SandBox Comments: BREAKING NEWS - Iowa Republican/Kevin Hall "Link Strategies’ Dirty Deeds and Deep Ties to Top Democrats'

Kevin Hall off the Iowa Republican broke this story last Friday and follows through today. 

Naming names out in Iowa and all the way on over to the Oval Office.

This story very well could be the most major story influencing the growing need to determine laws that govern internet use.

Edwards and Link Strategies are known all over the web for their cutthroat style of viral link baiting, search optimizing practices and ruthless web content.  All of our existing laws and the unwillingness of cops, prosecutors and judges to push the boundaries of those laws are the biggest travesty of justice we have when it comes to internet crime and intellectual, intangible property.

If you have never been through the labyrinth of trying to find the path to obtain protection for your person, life and loved ones should you find yourself a victim of these near indescribable crimes; you cannot begin to understand the importance of our lawmakers and authorities at least trying to wade through with things like SOPA.

'SandBox Nanny' recalls the words of a regional judge:

'Due to the negligence of legislators to define within the confines of law the specific wording that the internet and keyboard are the weapons of a stalker, I cannot grant you protection at this time.'

Well said.  Yes, some internet laws have enhanced since she heard those words spoken. But not anywhere near enough and they've missed the most fundamental core of the problem.

Web content with ill-intent or purposefully crafted into a falsity is criminal liability.  What turns that into a criminal act is the weapon of programming with viral based technology and manipulating that through SEO capability.  Enhanced by the intellectual property of the perpetrator and their level of skill.

Thank you to all officers, agencies and prosecutors who nailed Zach Edwards.  It will be very interesting to watch this story.

Kevin Hall:
"Link Strategies’ ties to top Iowa Democrats run deep. First District Congressman Bruce Braley paid the group $167,237 in 2009-10. According to reports filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, the campaign for Secretary of Agriculture candidate Francis Thicke paid Link Strategies $100,000 during his unsuccessful 2010 run. Attorney General Tom Miller’s campaign paid the firm $1,200 on November 5, 2010.

The Des Moines-based consulting group also provided research to Chet Culver’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. Link Strategies alum Matt Paul is the communications director for the USDA, run by former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Paul was also Vilsack’s Iowa press secretary.

Link Strategies is also on the payroll of Democrats around the country. “Since 2004, Link Strategies handled research for the several successful campaigns including Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH), Governor Chet Culver (D-IA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN), Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) and several other U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and congressional candidates,” the group’s website claims.

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign was also a beneficiary of the services of Link Strategies. Zach Edwards was the director of new media for Obama’s Iowa general election campaign and also worked in several primary states. Jeff Link “served as a media consultant to the Obama campaign, coordinating branding, all paid media and polling in 25 states.” Brad Anderson, also a member of the Link Strategies team, was Obama’s Iowa communications director for the 2008 general election...."

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SandBox Comments: Pueblo Chieftain "We'll be there to provide the battleground "

There is no state more important in this presidential cycle than Colorado.

Conservative Coloradans, whether Republican or unaffiliated/Independent, are champing at the bit when they think about the Colorado GOP.

After the debacle of mid-terms, to sit here for two years and watch them still unorganized, little unity, no real plan set in motion and absolutely refusing to bring their noses down a notch or two for anyone who has 'left the party' here in our Rocky Mountain State; is really frustrating.

Watch for the Colorado GOP to get another eye-opening round of reality as we move toward November 2012.  All those left leaners that will not vote Obama and all unaffiliated voters (roughly 1/3 of the state) will blow right on by them.  Events not as well attended as they would like, decreased enthusiasm and the list goes on are things the Colorado GOP can count on.

Will we still put the conservative candidate chosen into the White House in November?

Sure will.

Unfortunately, probably without the Colorado GOP working too hard.

Conservative candidates:

The Pueblo Chieftain, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Steamboat Today, the Greeley Tribune are the print news you want watching you.  If it's in the Chieftain  and you've got commentators on it; you're covered.

"This year's local elections are going to be fun.

In particular, the races for two Pueblo County Commission seats and for the district attorney's office are going to be fascinating.

Oh, let's cut through it. At least two and maybe all three of those races are going to be nasty, vicious, old-style Pueblo political bloodbaths...."
(Steve Henson)

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SandBox Comments: Working Class Conservative "Dennis Koocinich Strikes Again"

Oh, good Lord.  Please say it isn't so.  Ron Paul and Dennis Koocinich in the same election cycle news..again.

