Thompson, Tancredo and Beauprez get weird

The GOP is obsessed with electing actors, and that's weird. Tom Tancredo is being sued for $5 million, and that's weirder. But for pure What? Factor weirdness there's this from the Rocky:

Ex-gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez dropped by the Capitol on Tuesday to say that rumors of his political death have been greatly exaggerated.

Beauprez joked with House Republicans that after losing a lopsided election to Democrat Bill Ritter in November some people made him feel "a little like the corpse in the coffin."

"But we did not die. The sun did come up the next day . . . and we're going to live to fight another day," Beauprez said, drawing applause and knowing laughter from the House Republicans Caucus...

He won't rule out a run for the U.S. Senate in 2008.

"You look rested!" shouted Rep. Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I am so rested. But I'm not staying idle," said Beauprez. "The virus that is politics is a permanent one."

Ritter hails energy legislation (and etc.)

Best email waiting for me in my inbox? Bill Ritter's press release supporting landmark New Energy Economy legislation:

Gov. Bill Ritter today hailed the final passage of House Bill 1281, the legislative centerpiece of his 2007 renewable energy agenda for Colorado.

"I applaud lawmakers from both parties for their bipartisan cooperation and vision as they work to enact Colorado's New Energy Economy," Ritter said. "In 2004, when Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 37, we became the first state in the country to set renewable energy standards by citizen initiative.

"We're making history yet again with HB 1281 by expanding those standards and continuing to establish Colorado as the nation's renewable energy leader."

The governor congratulated lawmakers, investor-owned utilities, rural electric associations, environmental organizations, labor groups, consumer advocates and others for their collaborative efforts in shaping HB 1281.

"HB 1281 will help stimulate the rural areas at the heart of the New Energy Economy - regions like the Eastern Plains and San Luis Valley where wind, sun and agriculture are abundant," Ritter said. "The bill will help us attract manufacturers of wind turbines and solar products. It also will stimulate research and development of emerging energy technologies.

"And by expanding our renewable energy production and consumption, we'll reduce our reliance on foreign oil, which is good for our environment and our national security.

"I look forward to signing HB 1281 and the remainder of the New Energy Economy legislative package very soon," the governor added.

Other assorted good tidings:

• Hilarious: Bob Beauprez has a copycat.
• 2008 update: In Colorado, Washington and cyberspace.
• Lobbyists: Morgan Carroll owns you.

Assorted snark, politics edition

• Georgia State Sen.: "I'm battier than Schultheis!"
• Lieberman crony: "Bloggers are babies!"
• Newsweek: "John Edwards is dreamy!"
• CoCo: "Hillman and Beauprez have dumb websites!"
• DCCC: "Colorado is bulletproof!"

Hat-tip to SquareState for the DCCC link.

Alleged Beauprez informant awaits fate

A "going to the pokey" update.

Bob Beauprez calls for the execution of Barack Obama

And your execution, too. If you oppose the Iraq War. From Colorado Media Matters:

On Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show, guest host Bob Beauprez -- a former Colorado Republican congressman and gubernatorial candidate -- responded to a caller who suggested that people opposed to the war in Iraq are "traitors" and "ought to be shot" by stating that doing so would constitute "good old Western justice."

Some days, I can't believe how easily we beat Bob Beauprez in 2006. Other days, I'm suprised anyone voted for him at all.

Owens, Rowland get jobs they shouldn't have

Yesterday, I mentioned Bill Owens' support for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's 2008 bid for the Presidency. The Denver Post reports Owens has gone a step further and joined Romney's team as a senior advisor.

It seems like an odd fit. Romney has tried to position himself as a conservative alternative to John McCain. Owens has been ostracized by the GOP base for his support of Referendum C in 2005. Plus, in 2006 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter often used Romney's healthcare plan as evidence that states could guarantee healthcare to all citizens. Owens' hand-picked successor, Bob Beauprez, didn't jump on the Romney bandwagon until much later.

I saw on SquareState that "Grand Junction NBC affiliate KKCO has hired GOP Lt. Gov. Candidate Janet Rowland to cover the state legislature"

This hire makes even less sense. Rowland said some things in 2006 that would convince any rational observer that live TV might not be a good idea for her. And her longtime involvement in partisan politics creates a major conflict of interest for KKCO.

The Coloradolib screenplay generator

Want to write a screenplay, but don't know where to start? Coloradolib makes it easy.

Step 1, pick a bogeyman:

1. Bob Beauprez, radio talk show host.

2. Exxon Mobil, master of the cover-up.

3. Mike Coffman, man of many secrets.

Step 2, pick a hero:

1. Andrew Romanoff, mild-mannered leader.

2. Three U.S. Senators who aren't afraid to keep digging.

3. A heroic but vaguely dweeby liberal blogger.

Step 3, pick a conflict:

1. The DNC is perilously trapped between the Convention Center and the Pepsi Center!

2. The JeffCo party is torn between Herb Rubenstein and Vince Todd!

3. A mystery virus begins to turn crucial parts of America a deep shade of red!

Somebody call Hollywood. I smell box office gold.

Owens, Beauprez declare statewide disaster

Governor Bill Owens in the Rocky:

Gov. Bill Owens this afternoon declared a statewide disaster emergency due to blizzard conditions, and activated the Colorado National Guard.

Bob Beauprez in the Post via ColoradoPols:

"I don't mean to overly rationalize it or excuse it, but it was one of those years. There was a foul wind blowing and I stepped out in the middle of it," Beauprez said.

That was too easy. I apologize. To make up for it, I'm going to re-read Andrew Oh-Willeke's explanation of "the ground rules for the 2007 regular session of Colorado's General Assembly."

