Hello Russia.

Traffic counter here on this site. Others are telling me they are experiencing the same thing. Electors, dump Trump while we still can! http://Facebook.com/groups/Dec19DumpTrump

Startup Show: 2nd Colorado Caucus Day at the Capitol. SBCC Startup Method.

Startup Show, live each Friday at noon mst.
This week: 2nd Caucus Day at the Capitol. Electoral College. SBCC Startup Method.
To be on the show call John at (303)861-1447

Encourage electors from your state!

Join us!

December 19 Group: Never Again.

Caption: "The 2016 election without the electoral college."

Click above for a short video from the founder of the December 19 group on why Trump will not be president or see http://Facebook.com/Dec19DumpTrump

ENCOURAGE YOUR STATE ELECTORS TO VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCE.

PLEASE CARE ENOUGH TO SHARE WITH YOUR INTERNET CONTACTS!

Repurposing this site. Watch for new. For now, Dec 19!

Anyone but Clinton and Trump! Electors, do your duty! For more see our Facebook Page, then use link there to join our Facebook Group so you'll get invitations to all the upcoming events: http://Facebook.com/Dec19DumpTrump

Early voting results, how you can help today.

In Colorado as of yesterday, November 3, 1.4 million ballots in, click for full report.

This is just about your last chance to use social media and email to ask your Internet friends and family to vote NO on 107 and 108. DO IT! DO IT NOW!

Just share one of the posts below or create your own.

We will be discussing the new Caucus Clubs on the Startup Show click for more today, on at Noon Mountain Daylight Time (don't forget to fall back an hour Saturday night as daylight savings time ends.)

This afternoon (Fri, 1/4) at 4 p.m. the Caucus Club steering committee click for more will meet for the last time, at 4:30 p.m. in the same location our Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc's LoDo Denver IDEA Cafe Startup Workshop click for more will meet, and at 6 p.m. Socrates Cafe.

If you have any questions, or if you want to be on the Startup Show or a speaker to share your startup experience at an IDEA Cafe startup workshop, please call John Wren, (303)861-1447

PLEASE forward this along to anyone you know who might be interested. Thanks!

This life is very short, let's get started!

Release: Hyper-local Neighborhood Caucus Clubs Being Organized.

(PLEASE FORWARD. THANKS! John)

From: Save the Caucus.

Contact: John Wren, cell (720)495-4949

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2016

Hyper-local Neighborhood Caucus Clubs Being Organized.

“Fresh leadership is always needed in both major political parties, so we will help them both.”

Denver—Save the Caucus, a Colorado political committee formed this year to fight what has become Propositions 107 and 108, today announced a project for hyper-local civic education to increase informed participation in the Colorado Caucus in 2018. www.Meetup.com/Caucus-Clubs (303)861-1447

Making the announcement long-time community activist John Wren said, "Hyper-local neighborhood Caucus Clubs will be promoted through Nextdoor.com and local community newspapers. Caucus Clubs will welcome new neighbors and invite everyone in the neighborhood to social events and educational activities in the neighborhood, in cooperation with local chambers, local community newspapers, service clubs, etc. 

"Caucus Clubs will not take political positions, except on legislation that effects the Colorado Caucus, nor will we endorse candidates or issues. Like the Denver City Club (I'm a former member and past President) our purpose will be 'to inform not reform.' We will cooperate with everyone interested in strengthening the grassroots in business and politics, and we will inform newcomers of their precinct committee people for both major political parties and we will give them subscription information for local publications and performing arts groups," said Wren

 "We are going to need a lot of help to make this happen. Anyone who'd like to be a part of it is encouraged to check out the Caucus Clubs link on www.COCaucus.org orwww.SmallBizChamber.org or go directly to www.Meetup.com/Caucus-Clubs. Those who like the idea are asked to Tweet us @IDEACafe or @BuildBetterCO."

