|
|
ICYMI: Our Statements on George Floyd |
|
|
"A Palestinian-American artist is behind the touching George Floyd illustration you are seeing all over Instagram." Click here to read more! |
|
On Friday, we released the following statements from our chair, our executive director and the interim chair of the African American Initiative of Colorado Democrats in response to not only the protests seen here in Colorado against the murder of George Floyd, but also in response to Donald Trump's tweet calling for violence against civilians. |
|
“We grieve for the family and loved ones of George Floyd, and stand in solidarity with those calling for justice here in Colorado and across the country. Make no mistake — George Floyd was murdered. While many across our state may want or wish for things to just ‘settle down’ and ‘get back to normal’ — we have to recognize that for millions of people born and raised in the United States, this justified fear of violence from law enforcement is their normal. Our country must act to ensure this never happens again. We must change the status quo,” said Morgan Carroll, Chair of the Colorado Democratic Party. |
|
“It’s bad enough that the man in the White House shows no understanding of how Black lives are devalued in this country, but what makes the events of last night even more disturbing is his disgusting call for violence against those Black lives and our allies. Our country has grown used to Trump’s wild conspiracy theories and race baiting, but to encourage violence in the streets is a new low. I’m waiting for members of the Colorado Republican Party, including Cory Gardner, Ken Buck, and Scott Tipton to join us in condemning Trump’s call for violence against civilians,” said Halisi Vinson, Executive Director of the Colorado Democratic Party. |
|
“We must take this opportunity to take steps to have this violence against the black community come to a stop. The black struggle has been complex since the documentation began in 1619. Without addressing systemic racism, honoring the lost life of George Floyd and the hundreds who came before him who may or may not have been caught on video will have been for nothing. We must begin listening and acting to eradicate this mistreatment of black people. As Dr. King said — ‘Riot is the language of the unheard.’ So, we have to ask more of our leaders and our elected officials, along with asking more of our friends and family. We must also make sure that President John F. Kennedy’s words of ‘Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable’ never come to pass,” said Hashim Coates, Interim Chair of the African American Initiative of Colorado Democrats. |
|
The 2020 Obama Political Palooza |
|
NEW: Senator Kamala Harris will be joining the honorable Hakeem Jeffries, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Stacey Abrams, and more! The 3rd Annual Obama Event: Virtual Edition |
|
|
Have you gotten your pass or purchased a sponsorship yet? The Colorado Democratic Party's Obama Political Palooza is getting bigger and bigger with the addition of Senator Kamala Harris to join our current lineup of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, and the honorables Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Stacey Abrams -- and we're still weeks away from the event itself on June 20!
MAJOR DEADLINE REMINDER: If you have already purchased your sponsorship or pass, you must choose whether you want a Colorado Dems Pride Swag Pack or a Harry and David's Gift Basket. In order to ensure you receive yours by June 19, you must submit your selection by this Friday, June 5, 2020 at 12:00PM! Click here to choose! |
|
|
Click here to choose! |
|
REMEMBER: The Colorado Democratic Party's annual Obama Event is our single biggest fundraising event of the year. The event is a critical part in funding the 2020 Win Plan -- which, as we've all seen in recent weeks, is even more important than ever to defeating Donald Trump and Cory Gardner.
By purchasing a pass or a sponsorship, you can help ensure Colorado will be able to pay the staff needed on the ground, and that we'll be able to equip them with the technology and supplies they need to out-organize the Republicans! |
|
|
|
The 2020 Obama Event Awardees |
|
|
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! |
|
|
|
This Week In Making a Difference |
|
2020 Win Stops! |
|
.jpg "Image")
|
Join us for the first of our 2020 Win Stops -- in the digital world!
As you may remember, Team CDP has held similar statewide tours and trainings in the past as “Listening Stops”, “Action Stops”, and "Outreach Stops". Our goal is to stay in touch, learn from everyone and organize everywhere in the State of Colorado so Colorado is ready to go blue in 2020.
In a COVID-19 world, we're holding them again, only we're calling them "Win Stops" now so you can be part of ensuring Democrats WIN up and down the ticket in November! Each Win Stop will focus on a particular region in the state, and Democrats from those communities are highly encouraged to sign up!
