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Greg Kolomitz, former campaign manager to Gov. Bill Ritter, has started a defense fund to pay his legal bills, and his wife has e-mailed friends alleging that Kolomitz has been "falsely accused" of mismanaging campaign and inaugural funds. The e-mail plea never mentions Ritter by name, but leaves no doubt about who the family thinks is responsible for the "false" accusations that led to an ongoing investigation of Kolomitz. "We have found ourselves in a legal battle with someone whom we believed to be our friend. In April, Ritter alleged that Kolomitz had wrongly used inaugural funds to pay off...

In Colorado, taxpayers have a tremendous amount of control over their own property taxes. Thanks to the state’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), which stunts the growth of property taxes, those of us who own property in Eagle County shouldn’t expect to see our taxes skyrocket at the same rate as our property values without voter approval. This year, however, taxpayers’ rights were usurped by Gov. Bill Ritter’s decision to freeze the statewide school district property tax rate... Not only was Ritter’s move a clear violation of the TABOR Amendment because it effectively raised taxes without voter approval, it didn’t...

District Attorney Will Investigate. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on Monday notified prosecutors that more spending violations have been uncovered from his 2006 campaign, and that a former aide has written his campaign a check for $10,340 to correct the problem. Ritter had told the Arapahoe County district attorney in April that his campaign violated finance laws by improperly paying about $217,000 to 28 vendors last year. He said at the time his campaign and inaugural committee chairman, Greg Kolomitz, also overpaid himself and his company $83,250 out of Ritter's inaugural account. Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said the district attorney is...

Thursday, June 12, 2008 YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK WorldNetDaily Exclusive Biblical message now criminalized Penalties created for those criticizing homosexuality outside church walls Posted: June 12, 2008 12:45 am Eastern By Bob Unruh WorldNetDaily A new Colorado law is helping homosexual activists achieve their goal of forcing Christians to teach biblical condemnation of homosexuality only behind the closed doors of their sanctuaries. The as-yet untested state law promotes sexual identity "perception" to the level of skin color under state discrimination laws. Some opponents are calling it a "bona fide censorship law," and top analysts for Focus on the Family, the...

"We passed 100 percent of what we set out to do," Ritter told an approving crowd of about 100 health professionals and legislators at Children's Hospital in Aurora. Applause and whoops erupted over the signing of a law that makes 50,000 more uninsured children eligible for federal Medicaid benefits and for the state plan, Colorado Child Health Care Plan Plus, known as CHP+. The law expands the eligibility rules to include kids in families with incomes that are 225 percent above the federal poverty level. The old cutoff was incomes at 205 percent above the poverty line.

A Denver District Court judge ruled today that Gov. Bill Ritter's controversial mill-levy freeze is unconstitutional. "However well-intentioned and commendable the purpose and consequences ... this Court must be concerned only with enforcement of the Colorado Constitution," District Court Court Judge Christina Habas ... A group of taxpayers, organized by the conservative Independence Institute, filed suit late last year against the Colorado Department of Education, arguing that the property-tax freeze amounts to an unconstitutional tax increase because voters did not directly approve it. "All that's required to raise taxes in this state is to ask first. Only the most arrogant...

Ritter signed Senate Bill 200 this afternoon in his office, without any of the public ceremonies and news releases that came with six other bills he signed today. His spokesman, Evan Dreyer, said the governor was not deliberately trying to keep the signing quiet. In all, Ritter signed 20 bills today, Dreyer said.

Item likely vital to finance case. A laptop owned by the former campaign manager that Gov. Bill Ritter publicly disowned has been reported stolen, raising unanswered questions about its contents. Ritter accused Greg Kolomitz on April 15 of writing himself and his company $83,250 worth of unauthorized checks. The governor also produced an audit finding Kolomitz improperly paid $217,164.56 in campaign bills with money donated for the Democratic governor's inauguration. Three days later, on April 18, Kolomitz reported to Denver police that his Dell laptop had been stolen from inside his locked Colfax Avenue political consulting firm... "Unknown suspect(s) took...

It was a night filled with costumes, kegs, and partying. One problem, it took place at the Colorado Governor's Mansion. photos posted on the internet show Governor Bill Ritter's 22-year-old son August Ritter III drinking from a keg at a recent masquerade party held at the historic home. The other picture shows August Ritter and an unidentified female playing around with the state flag. An invitation, reading, "Mansion Masquerade-Because Life is Too Tasty Not to Party"-

Official testifies in TABOR lawsuit that more money collected as a result of mill levy freeze. State treasurer Cary Kennedy conceded today on the witness stand that a bill passed last year by the legislature alters the way taxes are calculated with the net result that many property owners pay more. But Kennedy continued to insist the 2007 law, SB 199, does not violate Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Kennedy's testimony came on the second day of a lawsuit brought by opponents of the 2007 law. They say SB 199 should have been referred to voters under TABOR provisions. The...

