FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 8, 2010
CONTACT: Bobby Clark, Deputy Director at 303-905-8375

DENVER: Responding to news that the online retailer Amazon.com has terminated relationships with business affiliates in Colorado in protest of a new state law, ProgressNow Colorado, the state's largest online progressive advocacy organization released the following statement:

"After profiting from millions of dollars in direct sales to Colorado residents for years, Amazon is determined to protect their unfair advantage over local brick-and-mortar retailers," said ProgressNow Colorado Executive Director Bobby Clark. "This year, the Colorado legislature passed a law to enforce collection of taxes for online purchases, leveling the playing field between massive online merchants like Amazon and local retailers who pay their taxes and employ Coloradans.

"Rather than comply with the law as Amazon already does in many other localities where they collect sales tax on purchases, they chose to 'make an example' of our state, and unfairly punish their own business associates for political gain. Amazon clearly expects Coloradans to react hastily and in anger, but our state's citizens understand who is manipulating the situation for their own financial and political benefit.

"Local companies like the Tattered Cover Bookstore and Ultimate Electronics, who employ thousands of Colorado residents and pay their sales taxes back into the community, have suffered greatly while Amazon profited from an unfair advantage. With millions of dollars in badly-needed revenue set to make its way into the budgets for Colorado's schools, roads, and health care, standing behind Main Street over online behemoths like Amazon is an easy choice."

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Senator Michael Bennet's support of using Senate rules to pass strong healthcare reform including a public option have been gaining support. Over thirty Senators including members of leadership such as Senators Reid, Durbin, and Schumer have declared their public support--not only for passing fixes to the Senate healthcare bill that would make it more in line with the priorities of the House bill, but to add a public option that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says will reduce the deficit.

From Senator Udall's office: 

Senator Udall shares President Obama’s over-arching priority of enacting meaningful and comprehensive health reform that will increase quality and access and put our system on a sustainable track by lowering costs for small businesses, taxpayers, and American families. As part of reform, he continues to feel that inclusion of a public option to go head-to-head with private insurers could play a significant role in bringing down costs and offering more affordable options to Coloradans. He thinks it’s important that such a plan – like the one approved in the House bill – negotiate reimbursement rates while competing on a level playing field with the private sector, and if such a plan comes up for a vote under the reconciliation process, he would vote for it.

Amendment 54 is dead. May it rest in peace, forever undisturbed.

I think it is worth recalling what Amendment 54 was all about. While i don't often rely upon the mainstream media to explain issues related to work life and democratic process, i think their perception of this bill gives a good overview.

There was one newspaper that approved of Amendment 54, the Aspen Times. Their entire editorial comment in support consisted of,

Vote yes on Amendment 54.

 http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20081008/DAILYCOMMENT/810079961&parentprofile=search

Newspapers opposing Amendment 54 included the Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, The Mountain Mail (Salida), Pueblo Chieftain, Longmont Times-Call, Grand Junction Sentinel, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Boulder Weekly, Cortez Journal, The Durango Telegraph, Yellow Scene Magazine, and the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Some of their comments, and a brief roundup of other labor issues after the fold.

Did you know that it's legal for predatory lenders to charge as much as 521% interest on payday loans?  That's not a typo.

Out of state payday lenders have flocked to Colorado in the last decade because the once right-wing Colorado legislature passed a loophole in 2000 that exempted these predatory lenders from having to charge reasonable interest rates. You've seen them--they cluster along main streets and in low-income neighborhoods, preying on hard-working Coloradans and taking more than $80 MILLION in interest and fees out of our economy every year!

In these times, banks, credit card companies, and these payday loan sharks are making record profits on the backs of Colorado consumers. If we organize, we can take on the payday loan shark industry. We don't have to wait on Washington DC to do anything-the power is right here in Colorado's legislature. They broke it in 2000, and they can fix it today. We want our state legislature to act. 

So my question to you is do you agree? 

That's the word from the Denver Post's Tim Hoover:

Liberal group delivers treat bags slamming McInnis over opposition to tax bills

There’s a bite-sized “100 Grand” bar, a “Sugar Daddy,” a can of cola and a bottle of pesticide. It’s all inside a McDonald’s “Happy Meal” bag.

The goody bags were delivered to the Capitol today by liberal group, “ProgressNow” Colorado in response to a series of appearances GOP candidate for governor Scott McInnis is making across the state to protest Democratic-backed proposals to eliminate tax exemptions and credits for a variety of industries and products.

[...]