Is the wrong guy headed to the pokey?

Today's Rocky Mountain News reports:

The investigation of a man suspected of illegally accessing a federal database to benefit Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez has been referred to the U.S. Attorney for Wyoming.

Cory Voorhis, an agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, has been under investigation in the suspected leaking of information on illegal immigrants arrested in Denver. That information was used by Beauprez in a series of TV attack ads against Gov.-elect Bill Ritter.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation conducted a joint investigation of the leak with the FBI. That investigation is largely complete, and the U.S. attorney in Wyoming will decide whether to press charges.

The case was given to Wyoming authorities because Voorhis had worked with the Colorado U.S. attorney on several cases, creating a possible conflict of interest for that office.

What Vooris allegedly did was bad. Criminal, even. But the Bob Beauprez campaign shouldn't be allowed to skate. Apparently someone there did one of two things:

1. Knowingly broadcast illegally gained information over the airwaves, in which case they were participating in a crime.

2. Didn't do any research on whether the information was true or false, which is also a crime.

The relevant statute here is C.S.R. 1-13-109, which states:

(2) (a) No person shall recklessly make, publish, broadcast, or circulate or cause to be made, published, broadcasted, or circulated in any letter, circular, advertisement, or poster or in any other communication any false statement designed to affect the vote on any issue submitted to the electors at any election or relating to any candidate for election to public office Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for purposes of this subsection (2), a person acts "recklessly" when he or she acts in conscious disregard of the truth or falsity of the statement made, published, broadcasted, or circulated.

The emphasis is mine. It seems to me that if the Beauprez campaign put those allegations on the air without researching them, they acted "in conscious disregard of the truth or falsity of the statement made."

Morgan Carroll, among others, is on the warpath for campaign reform. But what's the point if we don't enforce the laws we have?

I don't claim to be a lawyer or have any insider information. But I've followed this story obsessively since it broke. And from my perspective, it appears that there are two criminals out there. Voorhis has been thrown under the bus. And Bob Beauprez has been allowed to walk away.

Cross-posted to Square State, where discussion is underway. Hat-tip to ColoradoPols for the Rocky link. Before the election, I wrote a whole series of posts titled "Both Ways Bob is headed to the pokey." You can read some entries here, here and here.

Bob "I'm Going To The Pokey" Beauprez still getting media favoritism

I've written that the mainstream media seems "determined to get Beauprez back into governor's race" and is "trying to give Beauprez a break." But anointing him the default choice for governor? Shameless. How much more rightwing bias will they throw at the voters between now and election day? And how would they expect Beauprez to govern from behind bars?

More information about "Both Ways Bob headed to the pokey?"

Why did Both Ways Bob Beauprez think he could get away with breaking the law? Perhaps because he thought Ritter, who has a big lead in the polls, wouldn't risk going after him. What Beauprez forgot is that Ritter has spent much of his life enforcing Colorado law. He's not stopping out of political expediency.

Advocacy groups are joining Ritter's call for an investigation. The Post blogs:

A liberal advocacy group urged the FBI on Sunday to investigate whether Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez's campaign violated federal or state laws by accessing the highly restricted National Crime Information Center database. ProgressNowAction sent its request to the FBI on Sunday and plans to send an e-mail titled "Beauprez Gate" today to its more than 50,000 members calling for an FBI probe into the Beauprez campaign.

The Rocky adds:

Michael Huttner, director of ProgressNow, said Sunday he believes it is a conflict of interest for the state to handle the probe... Huttner noted that the CBI is one of the agencies that reports to Joe Morales, head of the Department of Public Safety. Huttner said Morales has contributed $1,000 to Beauprez's campaign.

More on "Both Ways Bob headed to the pokey?"

From the press release from the Ritter campaign:

Gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter today asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to examine whether Congressman Beauprez broke the law by using a criminaljustice database in a television attack ad.

Ritter accused the Congressman of gaining access to a secure national database in violation of state and federal law.

"Your campaign broke the law," Ritter said during a debate taped at Fox 31 News in Denver this afternoon. "It's illegal to have access to that database."

The Congressman said his campaign used an "informant" to gather the information in the ad and would publicly disclose how and from where he obtained the information.

"The Congressman needs to be held accountable for this," Ritter said after the debate. "Breaking the rules for political gain and trying to cover it up might be OK in Washington, but that's not how we do things in Colorado."

Both Ways Bob headed to the pokey?

Thanks to dismaleconomist at Square State for highlighting an article in The Cherry Creek News that claims the Beauprez for Governor campaign may have broken federal and state laws developing baseless attacks on Bill Ritter:

The Beauprez campaign has been using a plea bargains made by Ritter when he was Denver District Attorney to hammer the Democrat as soft on crime. The District Attorney's office says the plea bargain came because of problems with evidence in the case, which involved a man named either Carlos Medina or Walter Ramo.

But did the Beauprez campaign violate the law in obtaining that information?

The lawyer for the Ritter campaign has sent a letter to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, suggesting that the Beauprez campaign may have misused a federal crime database in researching the information, violating state and federal law. The attorney, Trey Rogers, has requested an investigation. The Beauprez campaign has previously told a television reporter that it used an "FBI number," which would mean it had access to the National Crime Information Center (or NCIC) database, to link the crime in Calfornia to the Colorado felon.

Roger's letter says that California is a "closed records" state, meaning the access to the Ramo-Medina records would require official level access to computer systems.

The Beauprez campaign claims to obtain the information through a Freedom of Information Act request. But according to our investigation, such a request would not allow access to a third party's records.

I already knew the ad ad in question was silly and maybe even false. Now it turns out it may land Beauprez in hot water, too.