Free Republic

Puppet Pork: If you wonder why it's hard to cut spending, consider the throng of U.S congressmen lining up with Arthur the Aardvark to defend PBS funding from budget cutters. A $14 trillion deficit doesn't tickle us, Elmo. It wasn't an episode of "Sesame Street," but it might have been. There on the Capitol steps was Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., accompanied by fellow Democratic Reps. Paul Tonko, Bill Owens and Nita Lowey of New York and Betty McCollum of Minnesota, with a bevy of Muppets to fight against cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's budget. "This is an ideological...

A Democratic congressman who backed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for minority leader said Monday it is "quite possible" he might vote for Republican John Boehner for Speaker in the next Congress. Rep. Bill Owens (N.Y.) said he voted for Pelosi (D-Calif.) for minority leader in a House Democratic caucus meeting last week, even though he thinks she is too liberal. But Owens said he is open to supporting Boehner, whom House Republicans designated as the next Speaker, when the full House votes next year.

Earlier this morning Doug Hoffman announced he was dropping out of the race and is supporting my candidacy for Congress to take back the 23rd. I am deeply appreciative of Doug’s support. Now, more than ever, Republicans, Conservatives and independents are united in our efforts to defeat Bill Owens in November. Thank you for all your support. Please read a copy of the article that appeared in this morning’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise. Hoffman out of Congress race SARANAC LAKE — Doug Hoffman has dropped out of the race to represent New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Hoffman’s name will still appear...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, saying he feared "dire consequences" if nothing is done to reform the nation's health care system, said today he will vote for President Obama's sweeping plan when it comes to a vote Sunday. "This has been a difficult decision, one that I have taken very seriously," Owens said in a conference call with reporters this morning. "One of the questions that weighed very heavily on mind is what happens if we do nothing," Owens said. He said he was convinced there would be "dire consequences" with skyrocketing health insurance premium costs. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, said...

GOUVERNEUR, NY - Despite the fact that Bill Owens has already been sworn-in and has voted on crucial legislation in the House of Representatives, he may not have actually won the NY-23 Congressional Special Election. Several errors were made during the initial vote counts. Over 2,000 votes for contender Doug Hoffman were not counted in the preliminary results, narrowing the current vote gap to less than 3,000 votes between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman. The errors were discovered during the standard vote recanvas that has been underway since November 4th. The largest error occurred in Oswego County where...

Yesterday, we showed you this report by The Washington Independent that a whopping 95 percent of Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman's cash came from outside the district. Today, the Independent crunched some more numbers and found that Democrat Bill Owens also got most of his cash from outside the district -- 86 percent of it. Only $121,596 of Owens' total (as of Oct. 15) $843,441 came from the district. The biggest donor, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, contributed about 11 percent. By contrast, $12,360 of the $265,341 Hoffman raised by that same date came from inside the district. His biggest donor...

http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7623:owens-to-break-campaign-promises&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175 GOuVERNEUR, NY - Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today. Owens indicated in a press release that he was now in favor of the bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during his campaign. According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option. Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting...

Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today. Owens indicated in a press release that he was now in favor of the bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during his campaign. According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option. Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health...

Leadership: As Palin jousts with Biden on energy independence, the government reports that we lead the world in energy reserves. From oil to gas to coal, we are sitting on prosperity. So why are we importing anything? One of the interesting sidelights of the NY-23 race was an exchange on energy independence between Vice President Joe Biden and the former governor of energy-rich Alaska, Sarah Palin. Biden, who came in to campaign for Democrat Bill Owens, was reminded of the issue of energy. "The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was 'Drill, baby,...

Breaking News: Fox News Projects: Democrat Owens Wins Race for New York's 23rd Congressional District

Republican Dede Scozzafava endorsed her former Democratic opponent Sunday in the race for an upstate New York congressional seat, one day after Scozzafava dropped out of the contest. Scozzafava dropped out after Conservative Party candidate Dough Hoffman experienced a late-in-the-game surge. But on Sunday, Scozzafava backed Democrat Bill Owens -- the announcement was made in a statement send out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same," she said. "In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He...

