Full Version: Voter Fraud
I haven't heard Randi say that until Lois Lane who lives at KFC tries to vote there is no fraud. The application by itself isn't fraud. At least, that's how I understand it.
She kind of alluded to that, like if Head Oflettuce tried to vote that would be fraud. This is more of the same BS, and Obama needs to do some serious shit to stop this next time he's up for re-election, that should be in the top 10 list of things to do.
Why is Colo Sec. of State not talking about voter purge and re-certification?
Maybe because he's running for congress (and promised the state to GOP pres.)!
Lawmaker calls out El Paso Clerk Balink for ‘12-point strategy’ on voter suppression
By Cara DeGette, The Colorado Independent,
October 9, 2008
El Paso County is Colorado’s most-populated county. It’s also, undeniably, a GOP stronghold with a rich legacy of political hijinks and shenanigans — usually inspired by Republicans. And that leaves plenty of progressives leery that, come Election Day, Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink will do everything he can to make it difficult, or at least unpleasant, for non-Republicans to vote.
Which leads us to Democrat state Sen. John Morse’s claims of Balink’s 12-point strategy to suppress the vote.
“My goal as your county clerk and recorder is to deliver services and products to you in the most timely, cost efficient and secure manner possible, while treating you with courtesy and respect,” is what Balink has posted at the county’s official Web site.
But recent performances by the clerk and recorder — a delegate last month to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul — has left Morse peeling the gloves off.
Yes, Morse, a Democrat who represents much of south-central Colorado Springs in El Paso County, is fuming over recent snafus which, in his mind, constitute an emerging and consistent pattern. Morse does not mince words as he rattles off what he calls Balink’s 12-point strategy to disenfranchise voters. Without further ado:
1. Adamantly oppose any move to use paper ballots in an election, since it leaves an audit trail and makes mistakes “too easy” to track. Balink, Morse notes, vociferously opposed efforts to move to paper ballots during the last legislative session, after the secretary of state decertified electronic ballot machines statewide. “Everyone knows the safest way to vote is with the paper ballot,” Morse says, “and initially there was huge support for it in both houses of the legislature and by Gov. [Bill] Ritter. But then Balink and others said ‘No, we can’t have that,’ so everyone backed off.”
2. Favor election machines that have only a limited audit trail and use election machines that have been decertified — if they’ve failed accuracy tests that makes them even better. Again, Morse cites Balink’s support of electronic voting machines that had been decertified.
3. Hire unqualified people to do the work in the clerk’s office. This criticism comes in the wake of a recent report that Balink’s assistant chief deputy, John Gardner, who oversees the county’s election equipment, including accuracy testing, reportedly lied on his job application, claiming he had graduated from college even though he never did. “So you hire people who can’t do the work,” Morse jabs, “and then when things get jacked up and not done right you justify it by saying, ‘We’re working hard … this is a tough thing to do … counting all the votes is really hard.’”
4. Claim illegal residents are registering to vote and spend your limited time and resources to keep people from registering to vote instead of making sure people do register … and do it under the guise that — gasp — illegal immigrants are trying to vote! This point draws back to one of Balink’s most passionate issues of the past couple of years. He has said he has no scintilla of proof that undocumented people are attempting to vote in El Paso County but, as previously detailed by the Colorado Independent, Balink nonetheless ardently supports the notion that people should be required to prove their citizenship before they are allowed to vote. “America is under attack,” Balink claimed in one newsletter shortly before the 2006 election, calling for a “New American Revolution” of sorts, and demanding, “Where’s the outrage?” Says Morse: Balink should be working to register as many people as possible who are qualified to vote in the county — not chasing after a nonexistent bogeyman.
5. Purge the rolls of inactive voters and define the word “inactive” aggressively. Morse takes issue with the way that voters in El Paso County go right onto the “inactive” roll if they didn’t vote in a general election. (Liz Olson, the head of elections for the county, notes that inactive voters are sent cards in the mail when they miss a general election and are moved into the “inactive” category. In keeping with state law, inactive voters are purged from the rolls if they have not voted in two general elections.)
