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REMEMBER: YOUR VOTE = YOUR VOICE! |
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Just because the President denies facts doesn't mean that you should too! As we continue to work through these uncharted times, make sure that you're staying up to date on what's happening in Colorado and with our democratic processes by checking out these websites:
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COVID-19 Updates |
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Denver businesses can begin reopening Saturday following state guidelines From the Denver Post
Denver businesses can begin reopening Saturday under the state’s “safer at home” order, Mayor Michael Hancock said Tuesday.
Retailers, offices and personal services such as hair salons can open with occupancy and social distancing restrictions after Denver’s stay-at-home order expires Friday, Hancock said.
City officials have been preparing to lift the stay-at-home order in recent days and it appears likely Adams and Arapahoe counties will follow suit. Much of the rest of Colorado began transitioning from “stay at home” under Gov. Jared Polis’ “safer at home” order on April 27.
Starting Saturday, shops and salons in Denver must allow for at least 6 feet of space between customers and allow no more than 10 people inside at all times or operate at half capacity, whichever is fewer, Hancock said.
Office can open with 50% staffing but must ensure employees are at least 6 feet apart, Hancock said.
“If you’re a business or an office that can reopen but can still operate with your employees working from home, we strongly encourage you to do that,” Hancock said.
Personal services and other businesses such as optometrists and chiropractic clinics must operate by appointment only, Hancock said.
Gatherings of more than 10 people will continued to be prohibited through May 26, he said. Restaurants and bars, movie theaters, stadiums and fitness centers must remain closed.
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Making a Difference Virtually |
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Work for the 2020 Wave Webinars |
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Homer's getting ready to show the family the next CDP Webinar! |
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Ready to launch another blue wave in 2020? SAVE THE DATE for our upcoming "Work for the Wave" webinars! |
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Wednesday, May 6, 2020 @ 6:00pm MST VAN 101: Pulling Simple Lists (Hosted by Pete Williams) FOR BEGINNERS! Learn how to pull lists for your candidate and volunteers by going into the voter file and seeing how you can identify communities and voters you want to contact! |
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Monday, May 11, 2020 @ 6:00pm MST Precinct Organizer (PCP) Training (Hosted by Morgan Carroll, Julia Bristor, and Karin Asensio) Precinct organizers (formerly known as PCPs or Precinct Committee Persons) are the heartbeat of organizing at the grassroots. They are community leaders and are indispensable to Democrats winning in November! |
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Monday, May 18, 2020 @ 6:00pm MST Messaging and Combating Disinformation Training (Hosted by Halisi Vinson and David Pourshoushtari) Trump and the Republicans thrive on disinformation tactics. Whether it's on social media or by email, there's going to be a lot of disinformation out there -- learn how to combat it and protect your community by learning how to identify and counter disinformation! |
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Wednesday, May 20, 2020 @ 6:00pm MST Candidate Training (Hosted by Morgan Carroll) We need more good Democrats to run for office at every level of government. Whether it's running for state representative, city council, transportation board, or district attorney, you can do a lot of good for your community if elected to office! Learn the basics from CDP Chair Morgan Carroll! |
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Dems Leading the Way |
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Bennet Lends Hand At Food Bank |
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Sen. Michael Bennet Joins Food Bank Distribution At Dick’s Sporting Goods From CBS Denver
Hundreds of people lined up at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Friday to get food from the Food Bank of the Rockies. Sen. Michael Bennet joined the efforts to get food to those in need.
“You got a parking lot full of people here, many of these people here have never asked for anything in their lives, never asked for food in their lives, and because our entire economy is shut down by this pandemic, the need is extraordinary,” said Bennet.
Bennet has introduced a bill to change the SNAP, or food assistance, benefits formula so more people can receive it.
He said it will help not only families but also farmers and ranchers who will see an increased demand.
