Third Colorado state senator may face recall

Energized by historic recalls of two Colorado state senators last month, activists have begun collecting signatures to oust state Democratic Sen. Evie Hudak from office.

Hudak, who represents Westminster, a suburb northwest of Denver, is a favorite target of the GOP for her liberal voting record and a propensity to attract bad PR for herself.

Under Colorado election law, those wishing to prompt a recall election must collect 18,900 signatures from district residents – 25 percent of the total votes cast in the last election. Hudak was initially elected to the state Senate in 2008 after two terms on the state Board of Education.

In both senate elections, Hudak has won by narrow margins; in 2008 she topped Republican Libby Szabo with 51 percent of the vote. In 2012, she won with only 47 percent, narrowly edging out Republican Lang Sias by 0.7 percent. Sias’ defeat was blamed in Republican circles on the presence of Libertarian Lloyd A. Sweeny, who garnered nearly 7 percent of the vote. GOP analysts believe a majority of those Libertarian votes would have otherwise gone to Sias.

This is the second effort at recalling Hudak this year; the successful September recalls of Democrats John Morse and Angela Giron were the result of an original campaign that targeted them as well as Hudak and state Representative Mike McLachlan.

The recall petition cites strict new gun restrictions passed by the Colorado legislature as a reason for recalling Hudak. “She has infringed upon our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She has voted to make all citizens less safe and to drive hundreds of jobs from Colorado,” the petition reads.

“A small group is seeking to undo the will of voters, who re-elected me to the Senate last November. Unable to defeat me then, they are now attempting a political power grab using a low-voter-turnout, no-mail-ballot recall election strategy,” Hudak told The Denver Post in a statement.

Voter turnout was indeed low in last month’s elections in Colorado Springs and Pueblo; in Morse’s Colorado Springs district only 21 percent of voters participated.

Via: Daily Caller

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SEN. IN CO RECALL ATTACKED FOR COLLECTING PER DIEM FOR 'HAIRCUTS AND GOLF GAMES'

IACE Action is running an ad against Colorado state senator John Morse (D) for collecting per diem for "haircuts and golf games."

Morse faced an ethics investigation for this in 2011, when it was learned that of all the legislator in Colorado he was one of only 11 who collected per diem during the entire 120 day legislative session. He was also investigated for billing the people of Colorado $99 a day for leadership pay for more than 200 days while the legislature was not meeting.

Because of this, the IACE ad claims Morse was collecting per diem for "haircuts and golf games."

The ethics panel that investigated Morse ultimately cleared him. But on August 22, 2013,National Review Online (NRO) pointed out that the panel was comprised of three Democrats and two Republicans, and that it basically acknowledged "that a senator's word alone is sufficient for claiming legislative per diem payments."

"In short," added NRO, "[Morse] said he did legislative work on those days, and that was good enough for [the ethics panel]; no need to verify that he actually did work related to his state-office duties."

The IACE ad makes clear Coloradans did not elect Morse in order to pay for haircuts and golf games.

Via: Breitbart

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