STATE BILL COLORADO

The state committee that sets rules for Colorado payday lending companies under recently passed House Bill 10-1351 meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Capitol.

It promises to be eventful, as corporate officials, lobbyists and advocates on both sides are expected to jam the Old Supreme Court Chambers.

The meeting’s agenda is below, as is a copy of the proposed rules.

Under the old law, those fees and rates could amount to as much as 520 percent per year. The new law limits fees to $7.50 a month for every $100 loaned, and an interest rate of no more than 45 percent.

But Gov. Bill Ritter’s chief legal counsel, Craig Welling, has called one of the rules “absurd,” according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. Payday lending companies say other parts go beyond a new law calling for them in the first place.

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Coloradans in November will get to vote on whether some criminal defendants should be released from jail without bail, The Denver Post reports.

Secretary of State Bernie Buescher’s office said today that it had certified that backers of an initiative petition that would rework the bail process had collected enough signatures to get the measure on the November ballot. Supporters needed the valid signatures of 76,047 registered voters.

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By Gene Davis, THE DENVER DAILY NEWS

A conservative group featuring “Joe the Plumber” stopped in Lakewood yesterday to rally a base fed up with “big government” in anticipation of the November election.

While most of the speakers at Americans for Prosperity’s “November is Coming” bus tour spoke broadly about limited government and upholding the Constitution, a press release issued about the event blasted Democrat Congress members Ed Perlmutter and Betsy Markey for supporting “out-of-control” policies like the stimulus package and health care reform.

But Perlmutter’s campaign said “Joe the Plumber,” aka Joe Wurzelbacher, and Ryan Frazier, Perlmutter’s Republican opponent in the general election, need to flush away their agenda that has clogged America’s economy.

During the press conference at Colorado Christian University, 8787 W. Alameda in Lakewood, Americans for Prosperity rally organizers asked Coloradans to sign a petition urging Perlmutter and Markey to oppose “big government programs or any other freedom-killing policies.” The petition is part of Americans for Prosperity’s pre-election push against Democrats in select contested races.

“Coloradans need to know about Perlmutter’s and Markey’s support for failed economic stimulus plans and a hostile government takeover of our health care system,” said a statement from Jeff Crank, Colorado director for Americans for Prosperity. “Now it’s time for their constituents to get their say and make a difference by letting Perlmutter and Markey know they have had enough of these out-of-control policies.”

But Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver said “Joe the Plumber,” Frazier and Buck Bailey, Perlmutter’s Libertarian opponent in the general election, are trying to force the “rank smelling policy” of tax cuts for the rich at the expense of “hard working middle-class families.”

“Ed will continue fighting for policies that create good paying American jobs Ń not policies that allow for outsourcing our jobs overseas and rewarding the wealthiest one percent,” said Perlmutter spokeswoman Leslie Oliver. “Joe the Plumber, Ryan Frazier and Buck Bailey need to take these failed policies of the past and give them a good flush.”

Americans for Prosperity is trying to fire up activists to go to door to door and make phone calls to inform other people about where Perlmutter and Markey “stand on the issues.” They are specifically looking to link the lawmakers to the $814 billion stimulus package and health care reform that have divided public opinion.

The keynote speaker at yesterday’s event was Wurzelbacher, who urged listeners to become educated on issues and hold lawmakers Ń Republicans and Democrats Ń accountable.

“If you want to blame a politician you might as well blame a fox for eating the chickens in a chicken coop,” he said. “That’s what a fox does. Why don’t you blame the guy who forgot to lock the chicken coop.”

Americans for Prosperity has recently received criticism from Democrats for allegedly violating its status as a tax-exempt organization by airing ads that “constitute political campaign intervention,” a violation of federal law. Tax-exempt groups are not allowed to run ads for or against a particular candidate, though they can educate voters or conduct get-out-the-vote drives if they are conducted in a nonpartisan manner, according to The New York Times.

Lawyers for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a complaint last week with the Internal Revenue Service. Americans for Prosperity said the First Amendment protects their TV ads, according to The New York Times. A press release promoting yesterday’s event did not mention the Republican candidates facing Markey and Perlmutter.

