November 6, 2012 Ballot
October 9th was the last day to register to vote for this election. This is a mail-in, early voting and polling place election. If you are registered to vote in El Paso County, mail-in ballots were mailed out on October 15th. Early voting will occur October 22nd to November 2nd at Clerk and Recorder locations. Your polling place may have changed since you last voted so if you have questions, please contact the El Paso Clerk and Recorder at 719-575-8683. If you are going to mail in your ballot, it will require extra postage ($0.64) and must be in the hands of the County Clerk by 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 6th.
First, we want to ask everyone to vote and to encourage your friends and family to vote. There is an especially critical issue on this ballot: the legalization of marijuana in Colorado by an amendment to the Colorado Constitution. All the Libertarians, Occupy Wall Street types, and, sadly, even some Republicans are coming to the polls to make sure this passes. We must out vote them. The future of our state and our children depends on this.
PRESIDENTIAL
We know there is great fear and concern among those of you who are voting. And that fear is compelling many to compromise their Christian and conservative principles by voting for the lesser of two evils (please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rScPlpBBIA for a great Christian presentation on this issue). Our hearts are equally heavy for our nation and we have spent many hours praying about this election, but we cannot vote for Mitt Romney for President. If you fear Obama, you’ll vote for Romney. If you fear God, you won’t (from: http://prolifeprofiles.com/mitt-romney-abortion). If you want to be angry about that, be sure to direct that anger where it belongs: the Republican Party which has once again failed American Christian conservatives for yet another critical election (1996: Bob Dole vs. Bill Clinton and 2008: John McCain vs. Barack Obama).
We are tired of hearing from Mitt Romney supporters that he is pro-life and supports traditional marriage. This is simply not true no matter how many times he says it or how many pledges he signs. We must each decide if we will vote for Mitt Romney, but at least educate yourself about whom you are supporting (http://massresistance.org/romney/ and http://stevedeace.com/news/iowa-politics/the-case-against-mitt-romney/). You will get what you vote for. We’re not sure if Romney’s values are Mormon values, but they definitely are NOT Christian or conservative ones and it grieves our hearts to hear Christian leaders try to convince us otherwise. It’s unfortunate that for many, Mitt Romney’s words and money have been enough to buy their endorsements. Remember, candidates will say just about anything to get a vote. You must examine what they have actually done. Here are just a few lowlights from Mitt Romney’s record on life, the homosexual agenda, Boy Scouts, judicial appointments, religious rights, government controlled healthcare, cap and trade, gun control, and minimum wage:
- 1994 campaign against Ted Kennedy for Massachusetts Senate seat and 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was endorsed by the homosexual group, Log Cabin Republicans, primarily based on his support for the pro-homosexual federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) according to Bay Windows (24 Oct 2002)
- 27 Oct 1994: In Boston Globe article, “I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation.” On 8 Aug 2012, when the Boy Scouts announced in July that they would continue their ban on homosexual leaders, Andrea Saul, Romney’s campaign spokeswoman said Romney’s position on this issue is unchanged from 1994.
- 19 Nov 1999: The sole Bain executive who signed for a deal investing $75 million to facilitate the growth of a medical waste company, Stericycle. This investment allowed the company to acquire their competitor, Browning Ferris Industries, and become the top medical waste service in the U.S. and the premier disposal company of the abortion industry, servicing nearly 600 Planned Parenthood locations nationwide. Romney made tens of millions on this deal. (http://www.stopstericycle.com/2012/08/23/css-calls-on-mitt-romney-to-withdraw-from-race-for-investing-in-company-burning-aborted-babies-and-for-remarks-supportive-of-aborting-rape-babies/)
- 2001: Called first citizens’ petition in Massachusetts to define marriage and ban civil unions “too extreme” and “bigoted”
- 2002: When head of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, the Boys Scouts were banned from participating as volunteers at the Olympic games.
- Mitt Romney was Governor of Massachusetts from Jan 2003 – Jan 2007.
- 2002: Campaign website, “He is a supporter of the federal assault weapons ban.”
- 2002: Campaign website, “The minimum wage is important to our economy and Mitt Romney supports minimum wage increase, at least in line with inflation.”
