Mount Virtus

If you haven’t seen the story (and the x-ray) of the Breckenridge man who had a nail lodged in his skull for six days without realizing it… well, what are you waiting for?

Speaking as someone who’s never had a terrific knack with anything carpentry-related, here is just one further proof not to pursue the trade for a living.

As most of my readers already know, several members of the RMA attended the Governor’s State of the State speech yesterday at the behest of the Governor’s office and House leadership. Afterwards, they got a private blogger press conference with Governor Owens and some photo-ops.

First, the famous picture, originally posted on Clay’s site:

Michael is the first to flesh out some serious analysis: the governor laying down the veto gauntlet and which applause lines the Democrats in the chamber sat out on.

The Kestrel suggests better educating Coloradans about the major role Amendment 23 has played in the budget crisis. He also has linked to the full text of the governor’s address.

Joshua catches the new Senate president napping during the speech – probably busy dreaming about all the paychecks, textbooks, and doctors she’s going to provide the people of Colorado.

Jim highlights the vapid response of a so-called “progressive” to RMA’s activities yesterday.

More analysis is sure to come.

You’ve got to grant Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald (D – Golden) something: it hadn’t even been a full day since she took over as Colorado’s first ever female Senate president. But in her speech to the joint session yesterday, Fitz-Gerald said:

“I see an opportunity to provide a paycheck for every family, a textbook for every child and a doctor for every patient.”

Stop for a minute, re-read the quote, and ponder. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Sure, Joan. That’s the way to solve the state’s budget crisis. Spend your way out of it. Despite running on the platform of fiscal restraint, the Colorado Democratic Party looks like it won’t be able to hide its true colors for long. She made this statement on the first day of the session.

But that’s okay. I’m sure Senator Fitz-Gerald will make good on her promises. I’ll keep checking the mailbox every day for that paycheck from the State Capitol, keep waiting for that state-appointed doctor to come make a house call. All while the Democrats magically solve the budget crisis by raising the taxes of productive businesses and workers more and more….

Want to know when the paycheck is coming? Want to know who your doctor will be? If you’re the impatient type and can’t stand the wait, you can always drop an e-mail to the new Senate president and ask.

Though David Harsanyi hints at the possibility, I’m not going to dissect every paragraph of his column in today’s Denver Post.

After taking compromised conservative columnist Armstrong Williams to task for his pay-off from the US Department of Education and recounting Dan Rather’s narrow escape “after a weak-willed report cleared him of any politically motivated bias,” our friend David Harsanyi examines the “New Media,” and the Rocky Mountain Alliance in particular.

(more…)

One might call this ironic: even as the Colorado General Assembly’s session gets underway with the new Democrat majority planning to dismantle our state’s cherished Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), another state’s public policy think tank recommends their state give TABOR a try. Where, you might ask? Kentucky.

Read “A Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights for Kentuckians,” compliments of the Bluegrass Institute.

It’s certainly not the first time someone has recommended another government model Colorado’s system. How about The Heritage Foundation recommending TABOR for the federal government, our friend Bill Hobbs lauding the NFIB for endorsing TABOR for Tennessee, or The Taxpayers League of Minnesota wishing their state would model a constitutional amendment after Colorado? The list goes on and on…

Coloradans should be proud of TABOR. Don’t we realize we’re a shining beacon to other states in the area of tax policy? Many of the political fat cats want to snuff out TABOR. Not without a political fight, I say.

Welcome to the legislative session. The fun has only just begun.

The Rocky Mountain Alliance forges new ground tomorrow: a private bloggers’ press conference with Colorado Governor Bill Owens following his annual State of the State speech. A delegation of three RMA members (Michael, Clay, and Joshua) will represent the group.

Correction: Jim and Richard should also be there.

Yes. Totally free. No strings attached. A digest of speeches by conservative policy makers and intellectual leaders mailed to your door every month… absolutely free. And published by the finest liberal arts college in America. If you haven’t subscribed to Imprimis yet, what are you waiting for? You can do it online.

I’ve pasted up a permanent link in the form of a subscribe Imprimis web button. Sign up. Tell your friends to sign up. And when you sign up, mention that you saw it here.