The rough political road for a proposed state-budget fix got even rougher Monday as Gov. Bill Ritter stopped short of endorsing it and the group expected to propel it to November's ballot expressed concern about funding, timing and other issues. "I don't know ultimately . . . if we're going to have the coalition together to put that on the ballot," Ritter said ... The proposal, which would alter the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights and end mandated increases in education funding, started as a referendum, but Romanoff could not muster the support of two-thirds of state lawmakers — the requirement...

Here is a partial transcript of the interview Matthew Rothschild conducted with Scott Ritter on April 18 for Progressive Radio. To listen to the entire interview, click here. Q: For several years now, you’ve been warning of the possibility that the Bush Administration will attack Iran. What do you think the likelihood is now in the waning months of the Bush Administration? Scott Ritter: I think we’ve never been at a greater risk of American military action against Iran. Q: Really? Why do you say that? Scott Ritter: Because the Bush Administration has made it clear that they seek to...

A judge today will hear a case calling Gov. Ritter's move unconstitutional because voters didn't approve it. The year-long controversy around Gov. Bill Ritter's mill-levy freeze spills into a Denver courtroom today, where a judge will decide whether the state has to give the money from the freeze back. A group of taxpayers, organized by the conservative Independence Institute, filed suit late last year against the Colorado Department of Education, arguing that the property-tax freeze amounts to an unconstitutional tax increase because voters did not directly approve it. The trial in the case is scheduled to start today in Denver...

Speaker: Don't shame Kent State's dead Monday, May 5, 2008 2:58 AM By Jim Mackinnon AKRON BEACON JOURNAL KENT, Ohio -- The shooting deaths 38 years ago of four Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard need to be seen as a lesson for the United States, a former United Nations weapons inspector said yesterday. But if the May 4 commemoration continues to be poorly attended -- about 400 people showed up yesterday -- and Americans refuse to read and understand their U.S. Constitution, then those lost lives will have been for nothing, keynote speaker Scott Ritter said....

A state representative lodged a campaign-finance complaint against Gov. Bill Ritter today, kick-starting a second investigation into campaign funds Ritter has said were spent incorrectly. The complaint, from Rep. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, prompts the process for reviewing campaign-finance violations. Without the complaint, it is unclear whether the Secretary of State's Office could have begun a formal inquiry. "There are some very specific rules you've got to follow," Lambert said of campaign-finance laws. "This seemed to violate at least several of them and needs to be investigated further."

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony's level of impairment after he was stopped by police Monday morning was described as "extreme" by investigating officers. CBS4 News obtained internal police reports that show Anthony insisted he had only "two glasses of red wine" prior to the DUI stop. After his arrest, police Sgt. Rich Coisman, a 13-year veteran, drove Anthony to the downtown Denver Ritz Carlton hotel, where Anthony's fiancee was staying. That drive has critics charging the department with providing preferential treatment to the Nuggets forward. "I've never had a client I can recall receive that kind of treatment," said attorney...

Gov. Bill Ritter paid more than $200,000 in campaign expenses out of his inaugural account in violation of campaign-finance laws, his office announced today as March disclosures come due. Ritter has put up his home as collateral on a $200,000 loan to repay the misspent funds...

Immigration agent Cory Voorhis was found not guilty of violating the law by accessing a confidential government database for political purposes — providing information on illegal immigrants used in a campaign attack ad against now-Gov. Bill Ritter. The federal courtroom was full, with some 50 supporters of Voorhis and members of the public. The jury apparently rejected the prosecution's argument that they would have to find Voorhis guilty simply if he exceeded his authority in going on the National Crime Information Center computer to obtain information on illegal aliens who won plea bargains while Ritter was district attorney. Voorhis admitted...

Federal immigration agent Cory Voorhis sat at the defense table in federal court Tuesday, but opening statements by his lawyer indicated that the legal team would try to put the actions of Gov. Bill Ritter and the city of Denver on trial. Bill Taylor, attorney for the special agent, said his client was "shocked, angered, and yes, bewildered" when he read statements by Ritter, then a candidate for governor, in an August 2006 newspaper article saying that when he was Denver district attorney, his office had always been tough on illegal immigration. Voorhis' experience as an immigration agent, and as...

