(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at: www.DemNotes.com)

This morning, we continued with our County Chair Summit here in Georgetown. Today has been a motivational morning for county chairs, with some great presentations from the DNC’s training director, Parag Mehta. Parag, who has done some training here in Colorado in the past, is talking right now about how to recruit volunteers. More importantly, though, Parag is talking about how to train, coach, and effectively utilize volunteers.

This has been a wonderful retreat for our county party leaders. The setting here at the Shadows Ranch in Clear Creek County is idyllic — surrounded by mountains, overlooking a pond — we even have wolves literally watching our presentations! Last night, we had a wonderful dinner where county party leaders sat together and discussed politics and organizing at the county and precinct levels over a relaxing meal and drinks.

Parag has been great at inspiring folks here. We spent several minutes going through the crowd and discussing what is at issue in 2008, as well as how each of us initially got involved in the Democratic Party. We heard some great stories, including some about volunteering for candidates like Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. We also heard about some critical issues — and learned of the diversity of reasons we’re involved. Some folks are involved because of how important education is; others talked about civil liberties; still others talked about climate change. Parag seemed a bit thrown back by the natural beauty surrounding us (and the wolves). But he came back with a critical truth to some of the political changes on the Western Slope: “We don’t want the Western Slope to look like West Texas!” Succinct, and oh, so true.

We’ll keep going until this afternoon — we just had a wonderful brunch (the folks here at the Shadows Ranch have been simply amazing to us). This afternoon, the weekend will conclude with an Executive Committee meeting, where we’ll have a brief budget discussion, and the Committee will be asked to approve the Colorado Delegate Selection Plan. I’ll write more once we are all done.

Finally, I do have some pictures from the weekend (and the dinner in La Junta last weekend) up at:
http://www.demnotes.com/photos

Bleary-eyed.

That describes the look on the faces of many of our county chairs here in Georgetown this afternoon. We’ve been on a whirlwind tour of running county parties all day here, with little in terms of breaks. Why? Well, the job of being county chair is an incredibly taxing one, and throwing all of those duties into a one-weekend training is a challenging task.

Billy Compton and Mark Ferrandino are now delivering a presentation on campaign finance and reporting. Billy’s up right now talking about state campaign finance law; Mark will then discuss Federal campaign finance law.

But the day has been incredibly busy, and the many folks that I’ve spoken with have indicated that they’ve found this session helpful, even though it is exhausting. Since I last reported this morning, we’ve discussed the delegate seleciton plan, had some information sharing among county chairs about the key points to remember in terms of running the party, and a lengthy discussion of fundraising at the county party level.

After lunch, we heard a very interesting presentation from the CDP’s Technology Director, Mike Weissman, about upcoming changes to VAN (our State Party online voter file application) and efforts to improve technology at the county party levels. Because DemNotes is a public site, I don’t want to go into all of the details about the fantastic tools that we’re going to have for the 2008 elections in VAN, but rest assured that your county parties and campaigns using VAN are going to be able to really drill down and target — and contact — voters at every level of Colorado politics. VAN was already sophisticated, but it is really entering the next stage of sophistication over the next few months.

We then had a presentation from Democracy for Colorado about organizing precincts using the “ThinkPrecinct” program. If you haven’t had a chance to go through that training, talk to your county chair about setting up a local or regional ThinkPrecinct training program — it will really help you get your precincts and local party organized.

After the ThinkPrecinct presentation, we had a great discussion with Jen Walmer, who is the Arapahoe County Chair, and Don Weigel, who runs the House Majority Project, about how to use precinct vote history data and other technical data to help target in counties. We also had a discussion about how the House Majority Project works with county chairs and campaigns to help determine which races are going to get the most support through “targeting”. I REALLY don’t want to get into any of the specifics of what Don had to say about specific races, but I’ll just say I’m so very happy with the state of things right now in terms of where we are in the State House.

Tonight, we’re going to have round-table discussions about best practices in each county, followed by dinner here at the ranch. I’ll write more tomorrow as we get into the training by the DNC.

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting at the Shadows Ranch in Georgetown as we have just convened the 2007 County Chair Summit. 72 county chairs and other county party officers from around the state have gathered here in this idyllic setting to share ideas and strategize for the 2008 election cycle.