###

Save the Caucus is a Colorado political committee. 1881 Buchtel Blvd. #501, Denver, CO 80210 (303)861-1447 www.COCaucus.org John Wren is the registered agent. He co-founded the 2002 Save the Caucus which defeated the Caucus-killer Amendment 29 60% 40%  despite being outspent 1400 to 1. 

“Why is the Colorado Caucus withering? First, because the legislature, in an ineffectual grab for national headlines, created a meaningless Presidential Primary that eliminated the headline race that once inspired much caucus activism.

“Second, because we're all getting good at sitting on the sidelines. The Kettering Foundation's David Mathews once reminded readers that the word idiot comes from the Greeks. Privacy, they thought, was akin to stupidity. "Idiots" were incapable of finding their place in the social order.

“Why bow to the trend of letting the next guy do it? Why sell out to letting money replace shoe-leather at every level of American politics?”

Sue O’Brien, Editorial Page Editor, Denver Post

From her “Caucuses aren’t for ciphers.” October 6, 2002., complete text on www.COCaucus.org 

Preserve local neighborhood caucus system, here's why:

Startup Show today, Power of One in America

Watch via link at noon MDT, 2 p.m. Eastern on https://youtu.be/__a1cZJo-rc

New! Now give $ online to Save the Caucus!

Together we can Save the Caucus!

Send your check or money order to John Wren, registered agent, Save the Caucus, 1881 Buchtel Blvd. #501, Denver, CO 80210 or give online after you join our Colorado Caucus Club Meetup, watch there for announcement about Meetups across the state. www.Meetup.com/Caucus-Clubs

The Startup Show: "Starting a career in politics."

Each Friday at noon MDT we talk about startup. To be on the show call (303)861-1447

Save the Caucus! Take a minute to share with your online friends!

Save the Caucus! Check this out: https://t.co/QvJZlGTLvy #Colorado #COPolitics #COleg #COCaucus DO YOU CARE ENOUGH TO RETWEET THIS MESSAGE?

— John Wren +++ Start! (@JohnSWren) August 21, 2016

Join us! New Colorado Caucus Clubs.

Don't let Newcomer Kent make Colorado elections like California's!

Here is how Colorado has selected our candidates for the primary election since Gov. John Shafroth and the Colorado legislature institute our wonderful Colorado Caucus, the system that gives control of the major political parties to their rank and file members, not the political bosses:

 Ever since we first gathered for the Colorado Caucus in neighborhoods across the state in 1914, this is what the political bosses and other powerful people like Newcomer Kent have been trying to force us into, a Presidential Primary, or worse, a convention system where party hacks instead of the rank and file decide who gets on the ballot.

Photos: Denver Post

Why save the Colorado Caucus?

Don't let them shut you up!  Support candidates who support our 

Colorado Caucus-- where the voice of the common person makes a real difference.

The room is buzzing with conversation. Neighbors who may only have shared brief greetings in the past are now discussing pressing public policy issues and presidential candidates who will shape the nation for decades. 

Neighbors connect with each other at levels of nuance and depth that is nonexistent for passive subjects watching the nonstop chatter of today’s news media. They discover common ground that is translated into political action by their representatives at the local, state and federal levels.

This is the wonderful Colorado Caucus..  This is the grassroots of our representative democracy at its very best. In some 6,000 gatherings across Colorado citizens interact in an iron-sharpening-iron forums that challenge, enlighten, clarify. 

This is usually the Colorado Caucus, the wonderful grassroots system that has served us well since 1912 until recently. It was almost killed with a misguided experiment with a Presidential Primary for three election cycles, the test ended in 2004. It was never fully restored to health, and it has been under attack by powerful forces ever since 1912.

These forces are united by a single idea: to dupe Colorado citizens into reverting back to the pre-reform days, with party bosses having almost no oversight from rank-and-file party members.

If the Empire, in StarWars terms, fools enough people, our wonderful Coloradan grassroots will once again be replaced with the astroturf of a Presidential Primary. This is not a new fight.