“Scott McInnis has failed repeatedly to identify his own plan to balance the state budget,” ProgressNow Executive Director Bobby Clark said. “Instead, McInnis has shown why he earned the name ‘McLobbyist’ – the only position he ever seems to have is the one that corporate special interests tell him to have.

“Working families, senior citizens and students around the state are making sacrifices to protect the vital public services we all depend on, and suspending a small percentage of the tax breaks for business that cost Colorado billions of dollars every year is not too much to ask for.”

Sean Duffy, a spokesman for McInnis, said ProgressNow is wrong to claim it represents working families.

“With continued stunts that ignore the facts and make light of hundreds of families every day coming home to find out that a breadwinner has lost his or her job, they’re only deepening their own irrelevance,” Duffy said. “Scott McInnis is the only candidate for governor who is out talking to the workers and small business owners who are going to be hit hard by these tax increases.”

So where would McInnis cut? Duffy said the former congressman believes the state should look at efficiencies like merging departments.

Which ones?

“We don’t know. We’re looking at it,” Duffy said...

Former Congressman Scott McInnis is being asked by his opponents for concrete details on how he plans on balancing the budget if elected governor.

But the McInnis campaign maintains that it is too early to be suggesting specific budget-balancing measures, noting that the budget McInnis might receive as governor in January 2011 would likely be drastically different than what lawmakers are currently working on.

The issue has become a talking point for Democrats who are fighting McInnis’ chances to beat Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in 2010.

ProgressNow Colorado sent McInnis an “early Christmas present” last week when they showed up at his campaign headquarters in Greenwood Village with the state budget in hand. The group is citing a recent interview with McInnis in which he said he wouldn’t have an accurate budget to work with for at least a year.

[...]

But McInnis campaign spokesman Josh Green says his opponents are taking the comment out of context. He said what McInnis was referring to is that the current budget doesn’t give a truly accurate picture of what McInnis would need to begin balancing in 2010 if elected governor.

“We’re still nearly a year out from the election — it’s been one of the earliest cycles in memory — Scott naturally is not going to come out with a detailed plan for the budget, and frankly, as the legislative session goes forward, the budget is going to change and everything’s going to change itself,” said Green. “To say Scott doesn’t have a plan, that’s not quite accurate.”

[...]

But Democrats keep turning their attention back to McInnis’ budget-balancing strategies, arguing that the former congressman from Grand Junction has no real ideas.

“If he’s going to criticize his opponent’s position, then he needs to actually have positions of his own,” said ProgressNow member Bobby Clark. “It’s a cop-out to say he doesn’t have a copy of the budget.”

Christmas Comes Early for Scott "McLobbyist" McInnis
Santa Delivers McInnis Copy of Colorado Budget, Eliminating His Excuse for Dodging Questions

Denver, CO--Speaking outside former Rep. Scott McInnis' offices today, Santa Claus offered the following statement:

"First of all, Merry Christmas to the great state of Colorado! Santa cares very much for all the boys and girls in your state, and I'm pleased to report that the majority of you have avoided my 'naughty list' this year.

I was troubled to hear in a recent interview that Scott McInnis doesn't believe he can 'get his hands on' the Colorado budget, and that it might take a year before he can! Because I do a great deal of business on the internet these days, I know the complete Colorado budget for this year, along with Governor Bill Ritter's budget recommendations for next year, are available at the Colorado state government website.

When I heard about Scott's problem, I knew exactly what he needed for Christmas this year: a complete, printed copy of the Colorado budget--wrapped in a lovely red bow! Next time Scott is asked about his budget plans, he won't be able to say he 'can't get his hands on them.' And remember, boys and girls, it's naughty to tell a lie!" 

Digby says it all:

Stupak and Nelson have finally given the liberals in the House a serious, principled reason to walk away. The dynamics still argue that they won't do it for this or any other reason, and that they will simply allow women to get shafted. (There is apparently no limit to the amount of shit the left must be forced to eat to get this bill passed.)

But the stakes are now higher for liberals than they have been. Voting to restrict a woman's ability to exercize her right to abortion in half the country is as much of a gut check as voting for a bill that doesn't contain a public option. Some might actually calculate that it's a bridge too far. And those who were already leaning toward voting against the bill for all those other reasons will now feel much more secure that they are standing up for liberal principles when they do it.

There is such a thing as the straw that broke the camel's back, even for liberals who desperately want to pass health care reform. This might be it.

Diana DeGette and Louise Slaughter are not on the bandwagon to eliminate a fundamental right for women.

