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The 2020 Obama Dinner: RELAUNCHED |
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Join Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Cory Booker, and more at: The 3rd Annual Obama Event: Virtual Edition |
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We are proud to announce that in lieu of a traditional gala dinner as we've held in years passed, on Sunday June 20, 2020 at 5:00pm we will gather virtually to celebrate for the 3rd Annual Obama Event to celebrate the accomplishments of the last twelve months and the honorees that helped make that happen.
We will welcome back Congressman Hakeem Jeffries as our special guest, and we are so pleased to announce that he'll be bringing a few friends with him! That's right -- Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker will be joining us! And we have re-invited Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and many others!
We plan to continue to roll out headliners between now and our June 20th event, and promise that our Obama Political Palooza will live up to the quality and excitement typical of our past Obama Dinners. We hope you will join us for what we know will be an evening of conversation, celebration and common purpose.
(As you remember, the Colorado Democratic Party was to hold our 3rd Annual Obama Dinner on Saturday, April 18, 2020 -- right after our state assembly and convention. This was postponed as a result of COVID-19.)
NOTE: If you purchased a ticket or table to the 3rd Annual Obama Dinner already, your purchase will be honored for the 3rd Annual Obama Event! |
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The 2020 Obama Event Awardees |
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You nominated, and you voted! We're so proud that with this new virtual format for the 2020 Obama Event, we will have the honor of celebrating these incredible Democrats from all across the state! |
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COVID-19 Updates |
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COVID-19: Polis Shutters Scofflaw Diner, Fears More Deaths From Westword
In many press conferences prompted by COVID-19 over recent weeks, Governor Jared Polis has accentuated the positive rather than rhetorically bringing down the hammer. But his May 11 address to the media featured multiple moments when he chose a different tack, particularly on the subject of C&C Coffee and Kitchen, the Castle Rock eatery that defied state rules against serving patrons on site during a Mother's Day event that ignored social-distancing recommendations as well as other safety precautions.
Polis confirmed that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has suspended the location's license indefinitely, using sharp language to do so.
"I was extremely disappointed seeing businesses and people actively breaking the law and defying health orders," Polis said. "We all have laws we agree with and don't agree with...but it's our responsibility to follow the law." He added that he shares the frustration of those angered at the sight of "people illegally packed into a restaurant and all the mothers and grandmothers and aunts and everyone put at increased risk of dying from this horrible virus. ... At the individual level, the stakes are even higher. It's the difference between going on living and experiencing a particularly agonizing and lonely death."
But while Polis acknowledged online comments suggesting that attendees at the gathering deserved to get infected with COVID-19, he didn't echo such opinions. "That's not a Colorado value," he responds. "We hope nobody had the coronavirus, and we hope that everybody is safe who went there."
The fuses on these fireworks weren't immediately set alight at the news conference. Polis began by discussing his planned May 13 meeting with President Donald Trump, to talk about the need for additional federal resources in Colorado's COVID-19 fight. According to Polis, it's important for Trump "to hear what's really going on on the ground: the fear, the anxiety, the health conditions, the economic challenges the people of the country face. ... I'm going to do my best to make sure the president is not living in the ivory tower of the White House and is aware of what's going on across the country."
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This Week In Making a Difference |
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Keep a GOP-Endorsed Abortion Ban Off The Ballot - Decline To Sign Initiative 120! |
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We’ve seen other abortion bans attempted (and fail) in Colorado, but this is the first time we’ve seen an official statement from the Colorado GOP that they are endorsing it this early and urging their supporters to get Initiative 120 on the ballot. Supporters fell short in the initial signature submission, and once the stay at home order is lifted they will have a 15 day “cure” period to make up nearly 10,000 signatures and qualify for the ballot.
With Trump in office, abortion rights opponents have been emboldened around the country - other states have attempted abortion bans using coronavirus as an excuse, and a Supreme Court case that could gut or overturn Roe v Wade will be decided at the end of June.
Abortion opponents here in Colorado are getting sneakier. Initiative 120 would ban abortion after 22 weeks, well past the point many patients get a devastating diagnosis at their 20 week ultrasound that the baby will not survive to term. Proponents have admitted they picked 22 weeks because it polls well - there is no medical reason for it. Cutting off health care in the year of a pandemic is cruel, and it’s especially cruel when so many have seen access to abortion care delayed or denied because of state bans and other challenges.
So we need everyone’s help keeping Initiative 120 off the ballot. Coloradans have historically believed that abortion is a personal, private decision between a pregnant person and their doctor – the government and politicians should stay out. This is no different.
Decline to sign Initiative 120 and spread the word! |
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Dems Leading the Way |
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TODAY: Weiser Appeared Before SCOTUS on the Faithless Electors Case |
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This morning, Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser argued before the Supreme Court in the Faithless Electors case that started back in 2016. Both Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and the CDP support Attorney General Weiser's position that presidential electors must represent the will of the people of their state.