As Gov. Bill Ritter continues his efforts to make his coalition with Big Labor look reasonable, one Colorado union is showing just how out of touch with reality union bosses really are. United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 7 had introduced five statewide ballot initiatives that if approved for the November ballot and passed by voters, would collectively and significantly raise the cost of hiring new workers. At a time when the U.S. economy continues to shed thousands of low-skilled jobs each quarter, the timing of the Local 7’s proposal is extremely questionable. One of the initiatives would require...

State troopers in Colorado have voted to form a union, according to Colorado WINS, a labor union coalition seeking to organize approximately 32,000 state workers. The state trooper employee organization, known as the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals, is the first of its kind to form since Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order in November supporting state worker efforts to unionize and form employee partnerships.

Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector and high-profile critic of the war in Iraq, will speak at Barnstable High School on Wednesday about the Bush administration's policy in Iran. A former intelligence officer in the U.S. Marines who worked as a U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, Ritter maintained back in 2002 that there was not enough evidence to support Bush's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that therefore the war was not justified. He drew sharp criticism from conservatives at the time. In 2002, Time Magazine asked him about right-wing critics calling...

$100 more for car registration among road funding ideas. A healthy transportation network is the lifeblood of the state's economy, Gov. Bill Ritter and others believe, but Colorado voters have a spotty record for providing cash transfusions. This fall, an electorate that has roundly turned down cheaper highway fixes that wouldn't have raised taxes could be asked to approve significantly more spending. Didn't like spending $100 million more a year for five years on transportation without paying any new taxes, as was proposed by a referendum voters rejected in 1998? Then how would you like spending an additional $1.5 billion...

While business leaders rail at Gov. Bill Ritter's partnership push, workers are making gains - some even when unionizing fails. Meanwhile, a fight to make Colorado a right-to-work state looms. When Gov. Bill Ritter eased the path for organizing state workers in November, he set off just one of the high-profile fights destined to take place here in 2008. "We are seeing the next generation of union members coming along," said Mark Schwane, Colorado director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Ritter upended the business-labor balance by handing unions huge new resources to organize... "You have...

SHOOTING TAKES HIT: Public shooting opportunities in national forests are disappearing, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter proposes to do something about it. Ritter says several previously isolated forest shooting ranges have been shut down because of homebuilding nearby, and shooters have been forced into dispersed shooting activities. Now the Forest Service is considering closing down some dispersed-shooting areas because of development and increased non-shooting recreational use. Ritter says he would make recreational shooting improvements a priority if he is elected governor. He wants Colorado to take the lead in establishing more shooting ranges, beginning with a pilot program he...

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order granting conditional collective bargaining rights to state employees has produced at least one unintended major benefit: It has belatedly focused public attention on a confusing set of laws and court decisions that govern the rights of public employees to organize and bargain collectively. Ritter's order, of course, does nothing to improve the landscape — and if allowed to stand, will further muddle the issue. Thanks to a narrow 1992 Colorado Supreme Court decision, it is already quite tangled. The court in that year held that government employees had a qualified right to strike, a...

Aides rushed to be prepared before he issued union order. On the day he issued his executive order making unions a bigger player in state government, Gov. Bill Ritter and union representatives assured Coloradans they weren't going to rock the boat. But behind the scenes, the waters were anything but calm, e-mails and other documents provided by Ritter's office in response to a Rocky Mountain News open records request show. Ritter's senior staff scrambled in the hours leading up to his announcement to deal with what they accurately predicted would be "a good deal of backlash." And a group representing...

Gov. Bill Ritter's executive order recognizing unions in state government would be reversed under a bill drafted during the weekend by four Republican lawmakers. "If our new governor thought that this fight was over when the ink dried on his executive order, he was sadly mistaken," said Penry, R-Fruita. "Bill Ritter won't get away with this one." The development comes on the heels of a letter that House Minority Leader Mike May sent Ritter on Monday. The letter asks that Ritter put his order on hold for 120 days so lawmakers can have time to study its effects on state...

Gov. Bill Ritter Said Thursday he may ask voters to approve a tax increase next year for one of Colorado's big needs, but he's not sure yet which one it would be. Ritter said higher education, transportation and health care all need more funding but he hasn't determined which need is most pressing. The governor also defended his executive order granting the 49,000 state government employees the right to join unions. Ritter said the decision won't increase the budget and won't take away the power of lawmakers to set the budget. Ritter went before the budget committee to discuss his...

So, now we know. When he was running for the highest office in the state, we all heard a lot of promises from Bill Ritter: promises about consultation with Colorado’s major constituencies, collaborative government, moderation — all the “new Democrat” codswallop. Maybe you thought we had elected a “moderate.” But at this point, everyone on this side of the sod should know that we elected a weasel. The governor’s plan to unionize government flies in the face of everything he promised during his campaign. At least, everything he promised publicly. Evidently, there were other, more serious, promises made behind closed...

