Denver Post Recommends a “Yes” on Proposition DD, Sports Gaming for Water

The Denver Post endorsed Proposition DD, the sports gaming for water funding for projects on the November 5 ballot.

The editorial page cited the success of the Great Outdoors Colorado program that uses lottery revenue to fund land conservation, public parks and recreation projects as an example of a successful program depending on gaming revenue.

The Post earlier recommended a “no” vote on Proposition CC, the TABOR override, as poorly drafted and a permanent change in the operation of the amendment.

All Roads Lead to Putin

The House of Representatives voted 354 to 60, including 129 Republicans, against President Trump’s abrupt Syrian withdrawal (10-16-19). Trump’s foreign policy behavior, besides Ukraine, is becoming connected to his potential impeachment. The White House confrontation between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump on the same day of the Syrian rebuke weaved together Ukraine, Putin, NATO, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The Speaker Confronts the President
on “All roads lead to Putin”

“The Russians were the beneficiaries of any withholding of assistance or encouragement to the Ukraine. Again, Putin benefits. The Russians benefited, Putin did, when the president placed some doubt about our commitment to NATO, right from the start of his administration. All roads lead to Putin. Then, the president said, ‘Well, the reason I’m taking the troops out of Syria is because I promised in the campaign to bring the troops home.’ My question to him is, is Saudi Arabia home? Is Saudi Arabia home? […] He said ‘Well, the Saudi Arabians are paying for it.’ Really, we’re putting our troops in harm’s way for Saudi Arabia because they’re paying for it? […] What it did do was cause a meltdown on the part of the president because he was unhappy with those questions.” (Brookings, Oct. 18, 2019)

Photo: White House

A majority of the public back the impeachment inquiry and 48 percent support actual removal from office. While the Democrats want to move more quickly, each week’s testimony and events bring more bad news.

Although Trump is unlikely to be convicted in the Senate – he only needs 35 Republicans – he is increasingly likely to see more than half the Senate – 50 votes – in favor of his conviction.

McConnell Takes on Trump, Isolationism, Defends America’s Global Leadership

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Without mentioning Donald Trump’s name, Mitch McConnell, in a high-profile guest editorial in the Washington Post, took on President Trump’s foreign policy, labeling it isolationist and specifically claiming his Syrian withdrawal is a “grave strategic mistake.” It will, in his view, make the “American people…less safe…embolden our enemies and weaken important alliances.”

He cites three policy lessons distilled from decades of U.S. experience dealing with national threats:

• The danger “is real and cannot be wished away”
• American leadership is essential
• We can’t do this alone

McConnell reaches back to the pre-1950s isolationist period to warn that it was America’s global leadership since WWII that created a better world and a safer, more prosperous environment for the U.S. He articulates the Mattis Doctrine: We need others, especially local forces to help us.

It is a searing indictment of Trump’s world view and current tactics. And, while the urge for isolationism is always around, the American people repeatedly say that the U.S. needs to be a global leader and maintain alliances.

Polls on Foreign Policy Internationalism

Chicago Council of Global Affairs, October 2, 2018
Do you think it will be best for the future of the country to take on an active part in world affairs or if we should stay out of world affairs?
Active part – 70%
Stay out – 29%

They support forward basing and not abandonment of allies. Do you support for maintaining long-term military bases in:
South Korea – 74%
Japan – 65%
Germany – 60%

Gallup, March 4, 2019
Do you think the NATO alliance should be maintained or is the alliance not necessary anymore?
Maintain – 77%
Not necessary – 19%

Pew Research Center, November 24, 2018
Percent who say the following should be a top foreign policy priority. Taking measures to protect U.S. from terrorists?
Total – 72%
Democrats – 61%
Republicans – 84%

Articles of Impeachment are in Drafting

The substance of the articles of impeachment is being developed everyday by the behavior and statements of President Trump, the administration and the reported testimony of witnesses before the Intelligence Committee. It is useful to recall the spring and summer of 1974 when the Nixon articles of impeachment were approved by 70 percent of the members of the Radino Committee (Judiciary) on July 27. The investigation of the previous months and the daily news stories documented the specifics for the articles. (I was at Georgetown Law School at the time.)

Nixon Articles of Impeachment, July 1974

Obstruction of justice (cover-up, smoking gun)
Abuse of power (use of IRS, FBI, others)
Contempt of Congress (ignoring subpoenas)

Trump Articles of Impeachment, October 2019

As of today, those same three articles are being discussed with the current factual base, starting with the Mueller Report, and now driven by the Ukraine whistleblower disclosure. Democrats will likely add a violation of the emoluments clause.

There is a lot of material. Democrats must decide how far a field do they want to go and how quickly do they want to move. A public process with the Judiciary Committee is next after the investigation, so before the holiday seems unlikely, but before February 3, the Iowa Caucus, might be their preference. Timing and subjects, many decisions, interesting moment.

