Suthers wants more teeth in Colorado anti-trust laws
Attorney General John Suthers would like to see Colorado’s antitrust law changed to allow his office to challenge mergers that may harm Colorado’s citizens and markets, a Suthers’ spokesman recently told the Colorado Independent.
Attorney General John Suthers discusses anti-trust laws as Congresswoman Betsy Markey listens. (Photo by Joseph Boven)
During an Aug. 27 Department of Justice and United States Department of Agriculture workshop on competition in the livestock industry, Suthers said that though Colorado has been aggressive in its pursuit of anti-trust regulations, those actions have been regulated by a Colorado law that compels the state to follow the federal government’s lead if it has reviewed a case.
“We have a Colorado Antitrust Act of 1992 that forbids the monopolization and attempts to monopolize bid rigging and mergers to lessen competition,” Suthers said. However, he noted his office can do little if a federal agency declines to challenge the merger.
“Our office cannot challenge any merger or acquisition that has been reviewed by any federal agency under section 7A of the Clayton Act where the federal agency declined to challenge the merger. That was put into law in 1992.”
Mike Saccone, spokesman for Suthers, said though Suthers understands the reasoning behind the 1992 antitrust rules was to assuage business concerns over the cost and time related to a two-tiered regulatory structure, if a legislator wanted to propose a bill to change Colorado’s law, Suthers’ office would testify and likely support such legislation.
USDA officials say that as a result of the consolidation throughout the agriculture industry, small farms are fading away. The Colorado Independent’s sister site, The Iowa Independent, reported , “there were more than 660,000 hog farms in 1980, but only 71,000 exist today. In the cattle industry, there were 1.6 million farms in 1980, but only about 950,000 exist today. In addition, hog producers received 50 percent of the retail value of a hog in 1980, but only received 24.5 percent in 2009. Cattlemen, who received 62 percent of retail steer value in 1980, received slightly more than 42 percent of value in 2009.”
Suthers said at the event last month that he had joined with a number of states to fight off the JBS buyout of National Beef packing, a merger he said his office found would have caused considerable reduction in prices paid to livestock farmers as a result of consolidation.
“I have to say that virtually all of the concerns that have been expressed to our office about the agricultural industry in Colorado have revolved around consolidation,” Suthers said. “Just to be precise, in the high plains, we believe that that merger would have put over 85 percent of packer capacity in the hands of three survivors: JBS, Tyson and Cargill.”
Suthers said that such consolidation would have forced ranchers to sell livestock at lower prices and that the savings would not have been passed on to consumers. With only three major packing companies, retail could be compelled to pay higher prices.
Chris Peterson, a hog farmer and current president of Iowa Farmers Union, said that he doesn’t sell a single hog to packers because he has gotten screwed over too many times.
“Packers routinely pay 5 to 6 cents per pound in volume based premiums to the larger producers simply because they are large,” Peterson said, adding that 6 cents could mean the difference of $50,000 or more for some farms.
“We don’t need the whole slice of pie; we just need fairness and equality.”
Farmers in favor of the new Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Adminstration (GIPSA) rules say they have lost the ability to competitively bid with larger feedlots and producers who times make long-term agreements with large packing plants. They say deals conducted privately or between packers have reduced the price of an animal on the auction block.
Other’s, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and larger beef packing companies, oppose the rules. They say that removing captive supply and contracts would simply force packing companies to give the average price for an animal to ranchers.
Cattlemen, some who said they were risking their ability to sell to large packing companies by being at last month’s event, said Packers and Stockyards Act has almost never been enforced.
Former state legislator Kathleen Kelley, a rancher, teacher and advocate for independent ranchers, said that she was happy with the new GIPSA rules, but said giving teeth to Colorado’s anti-trust laws would go a huge way in ensuring market access to small livestock producers across the state.
Tancredo says he’s pulled in $200,000 since July
American Constitution Party candidate and former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo’s campaign said in a release today that it has raised more than $200,000 since he announced his candidacy in late July.
