Mount Virtus

Would you be shocked to learn a major teachers’ union is more interested in punishing Wal-Mart than helping kids? The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) in Washington state originally broke this story last week in a revealing opinion piece.

The Washington Education Association (WEA) to their credit has sponsored a Children’s Fund to provide “$50,000 a year for such things as warm coats, new shoes and basic school supplies to thousands of students who otherwise would go without.” But recently, WEA decided to stop reimbursing teachers for some of their expenses because they were buying goods from Wal-Mart.

The EFF editorial highlights the fact that ALL Washington state teachers’ dues fund the program - just like they ALL fund vast amounts of Democrat political activity - and then brings the point home:

When teachers see a need and want to extend their hearts to a child that comes into class shivering, why should they be restricted in meeting the need by the WEA’s self-serving political agenda? If the WEA claims that teachers are underpaid, why is it penalizing a teacher for trying to stretch her meager dollar by buying a coat at Wal-Mart for $13.88 rather than elsewhere for $24.99? Rather than vilifying teachers’ use of money, the WEA should condone their generous spirit. After all, it’s about the children, right?

The story has been followed up at MSNBC.

Clay has been compiling a list (here and here) of those Colorado Republicans raising their voices urging Bob Schaffer to run for National Committeeman. While Clay is excused to attend LPR, here are a few more who have declared their support:

The Douglas County delegation - which also includes previously mentioned supporters Senator John Evans, Representative Ted Harvey, Representative Mike May, and Laura Teal - has issued the following statement:

We ask our many friends in other delegations to join with us in demonstrating our commitment to Bob, Colorado and our great Republican Ideals, by clapping, cheering and offering other expressions of support, until such time as the Party has tendered, and Bob has accepted the position of National Committeeman.

Eight days to go….

Gary Harmon, columnist for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel - on the far west end of the state for those unfamiliar with Colorado - has issued a call to the CU Board of Regents to keep it simple when they choose the university’s next president:

Misplaced reliance on a long line of bookworms well steeped in the nuances of medieval animal husbandry or Jackson Pollock-brushstroke patterns as revealed in his lesser-known works was what landed higher education in general in the briar patch it now uncomfortably inhabits. CU just happens to be the institution squirming most at the moment.

No, what the regents need to look for is the kind of leader who can reintroduce the erudite and sophisticated faculty at CU to some rather rudimentary facts that have escaped their notice. Call it the “Sesame Street” approach.

Harmon suggets that current governor Bill Owens would be an ideal candidate for the CU presidency, but it’s doubtful the writer is aware of Owens’ friend Hugh Hewitt’s campaign for the post. His nationally-syndicated radio show is only available on the Internet to folks on the Western Slope. It appears that Colorado’s current Chancellor of the Collegiate Peaks would fit most of Harmon’s qualifications:

The new head Buff also would do well to appreciate football, be generally acceptable to Coloradans from Cortez to Burlington, to say nothing of Delta to Denver, and be looking for a situation.

As it happens, there is someone with a varied background, executive experience, political heft, an appreciation of timely, scholarly work such as that of Victor Davis Hanson and the need for a visible perch for the next five to 10 years.

It’s debatable how much a Buckeye / Cleveland Browns fan can be judged to truly “appreciate football.” Hugh would need an opportunity to clarify his other qualifications. But then again he has been sheltered away in the nation’s capital for some highly sensitive strategy meetings and hasn’t had a chance to promote his candidacy.

Besides Hugh, King Banaian and SWP have also submitted their names for the RMA’s consideration. Are you interested? Drop an e-mail to Jim (jimc@thinkingright.net).

Now that Florida’s Judge George Greer has denied motions:

1) to allow for any form of natural feeding if the tube is removed from Terri Schiavo and
2) to re-open a medical investigation by Florida’s Department of Children and Family,

Terri’s family is stepping up efforts to impeach Greer, citing a series of clear Florida statutes that his rulings have violated.

John at Blogs for Terri sees this as a potential blessing in disguise. He argues that the hubris the judge is showing might arouse some fence-sitting lawmakers to action. To answer his question, we can only hope that pride will be the imminent fall of Greer’s decision.

Seriously, this case just makes my head spin and my stomach turn. The more I read and study about it, the more I see the injustice. Yet I can’t understand why something can’t be done. More prayers, my friends… more prayers.

