Mount Virtus

The Denver Post has put up my exclusive commentary on Gov. Bill Ritter’s November executive order, which may soon end up unionizing two-thirds of state government. Here’s a taste:

Thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter’s gold-plated invitation, union leaders are on the verge of taking a major role in state government. Taxpayers and dissenting workers should pay attention.

Under the terms of Ritter’s November 2 executive order, 30 percent of the affected workers in an occupational group have to express formal interest in a union “partnership” election. The Colorado WINS union coalition that formed four days after the order has collected enough signatures to hold five separate elections that could make it the “exclusive representative” of more than 21,000 state employees.

On March 19, the Association of Colorado State Patrol Professionals (ACSPP) won the first union “partnership” election with roughly three-fourths of ballots cast, even though less than a true majority of state troopers actually voted for it.

The upcoming Colorado WINS elections could yield similar results.

If you’re looking for more details and footnotes behind the arguments in the column, check out my new issue paper. For those with less time, the two-page backgrounder is here. Auditory learners can catch the podcast. All compliments of the Independence Institute.

Jessica Corry, the new executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, has a Speakout column in today’s Rocky Mountain News that clears up many of the charges made against the effort to eliminate government-sponsored discrimination:

In 2007, when we first proposed our initiative language, our opponents challenged us all the way up to the Colorado Supreme Court. We won.

In February, our opponents attempted to get a competing amendment onto the ballot. We won again after the state’s Initiative Title Setting Review Board struck down their misleading and confusing language.

On April Fool’s Day, our opponents staged a widely covered press conference where dozens of activists falsely alleged that our signature gatherers had engaged in voter fraud. Just three of these individuals actually filed complaints.

And now our opponents are again trying to present a competing amendment - a move we are challenging. We are confident that we will prevail once again.

Few, if any, of these facts have been reported in the mainstream media. As the multipronged attack continues against COCRI, only our opposition’s allegations are reported. Recently, a group called Vote No on 46 filed a lawsuit alleging that Secretary of State Mike Coffman made a mistake when he ruled that we had enough valid signatures to appear on this November’s ballot.

While the allegations may be tantalizing, such accusations should be subject to serious skepticism, having been merely recycled from other failed opposition campaigns.

At the outset of this campaign, we knew our opposition would be tenacious. While we accept that we are attempting to tackle a controversial problem, only our side has remained steadfastly committed to running an honest campaign. We can only hope that the media will now allow voters to hear both sides.

The honest campaign for Amendment 46 (Colorado Civil Rights Initiative) merits support. To find out how you can get involved, go here.

John Mark Reynolds (H/T Hugh Hewitt) has penned a clever parody of a classic ballad - here’s an excerpt (you’ll have to imagine your own guitar vocals, or if you’re ambitious enough, record an MP3 in hopes of getting on Hewitt’s program):

Does any one know where the love of Gen Y goes
When the press turns the minutes to hours?
The pundits all say they’d have made Chesapeake Bay
If they’d put Reverend Wright far behind him.
They might have split up and so not have capsized;
Instead he pressed on and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
On the Internet lists he was compiling.

As a son of Michigan, I know the original Gordon Lightfoot song well, respecting its peculiar and unforgettable blend of the cheesy and the sublime. Speaking of cheesy, I was struck by the thought of another pop culture ship-sinking metaphor for the Barack Obama campaign, in three parts:

“Audacity? Hope? Forget it, I’m king of the world!”

“Reverend Wright! Dead ahead!!”

“Wh-wh-what happened? We were unsinkable. D-does this mean the campaign won’t go on (and on… and on…)?”

Someone with more time and Photoshop skills can play with that theme. In the meantime, I’ll go and repress once more the traumatic memory of the guy next door in my college dorm who blasted that Celine Dion song full volume - leaving his room locked while he fled the dorm, leaving me to go insane. (Some of you may have found part of the explanation you’re looking for.)

In a story about the new $18 billion state budget signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, a local Fox TV news station reporter stated:

In education spending, the State of Colorado ranks 49th.

Of course, this sentence is suspect from the start, because it doesn’t tell us whether it’s measuring higher education or K-12 education.

If the article is referring to K-12 education, then it wasn’t true two years ago, it wasn’t true last year, and it isn’t true this year, either.

There are two reliable sources for K-12 education funding data. First, Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show Colorado ranks 36th in “current” per-pupil spending. The lowest possible ranking that could be devised shows Colorado at 47th in spending per $1,000 of personal income. Yet this comparison presumes the richer a state is the more it needs to spend.

The U.S. Department of Education ranks Colorado 35th in “current” per-pupil spending, and 26th in “total” per-pupil spending.

Other sources, like Governing magazine and the National Education Association, consistently have ranked Colorado near the middle in per-pupil K-12 education spending.