“I am thrilled and humbled to have the support of so many good people,” Tancredo said. “I can now say with certainty that I will have the money to win this race and that is exactly what I will do.”
Tancredo entered the race after Republican candidate Dan Maes refused Tancredo’s call to drop out after winning the August GOP primary over former congressman Scott McInnis.
While Tancredo, through conversations with state Republican Party Chairman Dick Wadhams, had offered to step out of the race if Maes would also drop his bid, Maes declined.
Maes again today reiterated his stance that he’s staying in despite mounting GOP pressure to get out in time for a replacement candidate to make November’s ballot.
Tancredo has previously said in an interview with the Colorado Statesman that it would take $500,000 to run a basic campaign.
Bay Buchanan, Tancredo’s campaign manager, added: “The money has been steady for weeks but this last week it has been phenomenal. We expect this incredible momentum to build as more and more Coloradans look for a candidate they can trust to say what he believes and believe what he says.”
Both Tancredo and Maes are significantly behind Democratic gubernatorial candidate Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper in the polls.
Buck, Bennet split on personhood’s impacts on contraception
Republican U.S Senate candidate Ken Buck’s campaign says the Weld County DA supports birth control if it does not stop the implantation of a zygote in the uterine wall, while incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign this week said the senator believes in choice.
Tuesday’s NO on 62 rally against the Personhood Amendment. (Photo by Joseph Boven)
Buck spokesman Owen Loftus said that Buck is against any drug that prevents a zygote from attaching to the uterine wall, but he added Buck does not feel that most common forms of contraception would be banned if November’s Personhood Amendment (62) passes.
“Most forms of birth control aren’t included in this, so like the pill, condoms and other types of contraception that are commonly used aren’t included,” Loftus said.
“Ken believes life begins at conception, so he would oppose the morning after pill,” Loftus said. “But there have been several news organizations that have looked into this — especially with Michael Bennet’s commercial running — and they have said that it is just not true, that Ken does not favor getting rid of common forms of birth control because most of them don’t work that way.”
Bennet spokesman Trevor Kincaid said: “Michael opposes Amendment 62 because it contradicts both the rights of Colorado women and the will of Colorado voters. Personhood would ban the commonly used forms of birth control, as well as emergency contraception for rape victims.
“Unlike Ken Buck, Michael believes these decisions should be left to women, their families, and their doctor, not to politicians or the courts,” Kincaid said. “Colorado voters rejected a similar attempt to give legal rights to fertilized eggs by a three to one margin in 2008, and that vote should be respected.”
At a NO on 62, rally at the Capitol on Tuesday (see video below), opponents said lower socioeconomic groups could be hurt significantly if the Personhood Amendment passes and bans many forms of birth control, including the pill.
“Think of the impact of restrictions on emergency contraception and other forms of birth control for women and their families who are living in poverty,” said Rev. Dawn Riley Duval of African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME).
Riley told the Colorado Independent that many families living in poverty do not have health insurance and are already struggling to put food on the table for current family members. She said removing many legal forms of birth control such as the pill would have catastrophic effects.
Representatives of the Personhood campaign have said that barrier forms of contraception will remain legal if the amendment passes. NO on 62 members do not disagree, but note that many common forms of birth control, including the pill, would likely be outlawed by Amendment 62.
The Mayo Clinic notes on its website that the pill, in its various forms, work by stopping ovulation, thickening cervical mucus and thinning the lining of the uterus.
Gualberto Garcia Jones, director of Personhood Colorado, told the Colorado Independent that he felt the populace should be informed that the drugs they are taking are stopping an egg from implanting in the uterine wall. He said while he is not against birth control, he is against any drug that stops the progression of biological development in such a way.
“We are pretty straight-forward. If there is a fertilized egg, if there is a zygote, an embryo, then anything that kills them should be considered a poison really, not a contraceptive,” Jones said.
