BackboneAmerica

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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“It will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival… commemorated as the day of deliverance… solemnized with pomp and parade, bonfires and illuminations, from this time forward forever more.” — John Adams, July 2, 1776
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SHOW PREVIEW… Immigration reform in Colorado, the imperial judiciary, facts and myths of global warming, and the meaning of Independence Day — all are on the agenda for this Sunday’s edition of “Backbone Radio with John Andrews.” You’re invited to be with us for the show.

My state’s push to end tax-paid services to illegal aliens hit a double roadblock with Democrats in recent days. On the air we’ll talk about how it happened and what’s next.

First a blatantly political court decision halted the Defend Colorado Now ballot issue (DCN). Then an alleged “deal” by and for Dems, no Republicans invited, largely ended the hope of reviving that ballot issue in a special legislative session.

Co-chairing DCN with Dick Lamm, I was okay with him doing shuttle diplomacy between Gov. Owens and Speaker Romanoff, but not with his sudden left turn to exclude Owens and do a group hug with Romanoff, Pena, and Hart — tossing our constitutional amendment overboard.

I myself went overboard hours later, quitting the DCN leadership. Lamm and I and our other two co-chairs had no authority to break faith with 50,000 petition signers who wanted a statewide November vote on the illegal alien crisis. So this was, as far as I’m concerned, the deal that wasn’t. (more…)

(Press release, June 27 8pm) From my standpoint as a Tancredo ally on real immigration reform, there has been no “deal” between the supporters of cutting off services for illegal aliens and the amnesty crowd led by Federico Pena. We still need a special session and we still need Initiative No. 55.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court death blow to the Defend Colorado Now petition left that organization defunct — politically irrelevant and financially broke. Its former steering committee, three Democrats and myself as the lone Republican, must now go our separate ways in seeking a solution to the illegal alien invasion.

The best solution in my opinion is a constitutional amendment referred by the legislature for decision by the voters in November. There is zero evidence that should lead Coloradans to expect a tough statute on immigration reform to emerge from the Democrat-led state House and Senate.

I respect Dick Lamm, but on this divisive issue he speaks only for himself, not for the 40,000 citizens (in my party as well as his) who signed the petition asking for a chance to vote on cutting off services. They still deserve that chance. None of us have their proxy to deal it away.

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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Rotation in office, a republican principle cherished by America’s Founders, was giving way to near-permanent incumbency in many areas of government as our constitution entered its third century. Term limits, added for the president in the 1950s, were set for most elected officials in Colorado and other states in the 1990s. Now it’s the judiciary’s turn.

Limit the Judges is a citizens petition campaign seeking 100,000 signatures in 50 days to put judicial term limits on the Colorado ballot this fall. I am the chairman, assisted by several prominent legislators. “Ten years and out” would be the limit for our state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals if the proposal passes. Details are at LimittheJudges.com.

Blatant judicial imperialism by Supreme Court Democrats in striking down the illegal-alien ballot issue, along with the bizarre Appeals Court ruling that upheld a middle-aged creep (and convict) claiming he had married a child bride, has fired up supporters of our reform. Have these fixtures on the bench had their heads turned by too long in power?

“Backbone Radio with John Andrews,” this Sunday on 710 KNUS in Denver, will be without John — as I canoe a river in Washington State, where Democrat judges stole the 2004 election for governor, as you may recall. So my friends Joshua Sharf and Matt Dunn will share the microphone as Acting Mayors of Backbone. (more…)

Introduction by John Andrews: Why does the trend toward an imperial judiciary seem to defy Republican efforts to put on the brakes? Last year, CU law professor Robert Nagel published a penetrating article suggesting that “the root cause of judicial excess is the way lawyers think.” Careful selection of nominees to the bench may not be enough, his analysis warns, since even those who profess a conservative or originalist legal philosophy are susceptible to a philosopher-king mindset which Nagel describes as follows:

At its best and highest levels, the practice of law involves the imposition of order on complex factual disputes and the marshalling of rational arguments. It is a profession that honors detachment, discipline, intellect, and, above all, words. As valuable as these traits can be, those who are trained to rely on them in their daily work can easily become distrustful or even disdainful of the political process because that process involves unruly conflict, raw power, and emotionality. In politics the strongest arguments do not always prevail, and words are sometimes less important than experience; failure, disorder, and even disaster are always possibilities. Judges, who occupy an even more controlled environment than do practicing lawyers, will often view the outcomes of the political process as irrational, unjustifiable, or excessively risky.

