Politics
Feds ask states not to send over controversial voter roll information until court settles suit
DENVER – There’s a chance that Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams won’t be sending over Colorado voter roll information on Friday, as the Election Integrity Commission on Monday asked Williams and other secretaries of state not to send the information over until a judge settles a court case over the commission’s intentions.
Last week, the Electronic Privacy Information Center was among several organizations that sued in federal court seeking to block the commission’s quest to gather voter data from each state in the U.S. Continue reading
Darryl Glenn joins pool of Republicans challenging Doug Lamborn for Congress in 2018
DENVER – Darryl Glenn, the Republican El Paso County Commissioner who was defeated by Michael Bennet in last year’s U.S. Senate election, will try again for a congressional seat in 2018—this time challenging Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District.
Glenn confirmed to Denver7 over the weekend he would be running for the seat against Lamborn, who is in his sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Glenn said he would be issue a formal statement about his campaign when he announces officially at an upcoming campaign launch. News of his latest bid was first reported last week by ColoradoPolitics.
Glenn becomes the second high-profile Republican to throw his name into the hat to challenge Lamborn.
State Sen. Owen Hill, a conservative Republican also from Colorado Springs, announced he’d be running in April and has done well raising money over the past few months.
Hill’s profile has been raised since he first won a seat in the state Senate, as he chaired the Senate’s education committee and was the vice chair of its finance committee. He started a bid to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014, but backed out after Cory Gardner, who eventually won the seat, announced he was running.
Glenn ran away with the primary for the Republican Senate bid last year, getting nearly 50,000 more votes than the second-place finisher.
And though he garnered 1.2 million votes in the general election, he lost his bid to unseat Sen. Bennet, a Democrat, by more than 150,000 votes.
Last year, Glenn ran on a conservative platform that pushed for fewer government regulations and spending, the easing of business regulations, and increased spending in defense and border security.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, endorsed Glenn during his Senate campaign, saying Glenn had “the experience to understand what it takes to bring back economic growth and preserve our individual liberties.”
It’s unclear when Glenn will make his campaign official. His announcement comes amid the close of second-quarter fundraising, whose figures are expected to be released next week, and as a slew of other people declare their candidacy for various congressional districts in Colorado—some as challengers and some aiming to replace seats that will be vacated in 2018 over the governorship or retirement.
Diane Mitsch Bush, a Democratic state House member, announced last week she’d be challenging Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., in the state’s 3rd Congressional District.
And The Denver Post reported Monday that Levi Tillemann, an area technology entrepreneur and former member of the Obama administration, would be among a growing list of Democrats, including Jason Crow and Gabriel McArthur, who will be challenging for the Democratic nomination to try and unseat Rep. Mike Coffman in the state’s 6th Congressional District. ColoradoPolitics also reported that story first in late June.
Hundreds withdraw Colorado voter registrations in response to compliance with commission request
DENVER – At least two Colorado county clerks say they’ve seen a large increase in the number of people who have withdrawn their state voter registration since Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said he would send the Trump administration’s election integrity commission some voter-roll information in accordance with state law.
Alton Dillard, a spokesperson for the Denver Elections Division, said 180 people have withdrawn their registration in the county since July 3. When compared to the eight people who withdrew their registration from June 26-29, it marks a 2,150 percent increase, according to Dillard. Continue reading
Can I make my Colorado voter information confidential?
DENVER – If you’re concerned about what the Trump administration’s controversial Election Integrity Commission might do with your personal voting records when Colorado hands over what it’s legally bound to do later this month, there are a few remedies, but you have to meet certain criteria to have your information be made confidential.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams reiterated Wednesday that he would hand over to the commission what he is already required to give to anyone under state law: a voter’s full name, address, party affiliation and date the person registered, phone number, gender identity, birth year, and information about if a person has voted in prior elections.
He said he wouldn’t hand over a voter’s Social Security number or full date of birth—two things the commission requested but will not get, as those things are not public record in Colorado.
It’s possible to de-register to vote, though the Denver Elections Division advises against doing so.