Save The Caucus, a Colorado political committee, was first formed to do precisely that, to save the Colorado Caucus, which would have been killed by Amendment 29 in 2002. Despite being outspent 1400 to 1, Amendment 29 was defeated 60% to 40%.

The committee was formed by John Wren, Phil Perington, Frank & Sylvia Sullivan, Sharron and Ben Klein, , JoAnne & Dan Gray, Ruth Prendergast, Bill Armstrong and many others to fight Amendment 29, which would have killed what was left of the Colorado Caucus that had almost died trying to co-exist with expensive Presidential Primaries that were tried in 1992, 1996 and 2000. We fully re-adopted the caucus system in 2004.

Wren recently reactivated Save the Caucus with the Colorado Secretary of State and listed himself as registered agent. “Our intention was to be ready if a ballot initiative arose that would have the same impact as Amendment 29 in 2002, and that has now happened, and we could be taken back 100 years to the corruption that existed then that finally stopped with the progressive reforms adopted by states across the country," said Wren.

Why is the Colorado Caucus worth saving? Here's what CU political scientists very familiar and experienced in it's operations before our experiment with the Presidential Primary has said:

“…(The Colorado Caucus— the unique Colorado system adopted in 1912) permits citizens to run for office even though they may not be the ‘pets’ of the party organization, and at the same time it discourages persons without any real stature and public standing from becoming candidates,” wrote Curtis Martin and Wallace Stealey of the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1967.

Caucuses are held every other year in 3,000 neighborhoods across Colorado, often in public spaces such as schools, and also in homes that are handicapped accessible. This is the start of a process that ends up with delegates going to the Democratic and Republican national conventions, where they will vote for a nominee for each party to represent the voters in the general election. 

At each neighborhood caucus, members of one of the major political parties vote for delegates to their county assembly. At the caucus and assembly citizens have the chance to persuade their neighbors about why their preferred candidate should be elected. A candidate must garner a minimum number of votes to be presented at the next level. At the county assemblies, some of those delegates will be chosen to go to the seven congressional district assemblies and others to represent the candidate at the state assembly. From there, delegates are chosen for the national convention, where they will have a chance to choose their political party’s nominee for President of the United States of America.

Some say our Colorado Caucus is too complicated. It is true that to be a self-governing citizen takes time. The obsession our culture has with instant gratification is not healthy for our society when it comes to important matters such as who represents us politically. 

"I love the caucus process," Chuck Broerman, El Paso County clerk and recorder, told the Colorado Springs Gazette in February. "I really enjoy the fact that grass-roots people can get in and participate in the process and make a decision about who the candidates are going to be."

If there are bad leaders in the party or among elected representatives, the Precinct Caucus enables concerned citizens to begin a powerful process to set a new direction.  A Presidential Primary only allows the quick pull of a lever or check of a box, the opportunity to easily correct problems is lost, which is exactly why dictatorial party leaders hate our wonderful Colorado Caucus. 

People complain that our nation’s elections are dominated by monied interests. Our 6,000 Colorado Precinct Caucus gatherings are a powerful corrective to this domination. The Colorado Caucus enables those who feel powerless to have a voice and enter the political process. Apathy about governance disappears when the politically-poor find their voice and connect with neighbors. Many, many of these formerly silent citizens over the past 100 years have subsequently been elected to public office. 

“We're systematically replacing ‘social capital’ with plain old monetary capital (with primaries),” wrote Sue O'Brien in 2002. “Colorado's traditional caucus-convention system, in contrast, rewards the shoe-leather and diligence. It provides a low-cost way for aspirants to work the neighborhoods, investing energy instead of dollars.”

Those screaming “Kill the Caucus” say the 6,000 neighborhood gatherings for a couple of hours every two years creates radicalization, but the opposite is true. When they are well led, which they were not this year, face to face discussion helps citizens realize the people they share their votes with are real human beings with similar life struggles, experiences and desires. 