6. Send a letter to Colorado College — but not the Air Force Academy — with false information regarding voter registration. If you’re caught, claim you misinterpreted the law and pray no one actually looks at the law. Specifically, Morse is referencing a major dust-up of a few weeks ago when Colorado College, a liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, produced a letter from Balink’s office claiming that students there could not vote in El Paso County if their parents in other states claimed them as dependents in those states. That was incorrect, of course, and Balink subsequently claimed it was a big mix-up, and that his office had misinterpreted state law. The state statute — section 1-2-101 — Morse counters, is actually quite simple. Eligible voters must be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and have lived in their precinct for 30 days prior to the election. Notably, the letter wasn’t sent to the Air Force Academy, also in Colorado Springs and presumably with a far more conservative student population than that of Colorado College.
7. Reduce the number of early voting locations so people can’t vote early and conveniently. Two years ago El Paso County had six sites open for early voting; this year they closed three of them, including in Fountain, Monument and Falcon. Olson, the elections head, said that this year she expected a large voter turnout and opted to close those sites because of concerns they wouldn’t be able to handle the crowds.
8. Challenge each new voter registration. On Sept. 22, Balink announced that his office had determined a pattern of election “fraud.” Specifically, he cited incorrect addresses and invalid identifications, such as false drivers license numbers, among the indications of fraud. In all, Olson says, 19 suspected fraudulent voter registrations have been turned over to the district attorney for investigation. That’s out of 49,343 new voter registrations since Jan. 1 that have been processed so far, Morse notes — which hardly constitutes a pattern. “Bob Balink is not qualified to judge fraud — he needs to register people to vote and make sure they meet their legal requirements to do so instead of challenging them at every turn,” the senator says.
9. Process registrations as slowly as possible so people get their mail ballots slowly and don’t have time to vote by mail. Morse has been critical of the length of time the Clerk and Recorder’s office has processed the voter-related documents it has received. On Wednesday, Olson said her office has 9,000 documents, including new voter registrations, still to be processed.
10. Systematically challenge Colorado College students on the day of the polls. In 2004, many students waited for hours to vote at their precinct at First Presbyterian Church downtown and reported they faced tough scrutiny from judges, including challenges to the identification documents they produced.
11. Claim at every opportunity that you are saving the taxpayers money by limiting voting. By slashing early voting centers and opposing the cost of paper ballots, officials can claim they are saving cash and being “good stewards” of the taxpayers’ money. Last year county commissioners slashed the budget for this year’s election, a move Morse calls unconscionable. “Balink’s using the lack of a budget to justify suppressing the vote,” claims Morse, a former chief of police. “County commissioners should be shutting down the Sheriff’s Office before shutting down the election department.”
12. When accused of attempting to suppress the vote and limiting voting, stay out of sight. Whatever you do, don’t talk to the media. Just send out press releases denying plausibility. Balink, Morse notes, hasn’t responded to requests by news outlets and hasn’t shown up on camera to answer questions about the recent controversies.
Note: This week Balink, in his second elected term in office, did not respond to requests seeking response to criticisms of his office. His elections manager, Liz Olson, rejected claims that would-be voters were being purposely disenfranchised. “We have not stopped anyone from registering to vote,” Olson said. “We’re a public office — if someone wants to vote we register them.” She referred specific questions about her boss’s past statements to Balink … her boss.
For the full story, please visit http://coloradoindependent.com/10844/lawma...o-clerk-balin...
Maybe because he's running for congress (and promised the state to GOP pres.)!Lawmaker calls out El Paso Clerk Balink for ‘12-point strategy’ on voter suppression
By Cara DeGette, The Colorado Independent,
October 9, 2008
El Paso County is Colorado’s most-populated county. It’s also, undeniably, a GOP stronghold with a rich legacy of political hijinks and shenanigans — usually inspired by Republicans. And that leaves plenty of progressives leery that, come Election Day, Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink will do everything he can to make it difficult, or at least unpleasant, for non-Republicans to vote.
Which leads us to Democrat state Sen. John Morse’s claims of Balink’s 12-point strategy to suppress the vote.
“My goal as your county clerk and recorder is to deliver services and products to you in the most timely, cost efficient and secure manner possible, while treating you with courtesy and respect,” is what Balink has posted at the county’s official Web site.
But recent performances by the clerk and recorder — a delegate last month to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul — has left Morse peeling the gloves off.
