One issue that has been overlooked by both major congressional candidates of for the U.S. 4th Congressional District (Marilyn Musgrave and Angie Paccione) is the erosion of our constitutional rights and the consistent attempts by the Executive Office to circumvent the provisions of the constitution.

I know, I know, this makes me sound like I’m looking in the sky for black helicopters, but believe it or not this is a valid critical issue. Our current government may be as benevolent as we all believe they are, but as these fundemental rights set forth by our founding fathers are undermined the potential for further corruption and abuse is astronomical. Just this week, the president signed into law terror detainee legislation that both allows the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the authorization of explicit endorsement of “alternate” interrogations methods (torture to you and I). Now I have nothing against Jack Bauer style interrogation techniques when the circumstances warrant, but any methods of this nature should be loathed and subject to severe scrutiny - not legislated into acceptability.

Unfortunately, Musgrave is more interested in funding the ‘War on Drugs’ and the ‘War on Terror’ than she is defending our rights. Paccione is just interested in covering her own behind and convincing us she’s better than Musgrave. In fact the only candidate that I’ve seen that even addresses this issue is Eric Eidsness. If you are interested in the future of this country and the ongoing ability of our children to live in the Land of the Free I encourage you to watch Eric’s press conference and see what he has to say.

Eric Eidsness

City Council is having a town meeting

Greeley residents are invited to the Greeley City Council’s town meeting on Tuesday from 5:30- 6:30 p.m. at the Jackson Elementary School gymnasium, 2005 25th St
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The city council holds these meeting four times a year to get comments and suggestions from the public. There is no specific agenda for the meeting.

Greg Burt, a constituent advocate for U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, will be in Greeley Monday to answer questions. Burt will meet with residents from 1- 2 p.m. Monday at the Centennial Park Library, 2227 23rd Ave. The public is encouraged to attend.

What the heck? An aide is answering questions? Marilyn is too busy to make appearances herself, so she’s sending a ‘constituent advocate’. Lame.

The University of Northern Colorado Faculty Senate will sponsor an informational forum with Solomon Little Owl, senate candidate for District 13, and Tom Griggs, candidate for the State Board of Education, at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23, at Centennial Hall, located in Brown Hall, near the intersection of 9th Avenue and 19th Street.

Candidates Marilyn Musgrave, Angie Paccione and Scott Renfroe were invited to participate in separate candidate forums but declined to participate. Bob Schaffer (candidate for the State Board of Education) was also invited but will be unable to attend because of schedule constraints.

Co-sponsors for the forum are the State Personnel Employees Executive Council, Professional Administrative Staff Council, Student Representative Council and the UNC chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Too bad more candidates won’t be appearing.

Greeley City Council has set the date for the Ward I recall election to December 12. This is an election to recall Council Member Leroy Johnson. Along with Johnson, Carlos Leal, Bill Hoff, Janet Branham and Tom Chagolla are running for this Council Seat. I encourage any of the candidates to contact Greeley Elections, I will be glad to post any statements by them.

Not sure which Ward you are in, Ward I consists of the northeast corner of Greeley, most of the area north of 16th street and east of 35th Ave.

Call me old fashioned, but I think a leader should have a certain level of charisma. Now by charisma I don’t necessarily mean good looks or a silver tongue. A politician should just have some level of likeability about them. They should be the kind of person that you would be honored to share a meal with. A person that has passion about their job and country, but also composure, charm and class.

In fact, I think that’s why George W. Bush is our President. He’s the kind of guy that I could have a bottle of mexican beer and watch a game with. A real guy that could talk about football or Nascar. John Kerry came across as a boorish snob that would only discuss his condo in Vail while sharing a bottle of Armand de Brignac. I wouldn’t cross the street to see a guy like that, but old George would be a blast to meet.

There are plenty of politicians in this country, from Rudy Giuliani to Barack Obama, that supply these qualities, but Colorado Senate District 4 is suffering from a severe lack of charisma. to Both Angie Paccione and Marilyn Musgrave, quite frankly, frighten me. The both come across as angry, bitter old women that just want to complain about the world and throw insults at each other. Personally, I don’t think I can vote for either of them. In fact, the only shining light in the district is <1a href="http://www.reporterherald.com/election/OFPRvideo.asp?candidateID=4">Eric Eidsness.