The morning began with Pat Waak giving a talk about the state of the Democratic Party today; I gave a short description of the site selection process for the state convention next year; now, Second Vice Chair Margaret Atencio is describing the outreach efforts to ensure inclusion in the delegate selection process.

The day is jam-packed with activities and trainings — we have an awful lot of new county party chairs and other officers who are tasked with being the eyes, ears, and mouth of the Democratic Party in communities across Colorado. This morning is primarily an update on State Party business, delegate selection, changes in the law, and fundraising. This afternoon, we’ll be discussing VAN, our online voter file and contact application, Think Precinct training, GOTV (Get Out The Vote), and general round-table discussions among the county chairs on what is working (or not working) for each county party.

Tomorrow, we’ll be getting some pretty intensive training from the DNC on national issues and campaign training. Finally, we’ll conclude our weekend tomorrow afternoon with an Executive Committee meeting to approve the Delegate Selection Plan and some budget changes.

I’ll try to report back later on how things are going here in Georgetown, but rest assured that folks from around the state are very well-represented by their county chairs here.

———————

The newest County Chair here was elected only Thursday evening in Walsenburg: Huerfano County Chair Cindy Campbell. Cindy replaces Joan Breternitz, who resigned after an amazing and tireless term as Huerfano’s chair. I drove down to Walsenburg to attend their meeting, and had a great evening chatting with the group of Huerfano Dems. We had a good conversation about targeting voters and voter contact using VAN, as well as financial and fundraising issues.

——————-

As I said, I’m going to be here in Georgetown all weekend, and I’ll keep all of you updated on what is going on — including some photos — throughout the weekend.

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at www.DemNotes.com)

I spent last evening in La Junta, where I emceed the annual “Tri-County Dinner” sponsored by the Democratic Parties of Otero, Bent and Crowley counties. It was a great night, with nearly 200 folks showing up to support Democrats in the heart of the Arkansas Valley.

I kicked off the evening by talking about the “talk of the town” lately, another Arkansas Valley native - Dick Wadhams, the freshman Chair of the Colorado Republican Party. I reminded folks that the values that Wadhams has become known for — personal attacks instead of issues debates — are not values he learned in Las Animas; they’re Washington DC values. More important, Coloradans rejected those values when Trailhead became the poster child for those kinds of attacks last year, and they’ll reject them again in 2008. Instead, folks will choose Arkansas Valley values — hard work, pragmatism, and a debate on the real issues affecting Coloradans.

The highlight of the night, though, was definitely not my work as an emcee. Instead, it was the great oratory skills of our Speaker of the House of Representatives, Andrew Romanoff. Romanoff echoed much of what I had talked about - the need for pragmatism in governing, and the need for Democrats to keep an open mind about ideas to solve problems that exist. The Speaker spent a lot of time discussing the things that our Democratic legislature has been able to get done, as well as explaining the challenges ahead.

He also talked about the importance of the Southern Colorado community getting engaged in the political process. Efforts to defeat the US Army’s efforts to take an immense chunk of historically and archeologically significant land in Southeast Colorado to massively expand the Pinion Canyon training grounds have mobilized Democrats and Republicans from across the counties of Southeast Colorado. The Speaker spent the evening at a table filled with Pinion Canyon activists, and I’m sure he heard even more about how important this issue is to Southeast Colorado.

Several awards to county party activists in Crowley and Otero counties were distributed, the silent auction was a huge success, and Rep. Buffie McFadyen was on hand to address the crowd about transportation and energy issues as well. They even were nice enough to make sweatshirts for the Speaker and myself with our names on them in honor of the dinner. It was extraordinarily flattering.

I don’t have photos up yet, but I did take a few (and had a few sent to me this afternoon as well), so I should have some up by tomorrow afternoon.

————–

One more quick note - I did a Q&A with Colorado Confidential over the weekend regarding Convention planning and how to become a Convention Delegate for Denver 2008. It was a little long, so they split it into two parts. Here are the links:
Part One: http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1888
Part Two: http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1892

(Cross-Posted to DemNotes at: www.DemNotes.com)  

As a few of you have heard, the FEC and the Colorado Democratic Party have reached a “conciliation agreement” with respect to an audit of the CDP’s federal campaign finance reports in 2001-2002. The press has reported on this a couple of times, so it’s not really new news, but if you open the newspapers in the morning, you’re likely to see another story about the fine that the CDP has agreed to.

