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TOP STORIES
Senior Democrat Plans Speech Attacking Bush Record
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402006.html
A senior Democratic leader, in a speech Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, will tie together a long series of Bush administration scandals, controversies and missteps into what he argues is a campaign to turn the government into an appendage of the Republican Party. The speech by House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) marks an escalation in the party's rhetorical war with President Bush. For much of last year's campaign season, Democrats called the Bush administration incompetent. Now they are preparing a darker case, accusing the administration of harboring malevolent intent. To make his case, Emanuel will cite the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, the discrediting of a key critic of the justification for war in Iraq, the hiring of young, inexperienced Republicans to oversee Iraq's reconstruction, secret meetings between Vice President Cheney's energy task force and oil industry executives, the downplaying of links between greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming, the alleged use of the General Services Administration for partisan purposes and the hiring of an attorney for the International Arabian Horse Association to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Pentagon to End Talon Data-Gathering Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402540.html
Less than two weeks after being sworn in as undersecretary of defense for intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. is moving to end the controversial Talon electronic data program, which collected and circulated unverified reports about people and organizations that allegedly threaten Defense Department facilities. Clapper, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, "has assessed the results of the Talon program and does not believe they merit continuing the program as currently constituted, particularly in light of its image in Congress and the media," according to a statement released in his name yesterday by a Pentagon spokesman. Talon, launched in 2003 with an eye toward Sept. 11, 2001, came under public scrutiny in December 2005 with the disclosure that it had collected data on anti-military protesters and peaceful demonstrators.
RELATED: Pentagon Intelligence Chief Proposes Ending a Database
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25intel.html
Gay-rights proposals gain in Congress
After more than a decade of government inaction, gay-rights proponents in Congress have gotten several major bills moving through the Democratic-controlled chambers, a development that could result in the greatest expansion of federal protections for gays and lesbians in US history. This week, a key House committee is set to approve a measure that would in some cases make hate crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation a federal offense, as are crimes committed on the basis of the race or religion of the victim. Also, a bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill yesterday that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Both pieces of legislation are on track for congressional approval in the coming months. If Congress passes the bills, gay-rights advocates say, it reflects a dramatic change in the national political landscape. In the dozen years Republicans controlled Congress, GOP lawmakers paid little attention to the gay-rights agenda and kept some gay-friendly legislation from even being considered.
Task Force to Examine Alleged Improper Politicking
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/24/AR2007042402438.html
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is creating a task force to examine allegations that White House or Justice Department officials violated a federal law that insulates government employees from partisan politics. Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch said yesterday that staffers from a unit in his office that enforces the Hatch Act will form the core of a wider group set to examine whether White House officials improperly used federal resources for partisan purposes, improperly conducted partisan political business on federal time or tried to coerce federal employees into taking partisan political actions.
RELATED: Critics doubt official looking into Rove
RELATED: Inquiry on Political Influence
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/washington/25bloch.html?ref=washington
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Senate backs changes to state's oil and gas commission
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743223
The Senate on Tuesday endorsed Gov. Bill Ritter's plan to overhaul the state's oil and gas regulatory process, although Republicans cautioned they will be watching the new panel closely. "Ultimately, this process will succeed or fail based on who the governor appoints to this commission," Republican Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said of the "hard-won compromise." "I've told the governor as those nominees come up, they will undergo significant scrutiny." On a voice vote with no opposition, the Senate initially approved House Bill 1341, which will expand and change the makeup of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to include environmental, wildlife, public health and landowner representatives. Currently, the seven-member panel is dominated by oil and gas representatives, which critics say amounts to the industry regulating itself. The bill will reduce from five to three the number of industry voices while expanding the commission to nine members. The oil and gas industry has reluctantly signed on to the bill, though it remains concerned that the drilling permitting process could become hampered by politics.
RELATED: Revised commission reform glides through the Senate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_COGCC_shuffle.html
RELATED: Senate gives early OK to oil, gas reform bill
Rainy-day bill dies; sponsor sees trade
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5743225
At the request of the bill's sponsor, the Senate Finance Committee voted 5-2 to kill a proposal to gradually increase the state's savings account for emergencies. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, said his request came after fellow senators refused to back the savings account and another bill to boost the number of judges in the state. The pair of bills would divert tens of millions of dollars that would be used to build and repair roads, so Morse killed his bill to win support for the judges bill. "We need four Republican votes to add judges to our system," Morse said. "The Republicans have made it clear that we cannot have both an increase to our general fund reserve and new judges." The savings bill's co-sponsor, Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, expressed frustration as he watched the effort to create a rainy-day fund die for a second year in a row. The House approved the bill 64-1 on March 5.
RELATED: Rainy-day fund bill loses Springs sponsor
http://www.gazette.com/articles/bill_21600___article.html/judges_fund.html
RELATED: Republican ultimatum kills savings bill
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_1B_Rainy_Day_Fund.html
Ritter creates panel to track schools through 'grade 20'
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5503178,00.html
Some of the biggest names in education cheered on Gov. Bill Ritter Tuesday when he created a council to track Colorado schools from preschool to "grade 20." Ritter said the council is part of his commitment to cut the dropout rate, reduce the gap in achievements for minorities and ensure that Colorado graduates are properly trained by the time they hit the workforce. "The consensus among governors is states need to lead . . . in education reform," he said. "This is our vehicle for reform." College presidents, school board members, high school principals and superintendents watched as Ritter signed an executive order creating the Governor's P-20 Education Coordinating Council. Among those offering support was education kingpin Bruce Benson. "I think it's great because you've got to put the pieces together, and this does that," he said. Benson is chairman of Metropolitan State College of Denver's board of trustees, former chairman of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and chairman of the Denver Public Schools Foundation.
RELATED: Education council will ‘breed ideas’
http://www.gazette.com/articles/panel_21601___article.html/school_college.html
RELATED: Education commission (Legislative briefs)
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/18
Suthers' office concerned about Ritters proposed mill-levy
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/25/4_25_3a_Constitutionality.html
Lawyers within the Colorado Attorney General’s office said they have significant concerns about the constitutionality of Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposed freeze of property tax rates that House lawmakers approved Monday. Nate Strauch, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said state lawyers are reviewing Ritter’s proposed mill-levy freeze, but the prognosis is not good. “It’s safe to say our office has significant concerns about the constitutionality of whether the measure meets the constitutional requirements of (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) as to whether it qualifies as a tax-policy change,” Strauch said. “That being said, we continue to explore the issue.”
RELATED: $5.1 billion education bill clears House panel
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1177511750/16
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/042507.htm
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