Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is incapable of taking a position on his pal Bill Ritter's $130 million tax increas on small businesses but he's terribly decisive on where the blame lies when people lose their jobs.

"I think the recession is to a large extent, independent of taxes.  A recession like this is driven by people's mental state" he declared on 760 AM last week.

So buck up and get your head on straight all of you Colorado workers who have lost your jobs and listen to the great John "Hickenritter."

To listen to the interview with Denver Mayor John Hicken from 02/04/2010 click here

For more on this topic see:  Denver Post:  Greene: Hickenlooper's take on recession mind-befuddling

A transcription of the portion of the AM 760 interview referenced above is included below:

Host Question 3:  What kinds of tax reforms should we look at that would not necessarily hurt the economy?  Is there a political fear that the Republican anti-tax zealots that have been so successful electorally will become the central defining issue of this upcoming gubernatorial race?

Hickenlooper:  I think they’ll certainly try to make it that.

I think the campaign will come more back to…how can we make our way out of the recession?

I think the recession is to a large extent, independent of taxes.  A recession like this is driven by people’s mental state.

Both parties have a portion of their party that is about fearfulness and a portion that is about opportunity.  We have no less capacity today to create jobs than we did 3 years ago.

What we lost is our confidence.

Every radio and talk show host is saying “THE SKY IS FALLING!”

I think the campaign will come down to, how do we create a context where people will believe in themselves?

Host responds:  I hope I’m not hearing you say what John McCain’s advisor Phil Gramm had said controversially on the campaign trail. Phil Gramm said that “…we’re only in a mental recession,” and he ended up being fired for that.

Hickenlooper:  No, no I’m not saying that.

What I’m saying is that…people’s attitudes are connected to the economy.

It’s not just a mental recession, people have obviously lost jobs, can’t make car payments, divorce rates rising, domestic violence…There’s nothing that’s just mental about this, but the country’s attitude is very relevant.

Earlier today, Colorado Republicans called on Mayor John Hickenlooper to tell Colorado voters where he stands on the Ritter-Democratic tax increases passed last week by the State House and being debated this week in the State Senate.

Not surprisingly, His Honor the Mayor of Denver declined to reveal during two different radio interviews where he stands on these irresponsible, job killing tax increases.

The state budget shortfall is not only the hottest issue of the 2010 legislative session, it is a defining issue of the 2010 race for governor because it dramatizes the stark differences between the Ritter-Hickenlooper-Democratic approach from Republicans.  Also today, State Senate Republicans unveiled a bold plan to cut the state bureaucracy as opposed to the Ritter-Democratic tax increases.

We know that Mayor "Hickenritter" is a talented political entertainer who jumps out of planes and rides scooters plugging parking meters.  But Colorado voters deserve to know where "Hickenritter" stands on the issues and not just that he would be a great class clown.

For more on this topic see:

Denver Post:  The Spot:  Hickenlooper declines to take tax stance

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was incapable of naming a single policy enacted by failed Governor Bill Ritter that he disagreed with and would repeal if elected governor.

Appearing on the KUSA-TV Channel 9 program "Your Show" by Adam Schrager, "Hickenritter" was asked a direct question submitted by Colorado Republicans:  Is there an action or policy implemented by Governor Bill Ritter that you fundamentally disagree with?

After lauding Ritter's "courage" in withdrawing from the race--which had nothing to the question posed to him--he finally muttered something about there was a "better way to get there" in terms of enacting the Ritter energy regulations.  So he apparently has no disagreement with the substance of the job killing energy regulations, he only disagrees with the public relations in trying to sell them.

"Hickenritter" revealed the inherent weakness of his candidacy for governor.  He wants voters to focus on his quirky personality and ignore the real issues of this campaign.  There is no difference between Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and failed Governor Bill Ritter on imposing a massive property tax increase without a vote of the people, imposing huge vehicle fee tax increases without a vote of the people, releasing violent criminals early from their sentences, signing an executive order unionizing state employees, repealing state spending limits, and enacting job killing energy regulations.

Meanwhile, Colorado's accidental senator, Michael Bennet, is silently compliant on the latest bribe to pass the "health care reform bill."  Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi cut a secret deal with labor bosses that will require non-union working families to pay higher taxes on high end health insurance policies while union members get a tax break. 

The Denver Post called on Bennet to vote against the bill and editorials in the Wall Street Journal and Grand Junction Daily Sentinel also condemned the labor union bribe.

For more on this topic see:

9NEWS Video: YOUR SHOW: Colorado Gubernatorial candidate and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper answers your questions. (Part 1)

9NEWS Video: YOUR SHOW (Part 2)

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel: One dubious deal disappears, but another takes its place

Denver Post: Dispatch health care reform bill

Wall Street Journal: Labor's $60 Billion Payoff: A health tax that hits everyone except the Democratic base

The Denver Post reports today that accidental senator Michael Bennet and Mark Udall have finally publicly criticized the closed door health care reform bill negotiations.  Not the destructive details of the bill, mind you, but the closed nature of the talks.  Where have they been for the past six months?

Bennet and Udall are politically impotent bystanders as Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi single-handedly craft a bill to destroy private health insurance, drive up costs on families and small businesses, increase taxes, and ration health care. 

Bennet and Udall compliantly voted for this monstrosity on Christmas Eve that was passed through sheer bribery of senators who held out for special deals for their states.  By voting for this bill, our impotent senators endorsed that bribery.

And by the way, the silence was deafening from the accidental senator and his equally weak cohort last week when Harry Reid's racial slur was exposed. 

Hours after my earlier memo outlining Ken Salazar's Obama-Ritter problem, Salazar appears to have understood what a drag they are and will not run for governor leaving Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper as the next domino to fall.