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By Peter Marcus, THE DENVER DAILY NEWS

Democratic incumbent U.S. Senate candidate Michael Bennet’s campaign said yesterday that opponent Ken Buck wants to do away with federal student loans.

But Buck’s campaign says, “Usually incumbents run on the record, but Bennet is running away from his.”

The Buck campaign says the Weld County District Attorney does not want to do away with federal student loans, but does oppose a “government takeover of the student loan market.”

When referring to a “government takeover of student loans,” Republicans are referring to recent federal legislation that requires all student loans originated after July 1 to be done through the U.S. Department of Education’s direct loan program. For 45 years prior to the legislation, private banks and lenders received a federal subsidy for making government-guaranteed college loans. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the change will save taxpayers about $61 billion over 10 years because the government won’t have to pay a subsidy to banks anymore.

Bennet’s campaign said Buck has called for a plan that includes shifting federal student loans over to private loans. Switching to solely private loans would double interest rates and prevent many students from receiving a college education, said Bennet’s campaign.

“Michael believes every student deserves the opportunity to attend college regardless of financial circumstances,” Bennet campaign spokesman Trevor Kincaid said in a campaign e-mail. “Ken Buck’s extreme position would repeal student loans and the dream of a college degree for hopeful students all over Colorado who wouldn’t be able to attend college without financial aid.”

Bennet joined students yesterday on the Auraria Campus where he rallied for federal funding for higher education. As the former superintendent of Denver Public Schools, Bennet has made education a focus of his campaign and work in the U.S. Senate.

Bennet says private student loans are not guaranteed by the federal government and therefore are not regulated to protect students.

“By any measure, federal loans are a much better deal for students and families than private loans,” states a Bennet campaign e-mail. “Federal loans have low, fixed interest rates, while private loans often have variable interest rates that fluctuate wildly quarter-to-quarter, forcing students to engage in risky and unpredictable financing. The policy Ken Buck has suggested would force students to rely on private loans and extreme interest rates in order to pay tuition, leveraging their future and gambling with their hope of a better life.”

The average private student loan has a 12 percent interest rate, about twice that of the most expensive federal student loan, says the Bennet campaign.

But Buck’s campaign fired back, arguing that Bennet voted against lowering student loans from 6.8 percent to 5.3 percent as part of a motion to the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010.

“This rubber stamp vote might have helped him in his caucus, but it hurt Colorado families,” said Buck campaign spokesman Owen Loftus.

Buck holds a narrow three-point lead over Bennet, according to the latest Rasmussen poll released yesterday.

The Bennet campaign says the U.S. Senator is focused on providing affordable higher education to students. They say federal direct loans offer more flexibility in setting up repayment plans and are more widely available to students of all financial backgrounds.

“The benefits and protections provided by federal loans are virtually non-existent for private loans, and financial experts and student financial aid counselors strongly advise students only to rely on these risky financial products as a last resort when all other sources of aid have been exhausted,” said the Bennet campaign in a policy e-mail. “And for those students unable to obtain private loans, the only recourse would likely be crushing credit card debt.”

