May 2010 Villains & Role Models

May Villain. You just have to hate BP right now. The people of the Gulf Coast are suffering because a greedy multinational corporation headed by a bunch of clueless men of unbelievable privilege didn't want to invest in a shutoff valve at a paltry .08% of the cost of building the rig. Beyond Petroleum, my #@&*! More like Beyond Pissed!

May Role Model. Wow, Rep. Mark Ferrandino of Denver scored a huge victory with HB 1351 to regulate the abusive payday loan industry. He saw a lucrative industry taking advantage of low-income people, knew their practices were predatory and worked hard to rein in their excesses. Kudos to him for doing the right thing!

Quote of the Month."I think the legislation is discriminatory and racist...At this point we have to fight it as much as we can."

- Derek Blass, Rockies fan quoted in the Denver Post

National Reports, Local Results

Your national organization or funder wants you to send its new report or white paper to local reporter and gin up some Colorado media attention. Oh no...not again!

The Beltway and NYC insiders don't understand that all the "smaller markets" really aren't interested in covering their national stories--our reporters are looking for LOCAL stories.

No worries, all you have to do is find a good Colorado angle to pitch. It's research on school drop out rates by gender and ethnicity? All you have to do is visit the Colorado Department of Education's website and look up the same data for Colorado or even individual districts. Maybe its U.S. stats on the uninsured--check out Colorado Health Institute's data sets.

Next step: Find a person who can tell a relevant story about the topic--a high school teacher in the first example, or a head of a household without health care coverage. This provides not only the human element, but also proof that it's an issue that affects real Coloradans.

So next time you receive that phone call or email from the East Coast, don't despair. Just customize it for Colorado and everyone's happy!

Progressive Promotions in the News

CCHI's Dede de Percin weighed in onealth care reform and state legislation in the Denver Business Journal, the Denver Post, Channel 31, KFTM in Fort Morgan and the Colorado Independent.

Coloradans for Financial Reform's story of reining in reckless Wall Street bankers so everyday Coloradans can survive is getting out there in the Denver Post, Denver Daily News, Aurora Sentinel, Durango Herald, Channel 4, Channel 31/2 and KGNU!

The Global Campaign for Education's "Education for All" event at Denver's Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy was a big success with speakers Wellington Webb, Don Mares, Paul Lopez and others. Colorado Rapids stars played soccer with kids--a big hit!