Colorado Gun Owners Fight Back…
Deliver Twice as Many Signatures as Needed to Recall Senator
 |
| In this photo taken May 24, 2013, Paradise
Firearms owner Paul Paradis holds a flyer depicting Colorado's State
Senate President, Democrat John Morse, together with a petition to
recall him, right, at his gun shop in Colorado Springs. (AP | Ed
Andrieski) |
Yesterday 16,000 signatures were delivered to recall Colorado State
Senator John Morse. Morse has been a huge backer of the sweeping and
numerous gun control bills that were passed in Colorado earlier in the
year and signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper.
Below is just a
reminder of Mr. Morse’s thinking, or lack of thinking, as he spoke about
massive gun control laws as though they would “stop bullets piercing
children’s bodies.”
According to opponents of the Democrat Senate President, they turned in twice as many signatures as needed on Monday.
Bill Adaska, a retired engineer from Denver who volunteered to gather
the signatures for Morse’s signature in his district, said “This shot
will be heard around the world. This is the race, right here, that’s
going to show Washington and Chicago that when you come after our guns,
we’re going to take you out.”
The Washington Post reports on Morse and his response to the recall:
Morse backed the gun control measures, and sponsored an
even stricter measure to gun owners liable in some cases for damage
caused by their weapons. Morse scuttled that liability measure when it
appeared it didn’t have enough support to clear the Senate.
A defiant Morse responded Monday to the recall petition by insisting
he won’t resign and that national gun groups have targeted him in an
effort to scare politicians nationwide away from addressing gun control.
“This turns into a national race,” Morse predicted.
Even if he loses his seat, Morse said, the gun measures
were too important not to adopt after a bloody 2012. He insisted that
he’s never aspired to another office and wouldn’t mind losing his
political career over the gun bills.
“Keeping Coloradans safe from gun violence is very worth your political career,” Morse told reporters.
Perhaps Morse should be concerned with protecting Coloradans from
politicians who don’t uphold their oath and are tyrannical while at the
same time respond emotionally to an issue rather than intellectually.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) sent out political mailers in
support of Morse’s recall, but the effort was a result of grassroots
efforts, not the NRA.
Rob Harris, organizer of the recall effort, said “I ran this
campaign. The NRA did not run this campaign. We the people are making a
stand against the people who refused to represent their constituents."
No state lawmaker has ever faced a recall vote in Colorado history.
Accordingly, voters would determine whether he should be recalled and
who would replace him.
Any proposed candidate to take Morse’s place would only need 1,000 signatures.
There are more efforts to oust Democrat lawmakers. Senator Angela Giron of Pueblo has signatures for her recall due next week.
Two other Democrat lawmakers who were targeted for recall appear to
be safe as the efforts to recall them seem to not have enough support to
bring their recall to a vote.
The next step in the Morse case is that the Colorado Secretary of
State has 15 business days to verify the signatures. Morse could
challenge the signatures before a recall election is set. The latest
date that for a recall vote of Morse would be early October.
Way to go Colorado! If lawmakers aren’t obeying the law, start
kicking them out. That, my friends is a means to a peaceful revolution.
Tim Brown is the Editor of Freedom Outpost and a regular contributor to The D.C. Clothesline.
Source
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Gun control supporters facing recall bids in Colo.
In Colorado, gun control votes followed by increasingly popular political tool: the recall
 |
Associated Press -
In this
photo taken May 24, 2013, a large sign posted at the entrance of
Paradise Firearms in Colorado Springs, Colo., invites customers to sign a
recall petition against Colorado Democratic
State Senate President John Morse. In gun-friendly Colorado, gun-rights
activists with support of the National Rifle Association are seeking
Morse's ouster for his support of |
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- A Democratic campaign office here
usually would be quiet this time of year, a few weeks after the state's
legislature wrapped up work and lawmakers headed off to summer
vacations.
But even though it's not an election year, the office is in full
campaign mode, with volunteers working the phones and reviewing maps in
anticipation of a new front of modern campaigning — the recall phase.
A handful of Democratic state lawmakers in Colorado face recall petition efforts in what looks to be the first wave of fallout over legislative votes to limit gun rights. In an era in which recall efforts are booming, from governor's offices down to town councils and school boards, the Colorado efforts will serve as the first test of gun-rights groups' ability to punish elected officials who expanded gun control laws after last year's Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., shooting massacres.
In Colorado, gun-rights activists wasted no time seeking recalls to oust state Senate President John Morse
and three other Democratic lawmakers. The targeted lawmakers weren't
necessarily the main advocates for ratcheting back gun rights, but all
come from districts with enough Republicans to give opponents hope they
can boot out the Democrats and replace them with lawmakers friendlier to
guns. Colorado is the only state outside the East Coast to have adopted
significant statewide gun controls this year.