Be on the lookout for your invite! |
|
SAVE THE DATE Thursday, June 4 at 7:00PM (Eagle, Summit, Pitkin) Turning out Voters in Rural Counties
Sunday, June 7 at 12:00PM (Denver and Boulder) Keeping Blue Counties Blue -- VERY Blue!
Saturday, June 27 (Montrose, Fremont, Delta, Elbert) Flipping Red Seats in Rural Red Counties! Save the Date!
Tuesday, July 7 at 7:00PM (Jefferson, Arapahoe, Larimer, Adams, Pueblo) Winning in Swing Districts! Save the Date! |
|
|
|
Work for the 2020 Wave Webinars |
|
.gif "Image")
|
SAVE THE DATE for our upcoming "Work for the Wave" webinars! |
|
Monday, June 15, 2020 @ 6:00PM MST Voter Registration (Hosted by Tyler McDermott) Growing the electorate is key to Democrats winning in 2020 -- so join in on the fun! Learn how you can register voters even when we're keeping socially distant! |
|
Monday, June 29, 2020 @ 6:00PM MST Volunteer Recruitment (Hosted by Karin Asensio) Volunteers are the lifeblood of any campaign. Learn from our volunteer coordinator how you can engage with volunteers to get the word out about getting Dems elected! (Keep an eye out for an invite!) |
|
|
|
HELP WANTED: New Positions to Apply For! |
|
|
We're staffing up in preparation for the 2020 General Election! Colorado is a battleground state, and we're looking for scrappy, driven, politically savvy organizers to join our team! Specifically, we're looking for Field Organizers, Latino Community Organizers, African American Community Organizers, and an Administrative Assistant!
Job Descriptions:
|
|
|
|
JOIN WOMEN FOR JOE BIDEN 2020! |
|
|
Want to be a part of a coalition of fierce women who have united to take back the White House? Please join Women for Joe Biden 2020. What started as a 5-member Facebook group, Women for Joe Biden 2020, on April 1st has become a movement. We are now 50,000-women strong across 25 states and 5 platforms: Facebook (a group and a page), Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Pinterest.
We are a grassroots organization working with the Biden campaign to serve as virtual boots on the ground throughout the country. We need your help in Colorado! We are looking for politically connected, motivated women as moderators (and members) to our Colorado Women + for Biden Facebook group. It's an ideal position for politically connected and motivated women who want to help guide the conversation and galvanize their networks to elect Joe Biden and restore the soul of this country. A working knowledge of Facebook is preferred, but not absolutely necessary. We have a very tech savvy wonderful administrator on the page, Julie White, and we are certainly willing to train you up!!! If you’re interested, please email me at [email protected]. |
|
|
|
Join La Plata Dems for a CD3 Virtual Candidate Forum! |
|
|
CD3 Democratic candidates James Iacino and Diane Mitsch Bush. |
|
On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, the La Plata County Democrat will host a free online forum with Congressional District 3 Dem candidates Diane Mitsch Bush and James Iacino!
|
|
|
|
Rural Initiative Forum: June 13, 2020 |
|
|
Interested in running for office and winning in rural Colorado?
Want to see Democrats from rural Colorado elected up and down the ballot?
This presentation is for YOU!
The Rural Initiative is pleased to present a panel of elected officials representing rural Colorado, who’ll share their successes in messaging, fundraising, and communicating with voters to win local and state offices.
Panelists:
Introduction by Terrance Hestand, Chair, Rural Initiative
|
|
|
|
Local Candidates of the Week |
|
|
Candidate: Katie Barrett https://www.votekatieforcolorado.com/ Office Running for: House District 45 Why this matters: Katie is a science and math teacher who is the only Democrat running to take on Colorado House GOP Leader Patrick Neville. Defeating the House GOP caucus leader would be a back-breaking blow to the Colorado GOP! |
|
|
Candidate: Ilana Spiegel https://www.ilana4regent.com/ Office Running for: CU Regent, CD6 Why this matters: The CU Board of Regents is a governing board that can decide what educational equity policies our university system adopts and how dollars are spent. If Dems can flip this seat, it would be the first time in decades that the board had a progressive majority! |
|
Dems Leading the Way |
|
Neguse: "I understand viscerally the fear and anguish so many are experiencing" |
|
|
Gardner And Bennet Weigh In As Protests Continue To Grow In Colorado And Trump Calls For More Force
As senators reconvened at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, they were greeted by peaceful protesters, a vivid reminder of the civil unrest that is taking place in many areas across the nation.
