Progress Now Action

For several years now the evidence of the Alberto Gonzales gang's manipulation of the Federal Civil Service within the Department of Justice has been well publicized. The fact that right-wing political ideologues were being approved for career professional positions based on social issue orthodoxy, rather than competence and qualifications, is yet another blight on the scandalous legacy of the current occupant of the White House.

Today's report in the Washington Post reveals that this practice of burrowing right-wing political operatives into the Civil Service is also in-place in the scientific agencies. Perhaps this is the mis-administration's strategy for making permanent the Republican obsession for combating the truth of science with their twisted political and social priorities.

The Center for Public Integrity is soon to release their "Broken Government" study. The fund-raising teaser release promises 120 specific cases. This kind of investigative effort to hold the Bushies accountable as the mis-administration fades into oblivion is crucial.  Revealing and acting on the depth and breadth of this conspiracy is vital to the success of any reforms and corrects to the offenses of the past eight years.

The Obama-Biden Administration will be stretched and tested to uncover and flush-out these right-wing activists who have burrowed their way into the Civil Service like so many termites. The evidence of these infestations must be met with quick action.

Executive appointees selected for positions above these people must be prepared to take every possible action within the laws and regulations of the Civil Service structure to either get them dismissed, or make it too hard for them to stay and accomplish their nefarious goals. Attention to the selection of the Administrator of the Office of Personnel Management will be a key to success in this area.

Various Executive agency inspectors general must be supported in investigating these political opportunists. IF they are found to be substantially unqualified for the job description that they were hired to fill, then it should be clear grounds for dismissal as an unlawful appointment.

The Obama-Biden appointees who are saddled with these burdens must enforce clear, precise and enforceable performance standards. When confronted with qualitative requirements to enforce and perform based upon laws and regulations that these infiltrators are likely to hold ambitions to undermine and avoid, could more easily force them to resign.

Even in its demise the minions of the current mis-administration are appearing to be increasingly unwilling to follow the current occupant of the White House and the vice out of Washington. This certainly adds to the challenge and urgency of establishing the new administration's executive leadership. Too many months and too many acting, caretaker, leaders in the executive departments will make it all the harder to untangle the tentacles of the Bush parasites.

Bob Schaffer's out of touch, wrong on critical issues rap-sheet grows by the day. I found this latest charge in Ed Quillen's column in the Sunday Denver Post.

Read the whole column online at http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_10799075

or scroll down to the extended post text.

The Referendum A test still carries a lot of weight with me.  Once again here's a case where Bob Schaffer sided with big-monied interests and against Colorado farmers, ranchers and communities.

Hopefully, he'll be sliding into the dustbin of Colorado political history by 10:00 PM on November 4th.  Being too cozy with the "drill baby, drill" crowd of oilies is bad enough, but working on the wrong side of water policy is unforgiveable.

PS - If you get a chance, drop a complimentary email to Ed (his email link at at the end of the Extended Post Text).  It is so hard to find something worthy of praise in the Denver Post these days that we should encourage Ed to continue his good work.

It turns out that Rep. Mark Udall kept his promise after all to oppose Congress taking its summer break without first considering a crucial energy bill.

Udall, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, took a drubbing this week from his Republican opponent, Bob Schaffer, when he missed the vote on whether to recess.

During a debate Monday with Schaffer, Udall vowed to oppose the recess unless energy legislation was considered.

The resolution Wednesday called for Congress to adjourn by Thursday, Friday or Saturday of this week and return to Washington Sept. 8. For that resolution to be official, there had to be a final adjournment motion sometime this week.

In floor action today, the House voted on the final adjournment motion. Udall joined Republicans in requesting a recorded vote to oppose the motion to adjourn.

"I think the House should continue trying to pass legislation to improve our national energy policies," he said.

An oil contract U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer helped negotiate in Iraqi Kurdistan is one of several production deals the U.S. State Department has flagged as problematic for Iraq and its attempts to establish a national oil policy.

The oil contract, finalized in November 2007, allows a subsidiary of Schaffer's former employer, Denver-based Aspect Energy, to produce oil on a nearly 104-square-mile plot in the Dohuk Governate in northern Iraq.

Schaffer confirmed Wednesday he was one of several Aspect Energy executives who visited Kurdistan in November 2006 and laid the groundwork for the company's oil deal.

The Kurdistan Regional Government, which governs the semiautonomous region of Iraq, has moved during the past several years to aggressively develop crude oil resources in northern Iraq. Those efforts run counter to moves to implement a national oil policy.

According to a June 23 report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, Aspect Energy's oil contract and roughly two dozen other similar deals have been a point of contention between Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

"The (Kurdistan Regional Government) has negotiated an estimated 25 contracts with foreign oil firms, which the Iraqi federal government claims are illegal," according to the report.