- 2003: Hired a New England environmental activist, Doug Foy, to draft the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the country’s first interstate compact with ten other states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by ten percent by 2019. There are conflicting reports about whether or not Romney was a signatory. In 2004, he initiated the “Massachusetts Climate Protection Plan,” a series of damaging emission regulations targeted at power plants. One of the plants he targeted with false stats from extremist environmental propaganda (“that plant kills people”) filed for bankruptcy two years later. (http://www.romneyexposed.com/2011/07/23/exclusive-new-information-on-romney%E2%80%99s-views-on-global-warming/)
- 18 Nov 2003: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules same-sex marriage protected and gives legislature 180 days to act (“Goodridge” ruling)
- Dec 2003 – 2005: The teaching of homosexuality officially enters the Massachusetts public school system. A kindergarten parent who strongly insisted on being notified when teachers were discussing homosexuality or transgenderism was arrested and put in jail overnight
- 26 Apr 2004: Romney’s chief Legal Counsel, Daniel Winslow, issues directive to Justices of Peace to resign (or be fired, fined or sued) if unwilling to perform same-sex marriages based solely on the judge’s “Goodrich” ruling.
- May 2004: Nominated homosexual activist, Stephen S. Abany to Wrentham District Court
- 29 Oct 2004: Romney signs new law eliminating blood test for STDs as requirement for marriage license opening the door for homosexuals with STDs to get marriage licenses
- November 2004: Claims to have converted to pro-life after a meeting with a Harvard stem-cell researcher. Two months later, nominated liberal pro-abortion Democrat Matthew Nestor to a lifetime seat on the Somerville District Court
- 2005: Boston Globe op-ed Romney quote, “Stem cell research does not require the cloning of human embryos. Some stem cells today are obtained from surplus embryos from in-vitro fertilization. I support that research…”
- Oct 2005: Signed the bill to get a federal waiver to expand state subsidized distribution of “emergency contraception” (Plan B abortifacient or morning-after abortion pill) to low-income women
- Dec 2005: Ordered Catholic Hospitals to dispense “emergency contraception,” (Plan B abortifacient or morning-after abortion pill) on the legal advice of his personal counsel, Mark Nielsen
- 2 Jan 2006: Boston Globe reports Romney issued special Governor’s ceremonial marriage licenses to 189 same-sex couples in 2005, claiming he complied with a statute that the legislature had not yet passed
- 10-14 Mar 2006: Requires Catholic Charities not to discriminate against same-sex parents resulting in them closing their doors in Massachusetts
- 12 Apr 2006: Signed RomneyCare into law, including Planned Parenthood on the advisory board setting standards for coverage which led shortly thereafter to state-funded abortions (which are now free) (http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/12/30/mitt-romney-didnt-just-give-planned-parenthood-money-he-gave-them-extra-power/)
- July 2009: USA Today op-ed, urged ObamaCare to include an individual mandate (for each citizen to purchase health insurance or pay a fine)
- 16 May 2012: Holds $50,000-a-plate fundraiser at the home of Phil Frost, the executive of Teva Pharmaceuticals that manufactures the Morning After Pill (Plan B One-Step abortifacient)
- 9 Oct 2012: The Des Moines Register interview, “There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”
And then there is his Mormonism. Let us be very clear about something: Mormons are not Christians. The God and the Jesus the Mormons speak of is not the God and Jesus of our Bible. Those who claim Mormons are Christians are uniformed or misleading. Please educate yourselves on this issue (“The Facts on the Mormon Church” by John Ankerberg and John Weldon with Dillon Burroughs). You should not fool yourself into thinking that a Mormon will have Christian values or a Christian worldview.
It completely nauseates us to think of a second term for President Obama. We knew how bad President Obama was in 2008 when the Republican Party put us in that no-win situation. He has always been a Chrislam (the ungodly convergence of Christianity and Islam), anti-colonialist Marxist who has undisputed ties to every radical progressive in our country, despises our Constitution, wants to hurt America as much as he possibly can and stands in defiance to the Lord Jesus Christ on every moral issue. We’ve seen “2016” and “Occupy Unmasked.” So why in 2012 did the Republican Party nominate someone who socialist mastermind and billionaire, George Soros, said in a January 2012 Reuters interview, “If it’s between Obama and Romney, there isn’t all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them.” A degenerate (in our opinion) like Soros can see what thousands of Christians are choosing to ignore.
The roots of America’s economic problems stem from rejected morality. We have completely turned our backs on the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot ask God to bless us as a nation when what we are doing or voting for as a nation He calls wickedness. Our real hope as a country is to turn back to God and repent. Unless we address the morality, we cannot turn the economic tide. Neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama has any intent to address our moral decline. We firmly believe that if we honor the Lord Jesus Christ with our votes, inexplicable miracles will happen that have a much greater chance of saving our country than any man. If you agree, here are a couple of presidential candidates on the Colorado ballot you might want to consider. While they are not perfect, they line up more closely with our Biblical worldview than the major party candidates:
Tom Hoefling, America’s Party, www.tomhoefling.com; He is not on the ballot in every state, but with write-in access could have enough electoral votes to win.