In August, the 10th Circuit ruled that the U.S. Constitution contains no language that allows a state to remove an elector or toss out his or her vote.
Weiser and Secretary of State Jena Griswold appealed the decision to the nation’s high court last October, and the Supreme Court agreed in January to hear arguments in the case. Oral arguments were originally slated for April 28 but were pushed back because of COVID-19.
Colorado argues that electors should not be able to base their electoral votes on their own thoughts but rather on the will of the voters.
“Colorado law is very clear on this topic. If you’re an elector, your job is to represent the will of the people here in Colorado,” Weiser said in a recent interview. “That’s what you signed up for; people expect you to do that. We’re fighting for that principle.”
Weiser said the case was a “path-making case” because the Supreme Court has never evaluated the Electoral College and whether states have the right to bind votes to the popular vote in the state.
The electors believe they have the right to choose for whom they want to vote since they were also elected to be electors in the first place.
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Bennet Steps Up for Colorado Small Biz |
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Sen. Michael Bennet Introduces Bill To Provide More Time, Flexibility In Small Business Loan Program From CBS Denver
The Small Business Administration says it has now approved more than $10.5 billion in loans for more than 88,000 small businesses in Colorado. But, some of the hardest hit businesses say the Paycheck Protection Program is not helping them.
The loans are only forgiven if they go to payroll and they need to be spent – or paid back – in 8 weeks.
Carver Brewing Company in Durango and Glenwood Canyon Brewing company both got loans.
“But the sad part of the story is, we’re not using them. They’re not really designed to be used by businesses that are highly effected by virus,” says brewpub owner Jim Carver.
He furloughed his workers and won’t fully reopen for months. Still, bills are piling up. He lost $60,000 in food alone when the two pubs closed.
“We’ve drawn a line of credit to the tune of about $150,000 for each brewpub,” said Carver.
Desperate, Carver wrote a letter to Sen. Michael Bennet, who wrote a bill that incorporates Carver’s concerns. The legislation gives owners more flexibility in how they spend the money and twice the time to pay it back. It also expands loans to mid-sized businesses that have lost 25% of their revenue because of the coronavirus closure.
“We recognize there are some very large companies out there that have been clobbered by COVID and they employ a lot of people,” said Bennet. “This is great example of a bill that’s directly the result of the common sense of Colorado small business owners.”
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Neguse Introduces Bill to Protect Our Health AND Our Vote |
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From Fortune Magazine
Democrats in Congress are hoping to rectify what they call an error in the $2 trillion COVID-19 aid package that makes essential election funding inaccessible to some states and a headache to procure for others.
The race to the presidential elections are well underway, and states now have less than six months to completely revamp long-used voting processes and systems to protect their citizens in the wake of an unprecedented and deadly global pandemic. But things like vote-by-mail initiatives and personal protective equipment for poll workers are expensive, and these costs come alongside rapidly falling local revenues due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
Congress stepped in to help by including $400 million for election security funding for states in the March CARES act. But the money didn’t come for free: In order to receive the additional funding, states have to match 20%. Some officials say the match rate is onerous, if not impossible, to meet.
Today, Congressman Joe Neguse (D-CO) will introduce the Secure Our Elections Act, which retroactively removes the 20% match requirement. He hopes this will be added to the next stimulus bill, which house Democrats are currently finalizing their version of.
“States shouldn’t have to choose between cutting Medicaid or other important social safety net programs and preserving the security of their state elections,” said Neguse in an exclusive interview with Fortune. “That’s unconscionable, and Congress should remove that obstacle.”
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Crow Takes ICE to Task |
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Rep. Crow calls for halt on ICE transfers during the outbreak From Colorado Politics
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow is taking on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over detainees once again, this time calling for a halt on transfers between ICE-operated and contract facilities during the pandemic.
Crow has been a critic and sometimes protester of operations and an expansion plan at the ICE detention facility in his district in Aurora, warning of the potential for disease outbreaks there more than a year ago.
You can read more about his work on ICE by clicking here.
He alleges transferring detainees will spread the virus and expose detainees, staff and the community.
"The movement and exposure of those brought in through enforcement and removal operations prior to their detention is unknown," he wrote to acting ICE director Matthew Albence. "While there may be a record of potential exposure for detainees transferred from another facility, it is not necessarily reassuring.
"In fact, one of the new detainees was placed in isolation upon arrival from the Sterling Correctional Facility, which has the largest single COVID-19 outbreak in Colorado."
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DeGette Sticks Up For Meatpacking Plant Employees Endangers by COVID-19 |
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Activists & Colorado Congresswoman Want More Protections For Plant Employees From CBS Denver
Colorado Congresswoman Diana Degette says finding a balance for food processing plant employees still puts too many lives in danger.