Yes, Morse, a Democrat who represents much of south-central Colorado Springs in El Paso County, is fuming over recent snafus which, in his mind, constitute an emerging and consistent pattern. Morse does not mince words as he rattles off what he calls Balink’s 12-point strategy to disenfranchise voters. Without further ado:
1. Adamantly oppose any move to use paper ballots in an election, since it leaves an audit trail and makes mistakes “too easy” to track. Balink, Morse notes, vociferously opposed efforts to move to paper ballots during the last legislative session, after the secretary of state decertified electronic ballot machines statewide. “Everyone knows the safest way to vote is with the paper ballot,” Morse says, “and initially there was huge support for it in both houses of the legislature and by Gov. [Bill] Ritter. But then Balink and others said ‘No, we can’t have that,’ so everyone backed off.”
2. Favor election machines that have only a limited audit trail and use election machines that have been decertified — if they’ve failed accuracy tests that makes them even better. Again, Morse cites Balink’s support of electronic voting machines that had been decertified.
3. Hire unqualified people to do the work in the clerk’s office. This criticism comes in the wake of a recent report that Balink’s assistant chief deputy, John Gardner, who oversees the county’s election equipment, including accuracy testing, reportedly lied on his job application, claiming he had graduated from college even though he never did. “So you hire people who can’t do the work,” Morse jabs, “and then when things get jacked up and not done right you justify it by saying, ‘We’re working hard … this is a tough thing to do … counting all the votes is really hard.’”
4. Claim illegal residents are registering to vote and spend your limited time and resources to keep people from registering to vote instead of making sure people do register … and do it under the guise that — gasp — illegal immigrants are trying to vote! This point draws back to one of Balink’s most passionate issues of the past couple of years. He has said he has no scintilla of proof that undocumented people are attempting to vote in El Paso County but, as previously detailed by the Colorado Independent, Balink nonetheless ardently supports the notion that people should be required to prove their citizenship before they are allowed to vote. “America is under attack,” Balink claimed in one newsletter shortly before the 2006 election, calling for a “New American Revolution” of sorts, and demanding, “Where’s the outrage?” Says Morse: Balink should be working to register as many people as possible who are qualified to vote in the county — not chasing after a nonexistent bogeyman.
5. Purge the rolls of inactive voters and define the word “inactive” aggressively. Morse takes issue with the way that voters in El Paso County go right onto the “inactive” roll if they didn’t vote in a general election. (Liz Olson, the head of elections for the county, notes that inactive voters are sent cards in the mail when they miss a general election and are moved into the “inactive” category. In keeping with state law, inactive voters are purged from the rolls if they have not voted in two general elections.)
6. Send a letter to Colorado College — but not the Air Force Academy — with false information regarding voter registration. If you’re caught, claim you misinterpreted the law and pray no one actually looks at the law. Specifically, Morse is referencing a major dust-up of a few weeks ago when Colorado College, a liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, produced a letter from Balink’s office claiming that students there could not vote in El Paso County if their parents in other states claimed them as dependents in those states. That was incorrect, of course, and Balink subsequently claimed it was a big mix-up, and that his office had misinterpreted state law. The state statute — section 1-2-101 — Morse counters, is actually quite simple. Eligible voters must be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and have lived in their precinct for 30 days prior to the election. Notably, the letter wasn’t sent to the Air Force Academy, also in Colorado Springs and presumably with a far more conservative student population than that of Colorado College.
7. Reduce the number of early voting locations so people can’t vote early and conveniently. Two years ago El Paso County had six sites open for early voting; this year they closed three of them, including in Fountain, Monument and Falcon. Olson, the elections head, said that this year she expected a large voter turnout and opted to close those sites because of concerns they wouldn’t be able to handle the crowds.
8. Challenge each new voter registration. On Sept. 22, Balink announced that his office had determined a pattern of election “fraud.” Specifically, he cited incorrect addresses and invalid identifications, such as false drivers license numbers, among the indications of fraud. In all, Olson says, 19 suspected fraudulent voter registrations have been turned over to the district attorney for investigation. That’s out of 49,343 new voter registrations since Jan. 1 that have been processed so far, Morse notes — which hardly constitutes a pattern. “Bob Balink is not qualified to judge fraud — he needs to register people to vote and make sure they meet their legal requirements to do so instead of challenging them at every turn,” the senator says.