Supports: Life, traditional marriage, 2nd Amendment, private property rights, restoring limited government, peace through strength, sovereignty, and the repeal of 16th & 17th Amendments
Virgil Goode, American Constitution Party, www.goodeforpresident2012.com; He is not on the ballot in every state, but with write-in access could have enough electoral votes to win.
Supports: Constitution, eliminating federal programs, moratorium on green cards, stopping illegal immigration, no amnesty for illegals, lower taxes, tort reform, traditional marriage, ending Obamacare, closing the Department of Education, 2nd Amendment, life, the continuation of Social Security and Medicare
EL PASO COUNTY
We cannot recommend many Republicans on the ballot here in El Paso because of their records. While redistricting by the Democrats greatly reduces the chance of Republicans holding onto their one vote majority in the House, we still cannot recommend these Republicans. They have cooperated more with the Democrats than with the conservatives who put them in office and, in our opinion, do not deserve our votes. We have looked at some of the third party candidates, but cannot recommend them either. (Boldfaced names below indicate those we would vote for.)
REPRESENTATIVE TO THE 113TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS – DISTRICT 5
Doug Lamborn
REGENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO – AT LARGE
Cannot recommend the Republican in this race
REGENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO – CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 5
Cannot recommend the Republican in this race
STATE SENATE – DISTRICT 10
Owen Hill
STATE SENATE – DISTRICT 12
Bill Cadman
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 14
Dan Nordberg – This Republican does not have a record for us to make a recommendation.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 15
Mark Waller – We cannot recommend the Republican because while he claims to be pro-life, he has not responded to the Colorado Right to Life survey and has not supported Personhood. In addition, he has sponsored legislation that was billed as pro-life when it was not. He also voted with Democrats to permanently take away the gun rights of people the police label “a person of interest” even if they turn out to be completely innocent.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 16
Janak Joshi – While this Republican is a Hindu (which means his decisions will be made from a non-Christian perspective), he did sponsor a Fetal Homicide measure in 2012 and says he will support traditional marriage; however, his support of Personhood is not known.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 17
Mark Barker
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 18
Jennifer George – We cannot recommend the Republican because of her support for same-sex civil unions.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 19
Amy Stephens – We cannot recommend the Republican because of her performance as Majority Leader the last two years and because she has not supported Personhood or responded to surveys by Colorado Right to Life, Pikes Peak Citizens for Life, or Colorado Christian Coalition. Even though Tom Minnery (Senior Vice President for Government & Public Policy for Focus on the Family) endorsed her during the Republican Primary, Colorado Right to Life has come to the conclusion that she is a fake pro-lifer.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 20
Bob Gardner – We cannot recommend the Republican because he allowed same-sex civil unions to pass out of the committee he chaired earlier this year and because Colorado Right to Life does not consider him pro-life.
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 21
Lois Landgraf – We are supporting her solely because Colorado Right to Life has said that she is pro-life and is in favor of Personhood.
DISTRICT ATTORNEY – 4TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Dan May
You can go to http://www.clearthebenchcolorado.org/evaluations-2012/ to make your own decisions about the judges on the ballot. The judicial system in our state is very liberal and, more times than not, makes decisions that go against common sense and the taxpayer. We feel one of the ways to deal with that is to vote these guys out of their judicial offices. In other words, here is your opportunity to impose term limits with your vote.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT 2
Amy Lathen – We cannot recommend the Republican because in our opinion she epitomizes Power Protection Politics (PPP) despite the lip service she gives to conservatism in op-ed pieces and speeches.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT 3
Sallie Clark – We cannot recommend the Republican because of her record of voting to keep tax refunds that belong to you, voting against lowering property tax rates, for placing tax increases on the ballot, and for supporting the deceptively-worded ballot question that extended term limits so she could stay in power longer.
COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT 4
Dennis Hisey – We cannot recommend the Republican because of his record of voting for placing tax increases on the ballot and for supporting the deceptively-worded ballot question that extended term limits so he could stay in power longer.
BALLOT QUESTIONS
AMENDMENT S – NO
Makes changes to the state personnel system that has benefits and drawbacks. However, the drawbacks outweigh then benefits. It will cost the taxpayer more money because temporary workers can be hired longer and does not fix systemic problems with the civil service.