The Nixon resignation timeline ran for two years, starting with the break-in in June 1972 and ending in August 1974.

The 1974 midterm election was a disaster for Republicans losing five Senate seats and 49 House members. In Colorado, Democrats elected new Congressman Tim Wirth and U.S. Senator Gary Hart, along with new governor, Dick Lamm. It was a near sweep of statewide offices and a one-vote majority in the State House.

KOA Interview: Colorado’s Senators in Tough Fights

In an interview with KOA’s morning anchors, Marty Lenz and Ed Greene, the prospects for Senator Cory Gardner’s re-election and Senator Michael Bennet’s presidential bid were discussed. Neither looks good as of now.

Cory Gardner
Gardner’s major challenge is being tied to President Trump, who is not popular in Colorado and has had a very bad month. Starting on September 24 with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry, to the President’s tweet on the Syrian withdrawal, to the announcement of the pullback of the G7 Summit at the Doral, Trump has forced vulnerable senators, such as Cory Gardner, to answer very controversial media questions guaranteed to cost votes from the many Colorado voters who don’t approve of Trump.

On October 11, Gardner attempted to duck – not very successfully – a pointed question on asking a foreign country to investigate a political rival. But on October 16, he declared support for the House resolution rebuking the President’s Syrian withdrawal.

A new poll confirms earlier data that Trump is highly unpopular in Colorado (60% all voters rate him unfavorably), especially among unaffiliated voters (67%). Similar to national polls, 54 percent of the public want an impeachment inquiry to start. Nearly all Democrats (91%) and almost no Republicans (6%) support it, but 61 percent of Colorado unaffiliated voters do. A group, that if against you in Colorado, spells doom. Trump is politically toxic statewide in Colorado.

Also, the poll shows, as many previous polls have indicated, the Democratic frontrunner, John Hickenlooper, has an 11-point advantage over Gardner, 54 percent to 43 percent, again with unaffiliated voters at 61 percent to 34 percent advantage Democrats.

Michael Bennet
In an interview on October 15, as Michael Bennet watched the Democratic debate, he did a running dialogue on his views of the candidates, his anger at not being on the stage and an acknowledgment of his longshot status.

• Bennet noted that out of the five U.S. Senators running, he’s the only one not on the stage. He believes the rules are arbitrary and keeping some choices from the public. Beto O’Rourke and Tulsi Gabbard are both rhetorical bomb throwers and are damaging the Democrats’ prospects in November.
• Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are offering unrealistic and unrealizable proposals and giving the Party the image of being far left. It will not play in key battleground states. Warren, in particular, is disingenuous with her hiding the cost of Medicare for All.
• He likes Biden, but doesn’t believe he’s shown he’s up to the task of beating Warren or Trump yet.
• He points out that DPS has a much bigger budget than South Bend.

At the end, Bennet admitted he’s a long, longshot, but believes his message and approach is what the U.S. and Washington needs to heal and move forward after 2020. He will shortly be dragged back to an impeachment trial in the Senate, which may be a relief from endless meet and greets in Iowa.

October 15, 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate | Tony Dejak/AP

Pelosi and Trump are Near Tie in Favorable Public Opinion

The Speaker Confronts the President

Photo: White House

After more than a decade being pummeled by Republicans in congressional campaigns, Nancy Pelosi is now nearly even with Donald Trump in public favorability. She is the leader of the national Democratic Party and well ahead of her congressional colleagues on public approval.

Mitch McConnell is rapidly becoming the favorite target of Democrats anxious to take control of the Senate in 2020.

Arapahoe County Jail. Not Needed. Just Let the Inmates Go.

In 2019, whenever you hear the word “justice” in an organization’s name, expect extreme positions with undisclosed motivations and consequences. The Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition with a “bevy of liberal groups, including the ACLU of Colorado, the Colorado People’s Alliance and the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition” as labeled by the Aurora Sentinel, condemned the Arapahoe County jail improvement proposal and pushed for their “alternative justice system reform,” which could be better described as “immediate release prisoners proposal.”

In the name of reforming the system, they ignore the crowded, dangerous living conditions of current inmates. They want to change laws to charge fewer people, release most without bail and provide a near perfect diversion system. Of course, many of these reforms are untested, could have major consequences for crime levels and public safety, and are years from being realized.

In the near term, more than 1,000 prisoners are in inhumane conditions and not receiving the mental health or rehabilitation services they need. Inmates are left as hostages to their reform agenda. In addition, public safety personnel are endangered. The Arapahoe County proposal they are fighting offers all the improvements the “justice” groups claim to desire, but condemn it in their ill-conceived disinformation campaign.

Arapahoe County Justice Center and jail | Photo: CPR