“I’ve struggled to find the right words to respond to the events that have unfolded since the murder of George Floyd,” Neguse said in a statement. “As a young African American man, I understand viscerally the fear and anguish so many are experiencing, and the need for systemic and transformational reforms in our criminal justice system.”
The freshman Democrat sits on the House Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He said he will work with his colleagues to enact reforms.
“We must find a way to heal the deep divisions in our country before they tear us apart, and to restore calm, peace, and unity across our nation,” his statement continued.
|
|
|
|
#CoLeg Dems to Take Action on Police Violence |
|
|
Photo Credit: Aaron Ontiveroz, Denver Post |
|
Amid protests, Colorado lawmakers float bill to counter police brutality
Colorado lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday, walking past spray-painted messages like “good cop = dead cop,” mere hours after the building’s grounds were covered with a massive crowd of protesters and tear gas filled the air.
For portions of the day, a spectator inside the building would have had no reason to think that anything has changed recently even as as outside protesters trickled onto the Capitol lawn for a fifth day of unrest over George Floyd’s death. In the Senate, lawmakers debated a bill concerning union powers. The House took up a slew of bills, including one proposing to change standards for how egg-laying hens are housed.
But some lawmakers, already swamped by a myriad of coronavirus-related challenges — among other tasks, they’re trying to quickly pass a budget with about $3 billion in cuts — say that the message of the protests is not lost on them, and that they intend to take action. Rep. Leslie Herod, a Denver Democrat who has joined protesters downtown during the day, is planning to introduce a bill as soon as Tuesday that she said is aimed at addressing police brutality and accountability in Colorado by removing the shield of immunity for prosecution from law enforcement officers found to have acted unlawfully. It would allow them to be sued in their individual capacities; currently attorney fees and settlements are paid out by cities and counties at taxpayer expense.
The news organization Denverite, reporting a snapshot of an eight-month period, found in 2017 that $2.78 million in taxpayer money had gone to eight Denver Police Department settlements.
“I believe law enforcement should be held to a standard of integrity, respect and responsibility and the bill will reflect that,” Herod told The Denver Post on Monday. “We need to ensure that law enforcement officers who act outside of their authority, who harm and murder people, especially people of color, unlawfully, are held accountable.”
Herod said a Denver Post investigation into police shootings across the state sparked conversations about the issue at the beginning of the session, and since the killing of George Floyd, lawmakers have brought those conversations back. She also said she’s working with the black and Latinx caucuses, and that Senate President Leroy Garcia, a Pueblo Democrat, is working with her on the bill. That his name will be attached is an indication not only of where he stands on the bill but of the odds that it gets passed; a member of leadership generally has power to ensure their bill gets a serious hearing in a way other members may not.
|
|
|
|
Bennet: "I commit to being an ally to the black community because Black Lives Matter." |
|
|
Michael Bennet: We will never heal until we dismantle our systemic racism
It’s been one week since the world watched Minneapolis police kill George Floyd. You cannot watch the video without feeling sick, without remembering Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Philando Castile and the countless other Americans who have lost their lives in this country because they were black.
When I worked for the City and County of Denver, one of the first tragedies we confronted was the unjustified shooting of a black teenager named Paul Childs by law enforcement in Park Hill.
That was almost 20 years ago. Nothing has changed.
What happened to George Floyd would never happen to my daughters. It would never happen to me. That is the reality we face, the reality thousands are protesting in Colorado and across the country, and the reality we must change.
In recent days, many have observed that the current pandemic has exposed profound inequality in our society. We should not have needed a pandemic to see this.
If you have been paying any attention, if you have listened to voices in the black community and studied our history, then you know these injustices have been with us for generations and grown worse in recent decades.