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Neguse, Colorado Delegation Calls out ICE Court on Due Process Concerns |
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Joe Neguse Raises Concerns About Due Process at Aurora Immigration Court From Westword
The Democratic members of Colorado's congressional delegation sent a letter to federal officials today, May 4, expressing concerns regarding possible due process violations at the Aurora Immigration Court.
In the letter, which was initiated by U.S. Representative Joe Neguse, they urge the heads of the Executive Office for Immigration Review and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to "immediately implement changes to the courtroom’s rules and practices to ensure that attorneys can provide effective counsel and respondents’ constitutional rights are preserved."
Explains Neguse: "We must ensure that neither safety nor due process is sacrificed, which is why we are requesting immediate actions from ICE and EOIR to remedy these circumstances and put in place common-sense measures to ensure the integrity of these court proceedings are not jeopardized. We believe these measures are essential to uphold due process."
Aside from a few days of closure, the Aurora Immigration Court, which handles the cases of those detained in the GEO Group-run facility there, has remained operational throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, detained immigrant dockets have continued moving forward across much of the United States, despite objections from groups representing immigration attorneys, immigration judges and ICE prosecutors who want the courts temporarily closed not just for public health reasons, but to preserve due process.
"There are so many more hurdles that we have to jump over in order to try and provide legal assistance to our clients, but even when we're going above and beyond, there's just no way to offer them the same type of legal representation that they would receive if we were able to meet with them in person," says Laura Lunn, an attorney with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, which is calling for ICE detainees to be released and have their hearings added to the non-detained immigrant court docket.
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Crow, Bennet Join Forces on Strategic Legislation for Critical Medical Supplies |
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Bennet, Crow co-sponsor effort to federalize medical supply chain From Colorado Politics
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has joined with the other members of the Senate Democratic caucus in introducing legislation to establish national control over the medical supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our front-line health workers have called on the Trump Administration to develop a coordinated, national strategy to produce the supplies and equipment needed to keep them safe and protect the public. The absence of such a strategy has cost us dearly in both lives and livelihoods, and it has forced states and health care providers to outbid one another on the open market to secure critical supplies and equipment,” said Bennet. “If the administration will not act, Congress must force its hand.”
The Medical Supply Transparency and Delivery Act would create a point person within the Department of Defense to direct the production and delivery of needed medical equipment. The position, titled the Executive Officer, would create purchase orders, deliver excess equipment to the national stockpile and curate a public list of states’ requests for assistance.
The bill would also require a strategy for testing and a plan to rapidly produce a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available. Relying on the authority of the Defense Production Act of 1950, the proposal would establish weekly reporting of equipment needs nationwide and identify manufacturers that could produce equipment in short supply. The Korean War-era law allows the executive branch to order private companies to make the fulfillment of government contracts a priority for national defense purposes.
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow is one of the members co-sponsoring a companion bill in the House of Representatives. “In failing to provide a unified and cohesive response, the White House has left states scrambling in a zero-sum game where there are no winners,” Crow said. “This is a failure of leadership by President Trump and it is incumbent upon Congress to step in and provide the desperately needed action to get supplies to our health care workers.”
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Q & A with Treasurer Dave Young! |
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Q&A with Dave Young | Colorado state treasurer From Colorado Politics
Colorado Politics: How have you — as Colorado’s public money manager in chief — had to shift gears from business as usual in handling the state’s portfolio amid COVID-19 and its effect on global financial markets? What reassurances do you offer the public that state funds are stable and in good hands despite panic in the markets — and where are you investing public dollars these days?
Dave Young: The Department of the Treasury manages the state’s operating fund called the Treasury Pool. On a minute-to-minute basis, the department’s investment officers monitor the markets and ensure that the state’s finances are safe.
Colorado’s tax dollars are not invested in the stock market. The vast majority of funds are invested in safe investment-grade bonds, and investments are made only in the U.S. Treasuries, agencies, and asset-backed securities. Over many months we’ve pursued a flight to quality with our investment portfolio. In other words, we’ve been strategically investing in bonds and commercial paper with higher ratings over the past year. Our investment positions are safe because they’re highly rated.
