Americans For Prosperity Regulation Reality Tour 4-19-2010

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On April 19th, 2010, the group Americans For Prosperity made a few stops in Colorado on its Regulation Reality Tour,” speaking out against the environmental policies of the Obama administration. The featured speakers were Tim Phillips, founder of AFP, Jeff Crank, Colorado AFP director, David Schneider Fort Collins utilities commission & Jeff Cochran, business management systems. This was the 2nd leg of their tour, which started in Arkansas.

When Tim Phillips spoke, he gave examples of EPA regulations that hurt business owners. While motivating the audience by saying “November is coming,” he also mentioned that the card check & cap and trade legislation is dead because of the conservative political movement that is presently taking place. That doesn’t mean that the House and Senate won’t try and bring it back. They probably will. He also mentioned that the EPA now has the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by virtue of a finding and without action of Congress. Tim also went onto explain that single source energy emitters will be regulated by the EPA because of this. Single source emitters basically mean pizzerias and small businesses. He gave numerous examples in terms of who would be affected adversely by these regulations.

These photographs are of the Fort Collins and Denver events. What I found surprising is that more people showed up to the Fort Collins event in Washington Park than the Denver event in Civic Center Park. Usually when I photograph events in Civic Center Park there is a lot more people. For this photo montage, I combined both events.

Karl Rove book signing in Lone Tree, Colorado on 4-17-2010

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Unless you live in the land of fruits and nuts (aka California), a celebrity siting is sort of like climbing the Great Wall of China in the sense that it is a once in a lifetime experience. So when I found out Karl Rove would be in town signing copies of his memoir, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone: get my copy autographed, and get some photographs. The way it basically worked is you had to go up to the front of the book store and get tickets and wait in line in accordance with whatever number was on your ticket.

When I walked out of the store, I was wondering if there were any Code Pink protesters like there was a while back in California. It turns out there were only two protesters, who, while not representing Code Pink, basically accused Karl Rove of being a war criminal and wanted him arrested. They are the last two photos in this montage.

Tax Day Protest/Rally in Washington Park, Fort Collins, CO on 4-15-2010

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This event took place in Washington Park a few hours after the event in Denver which I photographed as well. Near the end of the presentation you see candidates for offices such as State Treasurer, Governor, Congressional District 4, among others. Some of the people are Tom Lucero and Dean Madere (running for Congress), Dan Maes (running for Governor) Ali Hasan and J.J. Ament (running for State Tareasurer), and Former Congresman Bob Beaupre. There is also a photo of Matt Arnold who heads Clear The Bench Colorado. This is an organization that seeks to replace some of the State Supreme Court Justices on the Colorado Supreme Court.

As for the rest of the photos, it can be determined that the group of people is motivated to get involved and recyle Congress in November because they don’t believe it is presently going in a positive direction.

Tax Day Tea Party Rally @ the Colorado State Capitol 4-15-2010

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At the Colorado State Capitol on 4/15/2010, a group of local activists gathered to protest taxes and government policies. Some of the speakers were people running for various political offices. in this montage you will eventually see photographs of Dan Maes, candidate for Governor. The rest of the photos consist of crowd shots and signs. some of them are quite amusing. At least I thought so.

Adams County Assembly on April 3rd in Colorado

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These are photographs from the Adams County Assembly convention. At this assembly, multiple candidates showed up to speak and mingle with the voters. what you see in these photos are the following candidates: Scott McGinnis and Dan Maes (both candidates for governor), Ali Hasan and JJ Ament (both candidates for Colorado State Treasurer), Bob Brancoto and Stephen Bailey (both candidates for Colorado’s 2nd district), Steve Barton, Cleve Tidwell and Ken Buck (all 3 candidates for U.S. Senate), Ryan Frazier, Mike Sheely and Lang Sias (all 3 candidates for the 7th Congressional District), John Suthers (Colorado’s Attorney General).

In their speeches, they all communicated the urgency of fiscal responsibility and getting people into office with real world experience. A lot of the candidates have worked in the corporate arena and in science, for example. They like the idea of smaller and more financially responsible government. When Cleve Tidwell and Dan Meas told the crowed that they are not a lawyer or professional politician, the crowed erupted in applause.

One speech I found to be most effective was that of Ali Hasan. He used visuals to demonstrate his point when he was talking about how the state budget is spent on various things and he expressed a desire to create jobs and divest from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The crowd applaud in agreement with his stated goals.

Tea Party Express Tour Rolls Through Denver on March 31, 2010

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This event probably turned out around more than 2000 people based on my photographs. Among the people traveling on the tour bus were Congressman Mike Coffman, former Congressman Tom Tancrado, California radio talk show host Mark Williams just to name a few. Their speeches centered mostly on the idea of trying to reverse the present course of Washington D.C. Here are phontgraphs from the event.

Denver anti-Obamacare Protest on 3-21-2010

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While politicians in D.C. are basically winging it with health care legislation, political activists here in Denver stage a rally letting the politicians know that they are not in favor of what Congress is doing.Roll Call newspaper reported that the Congressional switchboard reached close to 100,000 calls an hour on Friday.

At this event there were people with bullhorns speaking to the crowd warning that the cost of medical care would increase like it did in Massachusetts.  The person wit the upside down flag lapel gave me permission to take a photo as long as I did not show her face on camera. cars driving by honked in supporting the cause of the protesters.  One group of people was nice enough to bring their pony for the cameras.

Weld County Colorado Caucus Experience 3-16-2010

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This was the first caucus I have ever been to. I noticed some interesting things. On March 15th, 2010, a person volunteering for Stephen Bailey’s campaign asked me if I can put signs out in front of Legacy Elementary School for the Bailey campaign. I said yes. So on the 16th, I went to the school and put 20 signs on various parts of the lawn. It seems to have paid off in a sense. Here is the link to the straw poll results. The interesting thing about it is that one of Stephen Bailey’s competitor’s for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District showed up and did a meet and greet with voters. He is seen in some of these photographs. It should be noted that normally, candidates don’t show up at caucus events (at least in my experience). Or they may show up at one or some of them. Even though Bob showed up, he still came in 2nd place.  When you go to a caucus event, you normally see maps on the wall that basically tell you where your precinct is. In my experience after everyone was seated, the Weld County Assessor and Weld County Commissioner basically gave motivational speeches in an effort to tell the activists to get involved in the political process and change the direction of the country.

I spoke to my Dad about the caucus process and he expressed the sentiment that the process is unfair by virtue of the fact that you basically have a few hundred people gathered in a room dictating the political direction of the country. So he is not a big fan of the process in that sense.

The photograph you see in this montage of the guy holding up names represents the people running for delegates for various future conventions.

3-13-2010 Say No to Obamacare rally/protest in Fort Collins, Colorado

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While the health care debate rages on in Washington D.C. and across the nation, a group of local activists gathered in Fort Collins, Colorado to send Betsy Markey and every other politician the message that they don’t want the health care plan that Congress is contemplating. Here are photographs from the event

Coloraod’s 4th Congressional District q&a on 3-11-2010

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On 3/11/2010, candidates for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District met for a debate/meet & greet with the voters. What you see in these photographs are candidates Dean Madere, Diggs Brown, Tom Lucero and Cory Gardner.

It was interesting to watch as both Cory and Dean were asked the same question by the gray haired guy and he got a completely different answer. The man asked why he should vote for 1 them vs some other candidate. Cory’s answer was that he should get the vote because he has done this before. Meaning he has served in the Colorado State Legislature so he knows how things work and how to get things done. Dean’s answer was because he is not a professional politician and he thinks this asset would encourage a cultural shift in Washington D.C