Congressman Doug Lamborn and businessman Robert Blaha, both running in the 5th Congressional District, recently announced a handful of campaign parties, and now, there are more. But they’re not the only campaigns in El Paso County, and a number of other candidates and officials will be at a meet and greet next Monday. And Lamborn, who won’t be at the Monday event, is hosting a meet and greet of his own, on Saturday.

Here are the details of both events:

Lamborn meet and greet:

WHEN: Sat., May 19, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: Ute Pass Elementary School, in Chipita Park.

WHO: Lamborn, and state Sens. Kevin Grantham and Kent Lambert.

For the general Republican party candidate meet and greet:

WHEN: Mon., May 21, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

WHERE: Manitou Springs District Auditorium, at Manitou Springs Elementary School, 701 Duclo Ave.

WHO: Blaha, state Rep. Bob Gardner, 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May, El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark, County Commissioner District 3 candidate Karen Magistrelli, House District 18 candidate Jennifer George, and CU Regent At-Large candidate Matt Arnold.

Blaha is also holding a pair of events tomorrow. I listed details for those here.

Lamborn is holding a campaign rally on June 2. I listed details for those here.

Republican businessman Robert Blaha, who’s trying to knock off Congressman Doug Lamborn in the GOP primary, has been running around the 5th Congressional District like a track star on speed. And he has three public events in the next two days.

Here are the details:

Thursday, May 17, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.: He’ll attend Mayor Steve Bach’s Golf Tournament, at the Broadmoor Hotel, 1 Lake Avenue, Colorado Springs.

Friday, May 18, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.: A “policy event,” (whatever that means) at El Paso County GOP Headquarters, 205 Sutton Lane, Colorado Springs. Free lunch! Whooo!

Friday, May 18, 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.: Public meet and greet, at the Mainstreet Grille and Bakery, 132 West Main Street, Florence.

At the height of his re-election campaign, Congressman Doug Lamborn will hold a “big rally” in honor of himself, with former head of Focus on the Family, Dr. James Dobson. The rally will be on the afternoon of Saturday, June 2, at the Colorado Springs Christian School.

(It’s probably not a coincidence that the rally is being held two days before primary ballots are sent out by the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder.)

Lamborn is being challenged by businessman Robert Blaha in the CD-5 GOP primary, and chances are he won’t be at the rally. But you never know.

But a host of other Republican celebrities will be at the rally, including Bishop John Brannon, Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck, Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May, former state Sen. Dave Schultheis, Sen. Kent Lambert, Sen. Kevin Grantham, and state Rep. Janak Joshi.

Details for the rally:

WHEN: Saturday, June 2nd, at 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Colorado Springs Christian School, 4855 Mallow Rd. Colorado Springs

Well, it’s not really the south side. It’s kinda the south side. It’s the south side of central Colorado Springs. So it’s more like south central.

Anyhow, former police officer Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, now has an opponent in House District 17 — Democrat Tony Exum, a retired battalion chief of the Colorado Springs Fire Department. And according to the numbers, Exum has a shot.

After the legislative district boundaries were redrawn last year, HD 17 moved from solid Republican to practically a toss-up. Now, there are only slightly more active registered Republicans than there are Democrats.

As of April, there are 5,749 registered Democrats, 6,076 registered Republicans and 5,914 unaffiliated voters.

So if Exum can get a little over half of the unaffiliated voters to lean his way, he just might knock Barker off. But it’s still a longshot for anyone with a D behind their name to get elected in Colorado Springs, so I wouldn’t place any bets just yet.

Exum is officially kicking off his campaign Friday evening, at the Valley Hi Golf Course, at 6:30.

I’ve lost track of all the accusations that have flown back and forth over the past six months between El Paso Reps. Amy Stephens and Marsha Looper, but the latest is a pretty extreme one. An email has been circulating around El Paso County Republicans that says House Majority Leader Stephens, R-Monument, has been conniving to pass a referendum that would put a pro-gay rights measure on the November ballot.

Looper, R-Calhan, is locked in a primary with Stephens in House District 19, because new reapportionment boundaries drawn late last year shoved the two incumbents into the same district.

The email, written by Looper supporter Jen Raiffie, says Stephens has worked out a deal with Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, and millionaire gay activist Tim Gill, to place the gay rights initiative before voters. The measure, the email says, would remove an amendment in the state Constitution that prohibited legal protections for gays. The amendment was approved by voters in 1992, but was ruled unconstitutional in 1996 by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The email charges Stephens of dealing to allow the ballot measure to move forward, in exchange for Gill’s good will over House Republicans killing the controversial civil unions bill.

“This seems to be a Bait N Switch by Frank McNulty and Amy Stevens in the House,” the email reads. “Tim Gill really wants this passed, more so than the civil union bill taking up all the attention. (Decoy!)”

“This will keep Tim Gill happy and all of the gay rights activist who contributed to Amy’s campaign.  This must be why she and Frank were seen gigling in chambers yesterday like school children who knew this big secret,” the email reads.