Specifically, the Party has agreed to pay a $105,000 fine to the FEC for the violations. I want to again point out that these violations were not for any misconduct; instead, they were for an awful lot of bookkeeping errors that resulted in erroneous reports being filed with the FEC. None of the officers or staff currently involved with the Democratic Party — nor even the officers involved with the Party under Chair Chris Gates — were in those positions in the time period involved in this case.

More important is that all of you be reassured that safeguards have been put into place to ensure that this never happens again. Chair Pat Waak, on the State Party blog, best describes what we’ve done:

Nothing illegal was done in the 2001-2002 cycle. Instead this is a reminder of how important careful and thorough bookkeeping is, especially during a campaign cycle. Two years ago we put into play a new accounting system, hired a compliance firm, and added a full time accountant. Routine audits are done so that nothing like this happens again.

Mark Ferrandino has done a great job monitoring this whole process. He will be giving a treasurer’s report at the state executive meeting on April 29. If you have questions, we will be happy to answer them.

I want to echo Pat on that last statement, especially. Our State Party Treasurer, Mark Ferrandino, walked into the office and walked right into the ongoing FEC audit. He (as well as prior treasurer Shawn O’Buckley) have done a great job sorting out the issues raised by the FEC, answering their questions, and cooperating with the investigation. In theory, the fine from the FEC could have been much worse; I’m convinced that they took our cooperation — and that means Mark Ferrandino’s work — into account in this instance.

The Party has already paid $50,000 of the FEC fine, and we’ll pay the remainder in the months ahead. We saw this coming, and we budgeted for it in our 2007 budget approved last December. Here’s some good news, though: according to the most recent FEC reports, we’ll still be in good shape relative to the Colorado Republican Party even after we pay our fine. The CDP currently has about $160,000 on hand in its federal account with no debt. The state GOP? They have just $24,000 on hand, and they have a staggering $272,000 in debt still to repay! In other words, the Colorado Republican Party took out loans to end up with the results we saw in 2006!!! Wow.

——————————

There are several events this weekend — I’d like to share a couple here in Southern Colorado:

Tomorrow night, I’ll be emceeing the “Tri-County Dinner” in La Junta, sponsored by the Democratic Parties in Otero, Bent and Crowley counties. More impressively, Speaker Andrew Romanoff is the keynote speaker. Here are the details:

Crowley, Otero, and Bent Counties invite you to join us for our annual JFK Dinner, Saturday, April 21 at the Otero Junior College Student Center, 2001 San Juan Ave., La Junta, CO. Social Hour at 6:00 PM, Dinner at 7:00 PM. Cost is $20

In addition, I’ve received word that the Latino Initiative in El Paso County is kicking off their work with a dinner tomorrow night, as well:

El Paso County Democratic Party—LATINO INITIATIVE BANQUET
APRIL 21, 2007 Silverwood Hotel, 505 Popes Bluff Trail (I-25 and Garden of the Gods) Cocktails: 5:30 pm Dinner: 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm Dance: 8:00 pm to 12:00 am (Music of PERSUASION) Guest Speakers Local businesses have donated items for auction. Price of tickets: $25 per individual for the dinner and dance. If you only want to attend the dance, $15 for a single or $20 per couple. For reservations and tickets, call Democratic Headquarters at 473-8713 (9:00 to 5:00 pm weekdays). In the spirit and belief that all Democratic functions should be accessible by all, if there is a financial concern for attending, please call Jennifer Trujillio-Sanchez at 719-651-0445 for arrangements.

Hope you can make it to one or the other if you’re in Southern Colorado this weekend!

An ongoing audit by the Federal Elections Commission from 2001-2002 has finally been settled. During the past two years we have been clearing up questions of documentation and allocation. For the past several months we have been negotiating a fine. The final fine is $105,000.