Before we all run screaming in the other direction (away from the outer fringe of reality that they represent) let's all 'Thank Buddha!' that Tom Tancredo the Human Tank isn't by their side.

At least not yet.


Mike Madden:

"There is a good reason this man never had a successful run for any office higher than he currently holds.  I am shocked he is still in office and feel it speaks volumes about gerrymandering in Ohio.  But Dennis is up to his progressive hyper-liberal ways again and he and some other left leaning representatives have proposed a doozy of a bill.  The working title designed to fool you and me is. Gas Price Spike Act of 2012.  This is another bill from the left to “protect” us from evil business.  What is this bill really all about?  They tell us in the opening paragraph..."

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SandBox Comments: The State "For Haley, just bruises"

Tim Flach:

"Gov. Nikki Haley received some political bruises Saturday, as her home area of Lexington County went against the candidate she endorsed for the GOP presidential nomination. But even her harshest critics said the setback is unlikely to damage her statewide standing significantly.

“It’s a temporary embarrassment,” said Cory Norris of Chapin, a founder of the county chapter of the Tea Party who initially supported her but is now disenchanted.

Haley was the public face across the state for second-place GOP primary finisher Mitt Romney, who told supporters after the polls closed that her assistance was “fabulous. I owe her so very much....”

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Sandbox Comments: Colorado Statesman "Former state Rep. Jerry Kopel passes away"

Colorado Statesman:

"Longtime Colorado Statesman columnist Jerry Kopel, who served 22 years in the Colorado House, peacefully passed away Saturday, Jan. 21. He was 83 years old. A figure in Colorado politics for decades, Kopel was an avid collector of legislative facts and history and enumerated them for many years in his unique weekly columns in The Statesman. He won several top awards from the Colorado Press Association over the years for his column writing and contributions to public service...."

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Aspen restaurant targeted in class-action suit over tip pool"

Rick Carroll:

"DENVER — A Fort Collins law firm has taken steps to launch a class-action lawsuit against an Aspen restaurant accused of running an illegal tip pool for its employees.

The Law Offices of Brian Gonzalez PLLC, on behalf of Sandro Torres, filed a complaint Friday in the U.S. District Court of Denver against Cache Cache restaurant and its owners, Jodi Larner and Chris Lanter.

The federal lawsuit aims for class-action certification from the court and seeks current and former Cache Cache employees “whose tips were diverted illegally” to participate in the complaint.

For now, Torres is the only plaintiff in the suit, which says he worked at Cache Cache as a back waiter and food runner from February 2004 to March 2008 and from January 2011 to April.

Under Cache Cache's employ, Torres made less than minimum wage — $4 to $4.25. Paying less than minimum wage to regularly tipped employees is a standard practice in the restaurant industry. But for restaurants to take a tip credit against the minimum wage, they must adhere to state labor laws, which allow for tip pools.

By Colorado law, the suit alleges, the only employees who can collect from a tip pool are “front of the house” workers such as servers and hostesses. But at Cache Cache, such employees as chefs, dishwashers and food preparers — who were not regularly tipped — also participated in the tip pool, the suit says.

By doing so, Cache Cache violated the Colorado Wage Claim Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the suit alleges...."

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Former attorney fights $2M malpractice lawsuit"

Chad Abraham:

"A management conference is scheduled for today in the case of a prominent New York City resident who is suing a former Snowmass Village lawyer for her alleged failure to adequately represent her in a separate lawsuit.

Christine Ferer is seeking more than $2 million in the legal malpractice lawsuit against Snowmass resident Cynthia Tester.

Ferer’s suit against Tester, filed in 2010, says the defendant was representing her in an earlier lawsuit in which Ferer was suing Fenton Construction over allegations of construction defects in the home Ferer and her sister own on East Cooper Avenue.

Tester, who no longer practices law, was handling the earlier case when she was a lawyer for Garfield & Hecht in the early 2000s. When Tester formed her own law firm, Tester & Associates, in 2006, she “offered to take the [Ferer] lawsuit with her to her new firm,” the lawsuit says. “She told Ferer that the case was a slam dunk and advised her that she felt so strongly that the case was a slam dunk that she would do the work on a contingency fee basis.”

The lawsuit against Tester says Ferer was charged for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and other associated costs while the case remained in limbo because of Tester’s repeated absences.

Ferer eventually hired two other law firms after Tester withdrew from the case in December 2008. Ferer ultimately lost the lawsuit against Fenton in April 2010.

Ferer is a former commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s liaison on Sept. 11 issues. Her lawsuit against Tester says that by 2008, the Fenton lawsuit had been pending for more than five years and that Tester had filed several requests for more time for pretrial evidence proceedings. The trial was continued twice, apparently because Tester was hospitalized for personal problems.

