The most important thing on the minds of Colorado’s GOP is repealing the Affordable Care Act. That was their first order of business yesterday, according to a report by Charles Ashby.  The vote passed along party lines, evidently for the purpose of getting Sal Pace on record as supporting Obama Care. (Please note that Obama said he didn’t mind having his name associated with caring.)

Then in a bizarre statement Pace went on to say, “ We look a little bit too much like Washington, D.C., and I’m reconsidering my future plans if this is what it’s going to be like.” So what does that mean? Pace hasn’t even been elected in one of the most watched races in the nation, and already he’s having second thoughts? Geez that gives me a lot of confidence.

Just to make this story even juicer, Laura Bradford was the only Republican who voted against the bill. She later said that it was a mistake.  We have a Representative who doesn’t know the difference between yes and no on a resolution? Oh, she said she was “distracted.” That makes me feel better! Not good.

But get this: the resolution went even further than calling for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. They want to hold a constitutional convention in order to repeal it. The last constitutional convention was in 1787 and we need another one now because a bill passed that was designed to stop abuses by the health insurance industry, and make health care more affordable for all? Or do we need a constitutional convention just in case Sal Pace figures out whether he wants to run against Scott Tipton?

We’ve got the picture. GOP politicians don’t like the Affordable Care Act. The constitutionality of the bill is already making its way through the courts, with Colorado signed on to the side that is claiming it is unconstitutional. We can’t wait for a court ruling, instead we want to throw out the U.S. Constitution and write a new one?

Homework

Grand Junction Sentinel Story About GOP & Health Care

Denver Post Story About GOP & Health Care

Constitutional Convention

By nature I am an optimist, so it was amusing this morning to have a story about how optimistic Democrats are about the coming year be the first thing to pop into my in-box. Then the second bit of news I came across was a story about Colorado asking the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug.

Moving the classification from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 2 would change how the drug is prescribed in Colorado, and allow it to be sold by pharmacies. At first I thought the world had gone topsy-turvey while I slept, because I couldn’t imagine Colorado’s Attorney General signing on to any lawsuit that would make it easier to use medical marijuana.

He didn’t. The letter representing Colorado’s position, which is joining forces with Rhode Island and Washington, came from Colorado’s Department of Revenue. That made a lot of sense given that Colorado has been using fees on both care-givers and marijuana card-holders to balance the state’s budget since Ritter was governor.

After reading the story, I’m wondering what took the Department of Revenue so long. Evidently the 2010 law, signed by Ritter, which set up marijuana regulations for Colorado required that the state ask the DEA to reclassify marijuana by January 1, 2012. It took them two years to write a letter!

Given that this letter was mandated by law, I’m now wondering why the letter didn’t come from the Attorney General. Could it be that this has been a political hot potato, and the last agency to catch the potato was Revenue? Did they issue the letter because they were the last agency with lights on, with everyone else gone for the holidays?

Homework

Democrats Are Optimistic

MSNBC Report on Colorado and Pot