9. Process registrations as slowly as possible so people get their mail ballots slowly and don’t have time to vote by mail. Morse has been critical of the length of time the Clerk and Recorder’s office has processed the voter-related documents it has received. On Wednesday, Olson said her office has 9,000 documents, including new voter registrations, still to be processed.
10. Systematically challenge Colorado College students on the day of the polls. In 2004, many students waited for hours to vote at their precinct at First Presbyterian Church downtown and reported they faced tough scrutiny from judges, including challenges to the identification documents they produced.
11. Claim at every opportunity that you are saving the taxpayers money by limiting voting. By slashing early voting centers and opposing the cost of paper ballots, officials can claim they are saving cash and being “good stewards” of the taxpayers’ money. Last year county commissioners slashed the budget for this year’s election, a move Morse calls unconscionable. “Balink’s using the lack of a budget to justify suppressing the vote,” claims Morse, a former chief of police. “County commissioners should be shutting down the Sheriff’s Office before shutting down the election department.”
12. When accused of attempting to suppress the vote and limiting voting, stay out of sight. Whatever you do, don’t talk to the media. Just send out press releases denying plausibility. Balink, Morse notes, hasn’t responded to requests by news outlets and hasn’t shown up on camera to answer questions about the recent controversies.
Note: This week Balink, in his second elected term in office, did not respond to requests seeking response to criticisms of his office. His elections manager, Liz Olson, rejected claims that would-be voters were being purposely disenfranchised. “We have not stopped anyone from registering to vote,” Olson said. “We’re a public office — if someone wants to vote we register them.” She referred specific questions about her boss’s past statements to Balink … her boss.
For the full story, please visit http://coloradoindependent.com/10844/lawma...o-clerk-balin...
I really what to know why they disenfranchise folks with the signup period.
I believe anyone should be able to come in on election day and vote w/ proper id. Now if you don't sign up 30days in advance you can't. That is wrong.
I believe anyone should be able to come in on election day and vote w/ proper id. Now if you don't sign up 30days in advance you can't. That is wrong.
they did it to me down here (south Florida) in 2000...I stood in line and found they had taken my name off the rolls. After that day I vowed to never let that happen to me again-I never miss even a primary vote now...
I live in Colorado and I started in April to get my husband registered. It took several calls and 3 attempts to get him registered. He just happens to be a middled aged black man and guess who he is voting for!! Thank goodness I was presistant.
I also called both Gov Ritters office and the Attorney General to complain about Mike Coffman the Secretary of State. The Gov office took my concern but the attorney generals office said no ones vote would not be counted because of provisional ballots. I agrued about this but the lady I was speaking to thought I was being undully concerned.
Also just FYI the SOS Mike Coffman is running for Congress here also!! Conflict of interest in my book.
I also called both Gov Ritters office and the Attorney General to complain about Mike Coffman the Secretary of State. The Gov office took my concern but the attorney generals office said no ones vote would not be counted because of provisional ballots. I agrued about this but the lady I was speaking to thought I was being undully concerned.
Also just FYI the SOS Mike Coffman is running for Congress here also!! Conflict of interest in my book.
Is there any correlation between the ACORN raids and the Justice scandal?
I'd bet a bag of donuts Rove and the gang have called in their bets with the ones that stayed.
I'd bet a bag of donuts Rove and the gang have called in their bets with the ones that stayed.
QUOTE (fundoug @ Oct 10 2008, 04:45 PM) 
Is there any correlation between the ACORN raids and the Justice scandal?
I'd bet a bag of donuts Rove and the gang have called in their bets with the ones that stayed.
I'd bet a bag of donuts Rove and the gang have called in their bets with the ones that stayed.
So.. .what would the appropriate punishment be for taking away someone's right to vote? I think they should lose their own right to vote in this country EVER AGAIN! Period end of game. "Do unto others, what you would have them do unto you!"
What ever happened with the testimony in FRONT OF CONGRESS during the hearings that they did have with the little White House aid who said that she was involved in helping a caging operation that was being run? Congress was told of a federal crime. They didn't even need to seek out the witness. This woman was under oath... Did they follow up??
