News
Opinion
There's trouble right here in River City, that's trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P and that stands for politics.
There is interesting news out of Denver involving our State Rep. Laura Bradford. Seems Denver police stopped her at around 10 p.m. Jan. 25 for erratic driving; they suspected her of drunken driving, and let her go without determining if she was driving while impaired. Seems she, as are all members of the general assembly, is immune from arrest while attending to State business. The police, however, have stated she did not request immunity or special treatment during the traffic stop.
Immunity from arrest (except for treason and felonies) applies to lawmakers if they are doing State business and are “going to and returning from the same.” Police officers determined that she was returning from conducting State business, and just cited her for a moving violation. She actually was headed home after visiting a bar. She was not cited for DUI since that would require detaining her which would've impeded her from doing State business the next morning. They did, however, conduct a roadside sobriety test and were sufficiently concerned as to her possible intoxication to send her home in a cab. Police did allow her to possess a loaded handgun found in her car although such possession by an intoxicated person would be illegal.
The House Republican leadership, apparently concerned about this issue, has temporarily removed her as chair of the House Local Government Committee pending an investigation. AP reported Wednesday she is considering bolting from the Republican Party, and ... stay tuned for more developments.
Also of interest is the quandary of State Rep. Ray Scott's apparent confusion regarding where he lives and at what time he did or did not live there. We certainly look forward to hearing a rational explanation as to why his sworn and notarized declaration of residency is, indeed, not true. Only two explanations are possible: 1) He forgot he moved; or 2) He lied. There are no other possibilities.
Again the State Constitution comes into play. A candidate for the Senate or House must have lived within the district for a minimum of one year. Rep. Scott previously lived in District 54 before moving to District 55. His candidate affidavit filed on Nov. 8, 2011 indicated his address as being in Orchard Mesa. A story carried by the Daily Sentinel quoted Scott as saying the move to his new residence occurred “by about October, I think the 28th, 29th something like that.” If true, one would have to wonder why he forgot this fact when, on Oct. 31, he claimed to live on Orchard Mesa and did not correct the error prior to filing that document on Nov. 8. According to the Mesa County Assessor's website the Orchard Mesa property was sold on Nov. 23.
The dilemma Scott now faces is that he is a registered candidate in District 54 but a resident of District 55. He is the victim of the recent remapping of districts. Unfortunately, he finds himself needing to claim he moved and forgot it three days later, and surely the public and governmental bodies will certainly understand and allow him to run in District 55. His claim, if true, should be easily proven one would think by records such as utility transfers of phone, water, electricity, etc. If he were in his new residence by the claimed date, did he have utilities in his name?
All this may be very good news for our local Democrats. If they chose to run a candidate it could be theoretically possible for them to eke out a win if all the Republicans are either disqualified or otherwise unavailable to run. Under the circumstance of an unopposed Democrat running in a district it would seem conceivable the Dems could mount a winning campaign. BUT given the dismal showing of elections passed, it would seem equally possible they would somehow manage to lose.
Is not election season fun? There will be so much silliness between here and there we can all have some laughs while momentarily forgetting the ugliness that we now call politics.
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Jim Hoffman is a local real estate broker and investor who is trying to move from semi-retired to retired. He needs to retire to devote more time to unpaid interests such as skiing, camping and fishing.
There is interesting news out of Denver involving our State Rep. Laura Bradford. Seems Denver police stopped her at around 10 p.m. Jan. 25 for erratic driving; they suspected her of drunken driving, and let her go without determining if she was driving while impaired. Seems she, as are all members of the general assembly, is immune from arrest while attending to State business. The police, however, have stated she did not request immunity or special treatment during the traffic stop.
Immunity from arrest (except for treason and felonies) applies to lawmakers if they are doing State business and are “going to and returning from the same.” Police officers determined that she was returning from conducting State business, and just cited her for a moving violation. She actually was headed home after visiting a bar. She was not cited for DUI since that would require detaining her which would've impeded her from doing State business the next morning. They did, however, conduct a roadside sobriety test and were sufficiently concerned as to her possible intoxication to send her home in a cab. Police did allow her to possess a loaded handgun found in her car although such possession by an intoxicated person would be illegal.
The House Republican leadership, apparently concerned about this issue, has temporarily removed her as chair of the House Local Government Committee pending an investigation. AP reported Wednesday she is considering bolting from the Republican Party, and ... stay tuned for more developments.
Also of interest is the quandary of State Rep. Ray Scott's apparent confusion regarding where he lives and at what time he did or did not live there. We certainly look forward to hearing a rational explanation as to why his sworn and notarized declaration of residency is, indeed, not true. Only two explanations are possible: 1) He forgot he moved; or 2) He lied. There are no other possibilities.
Again the State Constitution comes into play. A candidate for the Senate or House must have lived within the district for a minimum of one year. Rep. Scott previously lived in District 54 before moving to District 55. His candidate affidavit filed on Nov. 8, 2011 indicated his address as being in Orchard Mesa. A story carried by the Daily Sentinel quoted Scott as saying the move to his new residence occurred “by about October, I think the 28th, 29th something like that.” If true, one would have to wonder why he forgot this fact when, on Oct. 31, he claimed to live on Orchard Mesa and did not correct the error prior to filing that document on Nov. 8. According to the Mesa County Assessor's website the Orchard Mesa property was sold on Nov. 23.
The dilemma Scott now faces is that he is a registered candidate in District 54 but a resident of District 55. He is the victim of the recent remapping of districts. Unfortunately, he finds himself needing to claim he moved and forgot it three days later, and surely the public and governmental bodies will certainly understand and allow him to run in District 55. His claim, if true, should be easily proven one would think by records such as utility transfers of phone, water, electricity, etc. If he were in his new residence by the claimed date, did he have utilities in his name?
All this may be very good news for our local Democrats. If they chose to run a candidate it could be theoretically possible for them to eke out a win if all the Republicans are either disqualified or otherwise unavailable to run. Under the circumstance of an unopposed Democrat running in a district it would seem conceivable the Dems could mount a winning campaign. BUT given the dismal showing of elections passed, it would seem equally possible they would somehow manage to lose.
Is not election season fun? There will be so much silliness between here and there we can all have some laughs while momentarily forgetting the ugliness that we now call politics.
------------------------------
Jim Hoffman is a local real estate broker and investor who is trying to move from semi-retired to retired. He needs to retire to devote more time to unpaid interests such as skiing, camping and fishing.
