Free Republic

Voters slammed on the brakes last week, rejecting Amendment 66, a $1 billion across-the-board income tax hike, and three heavily-subsidized union school board candidates. Instead, voters gave reform candidates the green light. Jeffco voters elected three conservative school board candidates Julie Williams, John Newkirk and Ken Witt – all of whom opposed Amendment 66. Williams, Newkirk and Witt, who campaigned as the “WNW” ticket, will now hold a majority on the five-member school board that includes union-cozy incumbents Lesley Dahlkemper and Jill Fellman, whose terms end in 2015. The new trio is expected to take office on Nov. 21. Forty-eight...

Pressure is growing Thursday afternoon on a liberal super PAC in Kentucky accused of surreptitiously recording a strategy session held by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Jacob Conway, the Jefferson County Democratic Party’s executive committee member who originally accused Progress Kentucky of making the recording, told NBC News he was on his way to talk to the FBI about the allegations. And the group’s treasurer confirmed he had quit his position after the audio was published. “At this time based on advice of both friends and counsel, I will be not be making a public statement available until everything has...

George Soros isn't behind everything the left does, but it sure seems like he helps fund it all. The lefty magazine Mother Jones released a tape , reportedly obtained from a Democratic Super PAC in Kentucky, in an effort to hurt Mitch McConnell's bid for reelection in the U.S. Senate. But, Mother Jones has funding baggage of its own.Mother Jones is the news outlet of The Foundation for National Progress, the left-wing "umbrella organization that exists to publish and support Mother Jones." It also founded the Media Consortium. The FNP received $485,000 in Soros funding in 2008. The Media Consortium,...

Which is, well, kinda what Sen. Mitch McConnell said yesterday. These are the same guys who sent out racist tweets about McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, and her Chinese heritage. Local news in Kentucky is reporting, via a Democratic official, that Progress Kentucky is behind the secret tapes published by Mother Jones this week, which revealed McConnell operatives in the act of…running a campaign. The story immediately went viral in political circles, not so much for the videos’ content as for McConnell’s pushback. The Republican senator quickly went on offense, decrying the left’s “Nixonian-style” tactics, and turning the non-story of the...

A secret recording of a campaign strategy session between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his advisors was taped by leaders of the Progress Kentucky super PAC, says a longtime local Democratic operative. Mother Jones Magazine released the tape this week. The meeting itself took place on Feb. 2. Jacob Conway, who is on the executive committee of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, says that day, Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison, who founded and volunteered for Progress Kentucky, respectively, bragged to him about how they recorded the meeting. Conway says neither the local nor the state Democratic party had any part...

Tweets on Elaine Chao: 'They will not get away with attacking my wife,' Mitch McConnell says WINCHESTER, Ky. -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell lambasted a liberal group on Saturday for criticizing the Asian heritage of his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, calling its Twitter messages "racial slurs" and "the ultimate outrage." "They will not get away with attacking my wife in this campaign," McConnell told about 100 home-state supporters at a Republican dinner in Winchester. "This woman has the ear of @McConnellPress — she's his #wife," the group Kentucky Progress tweeted on Feb. 14. "May explain why your...

April 12, 2013 Secret McConnell campaign recording was allegedly made by co-founders of a liberal advocacy group, including a Democratic National Convention delegate * Potential suspect was longtime Democratic insider, despite party's claim it was blindsided by investigation* Liberal magazine that published recording may have received the product of a federal wiretapping felonyDavid Martosko The activists who allegedly recorded a private conversation among members of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's re-election team are tied to a liberal political action committee whose co-founder was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. ... The Daily Caller reported that Reilly was a...

Disappointed with aspects of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s gun control bill and frustrated by the manner in which it was passed, Jefferson County legislators are considering drafting a resolution opposing the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013. The NY SAFE Act, enacted last month, includes new definitions for and regulations on assault weapons, stronger regulations on ammunition, changes to mental health reporting requirements, statewide recertification of handguns and assault rifles, universal background checks and a mandatory sentence of life without parole for killing a first responder, among other provisions. Modeled after a resolution created by Republican...

