CoCo on CPR

Colorado Confidential, my other blog, was featured today on Colorado Public Radio's interview program called Colorado Matters.

The CEO of the Center for Independent Media, which makes Colorado Confidential possible, more or less successfully stuck to the story he wanted to tell, which is that we are breaking original news stories that the traditional media isn't covering.

He took it on the chin a bit by somewhat overdoing the claim that we are fair and balanced, to use the cliche, against rather obvious evidence that we are indeed left leaning in our political come from.

We do owe an allegiance to the truth, and we are committed to publishing accurate, reality based stories. This makes us journalists.

But, honesty does not require impartiality. The fact that someone can articulate two points of view on the subject, does not mean that there are two fact based legitimate points of view on the subject. There is one guy's opinion, another guy's opinion and the facts, and often the facts take sides.

For example, political corruption is not an equally bipartisan issue, and it happens to be a big part of what we do. We do muckracking. At this time and place, the Republican party is the more corrupt party. In part, this is a hang over of having been in power too long. In part, this is because the Republican Party is, at heart, a party that doesn't believe in government and thus, doesn't respect it.

Colorado's Republican Secretary of State Gigi Dennis, has a hard time getting her head around the concept that she is not supposed to carry out the election laws in a non-partisan manner, to the point where she has actually served as a campaign official for candidates currently running for office in an election she is running.

There is no Democratic equivalent to racist e-mail fiend and retiring state legislator Jim Welker (who is also facing Congressional and criminal investigations for his questionable private business practices), or bombastic nativist Tom Tancredo famous for his "nuke Mecca" comment, among others.

Two Republican DAs have made headlines in the last couple of years for their poor conduct on the job. One, in Aspen, gave her husband sweet heart deals, alienated the staff and lied to the people paying the bills in county government about her budget -- she was recalled. Another, in Araphahoe County, after truly alienating the local judges with stunts like have her deputies keep track of the time witnesses spend waiting with stopwatches, is now facing criminal charges for abuse of office this week. None of the state's Democratic DAs have done anything like that.

No Democratic party county official has made a show of having sex with their subordinates, as Republican Tracy Baker did during his term as Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder before he was recalled, and as a Republican Larimer County Assessor's candidate seeking to return to office now did when he held that post.

Democrat Bill Ritter isn't praising federal law enforcement officers for breaking criminal database privacy rules that he helped pass, Republican Bob Beauprez is doing that, on the front pages of the papers.

Republicans like Ohio Governor Taft, Illinois Governor Ryan, Kentucky Governor Fletcher, Ohio Congressman Ney, Texas Congressman DeLay, and California Congressman Cunningham have all faced criminal investigations while in office. Republican Congressman Foley from Florida had to resign for sexually harassing a male page. Republican Congressman Sherwood from Pennsylvania is yet another of the "pro-family" politicians caught red handed in an affair and has been accused of beating up his mistress. The Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Virginia was a KKK loving, confederate flag waving guy who stuffed a deer head in a black family's mailbox with an intent to harass them when he was in college out of spite.

Not every Democrat has been a perfect role model, with the sorrid affair of New Jersey's Democratic Governor coming most vividly to mind, but there really is no comparison between the two parties right now. But, he promptly resigned. When Deanna Hanna got too aggressive in a fund raising letter, she was promptly thrown under the bus and resigned, even though she probably could have fought the charges, as Joe Stengle did when his questionable requests for off season per diem reimbursements came up.

The differences goes well beyond personal integrity. The Democratic race for Governor didn't have candidates of the same party calling in law enforcement to the state convention to keep order while it took half a day to count the votes. The Democratic candidates for Governor didn't trade threats of criminal charges with each other. The Democrats in Colorado didn't, as the Republicans did in the 5th Congressional District, run a race so ugly that the departing incumbent condemned the winner as an unendorseable sleezebag.

The Republican Party in Colorado, as part of a national phenemona, is imploding, and we're simply telling that story and like the voters will be in November, we are not very sympathetic to their plight.