My guess is that the reporter was trying to refer to K-12 education, because the scaremongers typically say Colorado ranks 48th in higher education spending, not 49th. Even so, Mark Hillman debunked that claim last year:

Harmonizing with the choir crying poverty for colleges and universities, CFPI ranks Colorado 48th in higher education spending. Governing places us 26th, again right at the middle and just behind California. Moreover, the share of Colorado’s population enrolled in higher ed is well above average, suggesting that we’re getting good value and that affordability isn’t a significant barrier.

The reporter should have listed her source for the 49th claim.

Live in Colorado and getting ready for your federal rebate stimulus check to arrive? Don’t get too excited yet.

Republican leaders in the state legislature have taken a Letterman-esque stab at letting you know what the Democrat majority has already done with your money:

10. Higher auto premiums

9. Higher energy premiums

8. $25 marriage tax

7. Higher fees on everything from birth certificates to tire recycling

6. College tuition hikes for everyone!

5. Up to a $100 dollar car tax

4. Gov. Bill Ritter to an aide: “Recession? Hey, let’s go out and hire another 1,300 state employees!”

3. “…and let’s make sure they all have collective-bargaining rights, too!”

2. Gov. Bill Ritter’s legal bill for defending his unconstitutional property-tax hike

1. Gov. Bill Ritter’s unconstitutional property-tax hike

Raising taxes and fees … It’s the modus operandi for Democrats in Colorado and elsewhere.

The Denver Post reports that the petition to bring Right-to-Work to Colorado has been certified for the November 2008 ballot. I laid out my case for supporting this idea a couple weeks ago.

The specter of Right-to-Work was raised after a heated fight over House Bill 1072 early in 2007 - Gov. Bill Ritter shrewdly vetoed the Big Labor-sponsored legislation in hopes of restoring peace and order. But even last June, labor groups were working behind the scenes to forestall a possible Right-to-Work initiative.

Two months later supporters introduced the initiative, leading us to today’s certification - following the collection of well more than the required 67,000 signatures. But Right-to-Work (now known as Amendment 47) might not have garnered the necessary support without the momentum of Bill Ritter’s executive order that opens state government to labor union leaders.

It still remains to be seen whether there’s enough political will to win a statewide victory for worker freedom in November, because Big Labor figures to spend big cash to defeat Amendment 47.

Face The State reports:

A bipartisan state legislative coalition killed an amendment late Tuesday to this year’s School Finance Act that would have taken millions away from the state’s charter schools.

The amendment, proposed during House debate by Rep. Debbie Benefield, D-Arvada, would have cut funding for at-risk students by approximately $4.5 million.

Benefield justified her amendment, telling the House she ran it “because I can,” with her backers saying the amendment addressed concerns that the state’s current funding formula does not properly define “at-risk.” Benefield maintains that the current formula awards schools money disproportionate to the actual number of at-risk students they serve.

It’s at least good to see that sensible members on both sides of the statehouse aisle thwarted the attempt to take money from public charter schools by changing labels of which students are “at-risk” and which are not.

However, like many of her Democratic colleagues, Rep. Debbie Benefield has been a consistent opponent of true parental choice in public education - though her remarks haven’t been as strident or as infernal as some.

A ballot initiative proposed for the November 2008 Colorado ballot (and supported by the Independence Institute, where I work) has earned its third major newspaper endorsement, still more than six months out from the election.

From the Pueblo Chieftain today:

THE INDEPENDENCE Institute, a Golden-based think tank, is circulating petitions for a ballot initiative that would stop governmental agencies from collecting union dues from their employees.

In 2001, then-Gov. Bill Owens signed an executive order that stopped the payroll deduction for unionized state employees. Soon after Bill Ritter’s election, the new governor issued a new executive order to resume the automatic deductions.

Jon Caldera, president of Independence, says the organization doesn’t believe governments should be collectors and distributors of dues for unions that turn around and spend that money to lobby the same governments. Independence believes that taxpayers should not be subsidizing unions that often work counter to the taxpayers’ general interest.

We agree. [emphasis added]

Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this post from The Colorado Index earlier in the week. Busy at the time, I just shook my head and moved on. But when Rossputin - the subject of the post - brought it to my attention again, I decided it was worthy of a quick response.

A watcher is entitled to his opinions and to the manner of delivering those opinions, but a couple factual corrections are in order:

1. A watcher wrote: “‘Blogger Extraordinaire’ Ross Kaminsky - the self promoter who admits he doesn’t read conservative Colorado blogs….” Fact: The implication behind the use of “Blogger Extraordinaire,” which was used twice in this post, was that it was a title Ross chose for himself. In fact, it was the Samsphere promoters who devised and used the label. To my recollection, as someone who actually attended Samsphere, Ross never used the label himself. In fact, of the six blogger panelists last Saturday, Ross and David Harsanyi spoke about their blogs the least. That hardly would qualify him as any more of a self-promoter than any other blogger in attendance, myself included.