SCOZZAFAVA's DROPPING OUT: WHO DOES IT HELP? HOFFMENTUM! Dede Scozzafava is suspending her campaign in New York's 23rd Congressional District. From BREAKING: Scozzafava suspends NY 23 campaign: Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her bid in next Tuesday’s NY 23 special election, a huge development that dramatically shakes up the race. She did not endorse either of her two opponents -- Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman or Democrat Bill Owens. Scozzafava has “probably made her last campaign appearance between now and Election Day,” spokesman Matt Burns told POLITICO. “She’s releasing her support to the two other candidates." "I had a discussion...

Note to Politico: If you base a story on an outdated Daily Kos poll you could end up with egg on your face. This is pretty much what has happened in the past three days. On Saturday your humble correspondent cited a Politico story of the day before by Josh Kraushaar in which he reported on Doug Hoffman continuing to lag behind in third place in the NY 23rd CD race: The latest poll in the New York special election shows a close race, with Democrat Bill Owens leading Republican Dede Scozzafava 35 to 30 percent, with Conservative party candidate...

Got trademark? The dairy industry is criticizing the Democratic candidate in New York's 23rd Congressional District race for using the famous slogan "Got milk?" in a political ad. The Northeast Dairy Foods Association, which represents milk processors and dairy farm producers, says Bill Owens is using the registered trademark without authorization. Dairy farmers pay to use the line in advertising. Owens uses the phrase "got milk money" in an ad ...

ASSOCIATED PRESS ALBANY — President Obama and former President Bill Clinton are lending their political star power to an unlikely Democratic bid to win a special congressional election in an area that’s been a Republican bastion for more than a century. The Nov. 3 contest in upstate New York’s 23rd Congressional District, a sprawling, 11-county area where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by 45,000 voters, is shaping up as a test of a struggling GOP and a possible gauge of Obama’s coattails. Obama, who carried the district by 5 percentage points in his landslide victory in New York last year, forced...

President Obama is finding a new version of bipartisanship, taking time out of his busy schedule to speak at a fundraiser for a New York congressional candidate who makes no secret of his more conservative leanings. Obama’s appearance tonight is on behalf of Democratic candidate Bill Owens, who polls show is running slightly ahead of a more liberal Republican and an even more conservative opponent. All three are sparring in a special election for the congressional seat vacated when Obama named moderate Republican John M. McHugh to be secretary of the Army.

Former Gov. Bill Owens said in a deposition it's a good thing the University of Colorado ignored him when he urged that professor Ward Churchill be fired over a controversial essay. "I'm glad that the university, its counsel, and others who had a chance over a period of years to look at the law and look at the case didn't follow my advice and, in fact, chose to ignore it," Owens said in the deposition, taken one week ago today. Had CU fired Churchill for the essay - as Owens wanted - the school would have violated Churchill's free-speech rights,...

Former guv, deposed for trial, calls Churchill 'a plagiarist and a fraud'. Former Gov. Bill Owens on Friday compared one-time University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill to a famous moviemaker - and it wasn't a compliment. "In retirement, he's starting to look a lot like Michael Moore," Owens and others, including University of Colorado regents, are being deposed as part of the trial, scheduled to start March 9 in Denver District Court. Owens declined to discuss in detail what kinds of questions he was asked and what answers he gave, but Owens wasn't shy about expressing his opinion of Churchill....

The Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. gave Gov. Bill Owens a D grade for his fiscal performance during his last year in office in a report released this week. The Libertarian-leaning think tank releases a report card every two years for all 50 governors based on 23 criteria gathered from various sources, such as the U.S. census and budget data provided by state governments. According to the report, Owens “engineered one of the biggest falls from grace in this report card’s 16-year history.” The institute blasted Owens for his support of Referendum C, which was passed by voters last November...

<p>Open-borders adversaries sued to kill the initiative, but Colorado's Supreme Court approved it in early May of 2004. Herron, ex-Gov. Dick Lamm, CAIR's co-Chair Fred Elbel and other insiders chose not to seek the required 68,000 voter signatures to place it on the November 2004 ballot, claiming it was too late to guarantee success. By law, this tabled the initiative for two years, during which time a growing cabal of open-borders legislators, mainly Democrats, aligned with globalist Gov. Bill Owens (RINO) to kill similar legislation.</p>

DENVER - Ask any politician to handicap the 2008 presidential campaign and you'll probably get the same answer: It's more than a year away, and a year is a lifetime in politics. A cliche, to be sure. But also true. Consider the case of Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado. A few years back, he seemed destined to join the pack seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He won a second term in a landslide. National Review magazine put him on the cover and called him "The Best Governor in America." Conservative columnists touted him for 2008. Yet Owens, 55, isn't...

