funding and both lure and trap the citizens with the $82 million, but maybe not quite $82 million, honey pot. The mayor is spreading falsehoods that there will be time for public discussion about the project after the funding has been secured. This is patently not true and the City of Aurora is a prime example of what can happen if the proposal is changed or altered from its original form. Aurora is now coping with a lawsuit over the scope of a similarly-sized project being modified. Who should we believe: the Mayor, a politician with special interests, or the facts?
WHAT CAN YOU, THE REAL CHAMPIONS, DO?
Time is running out! The CfC needs to be challenged. Without citizens asking questions and getting the eye roll and slanderous remarks from public officials and community “leaders” when they try to challenge group-think and follow the money, the CfC will be a reality. It is little wonder that people don’t want to get involved. Citizens: Write to the RTA Board and demand that they do not gamble our money on a project that only stands to benefit a few. The email addresses for the bureaucrats that serve the Board are Jeff.kraft@state.co.us ; Virginia.davis@state.co.us; and Simon. fox@state.co.us. Please go to the RTA’s “public” hearing on December 4 at 9am, go to 1625 Broadway, Suite 2700 in Denver – imagine that they are not having this meeting in Colorado Springs where the public actually lives – and testify against the state getting involved with our city. Colorado Springs City Council: Invite public comment and take those remarks to the RTA Board’s public hearing. Mayor Bach: You were hired by the People as a Conservative, but you have proven to be more of an opportunist. Get your act together or prepare to be fired! The Mayor and developers have created a pretty picture for the RTA board, but the reality is the people of Colorado Springs ultimately pay the price for this disaster.
WOW $218 MILLION!
The state “award” is to be $82 Million to defray the costs of the CfC proposal. It is projected that another $136 Million will be needed. If all goes according to plan, the citizens of Colorado Springs will be asked to support a bond to pony up the less than meager sum of $40 Million. And, potentially the gap could be higher! There is a worrisome caveat in the language of the RTA Application and Guidelines that indicates the $86 Million may not REALLY be $86 Million if “sales taxes do not exceed the base year revenue.” Sadly, if we build it and no one comes, John and Suzy Q will have to forgo a newer car for another year to cover an attractive, but useless collection of glass, steel and concrete.
BOUNDARIES, WHO NEEDS BOUNDARIES?
The downtown maps provided in the CfC application identify a pretty generous area and don’t name street names. When queried about who owns the proposed development land in the application, the El Paso County Assessor’s office called the maps “vague descriptions” With fuzzy boundaries, the wrecking ball could swing wide and come through the front door of some of the many residences and businesses bordering those areas. Would eminent domain be used to fulfill the CfC vision? With another swing, the towers of the Martin Drake Power Plant could go, leaving the residents of Colorado Springs with higher utility rates. Be afraid of what government and business can do!
CLEAR AS MUD The people of Colorado Springs are going to be paying the majority of the costs and taking the biggest gamble with the CfC, yet everywhere there has been a lack of governmental transparency. Any public discussion has been actively avoided. The DDA has selective omissions in meeting minutes or minutes have been suppressed on their website. The City Attorney, who is hired by and serves at the pleasure of the Mayor, side-stepped a CORA request to access the results of the public poll designed to gauge support for the SkySox stadium move. That same City Attorney informed the former City Council of the CfC plan in a closed Executive Session. The County Commissioners used a closed Executive Session to hide from the public as they wrote a letter in support of the CfC. The Mayor’s entire application creation and submission process has been just plain secretive. The secrecy has been justified by CfC supporters as being necessary to avoid competition by other Colorado municipalities; however, that seems a flimsy excuse to keep those paying for the proposal in the dark. Page B-10
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LOCAL ISSUES
The Reality of a Fremont County Sheriff's Deputy By Debbie Bell (Continued from page B-9 ) Do you want an officer immediately available if you call 911 with a life-threatening emergency? Fewer officers patrol Fremont County now than did 16 years ago, and no deputies are stationed in the western part of the county. Your "Yes" vote on 1A will allow Sheriff Beicker to hire and train additional officers to respond quickly and professionally to all areas of the county. If your daughter was the victim of a brutal sexual assault, would you want the assailant immediately identified, taken into custody, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law? Currently, too few investigators mean too many serious cases sit on a desk waiting for a detective to investigate. The sheriff believes this is "revictimizing" sexual assault cases. Your "Yes" vote on 1A will bring investigator staffing up to the levels necessary for timely investigations. Do you live in a town or city in Fremont County and believe the sheriff's office has no effect on or benefit for you and your family? The Fremont County Detention Center is the only jail within our county borders. Everyone who is arrested and taken into custody — whether by Cañon City Police, Florence Police or Fremont County Sheriff