The key insight here is that many lawyers, and in particular many judges, may become “distrustful or even disdainful” of the workings of self-government through our democratic, representative institutions because of the “unruly conflict, raw power, and emotionality involved.” They will often view the outcomes of that process as “irrational, unjustifiable, or excessively risky.” (more…)

(John Andrews in the Denver Post, June 18) You thought Colorado judges were above politics, simply because we don’t elect them or label them by parties? Think again.

The footsie with judges being played by Marc Holtzman’s campaign for governor is clearly political. The Supreme Court ruling to prevent a vote on services to illegal aliens is no model of blindfold justice either. We have a problem, Houston.

To start with definitions, let’s say that judging involves applying the law with consistency and restraint, while politics involves changing the law at will. As a realist, I see no way of entirely removing politics from our judicial system. So we need to build more restraint into the system, rather simply hoping judges will restrain themselves.

Judicial term limits are a way to do that. Human nature and ego being what they are, there’s a danger of public officials curdling like old milk if left around too long. The bacteria of power hasten it. Recognizing this, Coloradans have set term limits for elected legislators and executive officers. Unelected judges need them too. (more…)

Update after 6/18 show: For Rep. Ted Harvey’s Colorado pro-life moment heard round the world, go to TedHarvey.com and click on Issues.
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Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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It’s been a tough week here in Colorado for the rule of law. The citizens petition seeking to uphold that rule by reserving tax-paid services for legal residents was tossed off the ballot Monday by Democrats on the state Supreme Court in a display of raw judicial imperialism. AP headlined my concern about an ethics violation by the justice who wrote that awful opinion.

Then on Thursday the state Appeals Court ruled that common-law marriage may be valid for a girl as young as 12. What? But today, Friday, another ballot issue went into high gear, this one providing term limits of “ten years and out” for Colorado Supreme Court justices and Appeals Court judges. We’ll need 100,000 signatures in 50 days — but boy, does this thing have momentum.

“Backbone Radio with John Andrews,” this Sunday on 710 KNUS, will talk about courts out of control, borders out of control, ambition out of control (though a judge today did take Holtzman and his friend Grueskin down a peg), and other trends that would dismay America’s Founders. (more…)

By Krista Kafer krista555@msn.com

A USA Today story reports a 15 pound housecat chased a black bear up a tree… twice. That’s what I call backbone. The story stands out among numerous examples of less than courageous behavior that also made the news – the Democrat volunteer who pushed an envelope full of dog poop into Congresswoman Musgrave’s campaign office mailbox , the Colorado Supreme Court’s twisted application of the single subject rule to toss out Defend Colorado Now’s petition , and liberal Larimer County Republicans sniping at Congressman Bob Beauprez and other anti-Ref C Republicans by way of an endorsement of gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter. (more…)

(News Release, June 14) Former Senate President John Andrews today called on Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman to fire attorney Mark Grueskin. Grueskin is leading the court fight against the petition on illegal immigration — for which Holtzman was one of the first petition signers. Andrews’ letter to Holtzman appears below. (more…)

The “Head On” debate between former state Sen. John Andrews (R) and former Denver councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt (D), seen daily on Colorado Public Television since 1997, began its June series this week. Andrews zinged the liberal hysteria over global warming, led by hyperbole-prone Al Gore. Other topics this month include Colorado judges coddling illegal aliens, alleged ballot-issue overload, Iraq after Zarqawi, and the Unity ’08 splinter party.

1. GLOBAL WARMING: HOW REAL?

John: The great environmental bogeyman of the 1970s was global cooling. Today the bogeyman is global warming. The common denominator is hostility to capitalism, faith in government, media hype, and shaky science. Panic is not called for. The collapse of the Kyoto Treaty proves that. Memo to Al Gore: chill out.