As we discussed late last week, this is another potentially devastating situation for Schaffer, possibly worse than the Abramoff/Marianas scandal--which polls show has already seriously damaged his election prospects. The finalization of an Iraqi petroleum law is viewed by most experts as critical to the stabilization of Iraq, and the story emerging here is about American oil companies--like Schaffer's--who were more concerned with getting 'a piece of the action' than they were with supporting American foreign policy goals in Iraq.

Is there even another former Congressman out there who voted to invade Iraq, then immediately went to work for an oil company pursuing contracts there? We're not aware of any. That's bad enough, but the idea that the contracts he pursued could be prolonging the Iraq war instead of helping end it?

Bob Schaffer

CHx Capital - Vice President Emeritus

Bob Schaffer is Vice President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC where he is involved with a variety of energy, mining and education projects. Additionally, Bob is actively involved in international business development activities for Aspect Energy, including sourcing and development of international oil and gas exploration opportunities for the Company. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 21, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.

Bob Schaffer

CHx Capital - Vice-president Emeritus

Bob Schaffer previously acted as Vice-President for business development at CHx Capital, LLC. Bob was involved in a variety of wind power investments, international energy opportunities, and education projects. Bob worked to improve the US Wind Industry. Specifically, he worked to increase entrepreneurial opportunities for small business owners by ensuring that wind-specific tax credits could be utilized indirectly by wind developers classified as small business owners. Bob helped educate Congress about the benefits of wind power including its positive impact on the environment, job creation, and its importance to making the United States less dependent on foreign sources of oil. In 2007, Bob Schaffer provided notice to Aspect and CHx of his intention to run for the United States Senate. Bob Schaffer resigned his position with CHx Capital, LLC / Aspect Energy, LLC effective December 31, 2007. We wish him the best of luck and offer him our congratulations for his contributions to energy and wind development efforts.

UDALL ANSWERS CLINTON GAS TAX CHALLENGE, STANDS WITH COLORADANS FOR MEANINGFUL ENERGY RELIEF

Yesterday in Indiana, Hillary Clinton challenged every member of Congress to go on the record with a position regarding her proposal to temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax, and state whether they were with her or against her. Senator McCain has offered the same proposal, despite experts from all sides declaring that this plan will not actually lower costs for drivers.

Today, Congressman and Senate candidate Mark Udall responded to the challenge:

"There is no issue I have spent more time on in my public service career than working for real, responsible change in our energy policy - the kind that breaks our addiction to foreign oil and puts us on a path to greater national security, a stronger economy, and lower energy costs for our families. There is certainly no question that families are hurting with the soaring cost of energy and need relief.

"The so-called 'temporary gas tax holiday' that Senators Clinton and McCain propose won't deliver this needed relief. This will not create the economic relief they say it will, because prices will continue to rise until we address the real source of this problem. We do need to provide immediate relief for families hard-hit by spiraling gas prices, and we can do that by demanding the President stop adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This will ease the production crunch that is causing these skyrocketing gas prices.

"Senator Clinton claimed yesterday that I either stand with her on this proposal or stand with the oil companies. To that I say: I stand with the families of Colorado, who aren't looking for bumper sticker fixes that don't fix anything, but for meaningful change that brings real relief and a new direction for our energy policy. We can't afford more Washington-style pandering while families keep getting squeezed.

"It is exactly the kind of short-sighted Washington game that keeps us from getting real results to our energy problem. Experts across the ideological spectrum agree that it will increase the deficit, drain money away from Colorado roads and bridges, and hurt the environment, all without actually making prices lower for drivers."

Former vice president Al Gore will launch a three-year, $300 million campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, a move that ranks as one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history.

The Alliance for Climate Protection's "we" campaign will employ online organizing and television advertisements on shows ranging from "American Idol" to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." It highlights the extent to which Americans' growing awareness of global warming has yet to translate into national policy changes, Gore said in an hour-long phone interview last week. He said the campaign, which Gore is helping to fund, was undertaken in large part because of his fear that U.S. lawmakers are unwilling to curb the human-generated emissions linked to climate change.

"This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing this crisis," Gore said. "I've tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it."

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association held rallies in Greeley, Denver, Trinidad and Grand Junction to protest proposed regulation of the industry that they say is a complete rewrite of the rules that have governed the industry in Colorado. Industry official contend the new rules would choke the industry in Colorado.

"If we didn't have oil and gas in Weld County, that would mean that all of our property tax would be about 40 percent higher," he said. "That would not be a fun bill to pay."

Deb Frazier, spokeswoman Communications Director for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, which includes the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the new rules won't destroy the industry in the state.

"We believe that the energy industry will continue to thrive," she said. "We believe that it can continue to thrive and protect our water shale and our environment." She also said the new rules are not a one size-fits-all solution and may not change that much in Weld.

Frazier said the state hasn't updated the rules since 1996 when there were only 1,000 requests for new drilling permits. Last year there were 6,300...

As legislators gear up to tackle large fiscal shortfalls in Colorado this spring the same question keeps coming up each time….how are we going to pay for this?