I guess what we really need is those purple thumbs that there were so proud of giving to the Iraqies... and then they turn around and do everything in their power to reduce the rights of Americans to vote.
QUOTE (rhodie2008 @ Oct 10 2008, 03:44 PM)
I haven't heard Randi say that until Lois Lane who lives at KFC tries to vote there is no fraud. The application by itself isn't fraud. At least, that's how I understand it.
Lois Lane showed up and voted 72 times. Now if this guy in the picture doesn't look like a dumb f..ookkk, then.....
It's sort of sad that the Democrats have to rally up the lame, lazy and the crazy, bribe them with cigarettes and a little cash and send them off on a voting spree. Now what's wrong with that pictures?
CLEVELAND - A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws.
"Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/10102008/news/...ions_132965.htm
QUOTE (TapDuncan @ Oct 10 2008, 02:59 PM)
She kind of alluded to that, like if Head Oflettuce tried to vote that would be fraud.
Hedda Letus
I've been working at the Obama headquarters in Colorado Springs and had come to know some folks there, including some Colorado College students. I also graduated from CC.
When I got wind of Balink's ruse, I sought out the CC students and found that this is not a one time thing. Was told he had been issuing false information to CC, and god knows where else, for six years. That's right kiddies. Six years according to the students.
Since there is a mega push by the Obama campaign, everywhere, including Colorado Springs, the students working the campaign office said that at first, during voter drives, that CC students would routinely be frightened about registered, spewing the Balink propaganda. Fearing they would lose scholarship money, their parents would take the tax hit, and so on. This of course is a flat out, bald faced LIE. I was livid, to put it mildly. The students told me they had banded together and were able to overcome this Balink ruse and had felt confident they successfully ended up registering many students. It may in fact have had an inverse affect. Way to go Balink, you goddamned fraud.
This of course is excellent.
Now, a mini lesson in Colorado Springs politics. It is corrupt as the day is long. As a former republican, the conflict of interests go long and deep. Got a couple of hours? It is first of all, neocon and evangelical heaven. Literally. The home of Focus on the Family and and Dobson (been to his house, nice man, crazy views), home of Ted Haggard and The New Life Church and the "it was just a massage thing", and so on. The north part of Colorado Springs may be ground zero for the tribulation if they have their way. No, I mean it. Have been in some rather zany and deeply disturbing discussions with Focus on the Family people. And on and on. Many are very nice, quite lovely people. And as Randi would say, the share of whackadoodles.
5 or 6 military installations. Norad. Air Force Academy. Ft. Carson. And so on. Very high military presence. Active and retiree. Also many very fine people. Ft. Carson as an army base has lost many in Iraq. The nightly news is often a memorial service.
Plus Colorado College and other college institutions creating a strange brew of liberal pockets. And, the Olympic Training Center. And on and on...
And.......... the local government has been for a very long time, republican. Conservative. Highly incentuous. Not surprisingly, because of the conservative policies that have ruled for the last 40+ years, they are also reaping the benefits of said policies on the local scale. It is a sad and predictable to watch as the local politicans trot out every month, press conferences of woe, as they cut, and cut, and cut. Government jobs. Services. The economy of the area got hit very hard when things turned a few years ago. Tourism went down and has continued the spiral. The tax base for all intents is operating on gubmint fumes. Practically everything is tied to military. If you aren't working for the government, you are a retiree and receiving a gubmint check that way. Well earned of course. But if you aren't active, and your retirement check ain't enough, you either sell real estate (to each other), sell insurance (to each other), or hawk the latest money making scheme that is church backed. The economic structure is built on balsa wood.
And, the Springs under conservative leadership went on a grow baby grow attack many years ago. Now, water rights are a very serious problem, services are unsustainable, and things are basically very dicey. Cut after cut after cut. They even implemented, without a vote, a stormwater tax. Yes, they tax our fucking stormwater.