Raiffie has long been a supporter of Looper’s. She has produced a pair of computer-animated videos, advertisements against Stephens. You can view them here and here.

Stephens issued a press release on Saturday and said the email was full of lies.

“I call upon Marsha Looper to put aside her political fabrications and misinformation campaign and work with me to pull our party together to defeat this terrible legislation,” Stephens wrote, referring to the civil unions bill.

House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, who is sponsoring the ballot referendum in the House, said Raiffie had no idea what she was talking about. The proposed ballot measure, he said, would simply remove language from the Constitution that is already obsolete, because it was struck down by the courts. It’s not even a gay rights issue, he said.

“This is absurd,” Ferrandino said. “Rep. Stephens has been the strongest opponent of this civil unions. She’s been working to kill it on procedural measures, because it would pass on the floor of the House.”

Even Looper dismissed Raiffie’s email.

“This email is not connected to our campaign, but someone did forward it to me,” Looper said. “I have heard similar rumors, but rumors are not productive during our last few days of this legislative session.”

Colorado needs an official sport. According to four state legislators, anyway.

A joint resolution in the state Legislature will almost certainly become law, since it’s one of those feel-good back-slapping bills that everyone loves. And what will the resolution do, but name burro racing as a summer heritage sport.

Actually, it would become the third state sport. The first two are skiing and snowboarding, under a resolution passed in 2008.

Aside from the state flag, the state seal, the state songs (Rocky Mountain High and Where the Columbines Grow) and the state nickname (the Centennial State), there are a ton of other state items. There are five state animals, a state tree, a state grass, and a state tartan. There’s a state rock, a state mineral, and a state fossil.

So now there will be a state summer sport.

And burro racing is serious business. There’s a triple crown and a 29-mile ultra-marathon in Fairplay. And contestants don’t ride their burros. They RUN ALONG SIDE OF THEM.

There are pack burro races in Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Buena Vista, Leadville, and Fairplay.

Read the resolution here.

The measure was approved by the House on Friday and must be passed by the Senate by Wednesday, when the session adjourns.

Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, suffered a “mini-stroke” on Wednesday, but has been cleared by his doctor and will return to work at the Capitol on Monday for the last three days of the legislative session.

Barker was hit with a transient ischemic attack on Wednesday, commonly referred to as a mini-stroke. But Barker said Friday that he’s doing fine, and will be taking it easy over the weekend.

“I was just told to take a couple days to relax, and so I’m following my doctor’s orders,” Barker said.

Barker said his doctor advised him to change his diet and some other habits to help reduce the risk of another attack.

“I’m taking that as a warning that I need to make some changes, and that’s what I’m going to do,” Barker said.

Democrats and Republicans alike expressed their concern for Barker over the past few days.

Barker’s return also means the Republicans will maintain their one-vote majority in the House for the last three days of the session, which ends Wednesday.

Congressional candidate Robert Blaha, who’s running a Republican primary against incumbent U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, won’t be speaking at a leadership luncheon Friday after all. And neither will Lamborn.

Though Leadercast 2012 had extended an invitation to Blaha to make a speech to attendees, the organization found out that its nonprofit status could be jeopardized if it allowed political candidates to address their members.

In a statement to the Blaha campaign, Leadercast 2012 said,

“It has been brought to my attention that Evangelical Christian Academy (ECA) cannot allow political candidates to speak at the Chick-fil-A Leadercast event in Colorado Springs without jeopardizing ECA’s non-profit status. We confirmed this with legal and tax professionals. As such, I need to withdraw the invitation for Robert Blaha to speak during lunch at the event on May 4, 2012.”

Congressman Lamborn had apparently planned to speak at the event as well, but his spokeswoman, Cat Mortensen, said Thursday morning that he would not attend.

The two Republican primary opponents, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn and businessman Robert Blaha, are both having religious experiences this week. On Thursday, following a public Colorado Springs hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Lamborn will take part in the National Day of Prayer at City Hall. And Blaha is speaking on Friday at a leadership conference to be held at the Evangelical Christian Academy.

Lamborn will “pray for our state and federal governments” at noon at City Hall, and will also partake in a trio of private prayer sessions with community and church groups.

Blaha will speak for 20 minutes at the Evangelical Christian Academy at 12:45 p.m., during a luncheon meeting of the Leadercast 2012 gathering. The luncheon will be held at Village 7 Presbyterian Church’s Leonard Hall, at 4052 Nonchalant Circle South.

Congressman Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, is bringing Congress to Colorado Springs. On Thursday morning, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will hold a joint legislative and oversight field hearing, to discuss several federal issues. The event is open to the public.

Here are the details:

WHEN: 9 A.M., Thursday, May 3,

WHERE: Pikes Peak Regional Building, 2880 International Circle

Topics:
·         “Federal Geospatial Spending, Duplication and Land Inventory Management.”
·         H.R. 4233 (Lamborn), “Map It Once, Use It Many Times Act”
·         H.R. 1620 (Kind/Bishop), “Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2011”