Susan: The science in 2006 is much better than science in the 1970’s. That’s progress. Capitalistic countries like China and members of the European Union are profiting from energy-smart green technology. We’re nuts if we think wasting water, land and energy doesn’t have consequences. Is your head cooler in the sand? (more…)

(Note by John Andrews) Multiple subjects can’t be addressed in one initiated constitutional amendment or statute to come before Colorado voters, and on Monday, June 12, the state Supreme Court ruled 4-2 that the proposal called Defend Colorado Now — ensuring tax-paid services go to legal residents only — violates that requirement. So barring a reversal of the decision, the measure is dead for 2006. There is not time to start over with a narrower petition(assuming any such thing could be devised). As a proponent of sweeping judicial reform, I have my own personal thoughts about all this. But as co-chairman of the Defend Colorado Now campaign, I issued the following press statement Monday afternoon. A followup press statement, after Gov. Owens entered the fray on Tuesday, is found in comments below.

Today’s decision by the Colorado Supreme Court against our ballot issue strains common sense and conflicts with prior rulings on the single-subject requirement. We will move for the court to reconsider, in hope of a more just decision next time.

This setback on a legal technicality cannot diminish the tremendous grassroots support for voters saying “enough” on the flood of illegal immigration in our state. Defend Colorado Now will continue full speed ahead with our petition campaign, already gathering signatures by the tens of thousands. Citizens want this issue on the November ballot.

Cutting off tax-paid services to illegal aliens, except in emergencies or when federally mandated, is obviously a single subject. Not only that, it is the single most urgent subject on Coloradans’ mind in this election year. The will of the people won’t be denied forever.

The full Supreme Court opinion is here. The early AP story from DenverPost.com is here. Trenchant analysis by Joshua Sharf, my associate on Backbone Radio, is here.

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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Saddam is on trial, and now Zarqawi is in eternity. Neither one likes it, we can be sure. We ourselves don’t exult in it. But we take grim satisfaction in the mills of justice grinding those evil men, the enemies of liberty and law.

And we take added resolve to finish the job, to see that Bin Laden and Zawahiri are next, to win this world war by smashing the Islamofascist network sworn to America’s destruction.

“Backbone Radio with John Andrews” has long insisted there is no substitute for victory in the battle of survival now confronting free peoples everywhere. Our show this Sunday will look at what’s next after the decapitation of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I hope you’ll join us. (more…)

(John Andrews in the Denver Post, June 4) Nonpartisan politics is baloney. If you want to beef up self-government, its protections as well as its powers, you need strong political parties. You need parties that are fiercely competitive, yet able to compromise; principled yet pragmatic; cohesive yet diverse; law-abiding but lightly regulated.

Today’s Republicans and Democrats meet this standard pretty well. By comparison with parties in other countries, or in America at other times, they meet it very well. Both parties could do better, however. And the drumbeat of elite opinion condemning “partisanship” threatens to march us in exactly the wrong direction.

These dry generalizations come to life, as the professor will demonstrate shortly, in such spectacles as the mating dance of President Bush and Senator Kennedy on immigration, the slugging match of Bob Beauprez vs. Marc Holtzman for governor, the success of the Salazar brothers, and the failure of public education. (more…)

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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Hello from Seattle, where the TABOR Truth Tour rolls on. Evergreen Freedom Foundation, marking 15 years as a conservative think tank for Washington State, had John Stossel for their June 1 conference. The all-day event opened with a panel where I spoke on “Draining the Swamp: How to Reduce the Size, Scope, and Cost of Government.”

I said the swamp, a harmful concentration of power and money, develops when civic responsibility hits a sinkhole. But citizens can replace that depression with a divide, a backbone to define the political watershed. A constitutional tax and spending limit is one way to slow (if not reverse) the growth of government.

Colorado’s TABOR does this to an extent, I told the Evergreen conference. Yet our experience with TABOR-evading politicians, judges, and special interests is a reminder not to expect too much from any one reform. You can’t people-proof political power. Only a citizenry who understand freedom is a trust, not a toy, can ultimately drain the swamp. (more…)