Pam Anderson

Experienced leader and elections professional. Former elected official. #CivicEngagment

[Jon Caldara @JonCaldara]

About @lynn_bartels

Colorado’s political decline seems to correspond with the decline of local news coverage. #copolitics

I won’t go so far as to suggest causation, but there’s certainly a correlation between the fall of local news and the fall of Colorado’s freedoms and economy.

We used to have an army of local political reporters. The kind who knew where the bodies were buried because they helped dig them up. They had experience, dogged determination, and a professional hatred of getting scooped by the competition.

They understood that the real political intrigue wasn’t in Washington, D.C; it was in the thousands of governments scattered across Colorado.

Lynn Bartels was their field general.

She was the ace political reporter for the Rocky Mountain News until its collapse and then she moved to The Denver Post before it morphed into a newsletter. (The Post is so skinny these days, I don’t know how many copies to buy to line a birdcage.)

Bartels reported on me off and on for decades, and she could be rough. It wasn’t personal. It was her job to go after anyone involved in politics. We became friends. How could we not? She never took herself too seriously, always took her reporting seriously, and laughed at my adolescent jokes.

She claimed she turned me into a star by reporting on me during my days on the RTD Board in the 1990s. I claimed I turned her into a star reporter by creating so much RTD dysfunction for her to write about.

And thus began a decades-long friendship built largely on insulting each other and laughing.

Get this: both newspapers had full-time reporters assigned exclusively to the RTD beat, covering one of the largest and most wasteful governments in Colorado.

The longest laugh I ever got from her came when she was complaining about a drought in her sex life. “What are you complaining about?” I asked. “You f— someone every time your name is on a byline.”

I would also tease her that reporters are genetically incapable of performing simple math. I even gave her a yellow traffic sign that read: “CAUTION: Journalists Doing Math.” She hung it proudly in her cubicle and would occasionally call me to double-check the numbers in a story.

She was one of the army of great people there for me when my daughter, Parker, died. While the “CAUTION: Journalists Doing Math” eventually came down from her cubicle, Parker’s picture never did.

But in her soul, Lynn is a political reporter. There was nothing she loved more than catching politicians in their hypocrisy. When she retired, you could almost feel the collective relief from the elected class.

Lynn is one uppity, stubborn lady and a genuine piece of Colorado history. She has never been intimidated by a politician, special interest group, or industry.

She is unshakable.

All of which means she has the skills to stare down the cancer she has been battling for some time.

And like all of us who watch helplessly as someone we care about fights for life and dignity, I don’t really know what to do to help.

When my daughter Parker was fighting a ravenous cancer, Lynn wrote about it with compassion. She made me feel a little less alone. People who never met Parker got to know her, at least a little.

So that’s why I’m telling you about Lynn.

She spent a career making sure the rest of us weren’t alone when government lied, cheated, wasted money, or abused power.

Now it’s our turn.

Lynn, you are not alone.

(Note the picture of the most beautiful little girl on Lynn's cubicle.)

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@On5info @KyleClark @jaredpolis Happy to see you post any evidence not debunked to discuss. Years of grifting and folks having to write big checks for lies when asked by courts to provide evidence.

[Kyle Clark @KyleClark]

NEW: Tina Peters, newly freed by Colorado Gov Jared Polis (D), begins her MAGA media tour by telling Steve Bannon that Democrats are cheating on elections and she was imprisoned as retribution for exposing voting machines that flip votes.

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

I have thoughts about this that I will share in the next few days. As with many other election professionals, I am laser focused on what I should be- finalizing, canvassing and certifying an election today. #copolitics

[Stephen Richer @stephen_richer]

Commuted from 9 years to 4.5 years.

Eligible for parole next month.

https://t.co/fbh0ecqKvA

[PBS News @NewsHour]

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman captured extraordinary footage of "Earthset" during the Artemis II mission earlier this month.

Wiseman, the mission commander, shot the video on an iPhone as the crew made their way around the moon. He shared the footage of "Earthset," which is when the Earth appears to set behind the moon, on Monday in a social media post. The crew captured images of "Earthset" on April 6.

"Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset," Wiseman wrote.

"I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view," he added. "This is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom, which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye."

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@okmaher @Joeoltmann @cologop Speed of light

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@JesseAPaul @KyleClark #ElectionsAreHard

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

“Schmidt said people need to be able to “walk and chew gum at the same time.” Policymakers and election officials have to balance being vigilant about fraud with not overreacting to the low level at which noncitizen voting occurs.” 💯 #elections

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

Big gap between what actually happens the and false rhetoric being pushed by #POTUS and #GOP congressional leaders. Thanks @Commish_Schmidt for sharing a true and depiction. https://t.co/iBDWhGHFeF

[Stephen Richer @stephen_richer]

In February, the FBI seized 600+ boxes of election materials from Fulton County.