You can draw a straight line from slavery to Jim Crow to the redlining of our banking and housing systems to mass incarceration to the recent killing of black people from Georgia to Minnesota.
This week, I returned to work in a Capitol building whose stones were placed by enslaved human beings. American slavery is not ancient history. Our country enslaved human beings less than a hundred years before I was born in 1964.
|
|
|
|
Tweet Thread: Crow Calls Out Trump for Calls of Violence |
|
|
|
|
Polis, Weiser Slam Trump's Threat to Send Military to States |
|
|
“This is not China”: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis rebukes Trump on protest response, calls for reform
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday that violence during recent nightly protests in Denver overshadowed demonstrators’ “righteous” message, but he rebuked calls by President Donald Trump and others to activate the military to put down civil unrest in cities across the country.
“This is not China. This is not Tiananmen Square. And that’s not leadership,” Polis said early in an afternoon briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. “That’s just creating more of the very division that we need to prevent and heal from and bridge. To create real systemic change, we all need to come together.”
Polis said he would support reform efforts to address racial inequity in police treatment and other racial-justice issues highlighted by protesters. He mentioned a handful of ideas that have been discussed but didn’t specify any he’d get behind. Some state lawmakers Tuesday afternoon unveiled a proposed bill to address police brutality and accountability.
“We need to keep the focus on the task at hand,” Polis said, “and it’s unfortunate that the destruction of property that has been committed by those who have turned to violence has distracted from the righteous message — the pure message of justice and equality and reform.”
“If necessary, as we have before, the state of Colorado is prepared to take the federal government to court to defend our sovereignty and the rule of law,” Weiser said.
|
|
|
|
Trump, Gardner, & GOP Watch |
|
Trump. Must Go. |
|
|
Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers.
This unraveling presidency began with the Crybaby-in-Chief banging his spoon on his highchair tray to protest a photograph — a photograph — showing that his inauguration crowd the day before had been smaller than the one four years previous. Since then, this weak person’s idea of a strong person, this chest-pounding advertisement of his own gnawing insecurities, this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron.
Presidents, exploiting modern communications technologies and abetted today by journalists preening as the “resistance” — like members of the French Resistance 1940-1944, minus the bravery — can set the tone of American society, which is regrettably soft wax on which presidents leave their marks. The president’s provocations — his coarsening of public discourse that lowers the threshold for acting out by people as mentally crippled as he — do not excuse the violent few. They must be punished. He must be removed.
Social causation is difficult to demonstrate, particularly between one person’s words and other persons’ deeds. However: The person voters hired in 2016 to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” stood on July 28, 2017, in front of uniformed police and urged them “please don’t be too nice” when handling suspected offenders. His hope was fulfilled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds on Minneapolis pavement.
What Daniel Patrick Moynihan termed “defining deviancy down” now defines American politics. In 2016, voters were presented an unprecedentedly unpalatable choice: Never had both major parties offered nominees with higher disapproval than approval numbers. Voters chose what they wagered would be the lesser blight. Now, however, they have watched him govern for 40 months and more than 40 percent — slightly less than the percentage that voted for him — approve of his sordid conduct.
Presidents seeking reelection bask in chants of “Four more years!” This year, however, most Americans — perhaps because they are, as the president predicted, weary from all the winning — might flinch: Four more years of this? The taste of ashes, metaphorical and now literal, dampens enthusiasm.
|
|
|
|
ICYMI: "Senator Cory Gardner’s political relationship with the president reads like a tawdry romance novel." |
|
|
The Price of Trump Loyalty
In the future museum of Never Trumpers turned Ever Trumpers, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado will have pride of place. In 2016, Gardner called Donald Trump a “buffoon,” left the Republican National Convention after one day rather than watching him formally receive the party’s nomination, called for him to drop out of the race after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, and said he would write in Mike Pence’s name on his presidential ballot.
Now Gardner, perhaps the Senate’s most endangered Republican incumbent, is locked in an uphill battle for reelection in a state trending bluer by the day. He trails his probable Democratic opponent, the former governor and erstwhile presidential candidate John Hickenlooper, by double digits in the polls. In a sharp about-face, Gardner has backed Trump at every turn since endorsing the president for reelection last year.
