Mount Virtus

A few months ago I told you about rumored plans that the Obama administration and new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis would relax financial disclosure rules for labor union leaders. Well, they are rumors no longer.

Listen to a new iVoices podcast I recorded with Scott Dilley about the federal disclosure rollback and what it means for workers:

Check out this detailed posting at Labor Pains to get a further flavor of the hypocritical complaints from union leadership.

The disclosure rollback is bad on another level, as well. As I wrote recently in the issue brief Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency (PDF), Colorado would do well to emulate the U.S. Department of Labor disclosure rules for its own public-sector unions.

Just because Democrats in Washington D.C. are closing the curtain, though, doesn’t mean Colorado can’t start pulling it back. The sunshine will be good for the dues-paying and fee-paying government workers and for the public at large.

A close call: House Bill 1299 — Colorado Democrats’ attempt to subvert the Electoral College wisdom of the Founders — happily has died. Thanks to senators on both sides of the aisle (including my own Democrat state senator Moe Keller) for putting an end to this bad idea.

But HB 1299 went further and lasted longer than it ever should have … all part of the joy (cough) of having the Democrats in charge at the State Capitol.

After all, the Democrats are making progress in their other efforts to govern themselves out of the majority: the latest example is the “for the children” hypocrisy of Senate Bill 291.

Complete Colorado has the scoop on one likely Republican candidate for governor’s foot-in-mouth problem when it comes to voice mail messages. Did Scott McInnis’ remarks reveal something illegal or unethical? Jessica Fender reports that it’s technically not.

But McInnis’ responses are concerning:

McInnis, who verified that he left the message, points out he’s not officially announced his candidacy or formed a candidate committee, so the rules do not yet apply.

And what he really meant to say was that [Sean] Tonner, president of consulting firm Phase Line Strategies, is a supporter and answering questions about potential future 527s, he said. (more…)

I will not deny that the Republican Party (nationally and locally) has had its share of problems and dysfunctions in the recent past. My purpose here is not to write an in-depth treatise analyzing the causes, suffice it to say that a gross lack of fiscal responsibility and a glaring absence of fealty to other mainstream conservative ideas played major roles.

But let’s be honest: the Party deserves little if any of the blame for the Arlen Specter defection. The man is far less principled than the average member of Congress, and that’s saying a lot. Specter’s party switch (and his ham-handed, self-serving approach in doing so) showed a lack of respect to the voters of Pennsylvania, and to the intelligence of the average American.

That being said, the GOP does have its share of problems. (more…)

As Barack Obama nears 100 days in office, major newspapers take notice. Yet what a difference a turn of the phrase makes.

First, Michael Riley leads off his “Potent voice of change” on the front page of today’s Denver Post:

One hundred days into his administration — forced by events and prodded by his own driving leadership style — Barack Obama has brought change to Washington that is bigger, bolder and far more risky than anything he articulated in his historic campaign.

What’s another way of saying that? Let’s ask the editors of the Washington Times:

Perplexed about complaints over Mr. Obama’s expansion of government, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham asked: “does no one listen during campaigns?”

It was these pundits who weren’t paying attention during last year’s campaign. In all three presidential debates, Mr. Obama promised to cut government spending and reduce the size of the deficit. He blamed the economic crisis on excessive deficits. At no time did candidate Barack Obama say that more deficit-spending was the solution.

Didn’t you hear, Washington Times? It’s not that Obama broke his promises. It’s that he is bringing change “that is bigger, bolder and far more risky than anything he articulated”. Riley seems to imply that Obama has had no choice but to pursue this reckless fiscal course. You can almost see where this is all going. If the massive government expansion is seen as succeeding, we must make obeisance before the President’s Olympian wisdom. If it is seen as failing, he can’t be held responsible; the choice was thrust upon him. (more…)

If the earliest of trends are any indication, Ryan Frazier has come out of the gate looking the strongest in Colorado’s Republican primary to challenge Michael Bennet for the U.S. Senate. After all, the rollout of the Ken Buck campaign could have been handled much more adeptly.

But then again, the earliest of trends don’t amount to much more than something for bloggers to write about. In the end, it should be a very interesting and competitive showdown between Frazier and Buck (with perhaps something to be heard from Cleve Tidwell).

That’s right. Count me among those who doesn’t see former Congressman Bob Beauprez getting in this race. (At least as much as I can gather from a few fans on Ken Buck’s Facebook page, and various scuttlebutt.) As for attorney and radio talk show host Dan Caplis, frankly, I don’t have a clue. But if forced to hazard a guess at this point, I would lean toward the same answer about him, too.

I’m sure Ryan Frazier knows he can’t lean on his opponent’s mistakes to win the nomination. Something akin to a transformation or rebirth within the state GOP very well may have to occur if he expects to see victory.

In any case, I’ve been wrong before. I’ll be wrong again. But if I get most of these picks right, just maybe I might get credit for paying attention (and for having a little “luck”).

While we’re killing time waiting for newly selected U.S. Senator Michael Bennet to make up his mind on the union card-check bill, we can entertain ourselves with a good, old-fashioned nickname debate.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has started a video campaign (watch below the fold) to label Colorado’s junior senator as “Back ‘N’ Forth Bennet”: (more…)

With his veto of a widely-supported bipartisan measure that would give mountain communities a representative voice on the Limited Gaming Control Commission, Democrat Governor Bill Ritter essentially has said: “Drop dead, Teller and Gilpin Counties”.

Maybe Ritter is looking for ways to further weaken his sagging approval ratings.

Over at We Stand FIRM, Dr. Paul Hsieh brings attention to an attempt by Washington D.C. Democrats to fast-track a major expansion of government control of health care.