The audit is old news. The press has covered it twice. The only thing that is new is the amount of the fine. Last month we paid $50,000 of the fine and will pay the remainder over the next five months.

Nothing illegal was done in the 2001-2002 cycle. Instead this is a reminder of how important careful and thorough bookkeeping is, especially during a campaign cycle. Two years ago we put into play a new accounting system, hired a compliance firm, and added a full time accountant. Routine audits are done so that nothing like this happens again.

Mark Ferrandino has done a great job monitoring this whole process. He will be giving a treasurer’s report at the state executive meeting on April 29. If you have questions, we will be happy to answer them.

Pat Waak

Gov. Bill Ritter today signed into law the nation’s toughest targeted divestment bill aimed at ending the suffering in Darfur. HB 1184, supported by a broad bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, cuts the financial ties between the state’s public pension funds and companies that support the Sudanese government responsible for the atrocities in Darfur.

“This bill is especially meaningful to me because of my time in Africa,” Gov. Ritter said. “Colorado has no business supporting companies that facilitate genocide. Targeted investment can help insure our pension funds are redirected in a responsible way, and by joining with other states we can send a strong message that what is happening in Darfur is unacceptable.”

The genocidal government of Sudan is heavily reliant on foreign investment, and spends more than 70 percent of its oil revenue on a military force that perpetuates genocide.

HB 1184 requires pension funds to maintain a list of companies that either directly or indirectly help the Sudanese government commit genocide. After an expedited engagement period, the pension funds would be required to divest from companies that do not change their business practices in Sudan. The funds would be prohibited from future investment in offending companies until the atrocities cease.

Here is the text of HB-1184

Maybe the title of my post is a little misleading. You see, it isn’t the Democratic Party in Archuleta County that’s getting national attention; instead, its a group of Democrats who have formed a chapter of the non-partisan group Drinking Liberally in Pagosa Springs that are getting the attention. But you get the point.

This morning, I was greeted with a nice e-mail. It was from the national Drinking Liberally group. You’ve seen me write about attending Drinking Liberally events in Colorado Springs and Canon City, and how I’ve encouraged you to start your own Drinking Liberally group. Well, some folks in Pagosa Springs did just that. And they became the 200th chapter of Drinking Liberally in the nation!

Here’s a bit of the e-mail from Drinking Liberally this morning:

Thanks to the citizens of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, our little national network now stretches to 200 chapters. Nebraska and Maine just jumpstarted their first groups, New Orleans recently revitalized its gathering, and from sea to shining sea, libating liberals are promoting democracy one pint at a time.

Some of you turn to DL as oases in conservative corners of the country, others of you raise your political pints in more progressive pastures. Together we have created communities around shared liberal values — we have greeted candidates and Congress Members, hosted authors and bloggers, while welcoming activists and newcomers to share ideas and experiences…and sharing a few drinks.

I’m headed to Canon City’s Drinking Liberally tonight (5:30 until ??? at Brother’s in Canon City, across from Democratic HQ, in case you happen to be in the area). Pagosa became the first chapter on Colorado’s Western Slope, but probably not the last. I’ve heard rumors of folks working to set up a chapter in Steamboat Springs, and I’m still waiting on my friends in Durango (as well as Pueblo over here on the Front Range) to get one started. While not affiliated with the Democratic Party, Drinking Liberally is a great way to get folks active and involved in the electoral process who have Democratic-leaning thoughts.

For more information, including to find the chapter nearest you (in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood, Fort Collins, Longmont, Canon City and Pagosa Springs) or to find out how to start your own chapter, go to:
http://drinkingliberally.org/

————————————-

In other news, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald announced today that she would be running for Congress in the Second Congressional District, which becomes an “open seat” with Congressman Mark Udall’s candidacy for Congress. Senator Fitz-Gerald also recently announced that she was stepping down from her position as the head of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which gave her a spot on the DNC (as well as a “super-delegate” status to the National Convention). We’ll miss her on the DNC.

It is likely that there will be a primary in the Second Congressional District. Environmental leader Will Shafroth and former State Board of Education Chair Jared Polis have both signaled that they may run. With such a great field of candidates, I’m only hopeful that we can keep this race positive and focused on what each candidate plans to do in Congress to make America and Colorado a better place.