It’s been precisely three-and-a-half years since the fateful and tragic day of 9/11. Victor Davis Hanson looks back at the “turning points” since that day and judges American foreign policy successes up to this point. As always, Dr. Hanson is a must-read.

Thanks to Amy, who I met last night at the Independence Institute’s Dan Rather party, I’ve discovered some more blog connections. My pastor’s son - who is a lawyer at the same firm as Amy - has been called up from the Reserves to serve active JAG duty in the Middle East, leaving his wife at home with their five children.

Andy has a blog and a photoblog. His wife Amy (different from the Amy I met) has her own blog, too.

A good reminder of what our servicemen and women and their families sacrifice and face on a daily basis. Keep them in your prayers, and send a military person or his/her family your thanks.

If you missed last night’s Dan Rather farewell party hosted by the Independence Institute, you missed a good time.

I saw and chatted with The Daily Blogster, fellow Rocky Mountain Alliance blogger and Rossputin (aka Ross Kaminsky) - if you haven’t been to his site, check it out: he’s got great resources and arguments on behalf of genuine Social Security reform. He also has a letter in today’s Denver Post arguing against the proposed buyout of Ward Churchill’s contract as a CU professor.

If you are a blogger and were at the party last night and I missed you, I’m sorry. It was a pretty big turnout after all - and I’m not a noteworthy social butterfly.

The Curious Stranger, a New England Democrat import to Colorado politics, has written to clarify his views on the change of power in the state party:

Don’t be misled by those with points to score, these comments don’t imply a lack of confidence in Pat Waak, just an aversion to change in the wake of success.

That’s all well and good. Though he may not worry as much about Waak’s hard-core left-of-center ideology - not a nice fit for Colorado - he does recognize the inherent dangers of trying to fix what “ain’t broke.” And perhaps the dangers of such a closely divided and disputed vote, as well.

I’m going to be frank here. The Republican Party in Colorado has its share of problems and divisions, too. But moving leftward politically is not the answer for either party.

Neither is ramming a blank-check budget reform package through the state legislature. It’s easy to develop swelled heads and an exaggerated impression of your own power when you’re in the majority at the Capitol. Such a condition has afflicted the Republicans before, but so soon for the Democrats?

If they’re going to rebuff all efforts at compromise - and if they’re going to push a surefire losing proposal onto the statewide ballot this year - Colorado’s Democratic leaders are deluded into thinking their grip on state legislative power is tighter, safer, and more permanent than it really is.

Both polls that have been done on this issue show less than 40 percent support for Romanoff’s plan - the least popular of a series of options presented to the voters. This isn’t an argument against the merits of the Democrat plan (there are enough of those), but a practical argument against their ability to promote an acceptable fix to the state’s budget shortfall.

Or maybe the Democrats’ strategy is to come up with a proposed solution that the voters will reject in 2005 so that their visions of an adoring public still need them in 2006 to “solve” the problem. No, go ahead, keep thinking that way… (Smile)

Help keep Clay and me posted on names we may have missed. Drop us an e-mail.

Five days ago I wrote and urged former Congressman Bob Schaffer to throw his hat into the ring for the position of Colorado Republican Party national committeeman.

Clay has talked about the truly personal response he received from Bob Schaffer when he sent him an e-mail encouraging him to run. I got an individual response from Rep. Schaffer, as well, after he received my e-mail and had read my original post urging him to run. Have no doubt, my fellow Republicans: he is the right man for the job!

You can do the same: write him at Schaffer.Bob@gmail.com. There are less than 10 days until the State Central Committee meeting for you to join the growing number of voices raising the cry of “Run, Bob, Run.”

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…“Adult Supervision,” the official RMA blog dedicated to:

Check it out!

This morning’s Rocky Mountain News reports that candidate searches for university presidents not only often take many months but can also cost a pretty penny:

It took seven months and $142,000 to hire a new president last year at the University of Nebraska, a Big 12 school like the University of Colorado.

Other public universities spent more in their presidential searches. In the last year, the University at Buffalo in New York spent $219,824 and the University of Iowa $177,204. The University of Michigan spent $334,600 in 2002 to find a top executive.

But the Rocky Mountain Alliance is already doing its part to screen potential candidates. A streamlined search process could save officials time and the state’s taxpayers money.