AMENDMENT 64 – NO
This places the legalization of marijuana into our state Constitution, making it legal to grow, transport and sell marijuana for recreational use. Anyone twenty-one years or older would legally be able to possess and consume up to one ounce of marijuana (the equivalent of 60 joints or eight pans of pot brownies). Adolescent marijuana usage in Colorado has increased since medical marijuana was approved in 2009. Suspensions for drug violations at Colorado’s public schools have increased 45% over the past four years. This is an addictive drug that has increased in potency, can lead to the use of other drugs, and can permanently affect brain development for children and young adults, lowering their I.Q.s. Marijuana abuse accounts for 67% of adolescents in substance-abuse treatment programs in the United States. Between 2006 and 2010, more than 400 people in Colorado were killed in car crashes involving a driver who was on drugs. Many of you may have seen the commercials claiming that regulation revenue will be spent on education. That is simply a fantasy. State income from the highly taxed alcohol and tobacco only pays for 10-12% of the collateral damage produced. There are enough of us to stop this from passing, but we must show up and vote no. You can find out more at http://votenoon64.com/index.html.
AMENDMENT 65 – NO
Another attempt by government to mess with elections under the guise of campaign finance and the usual result is no improvements in the system and more losses of our freedom of speech.
1A – EL PASO – NO
Per TABOR, they have to ask your permission to take more of your money. They always make it sound drastic if you don’t, but it’s just not true. Does the sheriff need a $99,000/year legal advisor when there is a $130,000/year county attorney? By the way, this is the same sheriff whose deputies, according to a 24 Sep 2011 article in The Gazette, went to several Ace Loan pawn shops around Colorado Springs, taking cash from registers, safes and even the owner’s wallet to collect delinquent Stormwater Enterprise fees (known as till taps) supposedly in compliance with court orders. Do we dare vote no for an agency that uses such heavy-handed tactics? Absolutely! We are in the fourth year of a declining economy. The only place where revenues are increasing is in the government. Since 1995, the sheriff’s office has asked for more of your money three times. His budget then was $20.9 million. Today it is $47.8 million. Most of us have had to cut back to make it through. So should the sheriff.
1B – EL PASO – YES
Here is your chance to REDUCE term limits for the offices listed from three consecutive four-year terms back to the original two four-year terms. It is our opinion that the longer these people stay in office, the more corrupt they become. Show them how thankful you are for them placing the unnecessary tax increase request from the sheriff on this already ridiculously long ballot by kicking them out as soon as you can. County Commissioners Sallie Clark and Dennis Hisey are already getting their third four-year term if they win this election and will still get to serve it because this ballot measure is worded to grandfather in their third terms.
2 C – CITY OF MANITOU SPRINGS – NO
Here the city of Manitou Springs would like the voters to let them spend the money they are already collecting in a different way than was approved by the voters originally. Sounds like they have surpluses that they want to keep and spend.
5A – PIKES PEAK RURAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY- NO
Per TABOR, they have to ask your permission to extend a tax increase for another 10 years (was supposed to end Dec 31, 2014). While you might be able to afford continuing to give your portion of this $284 million, please consider that a yes vote commits your neighbors to continuing to give this tax when they might not be as fortunate. The way things are going who of us will be able to afford to put gas in a vehicle to drive on any of these pending road projects. It truly is a time for necessities not projects that are nice to have. Besides do you really want to spend your money for a roundabout at the Union/Woodmen intersection?!!! Yes, that is one of the projects this tax is slated to do.
The following measures are all tax increases. Per TABOR, they have to ask your permission to take more of your money. We are in the fourth year of a declining economy. The only place where revenues and budgets increase every year is in the government. Most of us have had to cut back to make it through declining personal incomes. It is time for the government to cut along with us and stop growing. Now is not the time to increase taxes no matter how wonderful you might think government is. If you can afford to give the government more of your money, you do not need to pass a tax measure on this ballot to do that. You are free to donate at any time. Have some compassion; please do not obligate your neighbors to giving up more of their money when they probably don’t have it to give.
2A – TOWN OF CALHAN – NO
2B – CITY OF MANITOU SPRINGS – NO
2D – CITY OF FOUNTAIN – NO
4A – SOUTHWESTERN HIGHWAY 1115 FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT – NO
5B – SECURITY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT – NO
5C – TRI-LAKES MONUMENT FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT – NO
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