If you’ve been looking for a chance to speak out for liberty, or you are just enraged by the political tactics, as well as the harmful and costly end-game on health care policy, Hsieh provides some great evidence and a couple sample letters you can use to formulate your own letter to Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet.

The time to stand up is today … not tomorrow, not next week. Make your voice heard for individual freedom, personal responsibility, and affordable, free market health care!

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 24th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Our confirmed guest for this week is Walker Stapleton, the first announced Republican candidate for Colorado State Treasurer in 2010. As the legislative session draws to an end, we also hope to have on a state legislator to talk about important issues for lawmakers still to decide.

If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus.

No day, week, or month passes that isn’t officially commemorated for some reason. Take April, the month we’re in for a few more days: What have you done the last 27 days to honor National Poetry Month, Stress Awareness Month, or even Fresh Florida Tomato Month? That’s what I thought …

In the meantime, there are important causes that definitely deserve greater awareness, like this one: Limited Government Week. If you can get down to Colorado Springs anytime in the next few days, you may find one or more valuable events to attend. The highlight is a Tuesday dinner with keynote speaker Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (an excellent book). For more details on the week’s activities, go here.

Why limited government? As James Madison succinctly wrote in Federalist #51:

But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

An honest assessment and understanding of human nature makes the case. As much as the more devout elements of the hopey-changey crowd might believe otherwise, Barack Obama is not an angel. Since we are not governed by angels, we need limited government.

If you can’t make any of the Colorado Springs events, I at least hope your awareness of Limited Government has been raised — as well as your desire to stand up for this important principle.

Monday morning — The world of Colorado politics is quiet … too quiet. About 9 days left in the legislative session, and some version of Senate Bill 228 is still lurking out there. Will Democrats really rush ahead with this taxpayer-unfriendly idea?

In other random news, Ken Buck is in the U.S. Senate fray. Immigration almost certainly figures to be a hot-button issue in the primary, if not the general election itself. But what does it all mean, with incumbent appointee Michael Bennet’s apparent weakness among Hispanic voters?

In other words, it’s simply too quiet out here.

It’s quite often the subtle bias in the dominant liberal media that can make a significant difference. Witness yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle piece on a California ballot initiative to impose tax-and-spending limitations on state government.

Writer John Wildermuth quotes from two Colorado sources to establish views on our own state’s experience with the stronger Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights limit (emphases added):

“Nobody disagrees that (the cap) kept government spending lower,” said Carol Hedges, a senior fiscal analyst for the nonpartisan Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, which opposes the state’s budget cap. “But supporters don’t like to talk about the human cost of keeping government smaller.”

…

Across the nation, anti-tax advocates, small government activists and fiscal conservatives pointed to Colorado as an example of how less is more when it comes to taxes and government spending.

“What spending limits do is force politicians to make tough choices about priorities sooner, rather than later, when the state’s in a financial crisis,” said Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute in Denver, a free-market think tank.

Here’s my beef, and it’s with only one word in the story: Why call the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute — an outsourced arm of the “progressive” Democratic machine — nonpartisan? Since it’s accurate only in the most technical sense, but in reality far more misleading to the uninitiated reader, why include it as a descriptor?

If the writer is going to use the adjective nonpartisan for CFPI, why not also use it to describe the Independence Institute? (Full disclosure: The Institute is my full-time employer.) It would be at least as true. But I’ll argue that the word nonpartisan should have been dropped altogether, as it only affords an undeserved degree of credibility.

Having cited Carol Hedges as the primary source, and a “nonpartisan” one at that, the story rolls downhill a lot closer to a predetermined conclusion than an objective story should.

Does anyone still wonder why newspapers are going out of business?

A quick-hit double-link in the form of two recent essays I recommend as timely and relevant reading for thoughtful lovers of liberty:

• “The Welfare State and the Meaning of Life” by Greg Forster, whose work I have come to know through his excellent research and analysis of school choice issues, but in this case makes a strong moral case against socialism
• “Ron Paul’s Secession Lies on Video” by libertarian lawyer and thinker Tim Sandefur, a college classmate of mine who delivers a remedial lesson in United States history and the Constitution to the Congressman and former presidential candidate … It’s one thing to speak up loudly against federal overreaches and for a renewed respect of the 10th Amendment, it’s quite another to call for unilateral secession from the Union (There is one sentence in Sandefur’s essay that I must disparage: Find it, and earn yourself a few bonus points)

Lovers of liberty need to be articulate and discerning, especially in these critical times.

Update, 3:00 PM: Michelle Malkin has a great video and some informative links about the eco-indoctrination so many American children have to bear.

Yesterday was Earth Day. Where were all the Green folks celebrating four decades of remarkable progress in reducing air pollution (for example)? Yes, that’s the sound of clean air-breathing crickets chirping.

Taking a day off work for reasons other than the holiday itself, my family took a day trip to the Denver Zoo, where we were treated to a mild dose of eco-crisis hysteria from indoctrinated schoolchildren. When a little girl stopped us and sweetly asked if we wanted to learn more about penguins, I was gullible enough to believe we might learn some facts about the creatures’ diet, lifespan, habitat, and other random facts.

Nope. We were straightway bombarded by three other kids explaining how irresponsible humans and oil companies are about to send the species packing for oblivion.

At least my 3-year-old daughter was able to feel some penguin feathers. Otherwise, the whole encounter would have been a waste. I felt bad for the kids running the table. Yes, they were well trained, but what have they been learning? My wife afterward half-jokingly wondered aloud whether the students knew their multiplication tables.

Perhaps. But you have to have your scaremongering priorities. It seems the mother Earth Enviro-religion is the only religion you can teach in the public schools. Bill Ritter’s agenda is reaping some kind of result. (If this is happening to your child and you don’t like it, there is something you can do about it.)

I’m a conservationist, not an environmentalist: The difference is important.