Washington State has estimated changing from a Presidential Primary to a caucus-assembly system like the Colorado Caucus would save $11 million. Political parties pay for the caucus.

Cost of Presidential Primary— $Millions. The experience of shared humanity lost— Priceless. That is why it is so important that we once again Save the Caucus. Support candidates who support the Colorado Caucus. 

For more see Colorado Caucus News (click here) or call John Wren at (303)861-1447. 

John Wren is registered agent for Save the Caucus, a Colorado political committee. 1881 Buchtel Blvd #501, Denver, CO 80210

Call your State Senator!

Outrageous conduct at the Colorado State Capitol this afternoon. Public hearing on this Senate Bill 216 with no public notice. Passed 5-0, now headed into Appropriations, where it should be killed. PLEASE CONTACT THE SENATORS ON THE COMMITTEE. Here is the bill: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2016a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/E907C75E85C8050487257FAA00756B7A?open&file=216_01.pdf PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH REPUBLICANS AND OTHERS WHO MIGHT BE WILLING TO CONTACT SENATORS ON APPROPRIATIONS WITH TWEETS, PHONE CALLS, GO TO THE CAPITOL NO IF YOU CAN. CRITICAL 216 BE KILLED IN APPROPRIATIONS.

GROUP TO WORK FOR GOOD COLORADO CAUCUS IN 2018 AND BEYOND.

Save the Caucus

A Colorado political committee. John Wren, registered agent.

1881 Buchtel Blvd. #501, Denver, CO 80210   (303)861-1447.

For more contact: John Wren cell (720)495-4949

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 5, 2016

GROUP TO WORK FOR GOOD COLORADO CAUCUS IN 2018 AND BEYOND. 

“We are recruiting a state-wide network of volunteers and a steering committee,” says John Wren. 

Denver— A new Colorado political committee has been formed to do just what it’s name implies, Save the Caucus, according to John Wren registered agent of the new group. Information meetings will be held for those interested in helping. For more see http://www.COCaucus.org or call Wren at (303)861-1447

“Our focus now is 100% the Colorado Caucus, the best chance the common person has of serving in elected public office. We will recruit a working committee and then train over 3,000 volunteers across Colorado this summer. Each volunteer will work with both their Republican and Democratic precinct committee people and other neighborhood activists to make sure good leadership at the district, county and state levels for both major political parties make sure a this year’s fiasco doesn’t happen again.”

“Strong neighborhoods have good caucuses,” said Wren. Depending on local conditions, each PL (Precinct Leader) will welcome newcomers to the neighborhood, create and distribute a hyper-local newsletter, and hold neighborhood social events. Each precinct will be autonomous, Save the Caucus will provide training and other support.

“Our first jobs are to recruit a strong steering committee, raise money, and once an initial budget is approved to hire staff. We will fight to Save the Caucus in the elections next fall, fighting any Colorado Caucus killing initiative or legislation, then working to have a healthy 2018 Colorado Caucus. We expect to have a statewide event before the elections next fall, and if we’ve been successful it will involve leaders from similar efforts in other states,” said Wren.

###

John Wren is founder and CEO of Small Business Chamber of Commerce, Inc. and a long-time business consultant and community activist. He was one of the co-founders of the 2002 Save the Caucus that defeated the Caucus killing Amendment 29, despite being out spent 1400 to 1. For more see www.SmallBizChamber.org  www.JohnWren.com or call (303)861-1447.

Creator of the Colorado Caucus, best tool for the common person to serve in elected public office.

Creator of the unique Colorado Caucus, the best elements of the progressive reform, the caucus-assembly power to get those other than the choice of the powerful party bosses into public office.

John Franklin Shafroth (June 9, 1854 – February 20, 1922) was a United States Representative, Senator, and Governor from Colorado.

1 Early life
Born in Fayette, Missouri, he attended the common schools and graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1875. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1876 and commenced practice in Fayette. He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1879 and continued the practice of law.