Estelle Carson was selected as “Democrat of the Year” for Jefferson County, Colorado for 2012 despite being under indictment for stealing from a 71-year-old wheelchair-bound woman who is partially blind and suffers from cerebral palsy. Though Carson was under investigation at the time Chris Kennedy, chairman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, presented her with the award, Kennedy said she didn’t think it would’ve been fair to allow that to influence her actions. “The award is in recognition of efforts on behalf of the Democratic Party,” Kennedy explained. “Ms. Carson’s theft in no way diminishes what she has done for...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Jefferson County Commission has just voted 4-1 to file an estimated $4.1 billion bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The commission's action came after it spent approximately six hours over two days meeting with its lawyers to discuss legal options, including a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing and a settlement with creditors on the county's $3.14 billion sewer debt. Commissioner Jimmie Stephens made the motion to file bankruptcy, which was seconded by Commissioner Sandra Little Brown. " "It is time to resolve this once and for all," Stephens said. Another factor in the decision appears...

There is an 80% chance that Jefferson County, Alabama, officials will vote to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy today, Commissioner Sandra Little Brown said before the panel was set to meet to consider the option. Is this just posturing to force the creditors to agree to the debtor's terms, or an actual reflection of the truth, we shall fund out this afternoon

When the Pennsylvania Germans crosses the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, they brought with them the skills and tools for erecting stone buildings. In the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania and Maryland, they had built numerous limestone-block houses, barns, and outbuildings. The Shenandoah Valley offered the same building materials. Jefferson County, now in West Virginia, has a collection of fine old stone houses built of limestone blocks. [Old pictures]

MUD LAKE - "The one person who ends up in jail is the one person who is trying to help an animal who is laying in the snow dying," says Troy Jackson, the Executive Director of Northwest Animal Companions out of Boise He heard that Barbie the dog had been hit by car and jumped to her rescue. "I drove down their, knocked on the owners door, and said can we help?" he says. The owner agreed and helped Jackson load up the puppies and Barbie into his car and they were sent to Ada County Veterinary Hospital. Barbie suffered...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member. "The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it." Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent names in the state Democratic Party to face corruption charges. Jury selection begins Monday. Prosecutors claim a...

Liberals fly their colors, by Mike Rosen It was two years ago that North High School was the center of controversy over a foreign flag. A Mexican flag was given equal prominence with an American flag in a permanent wall display in the school lobby and in a social studies classroom. The teacher who hung the Mexican flag in his classroom said he wanted his students to feel welcome. This was a nice sentiment, but a direct violation of Colorado law. Although North High is almost 85 percent Hispanic, this is still an American school in the United States, funded...

The city of Arvada is working toward condemning a church property in Olde Town to build a parking lot for the new Arvada Library set to open this fall. Arvada City Council approved an ordinance to use eminent domain if needed to acquire the lot owned by Shrine of St. Anne's Catholic Church. A public hearing is set for 7:30 p.m. on July 10. However, City Manager Craig Kocian said negotiations are ongoing with the church. "It's still entirely possible that there will be an agreement between the parish and the city," he said. Negotiations between the two have been...

Jesus J. Robles-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was convicted by a Jefferson County jury last week of second-degree assault and driving without a license for a crash in May that injured a woman in Herculaneum. Assistant Prosecutor Steve Jerrell said Robles-Sanchez was driving drunk on Commercial Boulevard at Riverview Drive in Herculaneum on May 7, when his SUV struck the rear of a car driven by Angela Biehle as she waited to turn left onto Riverview Drive.

<p>The FBI is investigating huge jury verdicts in Jefferson County and several of the trial lawyers who have been involved with them, according to sources close to the investigation.</p> <p>Those sources say the still-early probe has uncovered allegations of unethical conduct by some of those being investigated. It remains to be seen whether those unspecified allegations are true and, if so, whether they constitute crimes.</p>

Mike Rosen, Denver radio talk show host, just identified the middle school teacher who wore the "Not My President" button on her coat during a class field trip. Martha Swisher is the teacher's name. Spokesman for Jefferson County Schools, Rick Kaufman, refused to be on Mike Rosen's show. News stories from the area contained all of the names involved, but failed to identify the teacher. Here are some recent articles about the subject: Callers Would Expel Teacher's Button By Nancy Mitchell, Rocky Mountain News February 28, 2003 A dispute over a button lit up the phones Thursday at Jefferson County...

'Horrific' rape at the Jeffco Jail Man, 19, says sex offender repeatedly assaulted him James Westbrook, suspect in jail sex assault. By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News July 24, 2002 A 19-year-old man was repeatedly raped at the Jefferson County Jail after deputies placed him in a cell with a sex offender who had attacked another inmate hours earlier. The Littleton man was sexually assaulted on Jan. 3 and 4 after he was placed in a cell with James Cornelius Westbrook, 20, who had just been convicted that day of aggravated robbery. The man was placed in the cell about...