Williams also discussed the state’s confidential voter program, which allows certain people—mainly domestic violence victims or stalking—to sign a document saying their information shouldn’t be released because doing so would be a risk to their safety. Lying on the document would make a person subject to perjury charges. Some law enforcement officers may be covered under certain circumstances, especially those working undercover.
Those petitioning for the voter protections will have to pay $5 when they turn their application in to their local county or city clerks’ office.
There is also a similar program called the Address Confidentiality Program, which applies mostly to domestic violence victims, stalking victims, and victims of sexual assault.
“Colorado’s confidential voter program is based through the law, not a fiat from the secretary of state or something else,” Williams said. “It’s based on attestation from the individual, under oath, that they meet one of the criteria.”
According to state law, a person can request that their address not be made public in any public documents if they are a survivor of sexual assault, domestic violence, or stalking and fear for their safety or that of a family member.
Those people will also have to have evidence of their being victimized and had to have moved within the past 90 days or be planning to move.
The program gives a different address to be publicly listed for anyone who qualifies for protection, and applies to all official state documents and other utilities accounts.
Colorado says there are more than 2,500 active participants in the Address Confidentiality Program, and that more than 4,000 people have used the service since it started in July 2008.
The state says it plans to send the voter rolls over to the commission by 8 a.m. July 14.
Read more on the Address Confidentiality Program here. To read more about the commission’s request and Williams’ responses over the past week, click here.
Colorado secretary of state will send voter roll info allowable under state law to feds
DENVER – Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams held a news conference Wednesday morning to further address the voter roll information requested by President Donald Trump’s commission on election fraud.
Last week, the vice chair of the Election Integrity Commission, Kris Kobach, sent a letter to Williams and all other secretaries of state requesting the full name, address, date of birth, affiliated political party, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006 of every voter in the state and country. Continue reading
Colo. GOP Rep. Mike Coffman basically started a hashtag telling Trump to stop the Twitter tantrums
DENVER – U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman was back on Twitter over the July 4 weekend imploring President Donald Trump to stop his controversial and often petty Twitter usage.
“Exactly what I meant when I said, #StopTheTwitterTantrums,” Coffman, a Colorado Republican, tweeted Sunday in response to the president’s latest controversial statement: A gif of the president and showbiz entertainer slamming “CNN,” or rather a person with a CNN graphic overlayed on their head, to the ground at a WWE wrestling match.
Exactly what I meant when I said, #StopTheTwitterTantrums https://t.co/A7HMLKEemP
— Rep. Mike Coffman (@RepMikeCoffman) July 2, 2017
The tweet originated on a Reddit board used by proponents of the president, coming from a user with a history of racist posts. It also doesn’t show what happened to Trump in the WWE match afterward: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin delivered his signature move to Trump, the “Stone Cold Stunner.”
It was the second time Coffman used the hashtag #StopTheTwitterTantrums in four days in response to one of the president’s tweets.
Last Thursday, after President Trump took to Twitter to again disparage “Morning Joe” hostess Mika Brzezinski (“low I.Q.”) and host Joe Scarborough (“Psycho Joe”) as part of his ongoing feud with the show, which had long been one of his favorites.
Trump also said Brzezinski was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw the couple on New Year’s Eve.
Trump’s tweets were panned across the political and social spectrum, including by Coffman.
“The President’s tweets are beneath the dignity of his office. It needs to stop. #StopTheTwitterTantrums,” Coffman tweeted.
The President’s tweets are beneath the dignity of his office. It needs to stop. #StopTheTwitterTantrums
— Rep. Mike Coffman (@RepMikeCoffman) June 29, 2017
And Coffman appears to have popularized the hashtag, which has been used more than 100 times on Twitter since he first used it on June 29.
It had only been used on Twitter three times before Coffman’s tweet—all by various people in response to a Trump tweet.
Coffman has been one of Colorado’s only Republican members of Congress to take a stand against a major Trump initiative, when he voted against the American Health Care Act, the House Republicans’ version of the effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.
He also voted against the repeal of an FCC rule that kept internet service providers from sharing user data and selling it to other companies.
But aside from that, according to FiveThirtyEight’s “Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump” tracker, Coffman has supported every other major policy measure supported by the president, agreeing with the president’s position 94.6 percent of the time.