Here’s a clip from Sen. Fitz-Gerald’s announcement:

Colorado State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald announced her candidacy for the 2nd Congressional District today. The district is currently represented by Congressman Mark Udall, who announced a bid for the United States Senate on Monday.

“I’m excited to announce my candidacy for Congress and bring Colorado’s record of change to Washington,” explained Fitz-Gerald. “Together, we have accomplished a lot and seen many positive changes here in Colorado, and now it’s time for us to help the nation solve tough problems like our country’s health care crisis and getting our troops out of Iraq.”

As the wife and daughter of military veterans, Fitz-Gerald supports the bi-partisan efforts in Congress to bring this war to a close. “I want to ensure our troops are fully trained and equipped and our veterans are receiving the health care and support that their sacrifice and courage demand,” she said. Fitz-Gerald supported resolutions in the Colorado Senate that opposed troop escalation and honored military veterans, and fallen soldiers.

If I get other announcements from Shafroth or Polis, I’ll be sure to forward those, too.

Today Governor Ritter’s office release a list of accomplishments, including what Lt. Governor Barbara O’Brien and executive branch departments have achived so far.

Bills Signed Into Law: 172
Executive Orders Issued: 96
Nominations & Appointments: 125

New Energy Economy

* Doubled Colorado’s renewable energy standard to 20% by 2020 (HB 1281).

* Promoted full legislative package, including Clean Energy Fund, Wind on the
Wires transmission bills and incentives for renewable-energy production.

* Landed Vestas Blades manufacturing plant (460 jobs).

* Issued Greening of State Government executive order.

* Quadrupling the number of E-85 ethanol fuel pumps around Colorado.

Environment & Natural Resources

* Proposed overhaul of Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to broaden
membership and take public health and environment into account.

* Called for legislative task force to examine northeast Colorado water issues.

* Hired a climate change adviser to the Office of Policy and Initiatives.

* Submitted revisions to Colorado’s roadless-protection petition.

* Signed HB 1132 into law, allowing water quality and environmental impacts
to be considered in water-transfer decisions.

Health Care

* Established Preferred Drug List, lowering prescription drug costs for Medicaid
clients and saving at least $1.6M annually.

* Established Colorado Cares Rx Program, providing discounted generic medication
to 264,000 Coloradans (SB 1).

* Signed HB 1133, the Health Care Whistleblower Protection Bill.

* Created Nurse Workforce and Patient Care Task Force.

* Initiated legislation to add three members to "208" Commission.

* Signed SB 60, which helps notify rape victims of emergency contraception.

* Signed SB 97, which redirects tobacco settlement money into health care.

* Signed SB 79, which requires standard medical contracts between insurers
and doctors and other health providers.

Transportation

* Named 32-member Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel.

* Hosted 600 participants at "Bridges to the 21st Century" Statewide
Transportation Summit.

Education

* Introduced plan to keep State Education Fund from becoming insolvent.

* Signed HB 1014, reviving graduate programs at Western State College.

* Signed HB 1048, allowing the state to measure student progress over time.

* Proposed an additional $5.7M in financial aid for college students.

* Proposed $25M for construction projects at colleges and other facilities.

Economic Development

* Convened a Business Advisory Group of 20 business leaders.

* Established a Jobs Cabinet.

* Landed Vestas Blades manufacturing plant (460 jobs).

Criminal Justice

* Introduced plan to reduce the state’s nearly 50 percent offender recidivism
rate.

* Signed HB 1010, modernizing crime-fighting tools for police at crime scenes.

* Appointed six new judges.

Driver’s License Offices

* Proposed re-opening 2 driver’s license offices (Adams and Jefferson counties).

Government Efficiency

* Proposed Government Efficiency and Management Performance Review.

* Dissolved Office of Colorado Benefits Management System, saving $200K.

* Restored employee payroll deduction option.

Storm Relief

* Authorized up to $1M in emergency funds for Holly tornado recovery.

* Arranged for 50 FEMA mobile homes and travel trailers for people of Holly.

* Authorized $2.5M southeast Colorado blizzard recovery.

* Seeking aid for cattlemen, ranchers and farmers through USDA and Congress.