"Colorado seems to be the testing ground for some of the gun
measures, so this has national implications," said Victor Head, a
plumber from Pueblo who is organizing a recall attempt against a
Democratic senator.
Two of four recall efforts in Colorado already have evaporated from lack of support. But in Colorado Springs,
Morse opponents are piling up signatures in gun shops and outside
libraries and grocery stores. The National Rifle Association sent a
political mailer saying it was coordinating the recall effort with local
groups, though the local recall petitioners have denied that. The NRA
did not return calls for comment on their involvement in the Colorado
Springs effort.
Morse has mounted a campaign to urge voters not to sign petitions. In
an indication of the national stakes, that push is largely funded by a
$20,000 contribution from a national progressive group called America
Votes. The Morse campaign said the donation came through the group's
local Colorado office.
The recall group's main funding comes from a $14,000 contribution
from a nonprofit run by a local conservative consultant, Laura Carno.
She said that contribution was made possible by some out-of-state
donors.
"People in other states that are further down this road, like New
York and Massachusetts, are calling up and saying 'What can we do to
help?'" Carno said. "This isn't what Colorado stands for."
In an interview, Morse seemed
resigned to facing a recall vote after signatures are verified. He
believes national gun-rights supporters are using his district to make a
national statement about the political peril officials face if they
take on gun control.
"That's what's going on here. They want to take out the Senate president," Morse said.
The organizer of the Morse recall effort, Anthony Garcia,
didn't disagree. Garcia doesn't live in Morse's district but in the
northern Colorado town of Brighton. Garcia said Morse was targeted not
just because of his votes for gun control but because he is a prominent
Democrat from a competitive district.
"It's as much about saying Colorado is angry as it is about getting
one guy out," Garcia said.
"Legislators need to know when citizens are
outraged that they can't ignore the people."
Immediate accountability seems to be a common thread in recall attempts, said Joshua Spivak,
who tracks recall elections nationwide at the Hugh L. Carey Institute
for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York. Technology makes it
easier to organize, Spivak said, and modern-day voters watching
political activity in real time on Twitter and TV aren't content to wait
until another election to show their displeasure when they feel
ignored.
Spivak said at least 169 officials at all levels of government faced
recalls last year, up from 151 the year before. The number this year
could go even higher, he said.
Technology isn't the only explanation.
"The other reason," Spivak said, "is that they succeed."
Most recalls actually fail, as in the case last year of Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who survived a recall election after
attacking collective bargaining rights for state employees. But compared
with re-election campaigns, when incumbents face up to 75 percent
likelihood of winning, Spivak said recall elections have a much lower
rate of success for incumbents.
In Colorado last year, seven recall efforts made it to ballots, all
local races, Spivak said. Of those seven, two officials were ousted and
two more resigned.
Nationwide, 108 recalled officials last year lost or left office
after a recall. That makes the recall a powerful tool — and one likely
to be used more often, Spivak said.
Back in Colorado Springs, a couple of Morse opponents defended the
recall attempt as the best way for citizens to keep their
representatives accountable.
"I believe in gun rights. And he didn't listen. He's supposed to
represent the people, and when he doesn't do that, what are supposed to
do? Nothing?" asked Bianca McCarl, a 40-year-old merchandiser who is
supporting Morse's recall.
Assuming the Morse recall goes to ballots, with an election to be
held by late summer, the incumbent holds a slight party registration
advantage in the district. He believes most voters liked his gun votes.
Read More
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Pro-gun camp submits petitions to recall Colorado legislator
Have more signatures than he got votes in 2010
DENVER — A recall campaign submitted stacks of petitions Monday to oust Colorado Senate President John Morse in what could become a national referendum on gun rights.
Organizers
said they turned in more than 16,000 signatures, well in excess of the
7,178 valid signatures needed to force the recall and even more than the
13,866 votes received by Mr. Morse in the 2010 election.
“It just goes to show how interested people are in making sure Morse is recalled,” said recall organizer Rob Harris.
Mr. Morse,
a Democrat from Colorado Springs, became a recall target for his role
in pushing three gun-control measures signed by the governor in March.
Another recall effort against Democratic state Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo is scheduled to submit petitions June 10.
The
Secretary of State’s office has 15 business days to verify the
signatures. If the recall effort meets the threshold, Democratic Gov.
John Hickenlooper will be charged with calling a special election or
placing the recall on the November ballot.
Any recall election is expected to draw national interest from groups on both sides of the firearms debate.
The
Washington-based Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee fired off a
statement Monday describing organizers as “extremists in Colorado who
want to waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.”
Additional articles:
Read more: Gun control supporters facing recall bids in Colorado - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/election2012/ci_23334943/gun-control-supporters-facing-recall-bids-colo#ixzz2VPPbYB4f
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