by Colorado District Court Judge Robert Hyatt ruled that the petitions submitted for the recall of State Senate President John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) and Sen. Angela Giron (D-Pueblo) are valid and the recall election is a go.
Judge Hyatt said in his oral decision as reported by the Denver Post:
“The petitions here substantially comply with law,” Judge Robert Hyatt said…
“Recalls are a fundamental right of Colorado citizens,” Hyatt said in his oral decision from the bench…
The judge in his ruling pointed out that the templates used by petitioners date back several years and span Democratic and Republican secretaries of state.
“The form used not only fully complied with secretary of state, but in the court’s opinion it complied with the Colorado constitution,” Hyatt ruled.
“The court does give great weight that petitioners made a good-faith effort to comply with law. The court finds the proponents did not in any way consciously mean to mislead the public.”
Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) set September 10th as the date for the recall elections.
It is expected that Morse and Giron will appeal this decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. That said, as Sebastian Bitter rightly noted, the longer these two and their supporters fight to delay the recall election, the more negative sentiment they generate from voters in their districts.
It will also give the Republicans more time to vet the candidates who will face Morse and Giron. The importance of this vetting has already become evident as one of the announced candidates in Colorado Springs – Jaxine Bubis – writes erotica under the pen name Jaxine Daniels. You can imagine the field day that John Morse would have with this tidbit if it had come out during the final days of the campaign.
Fortunately, the El Paso County Republican Committee chose former Colorado Spring City Councilman Bernie Herpin to face Morse in the election. Herpin and Bubis had a prior agreement to abide by the decision of the Republican committee as to which one of them would be the nominee.
If a candidate wrote erotica, I'd probably be more disposed to vote for them, not less disposed. I think such a candidate would be less likely to favor legislation intended to punish or shame people for having sex.
That said, the average voter isn't necessarily like me. We still have a very strong sex-negative bias in our society.
When was the last time two people wanted to have sex with eachother and didn't because of negative sex bias?
Two people who want to have sex with each other? That's what erotica is used for? ^_^
Seriously though, the moron who advised rape victims to pee on themselves? He's safe?
That was Bitter writing that post, not Sebastian. It certainly is an excellent observation, however.
Just FYI.
Thanks for catching that. I've corrected it.