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By Peter Marcus, THE DENVER DAILY NEWS
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper yesterday unveiled his plan for state education reform, promising to replace CSAP testing in his first term if elected.
Standing with his running mate, CSU Pueblo president Joe Garcia, at Arapahoe Community College, Hickenlooper called for a more “modern, useful and timely” student assessment test.
“It’s the 21st century,” said Hickenlooper. “It shouldn’t take months to get test results. We should be able to get results quickly when we test our young people in order to empower our teachers and administrators to adapt.”
Hickenlooper’s education plan also includes:
— Expanding broadband access to integrate mobile learning with classroom-based instruction;
— Supporting public-private efforts to create online courses to supplement core programs;
— Building an online course content library at a secondary level to be shared by districts and schools; and
— Focusing on the importance of planning for postsecondary education.
The Denver mayor also highlighted priorities for the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, including:
— Enhancing public-private relationships in higher-ed;
— Increasing flexibility across the state’s higher-ed systems;
— Encouraging public-private collaboration and concurrent enrollment;
— Developing new funds through private sector and federal partnerships; and
— Collaborating with career and technical education, trades apprenticeships and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
“It’s important that we collaborate with all the educational stakeholders — teachers, parents, students and business — to continue to create an improved, 21st-century education system,” said Hickenlooper. “I want to be a leader in making sure we provide the best education system for students.”
Republican opponent Dan Maes’ campaign said yesterday that it is important to maintain CSAP testing because the state needs a tool to measure student progress. Campaign spokesman Nate Strauch said the CSAP will only continue to “evolve.”
Maes himself said in a statement e-mailed to the Denver Daily News that Mayor Hickenlooper is offering “great talking points with no substance.” He then switched his attention to education funding and union involvement.
“Coloradans have heard enough sound bites and we’re sick of politicians whose only solution is to throw more tax dollars at the problem,” said Maes. “We need a governor who will stand up to the teachers’ union and demand that our least effective teachers be removed from the classroom.”
“We need a governor who will work to level the playing field among public, private, charter and home schools to increase competition,” continued Maes. “As governor, I’ll stop banking on the federal government’s handouts, and instead increase the transparency of K-12 budgeting at the state level, so we can see exactly which dollars are being used effectively.”
Strauch suggested that Hickenlooper’s announcement yesterday was an attempt to “pander to the teachers’ union.”
Hickenlooper holds an eight-point lead over Maes thanks to a divide within the Colorado Republican Party over conservative Tom Tancredo’s third-party run on the American Constitution Party ticket.
LaShanda Jones, the parent of a first- and third-grader at Vista PEAK P-8 Exploratory School in Aurora, said she believes Hickenlooper is making education a priority.
“I want to know that our leaders are focused on providing a world-class education to the students in this state,” she said. “That’s why I’m so appreciative that John Hickenlooper has made education a priority for his campaign.”

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By Todd Engdahl, EDUCATION NEWS COLORADO

Education funding will remain tight, Democrat John Hickenlooper warned today as he unveiled his plans for education if he’s elected governor.

“We’re not going to throw money at the problem,” the Denver mayor said during a news conference at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton with running mate Joe Garcia, president of Colorado State University-Pueblo. “There is no appetite” among the public for new taxes, Hickenlooper said.

Still, the pair presented a seven-page education policy brief that ranges from testing to teacher improvement to better coordination of the higher education system.

In several places the brief promises to continue and complete education initiatives started by Gov. Bill Ritter and the legislature in the last three years. As befits a campaign document, the brief covers a lot of ground but doesn’t offer detailed specifics.

Despite supporting education reform work that has been done to date, Hickenlooper expressed a note of frustration when he noted there’s “so little to show for it.”

Criticizing the CSAP tests, whose demise was called for in 2008 legislation but which probably won’t be replaced until 2014, Hickenlooper said, “We will do everything we can to give it [the changeover] greater urgency.”

He also called for greater use of online education, more public-private partnerships in education and better coordination and integration of higher education in particular and the whole system in general.

“We have to continue blurring those lines.”

Asked if Garcia would play the same role in education as Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien has played for Ritter, Hickenlooper said, “It’s premature to think about specific roles,” but quickly added, “I’d be a fool not to give him tremendous responsibility and authority.”

Garcia also has been president of Pikes Peak Community College and active in some Ritter-era education reforms, including serving as co-chair of the governor’s P-20 Education Coordinating Council.

“Education is going to be at the core of everything we do,” Hickenlooper said, noting that education consumes more than half the state’s general fund budget.

“I want to be a leader in making sure we provide the best education system for students. The fiscal situation of the state makes it harder to do so, but it is important for our kids and our economy to make sure that Colorado is leading the way in education,” Hickenlooper said.

In addition to campaign workers, reporters and curious students, Hickenlooper’s audience include a group of Colorado Education Association officials, including executive director Tony Salazar, and representatives of the business-based reform group Colorado Succeeds, including President Tim Taylor and board chair Zack Neumeyer. Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver and author of the new educator effectiveness law, and Van Schoales of Education Reform Now also were in the audience.

The CEA-affiliated Public Education Committee gave Hickenlooper’s campaign $5,300 in the reporting period ending July 6.