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Winter and Gray Launch "Some Good Colorado News" YouTube Show! |
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Like many of you we're sure, we at Team CDP are big fans of 'The Office' actor John Krasinski's YouTube series "Some Good News" (which, if you haven't watched the Hamilton performance, you simply must!). State Senator Faith Winter and State Representative Matt Gray certainly are, and they launched their own version, which they dubbed "Some Good Colorado News"!
Click here to watch and get caught up with members of the Colorado General Assembly to see what they've been up to during quarantine! |
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Trump, Gardner, & GOP Watch |
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Trump allowed large corporations to take more than $1 Billion in funds meant for Small Biz |
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Exclusive: U.S. companies got emergency government loans despite having months of cash From Reuters
When American companies recently applied for U.S. government loans meant to help small businesses survive the coronavirus crisis, they had to certify they needed the cash to cover basic needs like salaries and rent. The money, up to $10 million, was meant to tide them over for eight weeks.
Some recipients, though, had considerable cash on hand. Forty-one publicly traded companies that got the emergency aid already had enough to cover basic expenses for two months or more when they applied for the funds, a Reuters analysis found — even if their revenue dropped to zero. Thirty had three months or more of cash. Six had enough to last at least until December, according to the review, which was based on average monthly operating expenses from 2019.
All told, these relatively flush 41 companies were able to secure $104 million in government aid, at a time when legions of smaller companies with little in their coffers were being turned down. Seventeen of the 41 recipients had market capitalizations of at least $100 million.
“It’s disheartening to see relief spending go to companies that don’t appear to desperately need a lifeline,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight, a Washington-based non-profit that monitors government spending. “This shows just how urgently we need more oversight of this program and the rest of the federal government’s relief spending.”
Reuters examined the latest available financial information for 276 publicly traded companies that applied for the forgivable loans in the first round of the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in April. The list includes companies tracked by data provider FactSquared through the end of April.
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Gardner "Written Off" By National GOP |
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Republicans grow nervous about losing the Senate amid worries over Trump’s handling of the pandemic From the Washington Post
Republicans are increasingly nervous they could lose control of the Senate this fall as a potent combination of a cratering economy, President Trump’s handling of the pandemic and rising enthusiasm among Democratic voters dims their electoral prospects.
In recent weeks, GOP senators have been forced into a difficult political dance as polling shifts in favor of Democrats: touting their own response to the coronavirus outbreak without overtly distancing themselves from a president whose management of the crisis is under intense scrutiny but who still holds significant sway with Republican voters.
“It is a bleak picture right now all across the map, to be honest with you,” said one Republican strategist closely involved in Senate races who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss concerns within the party. “This whole conversation is a referendum on Trump, and that is a bad place for Republicans to be. But it’s also not a forever place.” ... The flip side for Republicans is that states Trump lost in 2016 — such as Colorado and Maine — could be out of reach. Many GOP strategists have already written off Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), barring a major shift, and some have doubts that Collins will be able to continue her trend of faring far better in elections than Republican presidential candidates she has shared the ballot with.
Republicans currently hold a 53-to-47 advantage in the Senate.
“The political environment is not as favorable as it was a few months ago,” said another Republican, one of a half dozen officials working on Senate races who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly assess the party’s outlook.
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Volunteers of the Week |
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Gil Barela, Chair of the Larimer County Democratic Party, is so soft-spoken that one might not get right away that he has always been a powerful fighter for what he believes in. He was raised in Pueblo by a stauchly Democratic and union family, and he has dedicated his life to both causes. After high school, he joined the steelworkers’ union in Pueblo, working in that industry before serving in the Marines for four years. Gil credits this service with teaching him enormously valuable lessons about leadership and about helping others, which he put to good use after his military service in Lebanon. He learned in the Marines how important life was, and how important hs country was; he also found that “you can make changes if you work hard at it” to improve others’ lives.
Gil served many years as a union member and then officer of the National Association of Letter Carriers, where he proudly represented his union brothers and sisters. After he retired in Loveland, he discovered a new way to work for others: he saw that the teachers of that school district were “getting a bad deal” from their school board, so he got voters organized and won a majority to replace that dysfunctional board! After many years of organizing labor unions, he had still never seen a community come together the way Loveland did to support its teachers, and he still has amazement in his voice as he describes this key victory.
When asked what advice he has for people who are thinking of volunteering, Gil is clear that these are some of the “most important, rewarding experiences” they can have. Volunteering provides a sense of accomplishment and helps to develop leadership abilities; while it can be challenging, it gives a person great satisfaction. He himself is very proud of getting people organized and moving for a common good cause, which he has done again and again in both union work and volunteering. We think that pulling citizens together to achieve an important goal is Gil Barela’s superpower, and we salute him as Volunteer of the Week! |
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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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