They say the new compromise is possibly unconstitutional, and that they and other pro-choice House members could still reject it.

Big, bad Kent Conrad rattled the Senate sword:

The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee says the House must stick close to the Senate's version of health care reform or risk losing the 60 votes needed to pass it in the Senate.

I agree with Howard Dean that this version of HCR should be DOA.

Colorado faces a crisis in providing the quality education to our children they deserve, and radicals are preparing for new attacks on our public schools next year.

Last week, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, speaking to an audience of "Tea Party" right-wing radicals, reportedly called for the abolition of the United States Department of Education.[i] That's an incredibly reckless and foolish idea. The Department of Education administers billions of dollars of direct funding each year for public schools all over the country, including hundreds of millions to Colorado--not to mention direct responsibility for everything from student loan and scholarship programs to accommodation for children with disabilities.

Schools in Colorado are being closed due to a chronic inability to provide for them. Abolishing the Department of Education won't do anything to solve real problems, it's just fringe rhetoric. Sign our petition to Norton, demanding she get serious about education:

http://progressnowcolorado.org/ProtectSchools

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Colorado ranks 40th in the nation in education funding per student. As a percentage of personal income, Colorado ranks an abysmal 49th in our commitment to funding public education.[ii] Our state faces an ongoing fiscal crisis that is likely to hamper our ability to properly meet the needs of our children for years to come. Colorado public schools rely on federal funds to meet the needs of all of our children, from AP whiz kids to those most in need of extra support.

That's the reality, but what do extremist conservatives want to talk about? Radical nonsense. Abolishing the Department of Education. At a time when leadership and innovative thinking is needed more than ever, the right is out of touch with the needs of Colorado's most important institutions.

Sign our petition: tell Jane Norton to get serious about education, not pander to extremists.

http://progressnowcolorado.org/ProtectSchools

We will share your comments with Norton and the media. Thank you for standing up for our children and Colorado's future.

You had the best chance in decades to make a difference in all of our lives, and you chose to blow it. You don't deserve our praise. Or our votes.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/12/this-isnt-what-we-were-promised.html

We got some interesting hate mail in response to our action alert about this billboard:

We're used to hate mail from right-wingers. When your stated mission is to counter the right-wing on every front, it comes with the territory. So in keeping with that mission, I'm happy to share some of those messages with you tonight. Other than removing personal details, the spelling and grammar are unedited.

Wheeeee, let's go!: 

What is our country coming to?

Earlier today, we learned about an offensive, racist billboard right here in Colorado--attacking President Obama and comparing him to terrorists. The billboard was created by Wolf Automotive, at their location here in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Check out the photo to the right, then join the pledge to boycott.

http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/WolfAuto

We called Wolf Automotive to ask them what their intent was in putting up that sign. The man we spoke with defended the sign, and indicated he has no intention of taking the sign down, and it was quickly apparent that he was a "birther."

The "tea party" movement and the "birthers" are becoming more and more outrageous. They're in the thrall of demagogues like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Peter Boyles, Sarah Palin, and right-wing elected officials in Colorado like Senator Dave Schultheis--who sent out a statement last week comparing President Obama to the 9/11 terrorists who flew United Flight 93 into the ground.

We'll defend anyone's First Amendment right to speak his or her mind. However, the "marketplace of ideas" that the First Amendment protects only works when everyone speaks out. If hate like that spread by Dave Schultheis and the owners of Wolf Automotive is allowed to go without a response, then we allow the perception that these ideas have merit.

We have both the right and the obligation under the First Amendment to publicly reject ideas that we find abhorent and offensive.

Please help us respond to this latest attack from the Right by doing a couple of things. First, please click on the link below and pledge to boycott Wolf Automotive until they take down this billboard.

http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/WolfAuto

After you sign the pledge, we'll provide you the phone numbers for the Wolf Automotive Group--they have four dealerships located in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Please take a few minutes to call and ask them, respectfully, to take their sign down. We want to respond, but we want to resist being dragged into incivility by the hatred that we're confronting.

P.S. If you are on Twitter, please copy and paste the tweet below and share far and wide:

Join the Boycott! Wolf Automotive Group in CO WY & MT proud of their anti-Obama, anti-Muslim, racist hateful billboard. http://bit.ly/4KLxtz

P.S.S. Denver talk-radio host Peter Boyles has apparently been coordinating with Wolf Automotive for months on this. http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108289

Cross-posted at ProgressNow Colorado