Hickenlooper’s opponents haven’t yet offered major statements on education.

Republican Don Maes has five paragraphs about the subject on his website, saying, “Reform is an ongoing process and the school leadership must recognize the need for constant improvement. … More competition between schools and transparency in educational funding and results will produce more productive teachers, better students and administrations.”

Maes testified against adoption of the Common Core Standards at a recent State Board of Education meeting.

Renegade Republican Tom Tancredo, now flying the flag of the fringe American Constitution Party, doesn’t mention education on his website. Tancredo was a middle school civics teacher when elected to the legislature in 1976, and he later became regional representative of the U.S. Department of Education under the Reagan and first Bush administrations. Tancredo significantly downsized that office and then went on to be president of the Independence Institute and a congressman.

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By Debi Brazzale, COLORADO NEWS AGENCY

Former lawmaker Abel Tapia of Pueblo doesn’t hesitate to say that he probably has the best job in state government, where revenue pours in and out effortlessly, and his constituents are happy. His new job? The Director of the Colorado State Lottery.

Dealing with revenue streams is nothing new for former Democratic senator Abel Tapia of Pueblo, who a few short months ago bore the shared weight of a responsibility that very few in Colorado know first-hand—balancing a multi-billion dollar state budget when the dollars coming in don’t match up with spending needs and wants. Tapia welcomes the budget he now oversees.

“We generate funds and then we give it away to great causes. We’re not general funded so we don’t have to go and ask for our share of the pie,” said Tapia.

Tapia, term limited after serving 8 years in the senate and 4 years in the house, resigned his senate seat in July to join the Colorado State Lottery as its statewide director, which fortuitously has an office in his cherished hometown of Pueblo. The dynamics of working out-of-town are now a thing of the past for Tapia, who for the past twelve years had to live in Denver at least five months out of the year.

“Being away from home, weighs on your family and everything else. I’m a happy camper – this is just great. I’ve got a very good job and its right here in my hometown,” said Tapia.

It was in his hometown that Tapia raised his family and formed his own civil engineering company, Abel Engineering Professionals. Tapia ran the company he founded for 27 years before selling it to his son 3 years ago.

Tapia’s political career began in 1991 when he served on the local school board which subsequently led to a couple of terms in the state’s House of Representatives, where he quickly gained stature becoming his party’s caucus chair. An opportunity arose 4 years later to make the leap to the senate where he remained until his resignation. While in the senate, Tapia’s business experience and leadership skills took root, coming to fruition in the committees where the state’s financial affairs are set in motion—the Joint Budget Committee and Appropriations, serving as chair for the latter.

Tapia says he is grateful that owning his own business allowed him to seek and serve in public office, which ultimately led him to his current job, although he never anticipated that his life would unfold as it did. Tapia is the first to admit that he himself is amazed at how his career expanded from the vocation he chose as a young man—engineering.

“I feel blessed that I was able to serve in that capacity. I never aspired to do that in high school—I wasn’t on the debate team or student council,” said Tapia. “I never ever would have imagined that I would be the director of the lottery. I’m a civil engineer, I’m still an engineer.”

The 2010 legislative session was a tough one for the engineer who along with his colleagues on the JBC struggled with constructing a balanced budget amid plunging revenues and partisan battles over the most prudent course of action. Tapia readily admits it was difficult to make the tough calls, knowing he would have to face his constituents, especially those with whom he worked with when he was chairman of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. Legislation endorsed and passed, with the help of Tapia, by ruling Democrats to eliminate or defer an assortment of tax credits and exemptions for Colorado businesses stirred up passions in the business community unlike any other legislative session in recent memory and Tapia was at center stage for the drama.

“It was hard for me and I had to come back and explain to my friends here in Pueblo that it was the right thing to do. I actually went up to the mic and said ‘I’m going to upset every possible constituent that I ever had’ because we were cutting everything from business to social services,” said Tapia. “I just resolved myself during the session that everyone was going to be upset with me. I just wanted to upset everyone equally.”

Still, Tapia brands himself as a moderate who has the ability to get things done.