As far as getting a jump on the competition, it appears that Hugh may already have his grassroots operatives working the system:

CU Regent Pat Hayes said Tuesday that candidates are already lining up. On Monday, she found four e-mails touting someone for the job. [emphasis mine]

Too bad Hugh is out of town for the next few days. I can almost hear him launching off a whole segment with: “Four e-mails? You guys have only sent four e-mails for me? She must be underreporting….” Our current candidates - Hugh and King Banaian of SCSU Scholars - don’t mind the limelight in their quest for the CU presidency. We expect the same sort of appreciation for publicity from any others who submit their names to us for endorsement consideration as well.

A common argument against an open search is that high level academics are fearful of being exposed as potential presidential candidates because the publicity could discredit them at their present jobs.

James Hearn is a Vanderbilt University professor and co-author of Governing in the Sunshine: Open Meetings, Open Records, and Effective Governance in Higher Education released in 2004. He said he understands the argument.

But, considering CU’s present circumstance, Hearn said the four-campus CU system should use a search process “that would be very, very open.”

“The people of the state really deserve to have that confidence and trust,” Hearn said.

The RMA will do its part to help uphold that confidence and trust.

The Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs has been solicited for its endorsement of a candidate to replace Elizabeth Hoffman as president of the University of Colorado. On Monday during his radio show, the eminent Hugh Hewitt submitted his name in candidacy. On Tuesday King Banaian of SCSU Scholars also submitted his name in candidacy, specifically requesting the RMA’s endorsement.

The RMA, as the premier representative of Colorado’s new center-right media, will issue its official endorsement for the new CU President on Monday, March 21. The RMA will take into consideration all available posted information on candidate qualifications and is not immune to various forms of flattery and other inducements. Hugh Hewitt is the apparent front-runner due to greater name recognition, but King Banaian has offered more detailed plans and - more importantly - is willing to become a Denver Broncos fan.

Other candidates are invited to submit their names for consideration but will be judged on a first-come, first-served, “as time permits” basis. Thank you for your participation.

Serious candidates may apply by sending an e-mail to Jim of Thinking Right (jimc@thinkingright.net).

Update: Note the deadline date above has changed from March 14 to March 21. A little more breathing room….

From today’s Denver Post: sour grapes and contests of election results inside Democrat party headquarters. Permit me just a moment longer to chuckle gleefully….

“Progressive” environmentalist / ecofeminist Pat Waak won a narrow victory over incumbent Chris Gates to become the new chair of the Colorado Democratic Party on Saturday, and things are looking up. It appears the lesson Colorado Democrats learned from their statewide electoral victory was simply: “Go left.”

The party’s substantial body of left-leaning grassroots activists gave Waak the needed support to outballot Gates, 187-184. Reports indicate they were angered at the way US Senate candidate Mike Miles was treated during the primary. Maybe somebody should tell them that if Miles had won the nomination, we’d all be saying “Senator Pete Coors” right now. But nah, don’t ruin their fun.

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Mr. Clean Government himself, Republican Senator John McCain, is under investigation for taking big money from a corporation whose interests he was advocating.

The point isn’t to launch a “gotcha” at McCain but to take a closer look at the folly of his anti-free political speech so-called “reform”.

I’ve got an answer for McCain-Feingold: “Nix it, don’t fix it!”

The ink has barely had time to dry on the story of CU President Elizabeth Hoffman’s resignation, and uberblogger Hugh Hewitt has openly declared his candidacy for the job on his nationally-syndicated radio show. Having read off a list of qualifications that include his vast array of personal connections with the state’s leading political leaders, Hewitt seems prematurely confident that he would have an inside track for the University of Colorado presidency.

Well, this politically active, taxpaying Colorado citizen remains skeptical. Let’s just say I need to see and hear more first. After Hoffman’s ongoing media fiascos, we need a state university leader who can keep his snowmobile from crashing into trees. Then again, maybe a high-profile job like the CU presidency would limit his spare time and keep him off the snowmobile in the first place.

The thought of an Ohio State Buckeye football aficionado taking the helm at the University of Colorado doesn’t portend much chance of reform in the athletic department. It does portend the possible importation of a poisonous mascot and a bad fight song.

I must confess, however, I like his idea to open up a CU-Alaska campus where he can transfer Ward Churchill. But rather than CU-Alaska, how about CU-Greenland?

Blog readers, please share your feedback about the possible benefits or drawbacks of a Hugh Hewitt administration at the University of Colorado.