Dr. Mary Fairbanks, a Colorado family physician, said: “[Although] regularly taking birth control often stops ovulation in the first place … it also thins the lining of the uterus, so those forms of birth control would be outlawed, and it is one of the most commonly used forms of birth control. To eliminate all of those in Colorado could lead to more unwanted pregnancies and more backroom abortions.”
Professor Paula England, a Stanford sociologist specializing in birth control , explained that women in lower socioeconomic groups often use contraception less frequently than those of higher socioeconomic status (SES). She said that this leads them to often have higher frequencies of unintended pregnancies, but she said it is likely there would be less impact on lower SES birth totals as compared to other groups if hormonal birth control was eliminated.
Studies have shown that early pregnancies can lead to a number of concerns for both the infant and the mother. The Center for Disease Control reported that teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of school and their children to remain more reliant on public health care or enter into the penal system.
“If the people who are for Amendment 62 and the anti-abortion people in general put as much energy into educating people, distributing condoms, empowering teenagers to say no and patrolling their streets to stop rape … if they worked more to prevent pregnancy, then they would probably prevent more abortions than with this thing,” Fairbanks said.
GOP pollster finds Perlmutter in close contest with Frazier
A Republican pollster recently conducted a survey that found Democratic incumbent Rep. Ed Perlmutter and Ryan Frazier roughly even in their contest for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District seat.
The Magellan Strategies auto dial poll of 830 likely general election voters in the 7th CD found that Frazier was one point ahead of Perlmutter, 40 percent to 39 percent, well within the 3.4 percent margin of error.
The poll, which was politically balanced based on past election results, has been criticized for placing the election question so far into the polling sequence as it could have been biased by other questions surrounding Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and health care reform.
The poll asked likely voters’ opinion of Pelosi, 60 percent whom had an unfavorable opinion, directly before asking if they thought Perlmutter was doing a good job in Congress. It further asked opinions of Obama’s performance as president before asking those polled if they would vote in favor of Perlmutter or Frazier. The poll did not ask questions about other Republican lawmakers.
The poll found that in a generic contest of candidates, 45 percent would vote Republican, with 39 percent voting for the Democratic ticket. It also found that 65 percent of voters said America is on the wrong track.
While those numbers don’t sound good for Perlmutter, one stat tends to suggest that the statistics are preliminary. The poll showed that while 97 percent of respondents knew who Perlmutter was, 40 percent had never heard of Frazier.
It also showed that of those who had heard of the candidates, 39 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Perlmutter, with 37 percent favorable and 20 percent having no opinion. Likewise, Frazier had some room to grow: 22 percent had a favorable rating of the candidate, with 11 percent unfavorable and 27 percent having no opinion.
If the statistics are true, both campaigns have their work cut out for them painting a picture of who Aurora City Councilman Frazier and incumbent Congressman Perlmutter are.
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Hickenlooper calls for integration among college programs
Democratic candidate for governor Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told the Colorado Independent today that colleges, like divisions in corporations, do best when there is competition between programs, but that the overall success of the company is paramount.
Speaking at Arapahoe Community College, Hickenlooper announced the education plan he will be following if he’s elected in November. Hickenlooper’s higher-education plan, like the plans of other legislative leaders, calls for two- and four-year colleges and universities to share resources in providing degrees. However, Colorado’s College Opportunity Fund ties college educational dollars to students in an effort to spark competition between institutions.
The funding structure has caused colleges to increase funding by developing similar programs in part to draw students stipends from other institutions.
“Really, the best companies in America are the ones where each division [is] trying to get capital, but they also realize that the overall success of that enterprise is paramount. It is not just that division, it is that the company has to succeed,” Hickenlooper said. “I think that is how we should think about education.”
Hickenlooper said that schools have to realize that the success of the students is the single most important objective. He said efficiencies will be found in using new technologies that allow students to participate in lower cost programs. Presumably this would be done by a system of shared funding.
Colorado community colleges have already said that they are cash-strapped as they saw their funding decreased over the last few years while their student enrollment has surged in the economic downturn.