(AP)- Gov. Bill Owens signed a tough package of immigration laws on Monday that could force 1 million people receiving state and federal benefits to prove they are U.S. citizens. To handle an expected avalanche of people seeking waivers so they can keep getting government benefits while they line up the ID documents they need, Owens designated 32 driver’s license bureaus and opened an office at the Capitol to process their requests. A waiver will extend the deadline for producing the required ID until March 1. The key legislation, House Bill 1023, requires government agencies to verify process that adults...

DENVER, July 11 -- Ending a bitterly divisive special session of the legislature, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) cut a deal with Democratic leaders on a package of bills to deny some state services to illegal immigrants and to punish employers who hire them. But the compromise late Monday brought angry criticism of the governor from some of his GOP allies because it did not include a key Republican goal: a tough referendum on illegal immigration on the November ballot. Owens had called the special session specifically to reverse a ruling last month by the state Supreme Court that removed...

DENVER (NNS) -- Flanked by Sailors of Navy Recruiting District (NRD) Denver, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens kicked off Denver's second annual Navy Week May 2, with a signed proclamation declaring May 5-13 as Colorado’s Navy Week. A strong supporter of the Navy, Owens took time out of his busy schedule to thank the Sailors in attendance for their sacrifice and dedication to their country. “I have always been a great admirer of our men and women in the Navy and the job they do in keeping our nation and the world's sea lanes secure for all of us,” Owens said....

Coming up next, Colorado has the fastest growing population of illegal aliens in the country. I will be talking with Colorado's governor, Bill Owens about border security, illegal immigration. Stay with us. -snip- DOBBS: Well, when you say they're changing the character and the culture of your state, what do you mean? OWENS: You know, we have school districts in Colorado, which now have a majority of illegal youngsters or kids out of illegal parents. We have two out of every three new people moving to Colorado in the last five years are coming from other countries. There is a...

April 10, 2006 Press Release No. 06-18 Contact: Oliver Wolf, (412) 760-5482 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Maine College Republicans Prepare to Play Historic Grassroots Role and Elect Strong State Leadership at Annual State Convention U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, Colorado Governor Bill Owens Praise Maine College Republicans for Their Unprecedented Activism AUGUSTA - U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe and Colorado Governor Bill Owens joined the Maine College Republicans for the organization’s annual State Convention in Portland on Saturday. The theme of the convention was “Securing Our Future: Fulfilling History’s Challenge,” and state and national Republican leaders joined over 150 College Republicans as they...

State workers told not to post remarks from state computers Rocky Mountain News December 9, 2005 Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday warned state employees that they would be subject to disciplinary action if they use state computers to post comments on political Web sites. The directive came after the Rocky Mountain News informed the governor that anonymous and sometimes caustic postings from someone using the nickname "Real Deal" had been traced to a computer in the governor's office, which has more than 100 computers. "Real Deal" has taken potshots at Republican "flunkies" and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar. The user...

Gov. Bill Owens on Monday offered his road-heavy budget proposal to state lawmakers while acknowledging that he probably won't get the entire $296 million he's seeking for transportation projects this year. "Now, I'm aware that there are other requests being made for this revenue, specifically for higher education, and I'm certainly open to having that discussion with you," Owens said of the extra money the state will collect under Referendum C. "I'm stating my preference, and obviously I understand that, during this process, while some of my preferences may make it into law, not all of my preferences will." After...

Lawmaker Wants Fence On 2,000-Mile U.S.-Mexico Border Fence Would Cost Billions Of Dollars POSTED: 6:34 am EST November 3, 2005 WASHINGTON -- A House Republican wants to build a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions of dollars and one that critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration. California Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, plans to introduce legislation that would create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the...

Opponents of Referendum C counted on voters rejecting a bigger tax bite, $3,100 for the average family in the next five years, under the pressure of high prices for gasoline, home heating, health care and housing. We appealed to people's skepticism that the Democrat-led legislature would use the new money responsibly. Polling even last weekend suggested proponents hadn't made the sale. But they surged to victory with the help of respected Republicans like Gov. Bill Owens, former party chairman Bruce Benson and University of Colorado president Hank Brown. Those heavy hitters outweighed the more numerous antitax Republican voices, including the...