“At no time did ... Tester advise Ferer that her judgment was compromised or that ... Tester & Associates was not capable of handling the Fenton lawsuit,” Ferer’s suit says.

Ferer is being represented by attorney Karen Zulauf of Boulder, while Tester has hired Peter Thomas of Aspen..."

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SandBox Comments: The State "Justices Spar over Constitution, the court, the law"

Clif LeBlanc:

"Two of the nation’s top jurists on Friday at USC gave a plain-spoken, humorous lesson in the Constitution, the role of the country’s highest court and the issues that divide them and this democracy.

Supreme Court associate justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer – from opposite ends of the judicial spectrum – spent an hour engaging a select audience of law students, law school faculty and the South Carolina bench.

The public, though, could hear none of the thought-provoking civics lesson. The justices, as does the court on which they sit, barred recording of their talk for publication or broadcast. The same will be true today when they repeat their presentation before the South Carolina Bar’s annual convention in Columbia..."

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SandBox Comments: Dept. of Defense: "Face of Defense--Detroit Native Draws on Experience"

Marine Corps Cpl. Meredith Brown, 2nd Marine Logistics Group

"CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, Jan. 23, 2012 – Nicholas Marchioni enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2000 as an infantryman. Like many others, he completed his four-year contract and headed back home to start a new chapter in his life.

But just a few short months after he returned to his hometown of Detroit, Marchioni once again was called to serve.

“I was recalled, so I just re-enlisted and became an engineer,” he explained.

Now, seven years later, Marchioni is a Marine Corps sergeant on his sixth deployment. He in Afghanistan for the second time, serving as a squad leader for the 2nd Marine Logistics Group’s 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 9th Engineer Support Battalion.

Second platoon operates as the security platoon for 9th ESB, tasked with conducting route and site reconnaissance missions in addition to providing security for other combat engineers on the ground.

“Because our job is [so wide-ranging], you become the jack of all trades, master of none,” Marchioni said with a laugh. “It seems like most of the time, I go back to my roots and teach people about machine guns and rifles and a lot of other things, because I learned how to be an [infantryman] first.”

Spending time with his Marines and passing on his knowledge and life experiences is something the 30-year-old noncommissioned officer often does, even after the work for the day is complete.

Before the unit deployed to Afghanistan, Marchioni organized barbecues for the company every weekend outside of their barracks in Okinawa. “It’s how I live,” he said. “Second platoon is my close-knit family, and first squad is like my kids.”

The special bond Marchioni shares with each of his Marines is evident from the moment you see them interacting...."

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times/Letters to the Editor "Can't have it both ways"

David Grimes of Greensboro, N.C., and Aspen writes in, in response to Mayor Mick's latest flamer regarding Nikos Hecht, the Benton Building and Little Annie's:

"...I am not intimidated by the potential loss of employee housing for myself nor the fear of losing my job for writing something negative about our mayor..."


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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "County not out of Droste legal woods"

The other side to the problems that the folks have over the Droste property.

"...After a nearly 15-year land-use battle over open space in the Brush Creek Valley that culminated with Pitkin County paying $17 million to the Droste family for 841 acres, public officials still might end up in a courtroom.

The county, with help from other local governments, in 2010 bought the open space, ending a long legal fight that involved a moratorium preventing brothers Bruce and Peter Droste from building homes on the site. The family’s lawsuit challenging the moratorium eventually reached the Colorado Supreme Court, which upheld the county’s decision.

In June, Peter Droste sued Bruce Droste in Pitkin County District Court, alleging that his brother has not compensated him for the estimated $1 million he spent in trying to develop the land and filing the lawsuit against the county. The lawsuit claims that Bruce Droste is benefiting from unjust enrichment for allegedly not compensating his brother for his time and money spent on the development effort.

Bruce Droste’s response, filed by Aspen attorney Ted Gardenswartz, denies that from 1995 to 2010, Peter Droste “planned the development, filed applications, attended hearings and otherwise took actions” to obtain land-use approvals to develop Brush Creek Ranch. Bruce Droste also says in the response that “various financial expenditures were reimbursed.”

On Jan. 12, Judge Gail Nichols of the 9th Judicial District approved a motion by both sides that will allow the brothers to increase the number of witness depositions allowed and pretrial evidence requests that can be made. Both sides argued that this is necessary because of the large number of people who have knowledge relevant to the lawsuit..."
(Chad Abraham)

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Talking trash in Carbondale"

A very good report from Chris Council.  Who we assume is a new reporter up on the Aspen Daily News. 