Lawsuit Settlement

* Facilitated settlement of lawsuit involving long wait times for county jail
inmates to receive court-ordered mental-health competency hearings.

Lt. Gov. O’Brien: First 100 Days in Office

Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs

* Facilitated first-ever "learning" trip with Southern Ute and Ute
Mountain Ute tribes.

* Convened Ute Mountain Ute tribal council members, Cortez law enforcement,
and other city and county leaders to discuss mutual concerns in Montezuma and
Cortez counties.

* Collaborated with Sen. Williams to write and successfully pass SJR07-024.

Health and Wellness

* Partnered with Kaiser Permanente and CDPHE to launch the "Live Well"
initiative.

* Acting as spokesperson for CHP+ program.

* Chairing the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission.

* Partnered with a coalition to write HB1347.

* Worked with HCPF, CDPHE on funding for obesity and nutrition programs and
promotion.

Early Childhood

* Worked to move policy work on ECE to the Office of the Lt. Governor.

* Launched key efforts and raised needed funds to examine a potential governance
structure for early childhood in Colorado.

* Launched efforts to increase Colorado Preschool and Kindergarten Program
by an additional 2,000 slots, fulfilling a 2003 goal of the Children’s Campaign.

K-12 Education

* Made key contributions to fine tuning governor’s executive order establishing
the P-20 Council.

* Partnered with the Donnell-Kay and Piton Foundations to host a conference
and several meetings with business and legislative leaders regarding education
reform.

* Appointed by the governor to represent Colorado on the Education Commission
of the States.

Governor’s Commission on Community Service

* Aligned federal priorities for Commission on Community Service with Colorado
Promise.

Economic Development

* Partnered with the Colorado Council on the Arts, C.U. Denver Film Program,
and the Denver Film Society to create a new focus on the arts as an economic
development tool.

* Chairing the Henderson Underground Science and Engineering Project.

Ritter Administration: First 100 Days

Department of Agriculture

* Responded to southeast Colorado blizzards with hay drops; working with federal
government and Congress to secure disaster designation; and helped coordinate
Operation Blizzard Benefit Concert.

* Examining well-water issues along South Platte River in northeast Colorado.

* Testified at Farm Bill field hearing in Colorado.

Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

* Absorbed responsibilities of Colorado Benefits Management System with Department
of Human Services.

* Reorganizing department with new leadership team, mission, vision and goals.

* Implementing governor’s Preferred Drug List executive order.

* Created position for director of Client and Community Relations.

Department of Higher Education

* Secured an additional $57.8M, or 8.45% for higher-ed funding in FY07/08.

* Accepted a grant from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
to hold a summit in June to address long-term financing of public higher education.

Department of Human Services

* Opened Forensic Unit at Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo and reduced
wait-list of inmates waiting for competency hearings. Also settled a related
lawsuit.

* Increased support for counties to meet obligations to Colorado’s needy population.

* Absorbed responsibilities of Colorado Benefit Management System along with
Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

* Initiated plans and requested funds to improve physical standards at the
Homelake Domiciliary and Veterans Nursing Home.

Department of Labor and Employment

* Introduced new website for job-seekers and workforce professionals.

* Provided extensive assistance on implementation of new immigration laws regarding
employment eligibility and legal-worker status.

* Received honors from the EPA for developing an innovative system to manage
the State Petroleum Storage Tank Fund, resulting in faster and cheaper cleanups.

Department of Local Affairs

* Coordinated emergency-response and recovery efforts after the Holly tornado,
including securing 50 travel trailers from FEMA for families who lost their
homes.

* Led response efforts following this winter’s blizzards in southeast Colorado.

* Established new Foreclosure Hotline to combat Colorado’s high foreclosure
rate.

* Awarded $20.6M to energy-impacted communities for public improvement projects.

* Awarded $232K to seven regional growth management projects around the state.

Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

* Trained and prepared for deployments of 162-person security force company,
30- person aero-medical evacuation unit and 280-man special forces unit.

* Improved recruiting and retention in Army National Guard to reach 107% strength
and 101% strength in Air National Guard.

* Supported legislation to establish an oversight commission for the State
Veterans Nursing Homes (HB 1211).