Though many Republicans have voiced their opinion that Trump’s tweets are below the office of the President, Democrats and some newspaper op-ed pages have scoffed at those statements, saying Republicans should instead stand up to Trump on policy measures instead of just his tweets.
The Denver Post had a new editorial out Monday as well regarding Trump’s tweets: “Instead of wrestling CNN, Trump should have gone to Comic Con”.
Some face police interference charges in protest at Cory Gardner’s office; building manager ID’d
DENVER – The 10 disability advocates arrested Thursday evening at the Denver office of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., were all in the process of being released from jail Friday afternoon, save one woman who was not admitted to Denver’s jail because of her medical condition.
The Denver Police Department criminal complaints for those arrested all say that Andrew Merritt, who is Gardner’s state director for Colorado, was the person who advised police that the advocates were to be removed from the building. The reports say police were notified at 6:44 p.m. Continue reading
Trump election fraud commission wants personal information from Colorado, US voter rolls
DENVER – The vice chair of President Donald Trump’s controversial Election Integrity Commission wants the full name, address, date of birth, affiliated political party, last four Social Security number digits and voting history since 2006 of every voter not only in Colorado, but in the entire U.S., and wants that information to be made available to the public.
The vice chair of the commission, Kris Kobach, sent a letter requesting that information and more on Wednesday to Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams and every other secretary of state for all 50 states. Continue reading
Mountaineer aiding search for Littleton officer missing in Russia heading home; vigil tonight
LITTLETON, Colo. – A vigil will be held Thursday evening for Littleton Police Officer Steven Beare, who remains missing on a Russian mountain as Russian search crews have suspended their efforts for the time being, and the American mountaineer leading the independent search leaves the country Friday.
The American mountaineer, Don Bowie, said Wednesday night that he was leaving Russia Friday to fly back to Denver to meet with Beare’s family to give them details on the 15-day search he and his team have undertaken.
Beare’s wife, Olivia, wrote Thursday morning on a Facebook page dedicated to finding her husband that she would be attending a vigil organized by friends and family scheduled for Thursday night in Littleton.
The vigil will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Roxborough Park in Littleton (7673 N. Rampart Range Road).
Beare went missing on June 16 amid a snowstorm on Mt. Elbrus, which he set out to hike alone as part of a quest to top the world’s seven tallest peaks.
Bowie wrote Wednesday night that the search for Beare has been “extremely challenging” because of bad weather conditions and rough terrain.
“Many people have participated in the search for Steven, including guides, climbers, government rescue services, [search and rescue] volunteers, and individuals from all over the world—but we have been unable to find him,” Bowie said.
He said that the Russian search crews, including the Elbrus Rescue Service, had officially suspended their mission on Wednesday night, but said the Elbrus Rescue Service “will continue to investigate any leads, and they will resume the search when conditions allow.”
Bowie said that he would “continue to remotely manage and map the search area, collect and log search data, initiate periodic helicopter flights, and give search assignments to local guides—so long as Olivia desires.”
“I am deeply saddened that we have not been able to find him,” Bowie added.
Olivia Beare said Thursday morning that anyone on the ground in Russia wishing to help is asked to contact Bowie.
“It is vital to the search that people are not just going out on [their] own searching as they feel fit,” she said.
She also said that efforts were already underway with Russian mobile phone host MegaFon to try and track her husband’s phone, and offered more thanks for all the support from the community, friends and family she’s received.
“I cannot say it enough, I am so incredibly thankful and appreciative of all the prayers, donations, support, people reaching out, people being proactive and trying to do things to help me find my husband,” Olivia wrote. “I will never have the words for Don to describe what he has done has meant to me, ever. Please continue all you are doing and do not give up on my husband. Thank you.”
Disability advocates continue sit-in at Cory Gardner’s office over healthcare bill, won’t be removed
DENVER – A group of advocates, many of whom who are disabled, continue to protest at U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s office nearly 24 hours after they took up residency to demand the Republican senator from Colorado vote against the Senate health care bill.
Many of the protesters are from ADAPT/Atlantis Community, Inc., a Denver-based group whose efforts are usually focused on increasing accessibility for disabled people on public transit systems. Continue reading