There are no sales or commissions involved, just wanting to spread around the good word and increase the number of subscribers on behalf of my alma mater.

Following the leads of Clay and Rich, I’d like to welcome Charles Dilley of Littleton to the blogosphere. Check out his site! (Finally, a good center-right Colorado blogger who’s younger than I am.)

Then there’s Christopher “Nevski” of Conifer, who has an intriguing and esoteric blog on modern chivalry and other conservative Western Orthodox Christian themes. You may learn something.

Read this letter published in today’s Gazette (Colorado Springs) from John Leonard of Monument:

With liberals in charge, hold onto your wallets

Colorado taxpayers had better hold on to their wallets as the tax-and-spend liberals take over the state Legislature. Already, liberal organizations such the League of Women Voters, AARP and the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corporation have begun their assault on TABOR so taxes can be raised to have state taxpayers support their pet programs.

The Democrats controlling the Legislature are more than willing to support the move as long as Amendment 23 is not changed. That allows them to pay back the teachers’ unions for their political support and to pour more money into the public schools, which have become liberal indoctrination centers.

Taxpayers can no longer rely on our once conservative governor for support, as he has capitulated to the Democrats. Taxpayers, beware. Without TABOR, Colorado can become another California.

Amen.

We need more letters like these in the major papers every day, joining forces with the voice of the center-right blogosphere, to help rescue Colorado’s financial future.

Today is the first day of the new legislative session here in Colorado, as members of the House and Senate swear an oath to uphold the state constitution. They’ve come for your wallets, so hold on tight. Stay in touch with what’s going on. Hold your elected officials accountable.

Today is officially Day 1 of “TABOR Watch” from the lookout posts at Mount Virtus. TABOR, short for the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, approved in 1992 by the voters of Colorado to check the size of government. And it has worked successfully. Yet among many in the media and the center-left of Colorado politics have made TABOR the scapegoat for all the state’s fiscal woes – ignoring the real problem of Amendment 23, which mandates a certain percentage of state funding finance K-12 public education.

Mount Virtus will play its small part to keep people informed about the facts of TABOR & Amendment 23 & keep an eye on what’s done to threaten the former & protect the latter.

In September 2000, as Amendment 23 was on the ballot prior to its passage, Independence Institute senior fellow and University of Colorado economics professor Barry Poulson correctly tagged the problem with the proposal:

The amendment is being touted as something that will be paid out of surplus state revenues. What happens if the economy slows down, and the surplus disappears? Then, the extra spending has to paid for out of general funds, meaning that other state programs would have to be cut. If the economy gets really bad, the Amendment allows the spending increase to be temporarily skipped.

The disadvantage of earmarking funds for education is that it removes discretion from the legislature in determining budget priorities between education and other state government programs. In short it gives the education lobby a privileged position in which they don’t have to defend their spending programs along with other state agencies and interest groups through the regular budgetary process. Now, the teachers’ unions don’t want to be perceived as a group of privilege seekers, but that is what they are in proposing this earmarking of state funds.

Read the whole thing. Check out the Institute’s TABOR page. Then take what you hear from the new Democrat majority (and even some wobbly Republicans) and liberal media types with a grain of salt.

And hold on to your wallet.

From my recent post about the controversy in Telluride, I received a comment from the man under fire. I decided to give it more light by posting it here:

Thank you for the kind words and thoughts.
Here is an e-mail that we just sent out this morning.