With a possible $300 million cut to higher education looming, Hickenlooper said he did not want to speculate on how he would handle such a budget shortfall till it was a certainty but said he felt many of his programs would not be overly costly.
In addition to greater college integration, Hickenlooper’s plan calls for broadband technology across the Colorado college system, a commitment to P-20 education, greater flexibility in the college system and greater collaboration with private industry.
Bennet decries GOP opposition to Small Business Jobs Act
DENVER–Speaking Thursday at a small dog-grooming shop, Sen. Michael Bennet said small businesses weathering the recession needed the relief provided by greater access to loans, something he hoped to provide through the Small Business Jobs Act he said was falling victim to partisan gamesmanship.
Republican senators filibustered Bennet’s proposal late last month. The bill is designed to spur liquidity through tax breaks for business owners and investors and by bolstering the lending market for small business.
Bennet wrote the bill with a number of Republicans. Specifically, it would provide roughly $12 billion in tax benefits, raise the cap on federal small business loans and create a $30 billion lending facility that would provide funds for community banks to lend to businesses through a dividend rate incentive.
The bill failed on a party line vote. Republican said they opposed the bill because they had only been offered the opportunity to include three amendments.
“Because of Washington games about what amendments would be added and what amendments would not be added, we saw a bill that has huge bi-partisan support outside of the Senate defeated by partisanship and abuse of rules in a way that has had a huge effect on our economy,” Bennet said.
Many small business have been unable to access credit since the recession caused lenders and federal auditors to tighten restrictions.
Bennet said that roughly 80 percent of jobs are going to be created by small business during the slow climb out of the recession. “It they can have access to credit, they can create the jobs,” Bennet said.
Asked if the bill didn’t play into the spend-thrift image his Republican opponent in the Senatorial race, Ken Buck, has cast on him recently in commercials, Bennet told the Colorado Independent that the bill was entirely paid for through offsets.
The Congressional Budget Office said that the bill would save tax payers $1.1 billion over 10 years, though it acknowledged there were alternative ways to score the bill.
Bennet added that unlike the TARP bailout, where lending came to a standstill as large banks held on to cheap money provided by taxpayers, the $30 billion offered to community banks through his bill would see the interest rate that the bank pay on the loan go down as the percentage of small business they lend to rises.
The bill integrated a number of Republican ideas, including the elimination of capital gains taxes on investment in small companies held over five years.
The bill is supported by 205 organization and businesses, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The American Bankers Association, The Independent Bankers of Colorado, and The National Independent Bankers Association.
“This wasn’t even the case where we were allowed to debate on a bill that there is almost universal agreement would help lift our economy here in Colorado and across the country. We couldn’t even get to debate because of broken Washington. It is high time we stopped playing these political games,” Bennet said.
The Wag Shop grooming business where Bennet was speaking also endorsed the bill. Owner, Deidre Hered said she would be one of the first to try for a loan to help create new jobs, expand her business, buy new equipment and offer her employees insurance among other things. Hered said she recently was denied a $30,000 loan, though she landed a reduced $10,000 loan.
“It would help out tremendously,” Hered said.
Bennet said that this bill was perfectly tailored to Hered’s business. “This is exactly what this bill is targeted for. It changes the tax treatment for capitol improvements like that….it would allow them to improve their business.”
Bennet said the Senate will take back up the bill when they reconvene in September.
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Perlmutter calls on CD7 opponents to support stem-cell research
GOLDEN — Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter Wednesday called on his opponents, Republican candidate Ryan Frazier and Libertarian Buck Bailey, to pledge their support for embryonic stem-cell research after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction this week blocking a 2009 executive order that allowed for increased funding for such research.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth Monday ruled that President Barack Obama’s executive order that lifted funding restrictions put in place by former President George W. Bush for all but a few stem-cell lines was illegal under federal law.