2 Political career
He was city attorney from 1887 to 1891 and was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress as a Repre- sentative. He then joined other Colorado officials such as Senator Henry M. Teller, splitting from the Republicans to join the Silver Republican third party, on whose ticket he was reelected to the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-sixth, and Fifty- seventh Congresses.[1] To the Fifty-eighth Congress, he presented credentials as a Democratic Member-elect. Thus, he served in the U.S. House from March 4, 1895, until his resignation on February 15, 1904, when he de- clared that, due to fraud in 29 electoral precincts, he was unable to legitimately assert that he had won the election, and requested that his opponent, Robert W. Bonynge, re- place him.[2] Subsequently, Shafroth was often referred to (sometimes admiringly, sometimes sarcastically) as “Honest John.”[3]
Shafroth was Governor of Colorado from 1909 to 1913, and was instrumental in bringing in Colorado’s ballot ini- tiative institutions. In 1912, he was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, where he served one term from March 4, 1913, to March 3, 1919; he was an unsuccessful can- didate for reelection in 1918. While a Senator, Shafroth was chairman of the Committee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico (Sixty-third through Sixty-fifth Congresses), the leading Senate sponsor of the Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 which granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans, and a member of the Committee on the Philippines (Sixty-fifth Congress).

3 Later life and death
After leaving the Senate, he served as chairman of the War Minerals Relief Commission from 1919 to 1921.
John F. Shafroth died in 1922 and was interred in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver. His personal and of- ficial papers are archived at several locations includ- ing the Colorado State Archives (gubernatorial papers), the Colorado Historical Society Library, and the Denver Public Library's Western History and Genealogy Depart- meant.

4 References

1. [1]  Hagerman, Frank (July 2004). “John Franklin Shafroth”. The Colorado Lawyer 33 (7): 15. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
   
2. [2]  VeryHonestManAstoundsLowerHouseofCongress,in The Tacoma Times (via Chronicling America); published February 15, 1904; retrieved 2015-01-03.
   
3. [3]  Leonard,StephenJ.;Noel,ThomasJ.;Walker,DonaldL., Jr. (2003). Honest John Shafroth: A Colorado Reformer. University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-942576-07-8.
   

Honest John Shafroth: A Colorado Reformer http://www.alibris.com/Honest-John-Shafroth-A-Colorado-Reformer-Stephen-J-Leonard/book/23788507#.VvBa_AXmkXo.twitter

Caucus News

Colorado Caucus articles and videos posted each day on http://Facebook.com/Colorado.Caucus.News

Your comments there are very welcome, we just ask that there be no personal attacks, off subject comments, rants, or over-posting (one comment is usually best, on rare occasions two, if there is more link to another URL where you and whoever you are engaging can have an extended conversation.

Why Save the Caucus is important:

It is a good idea to get rid of the Colorado Caucus from the perspective of a rich, powerful person like Donald Trump and some of the people pushing the Presidential Primary certainly fall into that category.

Political party leaders, now that they are in power, would like to kill the caucus because they know it would greatly increase their power, that was one of the primary reasons Colorado adopted it in 1912. Until then party leaders would just place who they wanted on the primary election ballot. The Colorado Caucus made who the party chooses to put on the primary ballot much more democratic.

That's why the state chairs of both major political parties have locked arms to kill the Colorado Caucus, they know it will greatly increase their power.

The person who benefits most from the Colorado Caucus is the average, ordinary person because it increases his or her political power many times over. 

The objection is sometimes raised, what about the elderly and others who might not be able to participate? Same as a jury trial, if they can't do it then they don't have to. Does it limit their political power? Only if they let it. Those who really care can get on the telephone, talk with their neighbors and remind them to go, and have a big, big influence on who their neighbor supports, way beyond the political power they have if they just go in a booth and pull a lever.

The poor benefit from the Colorado Caucus more than anyone. Without it they don't really have a voice at all. And that's just how those pushing the Presidential Primary would like it.

Save the Caucus!