We've noticed Chris's photos in the Daily as well.

"The politics and corporate positioning lurking behind a proposed transfer station in Carbondale run as deep as the layers of trash in a landfill.

There is far more going on behind the scenes than just a couple of hand-painted signs alongside County Road 100 across from the old Mid-Continent Resources coal building near the rodeo grounds.

Located on the property of the Roaring Fork Preserve, the signs reflect the position of a coalition of Carbondale residents and property owners calling themselves “Don’t Trash Carbondale.” The group formed early last year to fight a proposal to turn the old Mid-Continent facility into a recycling center and solid-waste transfer station. Locally-owned disposal company Mountain Roll-offs Inc. (MRI) and the owner of the Mid-Continent building and property, IRMW, LLC are behind the proposal...."
(Chris Council )

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SandBox Comments: Grand Junction Daily Sentinel "New bus company mapping route to success"

Imagine a world where public transport was self-sustaining and not a constant burden on the backs of taxpayers.

Imagine a Roaring Fork Valley that had a transit system that people could afford to ride.  That still had all the enhanced (actually far more than we have now if RFTA loses the recent grant money from the Feds) features of the elite run companies.  That said 'No, thanks' to anything government involved in operations and simply conducted contractual hired business with all entities.

Imagine a world here in the valley of fewer busses running more efficiently and actually carrying riders.  A world where it is not a breaking news story that ridership is up by meager numbers.

Just imagine....

Mike Wiggins:

"When MV Transportation received a preliminary nod on a five-year contract to become the new provider of bus service in the Grand Valley, taking over for First Transit, then-Grand Valley Transit General Manager and First Transit employee Valdon Lewis predicted MV would realize no profit or lose money because of its value-priced bid.

MV Transportation officials are betting otherwise.

The Fairfield, Calif.-based company is in its third week operating 11 routes throughout Mesa County, and county officials say the transition from First Transit has been seamless thus far. Within two months, the company that operates more than 200 contracts in North America, including seven in Colorado, intends to separate itself from its predecessor by offering nighttime service and incorporating technology they say will enhance riders’ experience.

That boost in service is expected to come at little or no extra cost to taxpayers..."

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Rare turtle released to the wilds of Cambodia"

Bob Berwyn:

"SUMMIT COUNTY —In an age when global biodiversity is collapsing at an astounding rate, it’s good to celebrate small conservation victories, like last week’s release of a rare southern river terrapin to the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia.

Working with government agencies in the region, the Wildlife Conservation Society last week said biologists released one of the most endangered turtles on earth into the wild in an area where the reptiles may be able to re-establish a stronghold.

The female turtle weighs about 75 pounds and has been equipped with a satellite transmitter that will allow conservationists to track its whereabouts – the first-ever satellite monitoring study for this species.

The turtle was captured in the Sre Ambel River by local fishermen in April, 2011. It’s one of only about 200 adults remaining in the wilds of Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It was voluntarily turned it over to the WCS Cambodia turtle team instead of being sold into the black market trade, where it would have been sent to food markets in China.

The population in the Sre Ambel River is estimated at less than ten nesting females. Thus, this individual is extremely important for maintaining genetic diversity of this species that has already suffered drastic population declines...."

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Australia planning world’s largest marine sanctuary"

Bob Berwyn:

"SUMMIT COUNTY —Two leading scientists are urging Australians to support a government plan to create one of the world’s largest marine sanctuaries in the Coral Sea.

“The Coral Sea is one of a handful of places in the world where a very large oceanic no-take park can be created and monitored in a single national jurisdiction,” said Professors Terry Hughes and Bob Pressey of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. “Public comment on the proposal is now open – and it is time for all Australians to have their say.”...."

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SandBox Comments: Summit County Citizens Voice "Morning photo: Oceans in peril"

All credit:  Bob Berwyn:

"SUMMIT COUNTY — It’s a hard heart that doesn’t feel at least a little twinge of emotion at the edge of the land next to a crashing wave or gently rippling surf. After all, we are all of the ocean, where life evolved in the primordial biological soup. But the research is more and more conclusive: Atmospheric carbon dioxide is building up in the sea at an unprecedented rate, potentially threatening the very basis of the global food chain by making it impossible for plankton to survive. In other recent research, Australian researchers found that, above a certain concentration, CO2 directly affects the ability of some reef fish to smell, swim and evade predators. It’s time to cherish, respect and protect the oceans...."