“He’s been with us 100 percent,” Trump said of Gardner at a February rally in Colorado Springs, at which Gardner lavished praise on the president.
What happened?
Not so long ago, there was a time in American politics when elected officials who found their state’s voters shifting beneath them would adjust their partisan loyalties to stay in power. Former Senators James Jeffords of Vermont and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania both left the Republican Party when its national agenda grew out of step with that of their voters. A generation of southern politicians, from George Wallace to Strom Thurmond, adapted its stances on race as black voters’ access to the ballot box rose.
“I think I can understand something of the pain black people have come to endure,” Wallace told a black church audience in 1979. “I know I contributed to that pain and I can only ask your forgiveness.” Thurmond, who ran a segregationist campaign for president in 1948, never apologized for his past views, but he reliably delivered federal aid and programs for black constituents, and in 1970 became the first southern senator to hire a black staff aide and sponsor a black candidate for a federal judgeship.
These days, Trump’s hold on the GOP base is so total that Republican incumbents around the country cross him at their peril. Tribal loyalty is the new normal. In Gardner’s case, cold numbers make the point. At the beginning of Trump’s term, Gardner was willing to take an independent tack. He pressed in vain for creation of a special committee on cybersecurity, in part to investigate Russian hacking of the 2016 election.
He supported a bipartisan immigration-reform bill written by John McCain that his fellow Republicans soundly defeated. The Lugar Center, an independent nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that promotes cross-party cooperation, named him the fifth-most-bipartisan senator in the 115th Congress, which ended in 2018. But those stances hurt him with Republicans back home.
|
|
|
|
Volunteers of the Week |
|
|
|
|
Anyone who has a conversation with Christopher Arlen, valued Jefferson County Democrats volunteer and now leader of the county’s LGBTQ caucus, will notice immediately how thoughtful and articulate he is about his commitment to Democratic Party values. These are qualities he’s had since childhood, having been raised by a minister father and nurse mother, both of whom stood up for what they believed was right: Christopher even remembers standing on picket lines with his mother as a young child. Being of service to others was important in his family; Christopher himself and all of his siblings have chosen work that serves, teaches, and heals others. And this is based in the belief that each must treat others as s/he wants to be treated. So it is remarkable that Christopher has worked so hard to listen to others, especially in his role as community minister: he has encountered more than his share of prejudice and hatred, as a gay black man. Several incidents of vandalism to his home motivated him to run for the Lakewood City Council in response to this evidence of hatred, but he didn’t run to grab power or exert influence: he ran, he says, for an idea. The idea that motivates him is that we can all work together to create good in the world, even if we don’t agree in every way.
What stands out strongly about Christopher is that his political position is the result of a great deal of careful thought and self-examination. During the Reagan era, he was briefly involved with the Republican Party; this perplexed his good friend Tom, who sat him down over a cup of coffee and said, “You’re a gay black man; you don’t have anything in common with these people!” Trying to explain his reasons for being a Republican showed Christopher that, in fact, he was not a Republican, and this simple conversation turned his life around. Recognizing who he was, and reaffirming the values he’d been raised with, reignited his enthusiasm for the Democratic Party. In fact, Christopher says that every freedom he enjoys today “is given to me by the Democratic Party.” He adds that “every good thing I want for myself I want for everyone else.”
Given these values, Christopher urges others to volunteer. His primary piece of advice is for others to remember that “you’re volunteering for an idea worth fighting for: we’re all in one “big tent” together and can create a better society if we understand that essential truth. Christopher’s commitment to seeing the good in people, and to building connections among people who work for the goals of the Democratic Party, makes him an invaluable Volunteer of the Week! |
|
Do you want to volunteer? Reach out to our volunteer coordinator Karin Asensio at [email protected], and see how YOU CAN GET INVOLVED! |
|
Join the Elbow Bumpers Club! |
|
.gif "ELBOW BUMP!")
|
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! |
|
The Funnies! |
|
|
Share the Dispatch |
|
If you know someone interested in receiving our weekly newsletter, they can sign up here! |
|
|
Contributions or gifts to the Democratic Party of Colorado are not tax deductible |
|
|
|
