Inside Politics: Space: The Colorado Frontier
By Rebecca Boyle
rboyle@fortcollinsnow.com, (Bio) rboyle@fortcollinsnow.com
1:05 a.m. MT Apr 11, 2008
Two members of Colorado’s congressional delegation had their heads in the thermosphere this week, as they focused their energy on the country’s space policy.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, and U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs (who is hoping to replace Allard, who is retiring from the Senate) both addressed a space symposium this week in Colorado Springs, calling for a sounder space strategy.
Allard said it was a waste of resources for the Defense Department and intelligence communities to work independently, creating gaps in security.
Allard highlighted the importance of space to national defense, saying the country has a strategic advantage because of its space resources.
But in a conference call with reporters Wednesday, he said there was still more to be done.
“What we lack right now is a specific program that would develop a space layer of interceptors,” he said.
Just such a “Star Wars” defense program has been proposed for years, but many detractors say it is too expensive and too difficult to create a space-based shield to protect the United States from above.
The efficacy of a missile defense system was demonstrated admirably in February, however, when the military shot down an ailing spy satellite in an effort to protect people from its harmful contents.
Given that security secrets might have been among those contents, it’s unlikely that the military was really worried about a few pounds of rocket propellant—and what’s more, it was a good show of sea-to-sky defense possibilities, giving potential momentum to programs like the one Allard advocated.
For his part, Udall said the United States should talk to China and other nations about how to fairly utilize space, even discussing future treaties.
It made sense that two members of Colorado’s congressional delegation would involve themselves in the space symposium this week, the 24th annual gathering of space wonks, defense experts and science nerds.
For one thing, Colorado is a mile closer to space, as the Colorado Space Coalition points out. And no joke, the industry is one of the top-paying sectors in the state, with the average aerospace worker earning $102,146, far more than the state’s average wage of $43,664.
NASA officials said at the symposium that the space agency spent $354 million last year in Colorado, including on contractors like Lockheed Martin, which is designing the Orion spacecraft to take astronauts back to the moon, and to researchers at Colorado State University and the University of Colorado.
Udall held a field hearing on space the day before the symposium, highlighting several aerospace companies and their ability to map wildfire damage, climate change impacts and urban growth.
Udall chairs a House subcommittee on space and aeronautics and said the hearing was about the “down-to-Earth” applications of space science for Colorado.
The campaign of Udall’s Senate race opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer, took aim at the hearing, however, saying it was a taxpayer-funded stunt way outside Udall’s House district.
Q1 fundraising numbers out soon
Back on Earth, Udall, Schaffer and other political campaigns are gearing up for the announcement of their 1st quarter fundraising totals, scheduled to be released on Tuesday.
Democratic challenger Betsy Markey and Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave are both crowing about their early results.
Musgrave’s campaign has $1 million in the bank, according to her campaign spokesman, Jason Thielman.
He said 67,000 donors made contributions to Musgrave’s campaign over the last three election cycles, and that the average contribution is less than $100.
“The congresswoman is receiving support from countless donors who are contributing whatever they can, even if it’s just $5, because they want an independent member of Congress.”
Markey’s campaign manager, Anne Caprara, said Markey also had a strong quarter but that she would not announce any numbers until April 15.
“We are really happy with our numbers. We’ve continued to exceed the goals that we had for the quarter, and also to exceed the fundraising that was done here by Democrats in the past, in this quarter in particular,” she said. “We had a really strong quarter; we had tons of support from across the district.”
