Angela Giron: My Loss Is Not A Victory For The NRA

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WASHINGTON -- Angela Giron, one of the two Democratic state senators defeated in Colorado's historic recall election, wants to set the record straight: The work of anti-gun violence groups is far from over.

Giron and Senate President John Morse lost their seats Tuesday in Colorado's first recall, an effort that was orchestrated by gun rights activists and the National Rifle Association after the two lawmakers voted for stricter gun laws. The reforms, which included mandatory background checks for all firearms purchases and a limit on ammunition magazines to 15 rounds, were signed into law by Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) in March.

Since the recall was widely perceived as a national referendum on guns, its results were quickly regarded as a significant victory for the NRA and a loss for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the most vocal proponents of stricter gun laws, and other groups aligned with his anti-gun violence agenda. Conservative outlets, in particular, seized on a comment Giron made a month before the election to The New Republic.

"For Mayors Against Illegal Guns, if they lose even one of these seats, they might as well fold it up. And they understand that," she said.

But while Giron's wounds are still fresh from her loss three days ago, the Pueblo Democrat told The Huffington Post on Friday that her remark was predicated on an election where gun policy would be the decisive issue -- and she strongly believes it was not.

"I'm disappointed that part of this story is going to be that the NRA won, when I don't really think they did ... that is how the message is being spun," Giron said in an interview. "That's disappointing, because if you dig deeper, that wasn't the case here."

Giron pointed to voter suppression tactics on the part of her opponents as one reason her supporters were unable to cast their ballots, an issue that was raised by Democrats leading up to the close of polls.

But the larger advantage to the NRA, according to Giron, was the number of outside groups that jumped at the chance to unseat two vulnerable Democrats. The Koch brothers' involvement through their nonprofit Americans For Prosperity was particularly challenging, as they targeted Giron over clean energy bills and Morse on tax and health care reform. Giron said she and Morse were also attacked over their support for a civil unions bill that passed the state legislature in March.

"Everything's a lot more complicated than it appears," Giron said, noting that the national media only covered the election through the prism of gun control and its implications.

Little coverage beyond local outlets in Colorado paid attention to the onslaught of issues that made the recall no different than any other election, she added.

Asked how anti-gun violence groups move forward, given the optics of the recall, Giron said organizations like Bloomberg's Mayors Against Illegal Guns should continue to focus on convincing lawmakers in Washington to embrace universal background checks.

"Obviously we haven't done very well with that on the federal level, and a tone is certainly set from the top," she said. "The NRA instills fear in lawmakers by positioning itself as a group dedicated to the rights of responsible gun owners, but it really represents gun manufacturers. It's all about the money for them, which comes from manufacturers, not your average gun owner."

"These groups need to pull that curtain off the NRA and expose it for what it really is," Giron added.

When HuffPost asked if she regrets her swing vote on the gun bills earlier this year, Giron dubbed the legislature's session as "historic."

"I wouldn't take back anything that happened and was proud to have been a part of a session where we passed civil unions, provided undocumented immigrants with in-state tuition, and passed a voting bill that will tremendously increase access," she said.

"And with respect to guns, we passed modest, common-sense legislation in a state that was victim to two of the worst tragedies in our country's history," Giron added, referring to the 1999 Columbine school shooting and Aurora massacre last year. "I couldn't in good conscience have voted any other way."

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Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, is the first woman to become the Executive better paid in Great Britain

An Executive American woman has finally reached the top ranks of the payment of a nation.

Burberry, a native of Indiana, Angela Ahrendts, CEO is now the Executive better paid in Britain, according to a survey of manifest, a British group of corporate governance and pay consultant MM K &, cited by the Guardian. 16.9 Million pounds, the package of payment ' Ahrendts is nearly 5 million pounds more than the next most senior British Executive paid, according to the Guardian.

While achievement ' Ahrendts mark an important step forward for the women of high power on either side of the pond, women in both countries still faces many obstacles to reach the position ' Ahrendts. In Great Britain, Ahrendts is one of only three CEOs women running major companies in the country. In the United States, women represent only 4 percent of CEOs at S & P 500 companies.

Despite the position of ' Ahrendts as one of the few females in the top of the corporate ladder, she opposes possible policy changes that could help other British women get. Ahrendts said last year that she is not in favor of quotas requiring that a certain number of women is present on the boards of the companies, according to the Telegraph.

"Just put the best person at work. It is not about gender, it's experience, leadership and vision. "" A man can do this job, he said.

That may be true, but often men are becoming much more to do so. ' Ahrendts pay - that amounts to about $26.2 million - pales in comparison to some of their male counterparts American. CEO of Oracle Larry Ellison for example, earned $96 million last year, according to CNNMoney.

Of course equality in the workplace is not a problem only that women face in the upper part, the pay gap also exists for ordinary women. In the United States, working, made about 80% of what their male counterparts earned last year, as the gender wage gap expanded. And in Britain, the global gender pay gap was around the 19.7 percent last year, according to a report from the guardian.

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