Deputies — ends up there. The majority of offenders in the county jail have committed felonies, the most serious types of crimes. The sheriff cannot afford to fully staff deputies to work in the jail, which creates an "officer safety" issue every day. Your "Yes" vote on 1A will make deputies, and all of us, safer. Did the Royal Gorge Fire scare you? The Sheriff's Wildland Fire Team responded immediately to that fire and helped keep it from burning a single home. Too many of those firefighters were in the field with inadequate or no radio communication. Your "Yes" vote on 1A will provide essential communications equipment to those firefighters, keeping them safer as they fight for the safety and security of both you and your property. Why would you support an additional sales tax? An increase in sales tax will be paid by tourists and visitors, as well as citizens who spend money locally. It amounts to an additional dollar for every $100 spent. Your "Yes" vote on 1A will provide the funding necessary for the sheriff's office. Truly, I could go on and on.
(Continued from page B-12)
Page B-11
LOCAL ISSUES
The Reality of a Fremont County Sheriff's Deputy (Continued from page B-11)
As your County Commissioners, we do not like new or additional taxes any more than the next person. But we also believe we have a shared civil and moral obligation to provide better law enforcement, public safety and criminal justice services than are possible with the current level of available funding. It is
the responsibility of all citizens to adequately fund the public safety services that protect our lives, property and well-being. Our officers are willing to give their lives for you. Will you, in return, help fund them to do their jobs? Debbie Bell is the District 2 Fremont County Commissioner.
OUR PROUD HERITAGE
WHO IS LIKE THE LORD? By Dr. Harley Ihm
Have you recently looked around at our nation and noticed the choices people are making and feeling wonderful about? Our law-makers and courts are standing against the Word of God far more often. It seems almost hypocritical to have “In God we trust” on the American currency, when that does not seem to be a reality. I just do not see God as the source of our trust, in the judicial, executive or legislative branches, nor in the public who cry out for laws to protect their choices in life with no consideration of aligning with the Word of God our nation was founded upon. Have you felt like we are on the verge of becoming like every other nation on earth who has explained away their true Creator? I want to share some good news and bad news. The news depends on where we go from here. Micah was prophet of God who lived at the same time as Isaiah, around 700BC. He addresses all Israel, but he focuses more on his nation of Judah. It is interesting that the name Micah mean “Who is like the Lord?” It seems likely that God has either given this name to his parents for him or else God has given Micah this name for his ministry. Micah is ticked off, flat mad, and filled with the Lord’s anger. He denounces the ethical sins and the social situations taking place in his country. The rich are oppressing the poor. Businessmen are cheating the people. The religious and judicial leaders are corrupt. The country has ordered true prophets to keep their mouth shut. The people had become numb to the problem. It was just the way life was. No one cared to speak out. They thought God understood it was just the sign of the times. They had obviously forgotten the song of victory and allegiance Moses and all the Israelites sang joyously after God had parted the Red Sea and gave them the path to salvation from their bondage in Egypt. “I will sing to the Lord for He is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone” (Ex. 15:1-5). Then Miriam, Aaron’s sister took a tambourine and all the women joined her as they began to dance and sing, “Sing to the Lord, for His is highly exalted. The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea” (Ex. 15:21). About 450-500 years later the lyrics to the song are still resonating among God’s people. King David wrote a song of the Lord’s victory, “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He answers him from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm” (Ps. 20:6-8). Now it is another 300 years later, about 850 years after the exodus and God’s miraculous deliverance that proved great armies and chariots and horses are nothing when the Almighty God decides his people have suffered enough. Who is like our Lord? There is no one!