* Supported legislation to establish local advisory boards for each State Veterans
Nursing Home (HB 1212).

* Conducted eight searches for overdue/crashed aircraft.

Department of Natural Resources

* Leading the effort to reform the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
by expanding its membership and broadening its mission (HB 1341).

* Worked with Gov. Ritter to submit a roadless-area petition to the federal
government.

* Produced the first renewable energy leasing opportunities map, identifying
nearly 50,000 acres of potential land for renewable energy leasing across the
state.

* Worked with lawmakers on two important water-right bills, HB 1305 and HB
1012.

Department of Public Health and Environment

* Passed new regulations governing mercury emissions from coal-fired power
plants, requiring reductions faster than expected under a federal rule.

* Serving on Cabinet-level interagency Climate Change Team responsible for
developing a state strategy to address issues of climate change.

* Launched the $3M-a-year public-private LiveWell Colorado program to encourage
improved physical activity and nutrition.

* Preparing to debut the Smart Meal Seal pilot.

* Piloting SimplyWell, a comprehensive health risk management solutions program.

Department of Public Safety

* With Department of Corrections, leading the effort to cut prison recidivism
rates.

* Supporting "Safet2Tell" violence-prevention program, which provides
students, teachers and parents with a confidential program to report school
safety concerns.

* Completed a project that electronically transmits fingerprint records to
the FBI.

* Signed an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that will provide
ICE training to 22 state troopers for a new Immigration Enforcement Unit.

* Provided DNA analysis that solved two 20-year old criminal cases.

* Colorado State Patrol troopers were among first responders to Holly tornado.

* Colorado Bureau of Investigation launched a new identity theft unit.

Department of Regulatory Agencies

* Secured resources to open civil rights offices in Pueblo and Grand Junction.

* Responded to concerns that citizens may not be aware of their rights throughout
the regulatory process. Began disseminating statement of rights to anyone who
files a complaint with the department.

* Posted an area on website with cross-divisional Q & A links geared toward
most frequently asked questions from consumers.

* Approved a solar energy contract between Xcel Energy and SunEdison that provides
for construction of the nation’s largest photovoltaic plant. Groundbreaking
ceremony is scheduled for April 23 in Alamosa.

Department of Revenue

* Expanded online license-plate renewal.

* Implemented online payment processing for Net-filers.

* Working toward re-opening several driver’s license offices around Colorado
and making online renewal available by late summer 2007.

Department of Transportation

* Participated in "Bridges to the 21st Century" Statewide Transportation
Summit.

* Snowplow drivers logged 67,000 hours of overtime responding to winter blizzards
and maintenance crews have filled more than 155,000 potholes.

* Launched 511, a new traveler information hotline for weather and construction
info.

* Debuted "Driver’s Seat" education and safety campaign for teen
drivers and parents.

The following was released this morning.

UDALL FOR COLORADO

FOR RELEASE: April 16, 2007
Contact: Jennifer Rokala
303/412-0531

UDALL FILES FOR 2008 SENATE RUN AND REPORTS $1.5 MILLION CASH ON HAND

(Westminster-CO) – Today, Congressman Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs) filed papers to form a new Senate election committee with the Secretary of the United States Senate.

Udall also reported $1,537,686 million to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in his Congressional campaign account, including $334,882 raised in the last quarter.

The entire $1.5 million is transferable to his Senate committee, “Udall for Colorado.”

“I have been deeply honored to represent the people of Colorado’s Second Congressional District,” said Udall. “I will continue to work hard to represent my district, and I view the upcoming Senate race as an opportunity to expand my strong commitment to public service on behalf of all the people of Colorado.”

“I intend to run a campaign that breaks the old mold of bitter and partisan politics, in favor of one that is about bringing Coloradans together, “said Udall. “Our country is facing deep crises at home and abroad – we must find a way to successfully end the war in Iraq and mount an effective strategy against terrorism, and we must build a safer, stronger and more prosperous America. We can only meet these challenges by working in new ways that reach across old partisan divides, and elevate our public debates. That is what I have always strived for in my political life, and it is my intention to build a campaign organization that matches the best expectations of Coloradans.”

Udall indicated that a formal campaign announcement would be set for later this year.

###