Gov. Bill Ritter has signed an executive order giving state government's 49,000 workers the right to join unions or other employee associations but said strikes remain illegal under state law. Ritter said his order authorizes "partnership agreements" that will make better use of workers' abilities and allow them to meet with management to discuss concerns. Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said "partnership" is another word for collective bargaining that would hurt state government. "This is indeed collective bargaining," Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, reacted strongly against the executive order. "Like reactions in the...

Gov. Bill Ritter was mixing politics into the Major League Baseball playoffs Monday night. Just before leaving to attend the Colorado Rockies' final game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, Ritter told a group of sponsors of the upcoming Democratic National Convention that the Democrats' time in the spotlight had finally arrived. "Of the eight Major League Baseball teams in the playoffs, seven come from states with Democratic governors," said Ritter, a Democrat. "Only California has a Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he's not really a Republican."

Before he gets too carried away with himself, and imagines he's the governor of California or something, Bill Ritter ought to take a careful look at a statewide poll commissioned by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. It might help remind him that, despite the gains made by Democrats, this is still Colorado. Most voters remain wary of higher taxes. They don’t seem to think the health care system is in crisis. And there’s strong support for drilling on the Roan Plateau, if the revenues stay in the state, to benefit local communities or higher education. “We are a hesitant...

This just in from the Department of No Surprises: The Democrats in charge of state government have earned an F for their voting performance during the last legislative session from the conservative Colorado Union of Taxpayers. Republicans, meanwhile, consistently rated higher when it came to voting the way the organization said they should on about 25 bills. Former Rep. Penn Pfiffner, who heads the group, said the ratings show that the state's Democratic lawmakers are tax-and-spend power-grabbers who are not trying to actually solve problems. Gov. Bill Ritter, for example, sided against taxpayers' interests 23 out of 25 times, earning...

A prominent Republican lawmaker is crying foul over $66 million of tax savings homeowners would have seen if not for a law passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Bill Ritter this year. Ritter signed into law Senate Bill 07-199, freezing property tax rates indefinitely at current rates. The measure eliminates tax cuts that otherwise would have taken place under a 1994 school-finance law - an estimated $48 million for fiscal year 2007-2008. "It's the fact that we had said - from day one - it's a bottomless pit and that it will be working families and seniors that...

But Christian alliance says constitution forbids it. A Christian organization in Colorado is launching a campaign to "rally the troops" because Gov. Bill Ritter repeatedly has promised to restore state funding to Planned Parenthood, a move that could violate the state constitution's ban on "direct" or "indirect" taxpayer funding for abortions. Ritter made the promise on his 2006 campaign website, and in various speeches since, to have Colorado taxpayers pay for expenses for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, despite two votes by the people in 1984 and 1988 banning that support. "We will restore the Planned Parenthood money...

Republicans cry foul as revenue estimate jumps and Ritter vows prudence. Gov. Bill Ritter's property-tax freeze for schools is expected to bring in $114 million across Colorado next year - well over the $48 million calculated when the legislature approved the proposal. Republicans who fought against the school-funding plan last spring were crying outrage at the $66 million difference Thursday... A group of statehouse Republicans asked Ritter in a letter Thursday "why the estimates were so off in the first place" and said he should end the policy. "We hope you will agree with us to end policies that kick...

Gov. Bill Ritter came out Thursday in support of union-backed "employee partnerships" for state employees. But he said he "may or may not be able to" pull that off without including collective bargaining in the deal. Ritter offered his first public thoughts on the topic during his monthly radio interview with KOA's conservative talk show host, Mike Rosen. The Service Employee's International Union and other labor organizations have been lobbying Ritter since he took office to bring what they call a "partnership for the 21st century" to state government. The union's model, which has gained more acceptance in the private...

PBS, NY Times & Scott Riter promoted false history in Iraq Have you seen this CNS news report posted at Laurie Mylroie's website? If you havent yet its time you should http://www.lauriemylroie.com/ CNSNews Report: Saddam Had WMD, Extensive Terror Ties By Scott Wheeler The senior government official and source of the Iraqi intelligence memos, explained that the reason the documents have not been made public before now is that the government has ‘thousands and thousands of documents waiting to be translated Quote from the article “M14 is a reference to Iraqi intelligence directorate of special operations. The Iraqi documents obtained...

