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It’s All About Meeting You!

25 August 2010, 12:40 pm

Dear Friends and Supporters,

It’s been a busy past few weeks. With the primary behind us, we’re speeding quickly toward the general election. Thank you for having faith in me and my team to carry the message of fiscal responsibility and personal freedom to our state capitol.

Upcoming events
I know this is a busy time for everyone, but we have a couple of terrific events coming up. Please join us and meet me and the other candidates.

  • August 25 (today!), 4:00-8:00 p.m.: R Block Party’s 2nd Annual Picnic!, Washington Park Boathouse & Picnic Grounds; Fundraiser for Republican State House Candidates with Silent & Live Auctions, County Fair Dessert Contest & Bake Sale. They provide paper products, chips & drinks, including beer & wine for adults. Bring your picnic foods & a side dish to share. The goal is to raise as much money as possible, which will be divided evenly between the House Candidates that participate.
  • August 26, 6:00-8:00 p.m.: Fundraiser for Mike Fallon, 3160 East Floyd Drive, Denver; suggested contribution: $25; please RSVP to Andrea.
  • September 13, 7:00-9:00 p.m.: All-Chocolate Sharf Meet and Greet, 161 South Glencoe in Denver; RSVP to susan@clickdesign.com – All the refreshments will be some form or variety of chocolate, chocolate, chocolate! Indulge in some chocolamania while we meet and discuss the issues that are important to you. We’ll also be marking the inaugural Monday Night Football night of the year with a bicoastal doubleheader (yes, the game will be on!). Finally, we’ll be celebrating my 39th birthday, for the sixth time. Mockery encouraged. Everyone is welcome to join us and celebrate, but if you’d like to support my campaign, here are the suggested levels of contribution: Godiva Truffle Level: $100, Toblerone Level: $50, Hershey Bar Level: $25.

…And, we’re walking…
One of the most important components of our campaign is going door to door and getting the word out to Denver residents. From now until November 2, we’re going to knock on 1,000 doors per week. It’s a big goal, so I need your help! Contact Anne Nichting to join me on my daily district walk. To date, we’ve knocked on over 5,000 doors! For regular updates, visit our walking map and see the Door-o-Meter on the campaign homepage.

Get your yard sign!
Our yard signs are in! Get yours here and ask your friends and neighbors if they’d like a yard sign too.

A Big Thank You
Thank you again to everyone who has generously contributed to my campaign. We plan to use the funds to reach more voters with our measure of fiscal responsibility and economic growth.

Thanks also to Bob Schaffer for his ongoing support. Look for a letter from Bob about my campaign, arriving in your mailboxes soon!

So far, you all have been a tremendous team. Now, we (all our candidates) need you to step it up a notch, and really be superstars over the last seven weeks until the ballots go out. This is when elections are won & lost, and we mean to win!

Thanks and see you on the trail,

Joshua

Filed under Appearances, Events, Newsletter, Walking the District.
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The Wrong Way on Pensions

24 August 2010, 12:56 pm

Via this morning’s Denver Post:

The city and the fire department union were at odds over how pension benefits are paid. The city wanted to continue the current pension plan, similar to a 401(k).

The union wanted to have the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado take over management of its pensions. The city feared losing control of the pension process.

An outside arbitrator recently sided with the fire union.

But this month, the City Council rejected that recommendation, which would have forced the issue onto the November ballot.

After meeting in executive session Monday afternoon, council members changed their mind, although even those who supported it said it could cost the city more money down the road, based on the future unpredictability of financial markets.

…

The resolution passed by an 8-2 vote. Another matter to put the issue before voters in November was tabled indefinitely, killing it.

This is a terrible development, taking one, relatively small public pension (although not to the people of Aurora) entirely in the wrong direction.

PERA is underfunded by at least $20 billion.  It’s underfunded because it’s a defined benefit plan, and because politicians have traditionally found it easier to vote new benefits, listening to rosy return estimates and aggressive discounting.  There is enormous default risk associated with these pensions, and it’s sad to see the City of Aurora going down the same path with its firemens’ pension.

Filed under Issues, PERA.
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R Block Party Picnic

22 August 2010, 11:18 pm

Filed under Campaign, Events.
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Winston Downs Neighborhood Association

9 August 2010, 9:09 am

Had a wonderful time yesterday afternoon at the Winston Downs neighborhood get-together over at the Denver Green School.  Met and talked with dozens of people who showed up to share ice cream and a chat, and a talk from the local Neighborhood Watch policeman.  And even picked up a couple of sign locations!

Filed under Appearances, Events.
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Colorado’s Contribution to Health Care Endangered

4 August 2010, 10:21 am

This, from this morning’s Wall Street Journal:

The Food and Drug Administration proposed shoring up medical-device approval rules that have been criticized as lax and inconsistent by consumer advocates and the agency itself.

The FDA aims to better define what devices can use an approval pathway known as 510(k), under which companies can get an accelerated decision on whether they can market a new product if they can show it is similar to an already approved device. The proposals, which will be open for public comment, will be closely watched by the device industry because more-stringent rules would raise development costs.

Since in politics, anything you say can and will be used against you, let’s start by saying that medical devices that are supposed to help us shouldn’t kill us, and the FDA plays a useful – although an exclusive – role in making sure that doesn’t happen.

That said, this is bad news for health care and bad news for Colorado.  Medical innovation is the single, surest way of bringing down costs.  New technologies cost more, sure, but they bring down the relative desireability, and thus the relative price, of existing technologies. 

Think about your cell phone.  Everything about it, from the signal to the network to the phone itself, is in a relentless drive towards being commoditized.  Which means that you can get an iPhone for about 1/2 the real cost of a cell phone ten years ago, and pay only slightly more for the network access.  The same factors are at work in every market.

And bad news for Colorado?  Well, we’re home to some of the best, most innovative biotech companies around, which up until last year, attracted a lot of venture capital money.

Here’s an opportunity for our state and federal representatives to stand up for Colorado jobs, and to promote something that everyone says they’re for: lowering health care prices.

Filed under Health Care, Issues, Regulation.
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