Tomorrow as the Colorado General Assembly begins it’s 2008 session they will start  dealing with how to prioritize improvements in health care, transportation, and both secondary and higher education.  Also on their plate are topics such as Colorado’s response to global warming, agriculture issues, immigration reform, and fixing the state constitution.

Meanwhile, Governor Ritter is entering his second year of office.  While widely popular coming out of his firs year, many of the of the blue ribbon panels he set up to report on issues like education, transportation, and health care are starting to report back. 

The verdict: we need money – to the tune of $3 billion more a year.

So it appears the honeymoon for the Governor may be over and the real work is about start because laying in the path to these reforms are the morass of constitutional provisions limiting state spending, a hesitant state electorate when it comes to tax increases, and a host of pundits who like to remind of us of both.

GOOD LUCK!

Like most people, when it comes to issues I know very little about, I tend to make decisions roughly 65% of the time with my gut. So when I first heard of a process that turned coal (the most polluting of fossil fuels) into a liquid fuel, my gut reaction was that this was probably not a good idea. To be honest, the other 35% of my thinking controlled by my brain thought is was even worse. The process of turning coal into liquid fuel requires heating coal to high temperature and pressure, converting it first to a gas and then to liquid fuel. Thus the massive inputs of energy needed for this process means that liquid coal currently produces double the greenhouse gas emissions of regular gasoline.

But I held off strong criticism when I heard things like what the Denver Post wrote yesterday about a company called Rentech that is constructing a $50 million demonstration plant in Commerce City that will, among other things; display the coal to liquid process.

Rentech proposes to remove carbon dioxide from the coal during the conversion process and sell it to be pumped underground for enhanced oil recovery.

It runs cleaner than conventional fuels from petroleum, producing slightly less greenhouse emissions than conventional diesel when used in the same engines,…When compared to similar vehicles with gasoline internal combustion engines, there is about a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

(f)aced with the possibility that they might actually have to live up to their promises, the Coal to Liquids Coalition (an unholy alliance between the coal industry and some elements of the AFL-CIO) suddenly changed its tune. In an about-face, the members opposed Tester's amendment, despite the subsidies windfall it promised. Rather than touting their ability to make liquid coal clean as they had in their Senate testimony, industry officials now said it would be unfair to require them to live up to the environmental standards they themselves had promoted.

This week we sent out a letter asking Progress Now members to urge Governor Ritter to support protection of the Roan Plateau as he plans to release his 120 day review to the Bureau of Land Management.  Over 500 members responded by signing the open letter.  You can read the letter here

We also have a sampling of just some of the comments that members left.

Douglas Schnitzspahn -

Please consider the long-term effects of short-term thinking. The amount of natural gas that can be recovered form the Roan Plateau can never make up for the fragile, wild character of the place I want to be able to tell my children that you helped save this place for them and their children.

I've seen photos of the drilling platforms already in the Roan Plateau area and know that many, many more are planned.  This would be an irreplaceable long-term loss for our state, and I don't believe the short term energy gain warrants it, especially since conservation measures are still not a priority. In addition to the wildlife, there are many native plant species that will suffer if drilling goes ahead as planned. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to restore native plant species once their habitat is disturbed and it is these species that the wildlife depends on.

Nancy Zeilig -

I'm so glad you're Colorado's governor. It's great to have a governor we can trust to act out of integrity.

Les Gray -

The Roan Plateau is a jewel.  Only a small percentage of existing leased land has been developed.  We don't need the Roan now and future drilling techniques may do less damage.  Mr. Bush has already handsomely rewarded his patrons; don't let them get the Roan, too.

A one-time Colorado political activist who arranged lobbyist Jack Abramoff's entree into the Interior Department was sentenced today to two months in a halfway house and four years' probation.

Italia Federici, who pleaded guilty in June to tax evasion and obstructing a Senate investigation, was spared prison only because she has become a key witness in the Justice Department's ongoing corruption investigation.

Federici, who was a fundraiser for former Interior Secretary Gayle Norton's 1996 campaign for Senate in Colorado, has admitted acting as a link between Abramoff and J. Steven Griles, the former deputy Interior Department secretary who for five years was her boyfriend. Griles provided Abramoff with advice and internal agency information, sometimes directly and sometimes through Federici.

Griles, the highest-ranking Bush administration official charged in the Abramoff scandal, is serving 10 months in prison. Abramoff is serving prison time for an unrelated fraudulent casino deal. His sentencing in the Capitol Hill influence-peddling case has repeatedly been delayed so he can keep helping prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors, who recommended that Federici be placed under house arrest, have not said whom Federici is cooperating against. People close to the case have said Federici may be able to provide information about Norton...

Norton helped found Federici's front group, appears as the star at Abramoff-arranged dinners with Indian tribal leaders, decisions magically go Abramoff's clients' way...

"My country's been responsible for obstructing the process here in Bali, we know that," he said to enthusiastic applause from the crowd. "Over the next two years the United States is going to be somewhere where it is not now. You must anticipate that."