They FINALLY started slipping into their language, that the tax base was so thin, that this was fundamental to the drastic and dire state of affairs. Funny how that works... when middle class people who do not work for or are involved with the military or government somehow can't work, they don't spend. When you don't spend, the tax base crumbles. This city is a blueprint for failed republican and conservative, and evangelical right, policies, reliance on military. 12,000 military are slated to come into the area over the next 2-3 years. The politicans are all ga ga that this somehow will bring a boon to the area, like the gold rush. What they fail to acknowledge is that we have suhc a remarkably high deployment from Ft. Carson, that families struggle mightly and it is not uncommon to see spouses have to apply for welfare just to make ends meet while their ther half is deployed for the second, third, fourth time. There is only so much insurance or multilevel marketing you can sell to your neighbor.
The result is you get these incentuous assholes like Balink, and trust me, the political system is rife with them, and their policies, tactics, antics, are gradually but assuredly, imploding. Fortunately and not surprisingly, locals are waking up. The 40+ years of single party rule is simply not sustaining. The local D.A. several months ago was caught on video drinking approx 130 ozs of beer at a local establishment, got into a city vehicle, and drove off. He was subsequently found to have spent taxpayer money on a trip while on city business, not surprisingly abusing the already sliced and diced budget money, and no amount of rationalization that hit the fan saved his rerun for office. He was tossed out by the voters. And this kind of corruption is rampant in the Springs. As result of this inbreeding.
And now, the policies and single party rule are coming home to roost. There is unquestionably a Coming to Jesus moment for this area, and Balink is one in a long line of corrupt, lying, decieving, SOBs and I have no doubt he will be under a microscope when he comes up for reelection.
Not exactly a coinky dink, the person he replaced was "found" under ethics violations and resigned under the usual Republican cloud of ethics problems. Kids, Colorado Springs is a petri dish of the conservative will. I am SO goddamned inspired by these Colorado College students who, once they got control of the correct information, overcame this. I believe the days of the lying, cheating, scum tactics are eroding... Colorado Springs is a blueprint for these scumbags like Balink who think they can get away with these antics.
Well, the culture is changing. I am extremely anxious about voter tampering given what happened in 2000 and 2004, and the neocons are unquestionably going at it full force still. But I look forward to the day when the Balinks, and the State Attny General Coffman who is also wrapped all around these conflict of interests and overt actions of vote tampering, are sent out to pasture.
Many of us will be an extremely vocal driving force when Balink comes up for reelection. Goddamn crooks. The ethics gods would have a field day if they ever got ahold of Colorado Springs. Would make Palin and troopergate look like a walk in the park. Look to the youth. They are banding together, getting involved, and they are the ones who are contributing to the difference. I am hopeful that the corruption that occurs on our local, state, and the national levels has worked the last nerves of the American public. I find this to be true because I am hard pressed to get a local neocon, republican, conservative, evangelical to look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that the are behind their party in this one. I am finding this grand old party is having a very difficult time making eye contact.
Good. I am anxious as all get out, but hopeful.
When I got wind of Balink's ruse, I sought out the CC students and found that this is not a one time thing. Was told he had been issuing false information to CC, and god knows where else, for six years. That's right kiddies. Six years according to the students.
Since there is a mega push by the Obama campaign, everywhere, including Colorado Springs, the students working the campaign office said that at first, during voter drives, that CC students would routinely be frightened about registered, spewing the Balink propaganda. Fearing they would lose scholarship money, their parents would take the tax hit, and so on. This of course is a flat out, bald faced LIE. I was livid, to put it mildly. The students told me they had banded together and were able to overcome this Balink ruse and had felt confident they successfully ended up registering many students. It may in fact have had an inverse affect. Way to go Balink, you goddamned fraud.
This of course is excellent.
Now, a mini lesson in Colorado Springs politics. It is corrupt as the day is long. As a former republican, the conflict of interests go long and deep. Got a couple of hours? It is first of all, neocon and evangelical heaven. Literally. The home of Focus on the Family and and Dobson (been to his house, nice man, crazy views), home of Ted Haggard and The New Life Church and the "it was just a massage thing", and so on. The north part of Colorado Springs may be ground zero for the tribulation if they have their way. No, I mean it. Have been in some rather zany and deeply disturbing discussions with Focus on the Family people. And on and on. Many are very nice, quite lovely people. And as Randi would say, the share of whackadoodles.
5 or 6 military installations. Norad. Air Force Academy. Ft. Carson. And so on. Very high military presence. Active and retiree. Also many very fine people. Ft. Carson as an army base has lost many in Iraq. The nightly news is often a memorial service.