I would hope that after the fellowship of Samsphere, maybe Ross reads more conservative Colorado blogs than he did before. It’s certainly true for me.

2. A watcher wrote: “Since Samsphere has come and gone and no one recorded the lessons for your review” - Fact: You can find it all right here. Was every aspect of Samsphere recorded? No, but excluding the small group discussions and workshops, most all of it was.

Over at Craig Sprout’s Montana Politics site, Congressman Denny Rehberg explains why the Blogger Protection Act of 2008 is needed:

Exempting Internet speech from FEC regulation was right thing to do, but the fight isn’t over. As easily as this rule was created in 2006, it can be removed by a new Administration. That’s why the Blogger Protection Act is necessary. It’s critical my House colleagues and I move quickly in making this protection permanent.

This is something all bloggers can get behind, regardless of their political and philosophical orientation.

The ironically-named Employee Free Choice Act is the name of the Big Labor special interest legislation to take away workers’ rights to the secret ballot. EFCA has been beaten many times, but like a bad dream it keeps coming back.

What’s the big deal, you say? Would you want this guy looking over your shoulder when you vote?

(H/T Fred Dooley)

When it comes to making over-the-top comments in the Colorado state legislature, Face The State reports that Doug Bruce is in good company these days:

On the Senate floor Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, outraged fellow lawmakers by using a debate over a joint resolution in support of Armenian Genocide Day of Remembrance to launch a political attack.

Gordon specifically suggested that American soldiers calling Vietnamese citizens “gooks” during the Vietnam War was akin to the dehumanizing tactics (MP3) used by those guilty of the genocide of American Indians or jews [sic] in World War II.

But there are four key differences between the Doug Bruce and Ken Gordon incidents from what I see: Read the rest of this entry »

Found: a visual explanation for why liberal Colorado blogger David Thielen suddenly finds the views of Republican State Rep. Douglas Bruce so appealing.

It’s the “Bill Clinton defense,” you see - minus the polished delivery.

Bruce’s self-serving analysis comes up lacking in logic, tact, and good judgment. Henceforth, it’s time to ignore Doug Bruce.

Having moved from Michigan, I have lived in Colorado for six years. I have adopted every local Denver professional sports team, but one. As the playoff series between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche is about to begin, this reflects my sentiment well:

Colorado? The Avalanche? The return of the rivalry? Another playoff series between two great hockey traditions — ours, which is based on heroes Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and Steve Yzerman, and theirs, which is based on Dr. Evil, Claude Lemieux.

I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I enjoy the NHL playoffs when I get a chance to sit down and watch them. And I do plan to sit down and watch as much of this series as I can. Go Red Wings! Go Hockeytown!

Looks like I’ve just given the Lefties another reason to call me a Wingnut.

We’ll discuss the topic again here when the series is over.

Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has conjured up a Scriptural passage from whole cloth to sanction her Left-liberal environmentalist agenda:

In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.”

Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.

Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the passage.

Not that biblical scholars necessarily had to be consulted to disprove the obvious, but they all unanimously point out that nothing approximating such a passage exists - and one even called it “fictional.” (Michelle Malkin links to other bloggers commenting on the subject.)
Read the rest of this entry »

My good friend, a conservative Christian law student at the University of Colorado, has entered the world of blogging at Constructively Reasonable. If you get a chance, please stop by and encourage him to continue blogging, even as he seeks to survive the rigorous first-year final exams!

From today’s Rocky Mountain News:

Gov. Bill Ritter on Wednesday signed into law the Spam Reduction Act, which provides state enforcement authority similar to federal authority against unwanted e-mails.

To Ritter’s credit, Spam Reduction is an act of bipartisan goodwill, a positive headline needed to take attention away from a serious $300,000 campaign finance violation.

Bill Ritter (invoking classic Monty Python): “I don’t like Spam!”

Cross posted at Ritter Watch

I needed a good laugh tonight, so it was good to see Frank J. at IMAO performing the service of dispelling rumors about Barack Obama (H/T Jenn Sierra). Here are the first few to whet your appetite:

RUMOR: Obama is a Muslim.
STATUS: False
Obama is not currently a Muslim. He’s a Christian of some sort in the “hate Whitey” sect.

RUMOR: Obama is an enlightened space alien sent to save humanity.
STATUS: False
All evidence points towards Obama being a below average man who his wife stopped asking to do chores around the house because he was always getting his head stuck in the mop bucket.

RUMOR: Obama tried to bomb the Pentagon.
STATUS: False
That was his friend.

Satire. I needed that.