Another view of Salazar

[Kanary]

From a friend, on a list-serve:

I keep hearing some Democrats say Ken Salazar is a great candidate and is more electable than Mike Miles, but I often find that these same people know little of Mr. Salazar's track record and don't really have any solid basis for claiming that he is more electable. Myth and hype have no place in this important election. In my opinion, Mr. Salazar is the kind of Democrat that has turned so many people away from the Democratic Party. For example, Mr. Salazar supported the invasion of Iraq, he supports full funding for Mr. Bush's misbegotten "No Child Left Behind" education policy, he opposes gay adoptions, he opposes any new listings under the Endangered Species Act, he opposes in-stream flow rights, while a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board he helped give away 40% of the instream flow rights in Snowmass Creek, he blindly supports the right wing militarists in Israel, he has a reputation for kowtowing to mining and development interests, and he has a poor environmental record.

Beyond just having questionable values, I believe Mr. Salazar should be investigated for criminal wrong doing in the handling of the Summitville mine cleanup -- a fiasco that Mr. Salazar was involved with as the Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Following his position at the DNR, Mr. Salazar went to work for the firm representing the polluters, who went bankrupt and left tax payers with an unjust $181 million clean up bill. Mr. Salazar has refused to comply with the Open Records Act regarding another fiasco he was deeply involved with, the Animas-La Plata project, which so far has cost tax payers upwards of $500 million and primarily benefits developers, consultants and lawyers. Mr. Salazar's record involving the State Land Board should also be thoroughly investigated -- to see if it was just a coincidence that Roy Romer and some of his campaign contributors received thousands of acres of state trust lands for pennies on the dollar.

Mike Miles, on the other hand, is a very progressive Democrat who hasn't been afraid to stand up to the Bush Administration's policies. He is a man of the highest integrity who has no strings to mining or development interests. Miles strongly supports universal health care, renewable energy, more funding for education, has a strong platform on the environment and has a well thought out plan for bringing our troops home as well as peace and democracy to Iraq. Miles graduated from West Point, served as an Army Ranger and as Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and now works as an Assistant School Superintendent. I urge all Democrats to vote for Miles in the current primary. Don't forget to Vote! Early voting is taking place at the county clerk's office and election day is August 10th.

[travisleit01]

1. Miles has my vote!!

Thanks for posting this article Kanary :)

[paulk]

2. I have a lot of respect for Mike Miles

and I hope this sort of shit coming from his more ardent supporters does not reflect on him.

[Kanary]

3. Shit? Excuse me?

AFter Mike was accused HERE of lying and being Illegal?

Wasn't that SHIT?

Voters should know FACTS about Salazar, rather than smears against Mike.

Kanary

[paulk]

5. what you post are not facts

it's a blatant attack, more worthy of Bob Schaffer's campaign than Mr. Miles'. You do your candidate a disservice.

I don't know what smears against Mr. Miles you reference - the discussion I've seen in this forum has been mostly civil. I've never said anything bad about Mike Miles.

[goodhue]

6. this sentence is chock full of facts . . .

"Mr. Salazar supported the invasion of Iraq, he supports full funding for Mr. Bush's misbegotten "No Child Left Behind" education policy, he opposes gay adoptions, he opposes any new listings under the Endangered Species Act, he opposes in-stream flow rights, while a member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board he helped give away 40% of the instream flow rights in Snowmass Creek, he blindly supports the right wing militarists in Israel, he has a reputation for kowtowing to mining and development interests, and he has a poor environmental record."

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Ted Kennedy supports full funding for No Child Left Behind

The problem is that Congress (and Bush) haven't fully funded it. If it were fully funded , it might work. But we'll never know if it isn't.

[goodhue]

9. Is Ted Kennedy running in today's election?

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Is Bush running in today primary?

The original post mentioned Bush in relation to No Child Left Behind. The implication was that Mr. Salazar's position was similar to Mr. Bush's. Which is untrue, since although Bush proposed the NCLB law, he and the Congress have not fully funded it.

[paulk]

13. these aren't facts, goodhue

they're allegations.

[CO Liberal]

15. If You're Gonna Quote Me, Kanary, Quote Me Right

Here is the comment I made at the top of the water rights thread:

Hmmm - after reading this article, I came away with the impression that many of Mike Miles' ideas are either illegal, illogical, or impractical. - Wayne

Nowhere did I accuse Mike Miles of lying or being illegal. I said that his ideas concerning the interstate water agreements appeared to be "either illegal, illogical, or impractical".

I await your apology. But I'm not holding my breath...

[Crunchy Frog]

4. I'll vote for Salazar in November if I have to.

Meanwhile I'm looking foreward to voting for Miles tomorrow, and will hope to God that I can vote for him in November as well.

Thanks Kanary.

[Supply Side Jesus]

7. A bit of advice

All is fair in primary politics, so I really don't begrudge Mile's supporters that much with mean spirited attacks such as these. Nor do I begrudge them when I get fliers at democratic functions saying Salazar punished people for whistle blowing on child sex crimes (i ain't making that up).
BUT, if you want your boy to have a future, Miles and his supporters better throw their full weight into Ken's election effort. If he or his minions act like a bunch of babies, whine, cry, and bitch and refuse to help Salazar, then his spectacular run, his great campaign has been for nothing. You can count on the Salazar supporters to fuck him at every turn if he ever tries for a statewide office. Mile's has a great future ahead of him, I just hope he doesn't blow it tonight.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. And I expect Salazar's supporters to do the same..

Hawkeye-X

[travisleit01]

14. I'll be behind Salazar 100%!

Just as I would expect if Miles wins (won - since we're already getting precinct data and it's not looking good) today.

I don't think it's fair to say that some of the attack lit. against Salazar is coming from the Miles campaign - because it's NOT. What Kanary posted was an argument against voting for Salazar.

I, too, got some of the child sex crimes crap at the State Convention - but I guarantee you it didn't come from Miles. He has too much class to organize anything like that.

[CO Liberal]

12. That Opinion and 50 cents Won't Even Get You a Cup of Coffee

What matters is what the voters say today.