"I'll take a split decision," said Jon Caldara, leader of the opponents to Referendums C and D. "I'd rather take the whole match, but more importantly our kids and grandkids are not going to be straddled with billions in debt." ... Caldara said Referendum C passed because of the proponents' superior resources. "I walked into this with my eyes open. They had the money, they had the politicians, they had the media," he said. Opponents have threatened to challenge the ballot measures in court.

Gov. Bill Owens said he supports a high-tech fence along the 2,000- mile U.S.-Mexico border similar to what Israel is building on the West Bank. Owens, whose remarks were made on Peter Boyles' morning radio show Thursday, called for putting up a "nonfatal fence that had monitors on it." Advertisement Talking about immigration reform, Owens said, "the system needs to be changed. There's actually a way to do it that, I think, is humane and would solve the problem. That is, first of all, close the border." He said he checked on the cost of the Israeli fence, which amounts...

The scene may seem familiar to Californians: a Republican governor warning that fiscal meltdown is imminent unless voters approve new rules on how much money the state can spend each year. But Colorado Gov. Bill Owens isn't looking for the kind of budget cap that California Republicans want voters to approve next month. That was imposed 13 years ago. Now he is pleading with voters to lift it. The problem: Colorado's spending controls appear to have worked too well. Now some of the most strident fiscal conservatives in Colorado — long viewed as a model for others considering such restraints...

Gov. Bill Owens is weighing in on the debate over an artist given a $5000 state fellowship grant after viewing her work of art depicting sex toys on hooks. "Obviously, this is offensive and in extremely poor taste," said Governor Owens who couldn't view the piece himself, but had it described to him by staffers. The Governor is in Washington D.C. attending an awards ceremony for the University of Northern Colorado Business School. The artist, Tsehai Johnson of Denver, received a Fellowship from the Colorado Council of the Arts in 2003. The work originally titled "Twelve [term for specific sex...

Vote for which quarter wins: Colorado or Minnesota. Read the latest here and vote!

<p>DENVER -- Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a bill Friday that would have outlawed workplace discrimination against gays. But he allowed a measure to take effect extending protection to gays under Colorado's hate crimes law.</p> <p>The workplace discrimination bill would have prohibited an employer from firing, demoting or harassing an employee based on sexual orientation.</p>

Governor, first lady optimistic on future By Lynn Bartels And Penny Parker, Rocky Mountain News May 7, 2005 Gov. Bill Owens, who got kicked out of his house nearly two years ago, has told his wife he wants to come back. First lady Frances Owens said Friday that she agreed and that she is "cautiously optimistic" she and the governor can repair their 30-year marriage. The Centennial couple separated in 2003 for reasons they have never disclosed. She said she thought they were headed for a divorce, until they talked last weekend. The governor said he wanted to be a...

A Hispanic legislator has given up on his attempt to get in- state college tuition status for illegal immigrants. Rep. Val Vigil, D-Thornton, said he had plenty of backers in both parties but not enough clout for the measure to both pass the legislature and withstand a potential veto by Gov. Bill Owens. And that's because not enough Hispanics vote, he said. Fewer than half the eligible Hispanics in Colorado voted for president in 2000, he said. Vigil wants illegal immigrants who have gone to high school in Colorado for at least three years to qualify for the same in-state...

Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado is used to praise from conservatives. National Review dubbed him "the best governor in America" on its cover (illustrating a profile by John J. Miller). Conservatives lauded him for, among other things, his record of cutting taxes and spending. In recent weeks, however, Owens has announced a budget deal with Democrats that has some conservatives furious. Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, accuses Owens of "betraying" taxpayers. The editors of the Wall Street Journal have zapped him. Owens's critics say that he is not only raising taxes, but weakening his state's constitutional...

DENVER--Governor Bill Owens, a Republican, has been crisscrossing the country for years promoting the virtues of this state's strict constitutional limits on government spending. He has repeatedly urged other states to adopt restrictions of their own, based on Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights amendment, known as TABOR. But this summer, Owens says, he will traverse his own mountainous state pushing the opposite message. Midway through his second term, Owens is working to persuade Coloradans to suspend the limits he championed and let the state government spend $3 billion more in tax money than TABOR would allow. Owens thus becomes another...