“Dear Friends,
We have been informed that Telluride Ski and Golf Communications Director Maryhelyn Kirwan has begun a smear campaign against Al Heirich in an effort to divert attention away from the Telluride Cyberguide Family Posting controversy.
This smear campaign is an effort to drive a wedge between our conservative Christian supporters and the Telluride Cyberguide.
Do not let them do this.
This issue is about nothing but our ability to notify parents and the subsequent (and only) e-mail from Telski declaring our site discriminatory based on our Notice.
We have reluctantly decided to move forward with legal action against Telski and the other entities involved based on this new tactic of Telski’s.
The Telluride Cyberguide needs you now more than ever. http://skimall.net/skitelluride/assist.html
Please do not let this issue die out or be diverted to smear tactics.
If you are told anything other than what VP Pete Wood stated in his e-mail to us, please let us know immediately so we may pass it on to our Attorneys.
If you are lied to by contacts at Telski, ask them for documentation.
Please continue to call the numbers on the YOU CAN HELP page and please refer any smear tactics to us.
If you would like to contact us for more information, please feel free.
You may stay up to date at http://skimall.net/skitelluride/notice.html and click on the UPDATE link.
For quick facts on this issue you may use this link. http://skimall.net/skitelluride/faq.html
Please pass this on in case we have missed anyone.
Once again, thank you to everyone who is helping us stay afloat.

Warmest Regards
Al Heirich”

In an earlier post I mentioned the vacancy committee’s search for a Republican candidate to replace outgoing State Representative Don Lee of Littleton.

Congratulations to Jim Kerr, the newest member of the Colorado House of Representatives – to be sworn in tomorrow with 64 of his colleagues.

As for my friend Justin Everett, there may still be a future in elected office.

Rob at It’sComeDown2This has sent out a call to action in defense of one Al Heirich of Telluride, who runs a website to help people set up ski vacations. Mr. Heirich has apparently stepped on the toes of the politically correct police by posting the following information about the upcoming Gay Ski Week (read the WorldNetDaily article):

Although this week should be fun for those not offended by alternative lifestyles, with scheduled events including: The Pleasure Hunt, The Blue Ball Dance, Drag Races and more, we are strongly suggesting that families concerned with exposing their children to the homosexual lifestyle and homosexual behavior schedule their vacations another time.

Events are planned throughout the week in both towns celebrating and promoting the homosexual lifestyle.

Due to the intense controversy this year in regards to this week, the public display of homosexual pride and behavior will most likely be greater than last year. If this offends you, this is not the time to visit Telluride.

Quite a controversy has been stirring in the Colorado mountain community over Gay Ski Week and the response of Mr. Heirich and others. He’s been labeled a “homophobe” for showing a little common sense and backbone. Let him know, as he takes a lot of flak, that he’s not alone. Tell the people of Telluride that it’s those threatening Mr. Heirich that are the ones practicing hate and discrimination.

Mr. Heirich has set up a page offering various ways to help, including writing letters and making phone calls to entities of influence in Telluride. If you vacation in Telluride, book your stay through Al’s site.

As I posted at length before, Colorado Republicans are trying to fill a legislative vacancy, after conservative Rep. Don Lee (R – Littleton) resigned in December.

Seven candidates have announced to fill Rep. Lee’s seat. Trying to separate himself from the pack, Justin Everett, 33, held a $50-a-person fundraiser last night, on the eve of the vacancy committee’s final ballot. (Disclosure: Justin Everett is a personal acquaintance and political ally.)

As Rocky Mountain News columnist Peter Blake points out, it may seem a strange affair to host a fundraiser before a vacancy committee selection, but Everett is boldly making a statement about his ability to perform a crucial political task. One of the reasons the GOP suffered in the state elections this past year was that the party got outmaneuvered financially. Everett brings a solid background of experience in political fundraising, starting with his work for the 1994 Bruce Benson for governor campaign.

My impressions of the other six candidates are mostly secondhand, though some I have no familiarity with at all. Mike Kopp, who managed the Steve Hackman for Congress campaign (lost to Mark Udall in the most recent election), has his conservative bona fides. Same for Mark Trevithick and Mike Mawhinney, though the latter is virtually unknown. Jim Kerr might be able to sway some of the more moderate committee members’ votes.

One thing is clear: we need a conservative in office with enthusiasm, experience, ambition, savvy, and the set of political skills that can help lead Colorado in the right direction for the future. Nothing against the other candidates, and my bias here is already known, but Justin Everett is a known entity – a fine fellow who meets all the above qualifications.

While I’ll be out of town and may be unable to comment, check tomorrow’s papers for the results.

Blogging will be light to non-existent in the next several days. Off to blustery Wisconsin for a family gathering. Keep reading the great work of the Rocky Mountain Alliance.