According to a number of reports, the theories undergirding the FBI's raid came from a 263-page report by the Election Oversight Group ("EOG").

Ryan Germany, @JustinGrimmer, @statesunited, and I had a grand old time going through all 263-pages and analyzing every claim.

Our assessment is available here: https://t.co/ryBnYpXiGP

A few high level thoughts:

1) I don't think the EOG team thought anyone would read their full report.

When the report first became available, Cleta Mitchell posted to social media that “Kevin Moncla has dotted every I and crossed every T and it is stunning.”

But if you do dig in, it’s actually shockingly incomplete.

For example, Count 5 of the EOG report claims, “The Number of Fulton County’s Absentee Ballots Doubled After the Polls Closed on Election Day.”

But it doesn’t offer any narrative. It just has two images and then the word “developing.”

At count 14 of the EOG report, the supposed evidence consists of only two images, one of which illegible. That count concludes, “[a]fter further review, it was found that counties had been purchasing VoteSecure IR paper from Dominion for each election. For example:”

But that’s it. There are no examples.

So while the EOG report is impressive in length, it seems more geared to shock than to prove.

2) The report ignores the basic safeguards of Georgia elections

For example, various claims in the EOG report allege that Fulton County used uncertified tabulation software, or that Fulton County deleted ballot images. But both of these concerns are put to rest by the fact that Georgia had a paper ballot for every vote cast in its 2020 election. The reason why election officials love paper ballots is because they create an immutable auditable paper trail that can be audited or recounted and thereby used to assess any claims that tabulators didn’t work properly or that election officials messed up.

3) The EOG report cherry-picks Fulton County in a way that seems suspiciously political.

For example, claims one and two of the EOG report are about the entire state of Georgia, and there is no reason to think any error or wrongdoing would be specific to Fulton County. But that’s what the EOG report suggests.

Or consider count 14 of the EOG report. It alleges Fulton County used the wrong type of ballot paper in 2020. But the evidence is one allegedly misprinted ballot from Spalding County, not Fulton County, in the 2022 election, not the 2020 election.

4) This is really just frustration with public records requests.

Much of the alleged wrongdoing stems from EOG team supposedly not getting all the records they requested. But even if true, you can’t use such an absence to immediately jump to criminal wrongdoing. And yet, that’s what EOG did in a number of the claims. The appropriate remedy is a civil action regarding a public records dispute. It is not the accusation of criminal activity. And it is not the opening of a criminal investigation.

5) Ignores prior investigations

As with the affidavit used by the FBI in obtaining the warrant, the EOG report ignores the many audits and investigations previously done by professional investigators and election officials. Our response report reminds readers of 8 of those previous efforts and how they already answered many of the claims in the EOG report.

https://t.co/ryBnYpXiGP

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@stephen_richer Nope.

[CBSColorado @CBSNewsColorado]

Tina Peters could receive same sentence after re-sentencing ordered by Colorado Court of Appeals https://t.co/hoOvM3zEo6

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a Tina Peters but ordered a reconsideration of sentencing. Whether I agree or disagree with outcome is less relevant than that I find the ruling legitimate. https://t.co/rjy2SeSrS8

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@9news this headline is misleading. I recommend folks read the ruling.

[9NEWS Denver @9NEWS]

The Colorado Appeals Court issued a decision that threw out the current prison sentence of Tina Peters: https://t.co/TffR2jHZBz

[NASA @NASA]

Liftoff.

The Artemis II mission launched from @NASAKennedy at 6:35pm ET (2235 UTC), propelling four astronauts on a journey around the Moon.

Artemis II will pave the way for future Moon landings, as well as the next giant leap — astronauts on Mars.

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

My #CODEM friends, you have opportunity to vote for integrity, honesty & pro qualifications. @JenaGriswold likely to get on the ballot because of her $$ and love of dark money, delegates should stand up & clean their own house. Jena will be the #PamBondiOfCO

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

To my #TX fellow conservative family and friends- hope folks take the time to watch. It’s not “what about” the other side. It’s time to hold self-proclaimed conservatives accountable with our vote.

[Andrew Arenge @MrArenge]

John Cornyn's team is up a new paid digital ad going after Ken Paxton. The ad started running yesterday on Facebook + Instagram

The ad - which is over 6 minutes long! - goes through a 15 year timeline of things Paxton has done while serving as a public official

#TXSen

[Pam Anderson @PamAndersonCO]

@IDSecOfState Phil McGrane is doing an excellent job representing Idaho, upholding state law, and respecting voter data privacy protections.

[Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein]

Super interesting story out of Idaho: As Trump Demands Voter Data, This Fiercely Independent Red State Says No
https://t.co/oUpUrjH3Ro by @audreydutton @JenAFifield