The Lord has caused a fire to rise up in the prophet Micah to speak out against God’s people who are no longer trusting solely in Him. What was it that made the Lord who is so gracious and loving and protective of His people, so filled with anger that He sends Micah to let them have an ear full, to remind the m there is no one like the Lord? The great character of the Almighty God is that He longs to reprimand His people for a specific purpose. He wants their attention so He can once again bless them. His desire is not to do them harm, but they get to make the choice. In the end the people of God listen to Him and He is delighted. They understand the message and put their hope back in God. Therefore, God tells them, “As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders. Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power…” (Micah 7:15-16a). You might ask, “What does that have to do with our nation?” I can only answer that with a question, “Who is like our God?” Man’s wisdom leads us to hate and selfdestruction. God’s wisdom leads us to grace, mercy and compassion. If God’s Word, the Scriptures are removed as the source of truth that is the standard for life, then we have just set man above His Creator. Do you think that might be why we look around us and see our nation hardly distinguishable from the rest of the world in far too many ways? Dr. Harley Ihm lives with his wife Dr. Dana Ihm, in Pueblo, Colorado where he is a writer, teacher, preacher and communicator. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Missouri, a master’s degree in New Testament Exegesis and Preaching from Johnson University, Knoxville, Tennessee, and a Doctor of Biblical Studies from Master’s International University in Evansville, Indiana. He is currently working on completing a Doctor of Theology from Master’s International as well. Dr. Ihm teaches Bible and Worldview classes for Colorado Christian University. Growing up in rural Missouri, he is a firm believer in the conservative lifestyle that brought our forefathers to this country in search of true freedom.
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Page B-12
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AMENDMENT 66
WHAT DOES INTIATIVE 22 REALLY PROVIDE? Initiative 22: It’s bad for our children, for our teachers, and for Colorado’s families!!!
Special interest groups hope to pass a one billion dollar per year tax hike on Colorado’s families under the guise of education reform. The increase would raise tax rates for incomes under $75,000 from 4.63% to 5% and would raise tax rates for income over $75,000 from 4.63% to 5.9%. This represents a 27% state income tax increase on those making more than $75,000 per year, and an 8% increase on those making $75,000 or less. Colorado’s children deserve real education reform, which, unfortunately, this initiative doesn’t provide.
Our children are Colorado’s greatest asset, and we owe them the best education that we can provide. Colorado’s public schools are not adequately preparing our children for college or for success in life. Our children deserve better. • Forty percent of the state’s high school graduates need remedial classes once they enter college.
Unfortunately, Colorado’s education system needs reform, but this isn’t the reform we need. • Initiative 22 doesn’t hold anyone accountable. Rather, it asks school officials to estimate need and does not include any metrics for measuring real performance results. • Only 1.9 percent of the state’s billion-dollar budget surplus went to KB12 per-pupil funding. • Too much funding for schools goes towards administration and unions and too little goes to paying our hardworking teachers and to directly benefitting children in classrooms. • Less than half of Colorado’s public school employees are actually teachers. • Over a 17Byear period from 1992 to 2009, the number of Colorado administrators increased 83% while the number of students only increased by 38%. • Without this explosion in the public school bureaucracy, teachers could be earning $10,000 per year more. • In 2009, the ratio of students to non-teaching staff was 15.20 and the ratio of students to teachers was 16.80. • Colorado’s families continue to struggling with the lack of a robust economic recovery. • Our so-called recovery is still fragile. Colorado’s unemployment actually increased in June. • The number of Coloradans with jobs in 2012 remains below the number of Coloradans who had jobs before the recession hit in 2008. Colorado hasn’t yet recovered and our families are still struggling. They need jobs and this tax hike may prevent some small businesses from hiring. • Coloradans median household income as of 2011 (the latest figures available) is down nearly 7% since the recession began in 2008. Families cannot afford an 8% or 27% tax hike, especially since Colorado’s families earnings have declined. This bill is wrong for our children and it’s wrong for Colorado’s families. This initiative is unfair because it fails to fulfill the social contract we make with our children to give them the best education possible, while burdening our families and small businesses with a tax bill they can’t afford.
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