Plus Colorado College and other college institutions creating a strange brew of liberal pockets. And, the Olympic Training Center. And on and on...
And.......... the local government has been for a very long time, republican. Conservative. Highly incentuous. Not surprisingly, because of the conservative policies that have ruled for the last 40+ years, they are also reaping the benefits of said policies on the local scale. It is a sad and predictable to watch as the local politicans trot out every month, press conferences of woe, as they cut, and cut, and cut. Government jobs. Services. The economy of the area got hit very hard when things turned a few years ago. Tourism went down and has continued the spiral. The tax base for all intents is operating on gubmint fumes. Practically everything is tied to military. If you aren't working for the government, you are a retiree and receiving a gubmint check that way. Well earned of course. But if you aren't active, and your retirement check ain't enough, you either sell real estate (to each other), sell insurance (to each other), or hawk the latest money making scheme that is church backed. The economic structure is built on balsa wood.
And, the Springs under conservative leadership went on a grow baby grow attack many years ago. Now, water rights are a very serious problem, services are unsustainable, and things are basically very dicey. Cut after cut after cut. They even implemented, without a vote, a stormwater tax. Yes, they tax our fucking stormwater.
They FINALLY started slipping into their language, that the tax base was so thin, that this was fundamental to the drastic and dire state of affairs. Funny how that works... when middle class people who do not work for or are involved with the military or government somehow can't work, they don't spend. When you don't spend, the tax base crumbles. This city is a blueprint for failed republican and conservative, and evangelical right, policies, reliance on military. 12,000 military are slated to come into the area over the next 2-3 years. The politicans are all ga ga that this somehow will bring a boon to the area, like the gold rush. What they fail to acknowledge is that we have suhc a remarkably high deployment from Ft. Carson, that families struggle mightly and it is not uncommon to see spouses have to apply for welfare just to make ends meet while their ther half is deployed for the second, third, fourth time. There is only so much insurance or multilevel marketing you can sell to your neighbor.
The result is you get these incentuous assholes like Balink, and trust me, the political system is rife with them, and their policies, tactics, antics, are gradually but assuredly, imploding. Fortunately and not surprisingly, locals are waking up. The 40+ years of single party rule is simply not sustaining. The local D.A. several months ago was caught on video drinking approx 130 ozs of beer at a local establishment, got into a city vehicle, and drove off. He was subsequently found to have spent taxpayer money on a trip while on city business, not surprisingly abusing the already sliced and diced budget money, and no amount of rationalization that hit the fan saved his rerun for office. He was tossed out by the voters. And this kind of corruption is rampant in the Springs. As result of this inbreeding.
And now, the policies and single party rule are coming home to roost. There is unquestionably a Coming to Jesus moment for this area, and Balink is one in a long line of corrupt, lying, decieving, SOBs and I have no doubt he will be under a microscope when he comes up for reelection.
Not exactly a coinky dink, the person he replaced was "found" under ethics violations and resigned under the usual Republican cloud of ethics problems. Kids, Colorado Springs is a petri dish of the conservative will. I am SO goddamned inspired by these Colorado College students who, once they got control of the correct information, overcame this. I believe the days of the lying, cheating, scum tactics are eroding... Colorado Springs is a blueprint for these scumbags like Balink who think they can get away with these antics.
Well, the culture is changing. I am extremely anxious about voter tampering given what happened in 2000 and 2004, and the neocons are unquestionably going at it full force still. But I look forward to the day when the Balinks, and the State Attny General Coffman who is also wrapped all around these conflict of interests and overt actions of vote tampering, are sent out to pasture.
Many of us will be an extremely vocal driving force when Balink comes up for reelection. Goddamn crooks. The ethics gods would have a field day if they ever got ahold of Colorado Springs. Would make Palin and troopergate look like a walk in the park. Look to the youth. They are banding together, getting involved, and they are the ones who are contributing to the difference. I am hopeful that the corruption that occurs on our local, state, and the national levels has worked the last nerves of the American public. I find this to be true because I am hard pressed to get a local neocon, republican, conservative, evangelical to look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that the are behind their party in this one. I am finding this grand old party is having a very difficult time making eye contact.
Good. I am anxious as all get out, but hopeful.
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