Lamberth said despite new National Institutes of Health guidelines that define ethical standards scientists must adhere to in order to get federal funding, federal law does not allow federal dollars to be used in the destruction of human embryos. As a result, up to $74 million in grants will be withheld from scientists.
“I am disappointed the federal judge’s ruling could set back advancements in this important research,” Perlmutter said. “I urge my opponents to stand against this latest court ruling, and pledge their support for the continuance of this important research that will help so many families in the 7th Congressional District.”
Bailey told the Colorado Independent that he does not think the federal government should have a roll in stem-cell research.
“On stem-cell research, I believe it is important research that should be privately funded. This is not something the federal government should be funding or working to prevent,” Bailey said.
Frazier’s campaign did not return calls or emails requesting comment.
The lawsuit was brought by adult stem-cell researchers who said they would lose funding as a result of the executive order and Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which said increasing the funding would lead to a decrease in babies available for adoption.
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, meaning they can differentiate themselves into all cells in the human body. That ability gives researchers the hope that they will be able to use them to cure a number of diseases.
“Stem-cell research offers true potential for scientific discovery, and hope for families. This decision has just poured sand into that engine of discovery,” NIH Director Francis Collins said at a news conference Tuesday, according to USA Today.
According to Collins, some stem-cell research would continue using current funding, but new research would be blocked.
“Stem-cell research holds the greatest promise we have to find a cure for medical conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and diabetes,” Perlmutter said. “The executive order took steps to require the National Institutes of Health to establish clear ethical guidelines for the research, and I think the research should be allowed to move forward … My oldest daughter has epilepsy, so I know firsthand the hope this kind of research can mean to individuals and families.”
While the Obama administration is looking at legal remedies to the judge’s ruling, Rep. Diana DeGette said that she plans to put the issue at the top of her legislative list.
‘‘This catapults this issue to the top of the agenda,” DeGette told Bloomberg. “Congress is getting right on top of this, and I know we’ll be acting soon after we get back.”
Poll finds tea party numbers up, public opinion down
The number of people who say they are part of the tea party movement or know someone who is appears to be increasing, according to a Rasmussen poll released today.
The poll found that 1-in-4 U.S. voters say “they consider themselves part of the tea party movement or have close friends or family members who are involved with it.” However, the poll showed that increased familiarity leads to a lower opinion of the movement.
The telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters found that 13 percent of voters said that they were actively involved in the tea party movement, while 13 percent more said that they had close friends and relations in the tea party movement.
While 60 percent of likely voters said they have no ties to the predominantly conservative movement, that number is down 9 percentage points from a similar poll conducted in May by Rasmussen.
Still despite the increases in participation, the favorability rating for the tea party has gone down. In April of last year, 51 percent of Americans said that the tea party movement was good for America. However, the recent poll shows that number has decreased to 43 percent, with 36 percent of those polled viewing the movement unfavorably. The remaining 21 percent are undecided.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.
Advocates call for more community input in selection of next safety manager
Local community advocates say Monday’s resignation of Denver Manager of Safety Ron Perea does not end their concern about the office in the wake of police excessive force allegations.
Denver Police at the Denver Art Museum in August of 2008. (Photo/Jeff Bridges)
After the sped-up process of selecting Perea following former Manager of Safety Al LaCabe’s decision to retire, advocates interviewed by the Colorado Independent are calling for more community involvement in both the selection process and Perea’s replacement.
“They should learn from their past mistakes of rushing through the process without adequate community input,” Lisa Calderon, a Denver community advocate, said. “There should also be a commitment from the next candidates to build upon the discipline matrix that took years to design and implement.”
Art Way, Colorado Progressive Coalition racial justice director, agreed with Calderon: “We need a manager of safety who is willing to implement the discipline matrix to the full extent, and err on the side of the community … Someone willing to imprint on law enforcement that they are civil servants and not some sovereign group of thugs. I think many within law enforcement would like to see this as well.”
Speaking to the Colorado Independent after his hire a couple of months ago, Perea said he did have some past experience working with community groups, though limited in scope.