Colorado will be turned into a union paradise under a proposed policy formalizing union access to state employees, angry Republicans say. The new guidelines, put forth by Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration Director Bill Gonzales, would require the state to provide employee organizations with space to hold meetings, e-mail addresses of all employees and use of state mailrooms. Gonzales, an appointee of Gov. Bill Ritter... Republicans, who read the draft rules obtained by the Rocky Mountain News, said Friday that they amounted to a back-room administrative fiat by a Democratic administration trying to pay back the public employee unions...

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo today demanded that Governor Bill Ritter (D-Denver) explain whether the state's Higher Education Director - who was appointed by Ritter - is speaking on the Governor's behalf when he says he wants to give lawbreakers special preference over legal residents when it comes to a college education. "Governor Ritter owes an explanation to the families of Colorado who have to explain to their kids that they've been denied admission to a state school because their slot was awarded to someone who is in this country illegally," said Tancredo. "Then he has to explain to that family...

DENVER - Gov. Bill Ritter got more than he bargained for when he entertained questions Wednesday from 30 Iraqi teenagers touring the United States. Speaking to the students, the Democratic governor explained that he believes the U.S. invasion of Iraq was preemptive and that America’s presence has “greatly jeopardized” security in the country.Do you know the real situation over there? the students asked. The students, whose identities are being kept secret for fear of retaliation when they return home, told Ritter the last thing they want is the immediate exit of U.S. forces — a view the governor said he’s...

Moffat County Commissioners have slapped Gov. Bill Ritter with a harshly worded letter criticizing his July 3 helicopter flyover of their county and his administration's position on oil and gas development in the county -- a stance that breaks an agreement between local officials and state officials who worked under Gov. Bill Owens' administration. "For decades Moffat County has formed partnerships to mitigate negative impacts of gas development surrounding our county," the letter stated. "Yet when an opportunity arises to receive the benefits of gas development within Vermillion Basin and begin to lift one foot out of the ditch in...

The disgusting Scott Ritter is mentioned in this article. JOIN THE SCOTT RITTER MOCKING SING-ALONG ON YOUTUBE Friday May 11, 2007 The ‘conspiracy’ continues — let’s blame the Jews by david g. dalin & john f. rothmann Three books, two already in print and one soon to appear, all point readers in the same direction. Taken together, we believe, they represent an unholy trinity of hate, distortion and vituperation that needs to be answered with a clear message. No one should dispute that these volumes have the right to be published, but we have an obligation to expose these views...

Here’s something you wouldn’t expect to hear from a former Marine: Americans who support the Iraq War -- including those in the military and their families -- are worse than Germans who supported the Nazis in World War II. Impossible, right? Well, the progressive website Common Dreams published an article Friday by Scott Ritter, the former adviser to General Norman Schwarzkopf and United Nations weapons inspector-turned antiwar activist. In it, Ritter made some absolutely extraordinary statements about not only the Administration, but also the military and all those who continue to support our efforts in Iraq. For a little background,...

In the face of a Republican outcry, Senate Democrats approved a fast-tracked property-tax hike today on most homes and businesses in Colorado, and they refused to put the issue to a statewide vote. It passed as part of the annual School Finance Act on a 19-15 vote, with all Republicans voting in opposition. The tax hike -- which was pushed by Gov. Bill Ritter and will cost the public $1.7 billion over the next 10 years -- has been the focus of intense debate for weeks and has dominated hallway discussions at the Capitol. Republicans have assailed it not only...

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- U.S. political critic Scott Ritter believes that introducing Iran as a threat to the world is an ideology developed by the Bush administration. "Washington leaders have not yet provided any solid proof for their baseless accusations against Iran," the Austrian daily "Der Standard" quoted him as saying in an article published on Saturday. Referring to the White House claims on the violation of human rights in Iran, Ritter stated that the Iranian nation enjoys plenty of freedom compared to other countries in the Middle East. "The U.S. is already facing many problems regarding its own human...

Breaking from his party, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter on Friday issued his first veto, rejecting a controversial labor bill that had prompted a large and vocal campaign from business interests who said it would hamstring the state economicially. House Bill 1072 would have eliminated one of two votes needed for unions to negotiate all-union shops. The Democratic governor campaigned as a pro-business moderate but also indicated to labor that he would sign such a measure. "We are obviously extremely disappointed that Gov. Ritter felt it necessary to break a campaign promise under pressure from big business," Steve Adams of the...

Speculation is mounting (except, of course, among the “professional” press), as to the identities of six of the eight individuals included in the Libby subpoena to The New York Times (see Clarice Feldman’s piece here). The Times deemed the identities of only two of the parties worthy of release, former CIA director George Tenet and former White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer. The names of the other six remain elusive