Our investment and cash-management teams are also working in tandem to make sure we have cash in hand. This is especially important as cash flow is essential to keeping our government open and working during this pandemic.
The Treasury also manages debt for the state government. As soon as we can given market conditions, but certainly by June 30 as established in SB17-267, we are prepared to issue debt to fund transportation projects across the state. We are also utilizing short-term debt to help school districts with cash-flow support, and in the midst of this health and economic crisis we may increase our use of that tool.
The Colorado Treasury is committed to do everything we can to preserve the financial health of citizens of our great state.
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Griswold Raises Yellow Card on Misleading Business Practices |
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Griswold warns against fee-based business solicitations From Colorado Politics
Secretary of State Jena Griswold is warning companies of misleading solicitations that charge business owners more for filing reports with the state than it costs to do on their own.
“Third parties have been sending out solicitations asking for unnecessary fees to file business reports with our office,” said Griswold. “The Colorado secretary of state’s office takes pride in having an easy-to-use and affordable business filing system, which is why we are alerting business owners about these dubious solicitations.”
Her office provided a periodic report instruction form dated April 20 that one Colorado business received. The instructions included a request for a $110 check, $100 more than the report costs to file through the secretary of state’s website.
The sender, W.C.S., wrote in capital letters that it is “not a government agency and does not have a contract with any governmental agency to provide this service.” The company’s address is in Green Valley Ranch in Denver, and an automated message at the W.C.S. number advises that if a business owner is “filing your annual report on your own or you have an attorney or an accountant file it for you, disregard this notice.”
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Trump, Gardner, & GOP Watch |
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"Will some people be affected badly? Yes. But we have to get our country open" - Trump |
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Trump poised to wind down Covid-19 taskforce as US death toll tops 70,000 From the Guardian
Donald Trump is preparing to wind down the White House coronavirus taskforce even as the US death toll has topped 70,000 and experts warn that the worst is yet to come.
Mike Pence, the vice-president and taskforce chair, said on Tuesday that coordination of the pandemic response could be transferred back to federal agencies in late May or early June.
But in the wake of a leaked internal White House report suggesting that the daily US death toll will climb to 3,000 per day by June, the move is likely to fuel concerns that Trump has all but abandoned a public health strategy in favour of economic imperatives.
“I’m not saying anything is perfect, and yes, will some people be affected? Yes. Will some people be affected badly? Yes,” Trump said during a trip to Arizona – a battleground state in the 2020 presidential election – on Tuesday. “But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon.”
In an interview with David Muir of ABC News on Tuesday evening, Trump was asked directly: “Do you believe it’s the reality we’re facing, that lives will be lost to reopen the country?”
The president said: “It’s possible there will be some because you won’t be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is, but at the same time we’re going to practise social distancing, we’re going to be washing hands, we’re going to be doing a lot of the things that we’ve learned to do over the last period of time. And we have to get our country back.”
A prolonged shutdown, Trump added, came with its own costs in terms of increased drug use and suicide.
Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate, tweeted: “It appears the plan is, shamefully, to have no plan. Americans will suffer. We must replace this administration in November.”
David Axelrod, former chief strategist for Barack Obama, added on Twitter: “If you can’t shut down the virus, shut down the taskforce.”
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Uh... WHAT?! |
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Former Anti-Polis Spokeswoman Says Requiring Masks Is Like Forcing Jews to Wear ID Tags From the Colorado Times Recorder
A former spokeswoman for last year’s failed effort to recall Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) says if she’s forced to wear a mask, “you might as well put a yellow star on my chest.”
Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars during the holocaust.
Karen Kataline, a Denver talk radio host and communications consultant, made the comment to conservative podcaster Kim Monson during a protest Friday to re-open Colorado. Kataline was present at the protest.