In what could be the LAMEST political attack I’ve ever heard of, Marilyn Musgrave has attacked Angie Paccione for using campaign funds for salon visits.

Musgrave campaign manger Shaun Kenney said the $424.02 spent on “salon services” violates the Federal Election Commission rule barring campaign expenditures on personal use.

“This rule means that Paccione’s campaign cannot pay for her haircuts — unless she claims she would not cut her hair if she were not a congressional candidate,” Kenney said a statement.

Maybe I’m crazy, but it seems like looking good for appearances in public and on TV would not be a ‘personal expediture’. In fact I can’t believe this isn’t standard practice. Paccione probably would have had her haircut if she wasn’t a congressional candidate, but she might have went to Supercuts rather than spending $420 at a salon.

The bottom line is Musgrave has turned this election into a circus. It’s not about the issues or what the candidates will do when elected, it’s about who can dig up the largest amount of dirt. It’s unfortunate the Paccione has felt the pressure and decided to go on the defensive, criticizing Musgrave for the attacks. I would be more inclined to vote for her if she had taken the high road and refused to sink to Musgrave’s disgusting level.

I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned this type of mudslinging attack is enough to make sure Musgrave does NOT get my vote this election day. I’m not sure I can bring myself to vote Democrat, but I’ll leave that checkbox blank before I vote Republican in District 4.

The Trib website has an article today about SD13 candidates Scott Renfroe and Solomon Little Owl. Sounds like there was a debate Monday night (of course the Trib only tells us aftewards, but that’s another complaint).

The article contains profiles of both candidates, listing both of their websites. Renfroe has a reasonably professional website at http://www.scottrenfroe.com/. Little Owl? He has a myspace page.

The sad part, not only did he use myspace for a campaign website, he only has two friends. How sad is a candidate for elected office that can only get TWO friends.

After further digging, I did find a link to a real website, too bad he couldn’t get the Greeley Tribune to print a link to that one.

On October 2nd there was a terrible accident in Weld County. A 17 year old girl was driving with her brothers, 15 and 12, and her 3 month old daugther. This girl was speeding, ran a stopsign and was hit by a pickup truck. The 15 year old, 12 year old and 3 month old were all killed.

Now, because of the actions of the liberal Greeley Tribune and conservative state Representative Dave Schultheis. Representative Schultheis sent an email to the reporter that covered the crash and asked the following questions:

• Was the driver properly licensed?
• Was the vehicle properly registered, and insured?
• Why aren’t these facts part of your published article?
• Was this person the child of parents in the U.S illegally?
• Or was she here illegally?

Rather than answer the questions, the Tribune just printed the Representative’s letter with these questions:

• What do you think of this?
• Why would Schultheis ask these questions?
• Does it have anything to do with something besides the victim’s surnames?

Now the story has been picked up by 9news, the Colorado Springs Gazette and who knows who else. Representative Schultheis is being accused of racism and the Colorado Democrats are demanding an apology from Schulthesis (not from the Tribune who actually made all of this public and is brazenly using the Bustillos family to boost their revenue).

The ironic thing is that Representative Schulthesis’ questions appear to be right on the money. Last night 9news interviewed Susanne Villarreal who said the Bustillos were in her husband’s citizenship class and were ‘just’ legal (whatever that means).

This is not a racial issue at all. This is a real, valid problem with illegal immigration. We cannot have illegal immigrants in this country driving without a license, without insurance and causing accidents. If this is the case with Miss Bustillos, as tragic as the situation is, she should face criminal charges for the deaths of her family members.

I challenge hispanic ‘activists’ in Weld County and across the nation to wake up and recognize that the illegal immigration issues in this country are not (yet) racially motivated against latinos. There are valid reasons to restrict the widespread immigration of undocumented people into this country and the Bustillos case is just an example of one of these reasons.