Hickenlooper recently returned from Copenhagen as part of the Obama Administration's effort to dramatically raise energy taxes under the guise of "climate change" through cap and trade legislation.

Hickenlooper also was an enthusiastic supporter of the Ritter energy tax increase proposal Amendment 58 which was soundly rejected by Colorado voters in 2008.

Just like Salazar, Hickenlooper would be in the proud tradition of Obama and Ritter.

Does Hickenlooper have any differences with the Ritter-Obama agendas?

As Salazar appears to be withdrawing and Hickenlooper moves forward, we await answers from "Tax Hike Hick."

For all the talk at times that there's not a "dime's worth of difference" between Republicans and Democrats, today's Senate votes on health care and raising the debt ceiling prove that worn cliché wrong.

Even though several Democratic senators had to be bribed with taxpayer dollars by Dirty Harry Reid, those senators were only playing hard to get.  Their sleazy political prostitution aside, they voted for the flawed health care monstrosity.

Republicans unanimously opposed the bill that will kill private health insurance, raise taxes on families and small businesses, impose rationing, and deepen the federal debt.

Adding a final touch to their plan to destroy American health care, Dirty Harry Reid and his 59 other Democrats voted to increase the federal debt ceiling.  Republicans unanimously opposed raising the debt ceiling.

Accidental Senator Michael Bennet professed disgust at the health care bribes but wasn't disgusted enough to have the courage to vote against them. 

Mark Udall feigned reluctance to vote for raising the debt ceiling but then fell in line and voted to do so.

Cheap press releases aren't enough.  Professing agony over these votes is not enough.  Michael Bennet and Mark Udall are as culpable as Dirty Harry Reid for driving the nation deeper in debt and destroying our health care system.

While Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson can now be accurately described as the ultimate Senate whore, Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall have reaffirmed what predictable wimps they are.

Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska put himself up for sale to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in exchange for support of the private health insurance killing, tax raising, budget busting, debt deepening "health care reform" bill.  Early media reports today indicate "Dirty Harry" Reid cut a sweetheart deal with Nelson obligating the federal government to pick up all costs of an expanded Medicaid program for the State of Nebraska forever.  Meanwhile Colorado and the rest of the nation will be on the hook for billions in new Medicaid spending.

Colorado's gallant senators have buried their heads in the sands about the explosive growth of Medicaid and the burden it will place on Colorado taxpayers under this "health care reform" bill.  Now they have signed off on a sweetheart deal for Nebraska while Colorado taxpayers get the shaft for a second time.

For more on this topic see:

USA TODAY: Republicans blast state's special deals

 
 

Stephanie Villafuerte's surrender as the U.S. Attorney nominee ends a breathtaking display of arrogance by Governor Bill Ritter.  But it does not end the fight for truth.

Did Bill Ritter and gutless senators Udall and Bennet really believe that the professional and personal character assassination of ICE Agent Cory Voorhis would not flare up again when they put forth Ritter co-conspirator Villafuerte for U.S. Attorney? 

Udall and Bennet could have nipped this unseemly nomination in the bud and told Ritter such a nomination would not fly.  Instead, the gutless wonders abdicated their responsibility as U.S. Senators and allowed Ritter to put forth the Villafuerte nomination.

Udall, to his minimal credit, apparently asked Villafuerte some basic questions about her role in accessing the very national crime data base that Cory Voorhis lost his ICE job over.  Accidental senator Michael Bennet, proving once again what an inept appointment he was a year ago, proudly declared he had no questions or concerns about Villafuerte.

Democrats looking to have solid allies in a political fight should be wary when these gutless wonders say they're solidly behind them.  When the going got tough, Udall and Bennet disappeared leaving poor Stephanie to twist in the wind and withdraw.

Democrats who assume their statewide elected officials have a certain level of political insight must be shaken by this ill-fated and failed U.S. Attorney nomination.

Democrats control all three major Colorado statewide offices of governor and senator while enjoying a massive Senate majority in Washington and a Democratic president.  Despite this dominance at both the federal and state levels, the Villafuerte nomination did not fly.

This is the brutal truth:  If Villafuerte, Ritter, Udall and Bennet were truly committed to getting her confirmed as U.S. Attorney, they all would have welcomed a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to directly confront the issues and questions that clouded her nomination.

Ultimately, Bill Ritter did the people of Colorado a big favor by nominating Stephanie Villafuerte for U.S. Attorney because it has reopened one of the unfinished pieces of business from the 2006 campaign.  Bill Ritter shamelessly accused Bob Beauprez of unethically and illegally tapping a national crime data base when Ritter and Villafuerte used the Denver District Attorney's office to do the very same thing.  And along the way they destroyed the professional career of an outstanding young ICE agent, Cory Voorhis.

But it looks increasingly like Cory Voorhis will be vindicated and the Ritter-Villafuerte-Udall-Bennet crowd will finally pay a price for their varying degrees of arrogance and ineptness.

Stephanie Villafuerte, the ethically challenged nominee for U.S. Attorney who can't keep her stories straight, has been refuted by Denver Police regarding alleged threats to the Ritter campaign in 2006.

Seeking to prove she was not talking to the Denver District Attorney's office regarding the inappropriate use of a national crime database for political purposes, the ever creative Villafuerte claimed her numerous phones calls were regarding an alleged threat to Bill Ritter during the campaign.

The only problem is that Denver Police apparently were not aware of any such threat.

Denver Police Chief Jerry Whitman is a good man and a respected professional police officer.  For Villafuerte to try to politically exploit Chief Whitman into collaborating with her lies is pathetic.

For more on this topic see:
Denver Post: Police have no record of threats to then-candidate Bill Ritter