She also said, “A face covering. Do they want us to be in burkas, or what?”
Kataline was irate about the requirement in Lone Tree, Colorado, for mask-wearing in retail businesses.
Reached by phone, Kataline stood behind her comments.
“Since when does the government get to tell you what to wear and what to put on your body. It’s unconstitutional,” she said, calling it “collectivist insanity.”
“The pushback has to happen now,” she continued. “Or it’s just going to go worse. Why is it so important for the left to demonize anybody who doubts or who has a question. This virus is not the bubonic plague. The numbers prove it. Yet Polis continues to clamp down on our constitutional rights.”
The governor’s office “guidance” on masks states, “Research shows that people who have no symptoms can spread COVID-19. Wearing a non-medical face mask helps minimize the spread of the virus. Everyone should wear a mask when out in public. Employees should wear a mask when working.”
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Volunteers of the Week |
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Barbara Tidd is the Secretary of the Saguache County Democratic Party , a position she’s held on and off since 2013. That would be enough to keep any volunteer busy; but she’s also the Central Committee Secretary for House District 62 and Senate District 35, a candidate liaison for Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care, on the 12th Judicial District Nominating Commission (until 2025), an election judge for Chaffee County, participant in the Alamosa Women’s March and a local Indivisible group, and often busy arranging candidate forums and speaking up for her great passion, health care coverage for all! These activities speak volumes for Barb’s deep commitment to the Democratic Party and Colorado citizens, and to the values that are core to her life. She will admit reluctantly, as well, that she is “so tired of corruption” in the current administration.
This all makes sense if you know that Barb has had a long career as a paralegal, which greatly contributes to her passion for justice, especially for fair elections. Her legal experience has been helpful to her work as an election judge, but the real payoff for her is to see that our elections in Colorado are properly run and fair for voters. She says that she’s “thrilled that Colorado is an all-mail ballot state” and she’s doing her part to help with the election process carefully adhering to the County Clerk’s instructions and processes.
Barb’s other most important cause is health care for all—but it’s not an abstract interest for her. Both Barb and her husband had to go without health insurance for ten years because they could not afford it, all the while just hoping that they would not have any medical crises. So the question of universal health care, or Medicare for All, is definitely a personal one, and she’s very active speaking and tabling on behalf of the Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care.
When asked why she would encourage others to volunteer as she has, Barb says “If it’s meaningful to you and if you want to contribute to your community,” then go ahead! You will get to know your neighbors and form closer relationships with them and other volunteers, which has been one of the greatest benefits of volunteering for the Dems for Barb. She also notes that, if you volunteer, you are very likely to get to know the candidates for offices and local and state officials, which means that it’s also easier for you to have their ear when you need their help or have a concern about an issue before them that affects you or your community. |
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Do you want to volunteer? Reach out to our volunteer coordinator Karin Asensio at [email protected], and see how YOU CAN GET INVOLVED! |
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Join the Elbow Bumpers Club! |
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What's the Elbow Bumpers Club (formerly known as the High Fivers Club), you ask? It started with a simple idea: There are nearly 1.2 million registered Democrats in Colorado -- what if every single one of them gave just $5 a month to the Colorado Democratic Party (CDP)?
Answer: The CDP would be the best-funded state party in the country -- with zero dollars from corporate PACs and plenty for flipping red seats to blue!
Here's the reality -- the Colorado Dems are working in overdrive to keep the wheels of democracy moving forward, and now is a time when we could really use your help! If you haven't joined the High Fivers Club (temporarily known as the Elbow Bumpers Club now) -- please consider a few reasons to give!
Click the gif below to join the Elbow Bumpers Club ! |
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The Funnies! |
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Editor's Note: Since we haven't been able to be on the road, we thought we would end today's edition of the Dispatch by showing some political cartoons! |
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Contributions or gifts to the Democratic Party of Colorado are not tax deductible |
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