Posted on 10/01/2008 7:38:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In a confidential internal memorandum obtained by Face The State (PDF), the Colorado Democracy Alliance outlines a roster of "operatives" who worked for Democratic victory in the 2006 general election. The document outlines specific tasks for various members of the state's liberal infrastructure, including a campaign to "educate the idiots," assigned to the state's AFL-CIO union. Among the operation's intended targets: "minorities, GED's, drop-outs."
Individuals named in the document, marked "CONFIDENTIAL," "for internal use only," and "DO NOT DISTRIBUTE," are high-level elected Democrats including House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, former Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, as well as Gov. Bill Ritter's press aide and former campaign chief Evan Dreyer. All are specially marked as "off-the-record or covert."
Mentioned as a "critical contact" was Dominic DelPapa, a partner at Ikon Public Affairs. DelPapa was at the center of recent controversy stemming from the February leak of a confidential memo he authored detailing a multi-million dollar "foot on throat" attack on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, among others.
CoDA is one of 18 state-based versions of the nationally focused Democracy Alliance, a self-described "investment partnership of business and philanthropic leaders" funding liberal infrastructure nationwide. For more information about the Democracy Alliance in Colorado, see day one and two of Face The State's week-long series on the group.
In a podcast released by the DNC Host Committee Tuesday, national Democracy Alliance founder Rob Stein explains the need for large, secretive donor networks. "We do not have the infrastructure that the right has built, yet," he said. "But there has never in the history of progressivedom (sic) been a clearer, more strategic, more focused, more disciplined, better financed group of institutions operating at the state and national level."
In the same podcast, Laurie Hirschfeld Zeller, the newly installed executive director of CoDA, explains her organization's mission. "Our job is to build a long-term progressive infrastructure in Colorado while we're conceding nothing in the short term in terms of progressive goals at the ballot box."
Zeller had high praise for the state's liberal establishment, specifically naming America Votes, New Era Colorado, Progressive Majority, the Latina Initiative, and ProgressNow as partners in CoDA's coalition building efforts. "CoDA works with all these organizations," she said.
The Bell Policy Center, a liberal think tank that regularly plays host to CoDA board meetings, was praised for its work fighting to dismantle Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. She characterized Colorado's constitutional requirement for voter approval of tax increases as "arcane."
According to Zeller, CoDA operates "in a structure that provides privacy to members." Under current law, this structure is as a taxable non-profit organization that allows individual donors to give anonymously to shared causes. She described the structure as a "fiscal irrigation system" designed to "provide a harvest later this fall."
Stein, the DA founder, said state groups like CoDA have fired "a warning shot to conservatives in America."
"Conservatives have nothing comparable to possibly compete with it, and they better watch out," he said. Colorado was chosen as a test case for exporting DA's national model, due in part to the "significant wealth" of liberal donors living here.
"It's not just individual donors," Zeller said of CoDA's financial underwriting. "One of the things that has been crucial in making the work of the Colorado Democracy Alliance effective in Colorado has been our partnership with institutional donors and activist organizations in labor, particularly," she said. "That's been a major part of how we get our work done here."
According to Zeller, CoDA's giving is concentrated in five general funding categories: leadership development, communications, "research and ideas," "civic engagement" and "constituency development."
"We embrace the 'progressive' label in our giving and the strategic role we play in Colorado politics," she said.
Despite sweeping gains for political liberals both in Colorado and nationally, Stein believes his coalition can do a better job of communicating with voters.
"It feels scary, because we don't have the message down right," he said. "[But] We're being more businesslike - we're being more professional."
They’re going to make it just that much easier to hang them all - without remorse or regret.
Shocking! Just shocking!
not me....but some here...
This site must be getting a ton of traffic. I’ve been trying to download the PDF for an hour, but keep getting timed out.
I’m sorry - how is this a story of interest?
-your friends at the unbiased MSM
So? Wealthy conservatives are...doing nothing. Standing up for nothing. Here in Kansas I have the thrill of seeing a red state turn blue because the GOP couldn't find it's own behind with two hands and a map. It's each narcissist for themselves.
COLORADO is not firmly in the RED column, yet!
This will help if it’s publicized in CO.
Be nice to see this in a national ad too so voters can see just what the dems think of their ‘lessers’.
Not me! I’m manning up......and I’m a girl!
“This site must be getting a ton of traffic. I’ve been trying to download the PDF for an hour, but keep getting timed out.”
It took me forever to finally get it...believe me though, it is definitely a good read...
“Minimum Wage-wedge issue management-increasing CO Union power: ‘Educate the Idiots” campaign, Target: minorities, GED’s, drop-outs...”
HA! And the AFL-CIO rep listed as the “Critical Contact” for this particular “campaign”...priceless!
Here is the statement released by the Colorado Rpeublican Party:
“It is incredible that the state’s top-level Democrats hold everyday Coloradans in such a low regard that they feel it appropriate to refer to them as idiots in their internal documents,” Wadhams said. “These are the people who work hard everyday to put food on the table; they do not deserve to be referred to as “idiots” by those who wish to exploit them for their votes.”
“One has to wonder why the people on the list thought this was ok,” Wadhams said. “This type of behavior is acceptable from no one, let alone so many who now hold leadership positions in our state government. The right thing for them to do is apologize at once, and return all tainted campaign donations they may have received.”
FYI
“Stein, the DA founder, said state groups like CoDA have fired “a warning shot to conservatives in America.”
If Stein the DA founder fired a shot at conservatives, he’d discover what the Old West word “ventilate” meant.
If this would have been the GOP, it would have bumped all the bailout stuff on TV and Drive Bys would have gone wall to wall with it/
Is this getting public attention in CO. Is it on the radio, in the news, or simply on the web?
It’s not on the 9 News website in CO.
I’ll keep checking to see.
Not clear to me...Are these the idiots that need to be educated?
Go to Topix, put in a Colorado zipcode, a city name or just Colorado and numerous local/national stories will come up with comment sections: http://www.topix.com
Run the ad through to Election Day and don't wait for McCain to do it; he's too nice. We can make this as big as the Liberal Messiah's "cling" speech.
Ben Smith at Politico is talking about it:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Colorado_Democrats_Educate_the_Idiots.html?showall
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