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McInnis
takes time weighing senate run
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5482845
Dick Wadhams, head of
the state GOP, said McInnis was being "thoughtful and methodical" and
the possibility of a primary is "not a bad thing." Colorado is
currently the only state with a 2008 Senate race in the "tossup"
category, said Jennifer Duffy, managing editor of the nonpartisan Cook
Political Report. National players are expected to funnel large amounts of
money here, but they don't want to waste it on bitter primaries or candidates
that don't have adequate support. Indeed, Colorado Attorney General John
Suthers, who has only been in office two months, told the Grand Junction Daily
Sentinel that he has been "courted" to run and implied he has spoken
to people with the National Republican Senatorial Committee - the campaign arm
of GOP senators. Suthers, however, refused comment Tuesday and the NRSC did not
return calls. And McInnis does have some handicaps, Duffy pointed out. He is a
lobbyist, which can be a liability in a political race. Some of his work has
already led some liberal groups to dub him "McLobbyist" -
similar to the "lawyer-lobbyist" label wielded effectively against
Democrat Tom Strickland when running against Allard. McInnis, the six-term
congressman from Grand Junction, also left office two years ago embroiled in a
controversy for paying his wife more than $37,000 to serve as his campaign
manager even though he wasn't running for anything. The payments were not
illegal, but it caused some watchdog groups to contend McInnis violated the
spirit of the law. "It's a different political climate, ... and some of
his baggage becomes much heavier," Duffy said.
RELATED: Call for McInnis to apologize: McLobbyist hypocritical in criticizing Colorado Attorney General
http://www.progressnowaction.org/page/community/post/al/CbdT
Senators
want more Iraq fraud prosecutions
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-20-senator-fraud_N.htm
Senators pressed
federal investigators Tuesday to aggressively prosecute contracting fraud in Iraq, saying the dozen criminal cases filed aren't enough of a deterrent. "The
administration has allocated precious few resources to investigate and
prosecute those who have illegally exploited this war for profit," Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said at a hearing on Iraq contracting abuses. "There is no better therapy to combat white-collar crime than
a prison sentence," said the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen
Specter of Pennsylvania. Prosecutors are pursuing 28 investigations of possible
misconduct among contractors in Iraq, and some of them could lead to
indictments in the next few months, a top Justice Department official told the
panel. "It's a priority area for the Department of Justice," said
Barry Sabin, an assistant attorney general.
FBI
Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000921.html
The Justice
Department's inspector general told a committee of angry House members
yesterday that the FBI may have violated the law or government policies as many
as 3,000 times since 2003 as agents secretly collected the telephone, bank and
credit card records of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals residing here.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that according to the FBI's own estimate,
as many as 600 of these violations could be "cases of serious
misconduct" involving the improper use of "national security
letters" to compel telephone companies, banks and credit institutions to
produce records.
RELATED: F.B.I. Is Warned Over Its Misuse of Data Collection
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21fbi.html?ref=washington
Bush
Offers Aides For Hill Interviews
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000111.html
President Bush sought
yesterday to defuse the controversy over the firings of U.S. attorneys,
offering strong support for embattled Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
while proposing to make Karl Rove and other top aides available for private
interviews with congressional investigators. The White House, however, limited
the kinds of questions the aides would answer and said the interviews may not
be conducted under oath or transcribed. The conditions enraged congressional
Democrats, who vowed to go ahead with plans to issue subpoenas as early as
today that would compel the aides to testify. The actions raised the likelihood
of another clash between the White House and the congressional Democratic
leadership, which has already been pressuring the administration to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq and to improve the care of wounded service members. The president seemed
eager to portray the scandal as a partisan sideshow.
RELATED: E-Mails Reveal Tumult In Firings and Aftermath
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032001943.html
RELATED: Rove offered
for unsworn testimony
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000450.html
RELATED: Bush takes
tough line on firings
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703210106mar21,1,1200281.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Justice Dept.
made memos to pacify Democrats' probe
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-performance21mar21,0,6718386.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: Bush,
Democrats clash on prosecutors
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/03/21/bush_democrats_clash_on_prosecutors/
RELATED: Gonzales
Bowed to Politics, a Former U.S. Attorney Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/us/politics/21mckay.html
Consumer
Confidence Plunges Amid Rising Gas Prices
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/20/AR2007032000955.html
Consumer confidence plunged
this week, reversing its gains for the year amid rising gas prices, a volatile
stock market and fresh signs of inflation. In its biggest one-week drop in more
than three years, The Washington Post-ABC News Consumer Comfort Index (CCI) is
down seven points to -5 on its scale of -100 to +100. The index has fallen this
precipitously in a week only three other times in the more than 20-year history
of the poll. Only a week ago, The Post-ABC CCI had edged up to +2, a five-year
high, after starting the year at -5, exactly where it is today. Now, the gains
for the year have been reversed under the cumulative weight of higher pump
prices, uneasiness on Wall Street and indicators of inflationary pressures for
both consumers and businesses.