“I think that people looked at me as being a very moderate person, one that can work with both sides of the aisle. I think that ninety-percent of legislation happens in the middle. You get a moderate Democrat with a moderate Republican and you’ve got a winning combination,” said Tapia.

Sen. Al White, R-Hayden, who met Tapia a decade ago, said he agrees with his former JBC and Appropriations Committee colleague on his willingness to set partisan politics aside when it’s the right thing to do.

“I’ve always appreciated working with Abel because he was a gentleman when he was in the minority and I was in the majority. When the situation turned, and he was in the majority, he was equally a gentleman,” recalls White. “He always had thoughtful deliberations on the Joint Budget committee because he truly cared about the best interests of the citizens of Colorado and put partisan politics behind him when budget considerations were on the table.”

A non-partisan environment is a comfort zone that Tapia prefers but he said he is also savvy about political realities.

“When you go up to Denver and you know what it’s like to be in the minority party, and you want to become the majority party and it turns out to be partisan. You want the bigger offices, you want to be the chairman of committees, you to be able to get your bills passed, and that all goes with the majority party,” relates Tapia who says he’s seen the pendulum swing to the far-right and to the far-left. Ultimately though, Tapia says, “We’re judged on how we manage things when we have been given the reins to run things.”

When Tapia reflects on his time at the state capitol, the lasting impression that he hopes he has made is not for his work on the budget, but rather the enduring legacy he may have left for 3rd graders in Colorado by helping to put them on the path of becoming lifelong readers through the Read to Achieve Program. During his freshman year in the house, the Republican governor, Bill Owens asked Tapia to sponsor the legislation that created the reading program.

“For me, that’s the major piece of legislation that I carried,” said Tapia.

For now, Tapia says he is more than contented to be on hand to deliver good news to the lucky few who win big in the Colorado Lottery paid for by willing participants while generating additional funds for worthy causes such as Great Outdoors Colorado and public schools. His business experience qualifies him for the top lottery job, but from Tapia’s view, it was his political experience that solidified his odds of landing the position.

It is through the lens of that experience that Tapia offers advice to new legislators.

“You don’t have to change the world your first year. Don’t go out there and do some crazy things the first year because once you do some crazy things then you’re labeled as that crazy person.—either from the far-right or far-left. You’re put in a position where people are trying to get on your best side- particularly lobbyists but as soon as you’re not an elected official you go back to being Joe Citizen,” offers Tapia.

Being a citizen in his hometown and overseeing the state lottery is hitting the jackpot for Tapia.

“It’s good to be home,” says Tapia.

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The process of writing the state’s Blue Book, the voter guide sent to Coloradans explaining ballot measures, is usually contentious.

But this year’s battle over language describing three tax-slashing ballot measures — Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 — has been especially nasty at times, The Denver Post reports.

Proponents of the three ballot measures, who are running a combined campaign, have complained there is an unprecedented bias against them by staff of the Legislative Council, the nonpartisan service agency charged with writing fair and neutral analyses of the initiatives in the Blue Book.

The members of the Legislative Council will consider the draft proposals at its meeting Wednesday. The agenda and links to the proposed language are published here.

Leg Council

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While Mayor John Hickenlooper was trying to put on a “world-class convention” for Democrats in 2008, a charity he helped establish was giving money to a left-wing group determined to disrupt the event at every turn, The Denver Post reports.

Re-create 68 was just one of many groups that have received donations from the Chinook Fund over the years. The fund, which now donates to groups it says are considered “too new, too risky or too radical” for more traditional foundations, was established by Hickenlooper and others in 1987.

Over the next 15 years, Hickenlooper’s initial $2,000 donation turned into tens of thousands he gave to the fund

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A battle between Arapahoe County and state election officials over who should pay for some election expenses landed in a Denver district court Friday when the Colorado Secretary of State’s office filed suit against county clerk officials, The Aurora Sentinel reports.

According to Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, the suit stems from disagreements between state and county officials in regards to HB09-1186. Specifically, the legislation passed in 2009 requires counties to offer drop-off mail ballot facilities at all polling locations. County officials say the requirement costs a lot of money, and they shouldn’t have to pay for it.

Officials from the Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder’s office have said the legislation amounts to an unfunded mandate from the state.

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