Testimony on Sen Hansen's GHG bill, and money in Colorado politics.
I post the open email I sent the CO Senate Transpo Committee, and a couple articles that show you how money moves for politics in this state (and how you can follow it yourself).
An open letter to the sponsors of SB23-016, Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Measures, and the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee
I had hoped to be able to testify in person on the latest climate change bill, but the times don't work out.
I decided that, better than nothing, I could write up an email and send it to the sponsors and to the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee ahead of their hearing the bill.
If you want to testify and/or write in, be aware that the bill (linked below for reference along with the committee page linked underneath it) is up for a hearing on Wed 1/25 starting at 1:30 PM (see the screenshot)
An open letter to the sponsors of SB23-016, Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Measures, and the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee
Hello to all,
My name is Cory Gaines. I am a resident of Logan County.
I am writing today to give you my thoughts on SB23-016. I would urge you to either amend the bill or to vote no.
We all are concerned about the planet we inhabit. We are all concerned about what we are going to leave to our children (or to the next generation). I think what divides us is how seriously we see the problem and what we would like to do about it.
I myself believe climate change to be real, but I am not on board with the extreme view that it presents an immediate, existential threat--a view that can (and has) been used to justify all manner of government regulation and intrusion into the market and daily lives of Coloradans.
There are two main problems that I see with this bill.
The first is that this bill moves up what were already arbitrary and unattainable (at least not without severe economic and social dislocation) climate goals. Plain and simple. Putting aside the issue of whether or not the goals presented by the sponsors are feasible, we all know that when codified into law people and organizations will be forced to at least attempt them. The end result will match what we already have: higher utility prices, job loss, economic strain. The greenhouse gas targets should be, at least, left as they are now.
The second is that I do not want my retirement to be your political football. I am a member of PERA (along with many others) and the injection of climate-change politics into the processes of PERA is wholly inappropriate. This bill intrudes on the proxy process and requires the board to hold to values that many PERA members may not agree with. What I want from my retirement is solvency and the knowledge that the money I invest will grow and provide for me after I decide to stop working. I do not want your values substituted in.
I urge you to either vote no if the sponsors will not accept amendments or to amend the bill such that it leaves PERA alone and that it eschews the arbitrary and unattainable goals the sponsors are pushing.
Thank you for your time.
Cory
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-016
https://leg.colorado.gov/committees/transportation-energy/2023-regular-session
Who is paying, how much, and to whom in Colorado Politics
Take note of who is paying for elections in this state.
Without regard to party or political ideology, I hate the influence buying (and peddling) in politics.
I am, however, realist enough to recognize that it's here and it's here to stay. I look at it kind of like nukes. No one really wants them, they wish they could cut back, but no one wants to be the first and have their rear out flapping in the wind depending on the good graces of the other side to disarm.
I think the best we can hope for is to follow it and to know who is paying the bills. As much as I bag on the Colorado Sun, I have to commend them for their efforts in this vein. They do good work at following money and writing up articles on same.
Another is below. Know who's paying for politics in this state.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/01/16/colorado-top-2022-election-donors/
Lastly, how can you follow money in Colorado Politics on your own?
Another look at dark money and one way to trace it ...
I usually try to stick to more local issues, but a reader sent me the following and I wanted to share it with you for a couple reasons.
1. It gives you a sense, if you read the CNBC article below, of just how complex a web people have spun with hiding money and influence-buying in politics. I like to think of myself as a reasonably smart man, but good golly just following the relatively simple and straightforward path of this stuff in an article written for a lay audience makes me a little woozy.
2. It gives me another chance (it's been a bit and worth repeating for those new to this page) to run through again how to look up contributions and etc. in this state using our Secretary of State's TRACER database (see the second link below).
First, you have to have something or someone you want to look up. For my example, I wanted to see if American Votes (a recipient of money from one of the numerous shell organizations set up by Soros) was contributing money to anyone in Colorado.
I go to the TRACER main page and choose the "Contribution Search" link (in red in screenshot 1, but I also circled in blue another one I use to look up what money individual political candidates get for your reference).
Once you click on that link the page like in screenshot 2 will come up. I don't use any of those boxes save for the one boxed in red. Perhaps a smarter person than I would have use for the other search options, but I'm not at that level. I just go for the broadest possible pool of results.
When I put America Votes into the blank I circled, you get the results page (shown in the last, unlabeled screenshot). From here you can rearrange how your results are sorted (I click on the date button at the top of the column to sort by date from most recent to oldest usually) and there you have it. You can find more info on individual contributions or recipients by clicking on the appropriate links in the results rows.
p.s. I circled in black and red at the bottom of this screenshot, clearly America Votes has been quite active in this state and for some time now--pages of results.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/04/nonprofit-financed-by-billionaire-george-soros-donated-140-million-to-political-groups-in-2021.html?fbclid=IwAR1eCVXBC4dtZOEoHhG40mUo6-_Q1cBY0tHj_k6Al6l_kyOsPud6uQ1dXFY
https://tracer.sos.colorado.gov/PublicSite/Search.aspx
