Junction Daily Blog

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s visit yesterday to a small-enough-to-look-crowded Montrose room got me thinking, which is always dangerous.  His dismal fourth-out-of-four finish yesterday in Nevada’s caucuses got me thinking even harder.

Why is this guy even running?

He’s either totally clueless or has an ego the size of Jupiter.

They say familiarity breeds contempt.  So it was with Santorum in his home state in 2006.  After serving as Pennsylvania’s senator for twelve years, the people rose up and tossed him out of office by an 18-point margin.  That’s a bigger margin of loss for a Pennsylvania incumbent senator than in any other race since the 17th Amendment provided for direct election of senators by the people. (Raw data here.) Read more »

Regardless of what else happened today, that’s the most important thing.

See you tomorrow.  I’ll try to post before I get wrapped up in the Superbowl.

No party, no snacks, but dinner will be something we can hand-hold: Spinach and Swiss  Calzones.

As of dinner time tonight, Laura Bradford has not made her big decision.

Or if she has, she hasn’t chosen to share it with any media outlet that I follow.

There was an interesting paywalled article in the Daily Sentinel today that suggests that Bradford doesn’t have much support from western slope conservatives.  That’s her problem, I guess.

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I suppose it’s time to talk about the Big Game on Sunday.  I’m not going to use any other descriptor for it, as I understand the other descriptor is trademarked.

I can’t think of a tougher game to handicap.  Defense against Offense.  Take your pick.

I can’t even figure out who to root for.  Although I grew up less than 15 miles from where the Giants play, and would normally be rooting like hell for the Giants, I think that a ring that says the right things might really help Penn State in future recruiting.  Their new head coach is the Patriots offensive coordinator.

So tell me what you think.  About Bradford and about the big game.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. That forecasts six more weeks of winter. This prediction came on a day when people in Central Pennsylvania were playing golf.

My source is the State College, PA Centre Daily Times (CDT). The CDT is my go-to source for Groundhog Day news; State College is damned near closer to Punxsutawney than any other major metropolis, unless you consider Altoona to be a major metropolis.

Phil’s prediction differs from other groundhogs in West Virginia, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, and New York, as well as foreign groundhogs in Ontario and Nova Scotia. That makes Phil about as credible as the rest of the global-warming deniers, which is to say not very credible at all.

Then came the punch to my gut. It was a blow as bad as someone saying there is no Santa Claus. No, worse, because I know that’s bullshit–there IS a Santa Claus.

Today, the CDT let slip a devastating allegation: Read more »

There’s a famous quote, attributed to Will Rogers, that says, “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” Apparently, Laura Bradford isn’t a student of Will Rogers.

Fresh from a Denver Police press conference at which we found out that some poor cop will pay the price for cutting her a break, Bradford went on an interview binge with several media outlets. Read more »

At about noontime today, the Denver Police Department scheduled a press conference for 3:30 to discuss “significant new information” in the Laura Bradford non-case.

It was the most blatant CYA effort I have ever witnessed, and I have been around for quite a few of them. Read more »

Laura Bradford (R-Collbran) went to the well of the House today and apologized to the General Assembly and to her constituents.

But for what? Read more »

The legislature has been out of session for two days.  Presumably, Representative Laura Bradford has been in Collbran. Let’s hope that someone else drove her there.

We haven’t heard a word from her about the traffic stop at which she allegedly failed a roadside sobriety test.

Members of her own party have suggested that Representative Bradford skirted a law with which the rest of us must comply. Read more »

Laura Bradford has evidently beaten a DUI charge simply by virtue of having legislative license plates on her car.

However, if she wants to be elected to District 54 this fall, she owes District 54 residents (like Yours Truly) an explanation.

Did Bradford exercise legislative immunity with the Denver Police?

That’s an important question to me.  I am absolutely incensed that Bradford’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was never tested after she allegedly failed a roadside sobriety test.

Media reports of her traffic stop differ in some important details. Read more »

The Colorado House Republicans reported this evening that District 55 Representative Laura Bradford (who now lives in District 54) has been suspended from her chairmanship of the House Local Government Committee for an unspecified traffic infraction that occurred Wednesday.

KKCO reports that Bradford admitted to Denver Police that she had been drinking before she was pulled over. KKCO reported that Colorado law prohibits her arrest if she was driving to or from The Capitol, but that’s not exactly what the law says.

The Colorado Constitution, Article V, Section 16, says,

The members of the general assembly shall, in all cases except treason or felony, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the sessions of their respective houses, or any committees thereof, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house, or any committees thereof, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

If she was already in Denver, and it was the middle of the week, and she wasn’t on her way to a legislative session, it’s unclear how that section applies. But we don’t know any of those things yet. It would seem to a regular person like me that she was already there, but that depends on exactly when she was pulled over and exactly where she was headed at the time. That’s for the lawyers to hash out. Fortunately, I’m not one of them.

I’m sure more facts will emerge with time.

If she was DUI, shame on her. She needs to resign.