Gov. Bill Owens stood in the bipartisan light of a news conference at the state Capitol on Thursday when he and lawmakers from both parties announced their budget deal. But in conference rooms and hallways and as far away as Washington, D.C., the Republican governor's endorsement of what opponents see as a $3.1 billion tax hike set off more conservative tempers. Owens met with House Republicans before the news conference to explain his position, saying that he is still a "fiscal conservative." But longtime political allies say that rings hollow. "That's over," said Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax...

Two years ago, the future looked limitless for Bill Owens. Colorado's 40th governor had snagged his second term with the largest vote count in state history. The National Review lauded him as "The Best Governor in America." And Republicans nationwide beseeched him to run for president. Then, Owens' political stock began to plummet. After news in 2003 that the "family values" champion was separating from his wife came the trouncing of his statewide water referendum. Then followed a string of more crushing upsets in 2004 - most notably, Republicans losing control of Colorado's House and Senate, bucking a trend of...

The judicial filibuster issue is of primary importance to me, as it is to many others, and I want to start working now to elect a conservative in 2008 who will not put up with this nonsense. Byrd's Nazi speech is the last straw, so I will not wait for an establishment candidiate any more. Does anyone have any contact info on conservative candidiates who have or will form committeees? I like Gov. Mark Warner and Gov. Bill Owens a lot, and would like to talk to them on a serious level about their candidacies and starting an organization in...

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -A full-page ad taken out by 200 University of Colorado faculty members calls for the school to drop inquiry into the writings of professor Ward Churchill. Gov. Bill Owens and others have called for the firing of Churchill, a tenured professor, because of his comparison of Sept. 11 victims to Nazis. The faculty members paid for the ad to run Monday in The Boulder Daily Camera. It says the review of the professor, expected to complete by the middle of March, should be stopped immediately. The ad says the inquiry is the result of political pressure and...

With two months remaining before the current presidential election, the Club for Growth has already picked a favorite for 2008: Colorado Gov. Bill Owens. Stephen Moore, president of the influential anti-tax group, told a group of supporters yesterday, “We want this guy to run for president in 2008” while introducing the Colorado governor at a lunch hosted by the Club. In the months preceding the 2000 election, Moore’s remarks would have been largely ignored, but the Club has grown 10-fold in the last four years, with a membership in excess of 20,000, and established a formidable reputation for its tough...

Owens Falling One of the most significant political casualties of 2004 is also one that is largely under the radar. Known primarily to political junkies and residents of the Southwest, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, a once-rising star in the GOP establishment, has apparently fallen from the GOP firmament due to a combination of poor decision-making and bad luck. The man who was once touted as heir apparent to the Bush Dynasty appears to be closer to political retirement than the White House, leaving the line of succession open for yet another day. After the GOP successes in the 2002 midterms...

When Republican Gov. Bill Owens chooses a successor to Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar, the nominee will have to share Salazar's values and appeal to both political parties, according to Senate Democrats who have the power to derail Owens' choice. Salazar will have to step down from his role as attorney general before being sworn in as a U.S. senator. Owens will choose the person to complete the two years left in Salazar's term. The nominee must be confirmed by the Senate, which will be under Democratic control come January. Unlike other Owens appointments, the attorney general is an independently...

When Democratic state chairmen gather in Florida next month to lick their wounds from the Nov. 2 election, their agenda will include a careful study of one bright spot in a generally sorry performance: Colorado, a solidly red state that went almost completely blue this year. Despite a large Republican advantage in registered voters and the popularity of President Bush, who carried the state easily for the second time, Colorado Democrats picked up a U.S. Senate seat and House seat that had been considered safe for the GOP. They reversed Republican majorities in the state House and Senate to take...

We need to start planning now to elect a successor to President Bush. That man is Colorado Governor Bill Owens. A great man and leader. Very high approval ratings. Join with me in promoting and encouraging Gov. Owens to consider running. He is term limited and will leave office in 2006 and thus will have the time to run for 2008.

Just heard Colorado's governor Bill Owens on Laura Ingraham's show talking about some serious voter fraud that's going down in in that state. At the end of the interview, she 'half heartedly' asked if he had any intention on running for President in 2008... of course he said no but I've long wondered if he might not be the best selection for us in 2008. Didn't the Club For Growth pick him as the best sitting conservative governor or something?