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Senate
nixes Ritter's school funding plan, House up next
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5431855,00.html
Republicans offered
Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's property tax plan on the Senate floor Tuesday -
just to watch it die. Ritter's fellow Democrats have been reluctant to bring
the school funding proposal to a Senate vote. Officially, they are waiting for
a legal interpretation on whether it violates the Colorado Constitution. But
some Democrats are uncomfortable voting for a measure Ritter calls a tax
freeze, but Republicans call a tax hike. On Tuesday, Republicans offered
Ritter's proposal as an amendment to the annual school finance bill, Senate
Bill 199, which specifies details of school funding for next year. The motion
came from Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, who called
for a vote against it. The plan went down unanimously after Democratic leaders
urged their party members to vote against it, too. Senate President Joan Fitz-
Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, said the vote wasn't a rebuff to the governor.
Democrats don't want to vote for the proposal until they know it doesn't
violate part of the Constitution that requires voters to approve all tax
increases, she said.
RELATED: GOP forces vote on tax plan
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5482843
RELATED: Republicans
force debate on $65 million school plan
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070320/NEWS/70320018
RELATED: Senate drops
school funding addition
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20399&template=article.html
House-Senate
battle likely over ethics measure fixes
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5432473,00.html
The Senate's latest
measure is one of several proposals to limit the long reach of Amendment 41,
which backers maintain was meant to simply rein in influence peddling at the
state Capitol. The Senate's latest chess move sets the stage for a fierce
battle between the House and Senate. The House has a separate plan that seeks
to provide government workers immediate answers and clear up confusion surrounding
Amendment 41. House Bill 1304 defines terms in Amendment 41 such as gifts for
special occasions. A companion resolution asks the Colorado Supreme Court to
confirm some lawmakers' conclusions that college professors can accept Nobel
Prize money and children of government workers can accept scholarships. House
Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said both proposals accomplish the same
thing, but that the Senate's measure leaves government employees and their
families in limbo for another 18 months.
RELATED: Senate wants to repeal, rewrite Amend. 41
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5482500
RELATED: Senators plan
to rewrite ethics law
http://summitdaily.com/article/20070320/NEWS/70320015
Lawmakers
ask Ritter to delay energy reform
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5431863,00.html
Three Democrats joined
Republican lawmakers Tuesday in asking Gov. Bill Ritter to delay energy reform
legislation, saying that it could affect oil and gas industry production and
the livelihood of 70,000 workers and their families. The lawmakers expressed
concern about a spate of energy reform bills, including regulations to prevent
health and environmental damage. "With severance tax dollars playing such
an important role in local communities, it is short-sighted to hurt the
industry that is filling local and state coffers," the 14 Republican and
Democrat lawmakers warned in a Tuesday letter to Ritter. "Stop the
madness," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma. "We need thoughtful deliberations
before we pluck the goose that laid the golden egg." Ritter issued a
statement saying his "administration has made every effort to listen to
the concerns of the energy and resource-development industry . . . We look
forward to continuing this productive dialogue as the legislative process moves
forward." But he said the state must balance the major oil and gas
drilling boom "with the concerns the people of this state have expressed
surrounding impacts to our water, air and land." He cited 1,500 impact
complaints filed with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in the
past five years.
RELATED: Lawmakers: Slow down oil-and-gas panel overhaul
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5482502
RELATED: Legislators
ask help (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174483920/21
Forecasters
see slower economic growth
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5432553,00.html
Colorado's economy will continue to grow
next year, but the pace will slow a bit, affecting the state's revenue projections,
according to two forecasts given to lawmakers Tuesday. Colorado's general fund
will post 6.1 percent revenue growth in the 2006-07 fiscal year that ends June
30, predicted Todd Saliman, the budget director for Gov. Bill Ritter. He
expects a 5 percent increase in 2007-08. Mike Mauer, the chief legislative
economist, concurred with the slower growth rate expectation. "Growth in Colorado's advanced technology, defense, tourism, and natural resource industries, which
will fuel growth in the important business and professional services sector,
should be strong enough to override the contraction in the housing
market," he wrote. Both of the financial experts said high energy prices
and a cooling housing market are potential trouble spots for the state.
RELATED: Economic forecast cloudy
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20390&template=article.html
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/032107.htm
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