Snark of the day: Where’s affirmative action for men who are losing jobs at a much faster rate than women?

I quickly hoorayed last week when Governor Bill Ritter announced his full backing for putting the state’s checkbook online. But a follow-up report from Face The State seemed to suggest the process could take a long time:

“Putting the budget online will be different because there is too much to put it all,” [state representative Don] Marostica said, adding that legislative staff is working on ways to publish a “simplified” version. While Kennedy was hesitant to commit to a timeline, Marostica said the process could take three years.

But – as explained in this iVoices podcast with Sandra Fabry of Americans for Tax Reform – the fact is the federal government has already pioneered this work, along with several other states, and all got the work done in a matter of a few months (not years):

How committed is Colorado to open government and fiscal transparency? Don’t buy the excuses of politicians from either party. In light of the facts presented here, ask them why the state of Colorado can’t have an online searchable budget database within four months.

Or do Bill Ritter and Cary Kennedy just want to take the credit for supporting the cause of financial transparency without actually getting anything done?

Please note the new time! Blog Talk Radio show expands to 90 minutes of lively and hard-hitting looks at Colorado politics and the world around us…

Tune in at 8:30 PM local Mountain Time this evening for the ninth edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Tonight’s guest is state senator Mike Kopp, Littleton Republican and senate minority caucus chair. The legislative session is just beginning to pick up steam this week, and Senator Kopp will talk about the GOP agenda starting at 9:30 PM.

The show’s new, 90-minute format opens the door for a second guest (as yet unannounced) at 8:45. Hosts for this evening are Joshua, El Presidente, and Night Twister. Since they were all at the pro-Israel rally downtown Sunday, I’m sure that will be one of the big topics of conversation.

Don’t forget. If you miss the live broadcast of tonight’s show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus.

In his Rocky Mountain News column today, Vince Carroll points out that Bill Ritter’s new U.S. Senate designate Michael Bennet hasn’t shown much in the way of original, independent thought thus far:

I’ve listened to Bennet speak about education issues often enough to appreciate his intelligence and what I sense is an independent mind. And I really didn’t expect to see evidence of the latter in these early days. But if he’s going to make a case across Colorado for his election in 2010, he’ll have to prove he’s his own man. And what better way to achieve this than for him to trample on a few of his own party’s shibboleths?

Once he’s been safely sworn in, of course.

Looking ahead, Colorado Republicans in 2010 need to rally around a fresh, energetic U.S. Senate candidate who is fiscally conservative and provides a strong, articulate voice to counter the current Democratic pablum coming out of Washington. Not sure who that might be yet. Just hoping.

I have had to defend my critical assessment of a Kathleen Parker post-election column sloppily aimed with disdain at social conservatives. Within that debate, even I have been inclined to see what she wrote as part of an internal squabble within the larger conservative Republican movement.

But if Parker’s most recent writing is any indication, it would seem she has no real conservative moorings on fiscal issues, either. You simply have to read it all, as no excerpt sufficiently captures the overtones wrapped insider her ambivalent – and sometimes confused – rhetoric.

I agree with Michael: Many messengers of the conservative movement are stuck on old themes, when a newly-crafted message is what’s needed. However, as Kathleen Parker goes adrift not only belittling people for their strong and sincere religious beliefs but also confusing her economic history and the best understood solutions for our current fiscal mess, she isn’t one of the messengers that can be counted on.

On this last point, most Republicans in Washington, DC, don’t seem to get it; nor does Kathleen Parker. In recent years I’ve read her columns on occasion, but after these past two, even that is hardly worth my time anymore. I prefer good thought-provoking substance from conservatives and even strong writings from liberals to challenge my point of view. But not mush.

Some cliches are just that because they pack so much truth, they become a frequent, handy reference. One of my favorites (originally attributed to conservative thinker George Santayana) is: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I can’t think of anything more relevant to our current national political debate than this thoughtful and well-documented essay posted by Ross Kaminsky at Politics West: “The New Deal was a raw deal for the American economy”.

These days, the point can’t be hammered home enough. As of yet, I’ve seen little signs that any significant number of our leaders in Washington – many Republicans and nearly all Democrats – have paid attention to this historical lesson. The ramifications may be enormous.

This morning’s must-read for Colorado political junkies … Face The State digs beneath the public relations stunt that was Gov. Bill Ritter’s public feedback email address to help him determine who should be the next Secretary of State:

The responses were overwhelmingly in support of [former state senator Ken] Gordon, who received 1,815 votes on a ProgressNow informal online poll. [Former House Speaker Andrew] Romanoff came in second with 632 votes,while [now-Secretary of State Bernie] Buescher trailed with 173 votes. Of the nearly 100 e-mails made public by Ritter’s administration (constituents must specifically waive their right to confidential communication), nearly 90 percent favored Gordon.

Not that popularity is the best prerequisite to oversee the state’s elections and business registrations. But tell that to Denver City Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez:

The grumbling began when three white males were selected as finalists for the vacant secretary of state position by a panel chosen to review applications for Gov. Bill Ritter. That left former Denver City Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez on the sidelines for a job overseeing Colorado elections, despite her experience as chairwoman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

Maybe Ritter was afraid his office would get even more emails from Rodriguez supporters outlining her qualifications for the job.

So it’s 32-year-old New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. I relate perfectly to this observation:

“If he were going to get the job, I would say without exception the players would be surprised when he walks through the door,” former Patriots tight end Kyle Brady said in a Denver Post interview last week. “Their first thought will be, ‘Who is this kid?’ Because even for a 32-year-old, he looks 25.

