Questionable dealings by election official
Re: “Partisan influence taints election office,” May 10 editorial.
The Denver Post’s editorial appeared to be pitching softballs in the highly partisan scandal of Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman for his hiring of longtime friend Dan Kopelman, a GOP activist who has a business on the side, evidently marketing voter data, and is now being investigated by the state auditor for selling voter data to Republicans through a commercial website. Coffman’s conducting of his own investigation of Kopelman’s activities instead of having an external source conduct the inquiry is one of the best examples of the fox in the henhouse. How naive does Coffman think the public is?
Of course it was an error to hire Kopelman, and a more serious one to keep him there working around voter-registration systems. Where is the integrity in this highly esteemed public office?
It is time for both to go. Getting rid of Kopelman is easy; Coffman is going to take a little time and lots of voters of all stripes and parties ready to reclaim their government. A voter recall of Mike Coffman is the only way to reclaim integrity in the secretary of state’s office.
Alvin D. Rivera, Pueblo
…
Your editorial attack of Dan Kopelman and Secretary of State Mike Coffman was outrageous.
Kopelman has a strong technical background, exceptional experience with elections, and an entrepreneurial can-do spirit that is sorely needed in the job ahead of him. The elections last fall show we surely need his help. I urge Coffman to stand behind him.
This kind of unfair media coverage has just about killed the Republican Party in Denver. The result is the joke of an election we just had for Denver mayor and City Council, and the whole city suffers.
John Wren, Denver
The writer is a district captain for the Republican Party in Denver.
What one citizen has sacrificed for this war
Re: “Sacrificing for the war,” May 16 Open Forum.
Letter-writer Ed Van Keuren believes that “We should all sacrifice something during wartime.”
So far, my sacrifices include the freedom to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures, the freedom to a speedy and public trial, the freedom from compulsion to be a witness against myself, and the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. I’ve also sacrificed everything my nation used to stand for with respect to pre-emptive war, the Geneva Convention, torture, and human rights.
I’m a conservative. I prefer to conserve our rights and our values.
There’s only one thing left I’m willing to sacrifice: politicians who support this war and human rights abuses. Until torture is illegal once more, I will not vote for a single Republican at any level. Now that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
John R. Pack, Parker
Not-such-happy trails where horses have gone
Re: “Poo-sitioning cleaned up Boulder trails,” May 6 Rocky Mountain Ranger column.
The recent article by Rick Tosches about dog excrement on trails was right on. However, why was there was no mention of horses? One horse can leave a pile of “road apples” equal to what 10 or more dogs would leave. But dog droppings are often off to the side of trails, especially with longer, retractable leashes and in off-leash areas where they can run loose. On the other hand, horse droppings are always right in the middle of the trail. Or in parking lots and trailheads where the horses are unloaded from trailers and filthy, unsanitary piles of feces attract flies and spread disease. For public health reasons, working horses in cities are required to wear something to catch their droppings. And horses, not dogs, are the major cause of spreading weeds in parks, because horses eat weeds and then pass the seeds through their excrement. As the article noted, people should have a basic right not to step in poop. Local urban and suburban parks should require both dog- and horse-owners to remove their animals’ droppings from parking lots and trails, even if it’s just kicking it off to the side, away from where people walk.
Lynda Drewry, Evergreen
Treatment of inmates in domestic prisons
Americans over the past few years have been much more aware of prisoner abuse because of the Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib scandals. However, I think the large majority of the population fails to recognize the maltreatment of inmates in various prisons right here in the United States.
The U.S. prison population has quadrupled since 1980, making prisons overcrowded and understaffed, creating to a lesser extent the same problems faced in U.S. prisons overseas. Unnecessary inmate deaths occur all too often, and most of them could have been easily avoided, and are usually due to deficient health care as a result of lack of funding.
Some prisons allow their inmates to work for a small wage, which they are allowed to keep. More prisons should instate programs such as these. I believe this could remedy some of the problem and ease the burden on taxpayers; the wage that the prisoners earn should be put toward their own incarceration.
Natasha Bullard, Colorado Springs
Pointing out waste
Re: “Making recycling sexy,” May 16 Colorado Voices column.
I enjoyed Annie Dawid’s column. It reminded me, though, that seven days a week, our newspaper is placed in a bright orange plastic bag in our mailbox. Perhaps that’s a thoughtful gift during slurpy weather, but what about the other 300 days a year?
Kimberly Taylor, Morrison
Raising the gas tax
Re: “Conserve to fight gas prices,” May 10 editorial.
The American oil companies do not have all their refineries on line, so they cannot produce enough gasoline. Therefore, they raise the price. As a result, people drive less and conserve more and there is enough gas for everyone.
All that extra money we are paying for gas is going to the oil companies. Good old capitalism.
If the government raised the price of gasoline by taxes, as you suggested in an editorial last week, we would use less gas and the money would go to the government rather than the gas companies. And, if we didn’t use it in Iraq, we could use it to improve our infrastructure, like roads, schools and dikes.
I know there are many people who would rather have the oil companies get richer than even think of raising taxes, but maybe this kind of thinking can be laid to rest so we can conserve oil, become independent of foreign oil and even help global warming.
Art Cornell, Littleton
“A Christian terrorist”
Re: “Bomber Rudolph’s essays taunt victims,” May 15 news story.
Convicted murderer and Olympic and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph is referred to as an “anti-abortion extremist.” Justifying his crimes, he is quoted as saying, “Jesus would condone militant action in defense of the innocent.”
Instead of referring to Rudolph as an “extremist,” why don’t we call him what he really is: a Christian terrorist.
Jerry Goad, Golden
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