“I’ve always been working with diversity groups, mostly in our recruiting … We find that our strength is in diversity,” Perea said at the time. “As an official with the mayor’s office, that goes along with the territory. You’ve got to work with the community.”
Working first as a police officer and then in the U.S. Secret Service, Perea said in that interview that building relationships is what made the job as manager of safety a dream one for him. However, that dream quickly turned on him after realizing his decision not to fire two police officers involved in the 2009 beating of Michael DeHerrera cracked the foundations of future relationships.
“The whole thing is weird, I would think Hick [Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper], [Denver Independent Monitor Richard] Rosenthal and Perea would be on the same page,” said Way, who as a member of a selection board approving Perea as a candidate had been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Surely I thought Perea would stay in line with the momentum LaCabe created, but he seemed bent on undoing things. These DPD cops have been acting as if they are celebrating LaCabe’s departure.”
Eric Brown, communications director for the mayor’s office, said that the next steps in developing a selection process for the new manager of safety have yet to be discussed.
Calderon said she applauded the resignation of Perea but added she hoped the city would see it as a lesson. “I hope the city’s leadership finally takes this opportunity to make real structural changes in the department to improve community relations, restore public trust and save taxpayer money that is currently being spent to settle cases with victims of police violence.”
Due to the selection process of Perea being expedited to compensate for the retirement of LaCabe, that time line initially put into question the ability for the city to allow for community involvement in the process. However, Brown said at the time that they were happy with the process and felt there was adequate citizen input.
He said candidates were first narrowed to a group of 17, then were screened by a preliminary panel of individuals familiar with the Department of Safety. Four candidates emerged and went on to a second panel Brown said was made up of community leaders and union members. He said that LaCabe, Rosenthal and Hickenlooper Chief of Staff Roxane White also conducted interviews.
Hickenlooper ultimately made the appointment.
Calderon had said that while some on the panel represented real community leaders, many were the just “usual suspects.” She called for broader community outreach for the next decision-making process.
Noting that the city should not stop its investigation into the incident, Calderon said while Hickenlooper and Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman continue to say that these violent acts were isolated incidents committed by a few cops, “the only differences between these beatings and other excessive force incidents that we community organizers have been complaining about for years is that these officers were captured by DPD’s own cameras.”
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Boyles posts sexist video, says he’s looking for trouble
On KHOW’s Peter Boyles Show today, Boyles decided to jump on board the latest viral video by posting a clip that has been called sexist and offensive. The video compares doctored photos of Democratic women with shots of Republican women. Noting that those who play the video have gotten into trouble, presumably referring to its sexist nature, Boyles said he decided to get himself into trouble once again.
“I saw it for the first time last night and I cracked up,” Boyles said. “And it is offensive, there is no doubt about it. But then again this is the place to, I guess, offend almost everyone. We have managed in the last couple of years to offend practically everyone.”
The video posted by Randy Brown, webmaster for Minnesota Republican Senate District 56, has sparked a controversy across the nation both with Republicans and Democrats condemning it as sexist and inappropriate.
“It was poor judgment and a very juvenile attempt at, I don’t know, a laugh,” Andrea Kieffer, a Republican candidate for the state House, told the Star Tribune.
“It wasn’t intended to be fair,” Brown told The Minnesota Independent. “It was intended to be funny.”
The video features pictures of Janet Reno under a heading “Man of the Year” and another with Rosie O’Donnell’s head digitally placed on a captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s body, among others.
Boyles has in the past gotten himself in trouble for calling U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette ‘Vagina DeJett,” stirred controversy by supporting a billboard calling on Obama to release his birth certificate , and regularly makes top Arbitron numbers with his take onboth illegal immigration and Islam.
Boyles said after seeing the video for the first time, he and his producer decided it had to go up on their site. He said people would be writing about him posting the video.
Editor’s note: An original version of this post inaccurately attributed a quote. It should have been attributed to Andrea Kieffer. The Colorado Independent regrets the error.