Yep. Pretty much perfectly.

It goes without saying that McDaniels will be a better NFL head coach than I would be. The real question is how well he will do in the great Mike Shanahan’s shadow? An interesting storyline for 2009.

The former career .230 American League hitter who runs in Denver’s liberal circles shares an interesting observation about Governor Bill Ritter’s newly-appointed Senator:

I’ve now heard the same concern raised about Michael Bennet by three different Denver political insiders. Namely, can he win the support of Hispanics in Denver? I’d say the growing conventional wisdom amongst some Bennet pessimists is that he stands little chance of wooing the Latino vote after his tenure at DPS.

Not sure how much stock to put in this assessment. But if Republicans are paying attention and see an opportunity to win some more Hispanic votes (and ultimately a U.S. Senate seat) in 2010, Tom Tancredo most likely isn’t the guy to carry the party banner. The problem is primarily one of perception, but perception counts for a lot in this venue.

It’s official. Colorado’s newest state senator is Kevin Lundberg. A press release from the senate minority office earlier this afternoon confirmed the story:

Larimer County Republican House Representative Kevin Lundberg has been appointed as the newest Larimer County State Senator. Lundberg was appointed after an election by the Senate District 15 vacancy committee.

“I was greatly encouraged to have support from such a large majority of the committee. I intend to continue to represent Larimer County in the Senate as I did in the House,” Lundberg said. “We have a tough job ahead of us, and I can’t wait to get started working on solutions that help Coloradans during these tough economic times.”

Lundberg will fill the seat vacated when former Senator Steve Johnson left to become a Larimer County commissioner. (more…)

Too many real policy debates these days get clouded behind the rhetoric of “it’s for the children”. Sometimes they are also hidden behind a cloud of smoke.

Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress are making a top priority out of reauthorizing the SCHIP program – you know, ostensibly government-mandated health insurance for kids too rich for Medicare but unable to afford decent private coverage. Like most government programs, SCHIP isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The Independence Institute’s Linda Gorman has one good critique of the program.

A popular component of the Democrats’ current proposal soon to be before Congress is a 61-cent increase in the excise tax on cigarettes, to raise funds and enrollment in SCHIP. Is it a good idea? Not so fast. Do policy makers want to fund health coverage for kids, or merely reduce the sale of cigarettes and redistribute wealth?

Because here’s the gem: according to research from the Americans for Limited Government Foundation, would end up costing the state of Colorado money. What do I mean? Reduction in cigarette use that’s projected by the change in demand will cost the state of Colorado money from the Tobacco Settlement Agreement and from its own tobacco excise tax. How much? Somewhere on the order of $22 to $24 million.

That’s right: $22 to $24 million that the state of Colorado, already struggling to come up with revenue, would have to find elsewhere. (more…)

It’s January 2009. ‘Tis the season for candidates to throw their hat into the ring. Face The State breaks the news that conservative Denver election attorney Scott Gessler has filed the paperwork to run as a Republican candidate for Secretary of State in 2010. Keep up with all Colorado’s announced Republican candidates for public office in 2010 at Rocky Mountain Right’s official listing.

In local Republican Party news, blogger and recent state legislative candidate Joshua Sharf has announced he’s running on a ticket to serve on the Denver County Republican executive committee. Even better, he has a plan. Are there more people in counties across the state working along the same lines to improve the Republican Party? I certainly hope so.

Back from his overseas trip, Rossputin makes an interesting observation about an apparent effort to airbrush a major Obama appointee’s official Socialist organization ties. Check it out.

Jessica Fender from the Denver Post reports on one Democrat state legislator doing the union’s bidding to go upstream against the promising trend toward transparency in state government:

The salaries of individual public employees could be kept secret under a new bill sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Lois Tochtrop and prompted by a database of state employee pay published last year by The Denver Post.

Under Senate Bill 49, the public could still see aggregated pay for positions or departments, but there would be no more looking up a particular state employee’s salary….

The Colorado Association of Public Employees brought Tochtrop the bill this summer, she said.

JOE CITIZEN: This aggregated information of state employee salaries is almost useless. How do we know how much we’re paying these guys? … Hey, what’s that over there?

CAPE OFFICIAL: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain….

Sean Paige at Local Liberty Online made a great catch, picking up on this excerpt from Bill Ritter’s State of the State speech earlier today (H/T Complete Colorado):

“There is also an opportunity here – a chance to address TABOR and the constitutional and statutory straightjacket* that makes modern, sensible and value-based budgeting an impossibility. Last year, former House Speaker Romanoff started the conversation, and we need to keep it alive. We need to talk about life after Ref C – whether and when to extend it. We have a chance to find a better way forward, a Colorado way forward.”

Bill Ritter said what? About 2 months after Colorado voters said No to a proposal to gut TABOR refunds forever and rejected two other major statewide tax increases, and after Ritter himself has ignored proposals to set aside some Referendum C revenues in a rainy day fund, he’s going to blame constitutional taxpayer protections for his troubles? Besides the fact TABOR had nothing to do with causing the current budget mess, it just seems like a silly and politically irresponsible thing to say.

But maybe the rigors of the job are taking a toll, and there’s another reason for the straitjacket reference:

Feel free to add your creative caption to this photo in the comment section.

*The erroneous spelling of straitjacket comes from the official prepared text of Ritter’s speech