The Center for Union Facts' campaign to pay the 10 worst teachers $10,000 each to retire, over at Teachers Union Exposed, has picked up some colorful entries in the past couple weeks. How about "The Drunk Gunman"?This week’s featured nominee pulled up, drunk, to the drive-thru window of a fast-food restaurant. After ordering, he became angry that he wasn’t getting his food fast enough, so he took out a gun and started waving it at restaurant employees. After his arrest, he pled nolo contendere to all charges and was sent to jail. His students, meanwhile, were told he was caring for an ill family member; now out of jail, he’s back in the classroom with his job intact. Or "Teaching to the Test":Two years ago [nominee] was caught … [Read more...]
Archives for 2008
Hoping Mark Hillman Runs Again
How delighted I was to see this headline in the Grand Junction Sentinel Political Notebook: "Hillman open to future electoral bids." Former Senate leader and former interim state treasurer Mark Hillman is one of Colorado's strongest, most articulate, most principled, and most genuinely down-to-earth conservative leaders:“I’m not ruling anything out, but at the same time I don’t get up in the morning trying to figure out how to torture myself by running for office,†Hillman told Political Notebook. That's what we need: the kind of leader who doesn't live for the ambition but is willing to step up and run in spite of the "torture." I haven't told Mark this personally, but I would be glad to see him run someday. Hope he is led to … [Read more...]
Second Look at Health Insurance Statistic: One Coloradan Dying Per Day?
The Rocky Mountain News reports:Each day in Colorado one person dies unnecessarily because he or she doesn't have health insurance, a group advocating universal coverage said Tuesday. The nonprofit Families USA used a 30-year study of deaths and insurance status to reach the conclusion that 360 Coloradans die prematurely every year because they didn't have health insurance. The assumption, based on death statistics, is that a person without coverage has a 25 percent greater chance of dying prematurely. So when it comes to health care reform, it's safe to assume that it would be better to do almost anything than nothing at all - right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this report. Besides the assumption … [Read more...]
I.I.’s Free Market Minute Debuts, Debunks Health Care Figure
As in any debate, the debate over health care reform in Colorado demands the use of honest facts. But a group called Partnership for a Healthy Colorado has misstated the facts. So demonstrates the inaugural edition of the Independence Institute's "Free Market Minute" video series: Ouch. Facts are stubborn things. And good public policy depends on good facts, rightly understood. The implications for health care reform are real, and will affect real Colorado families and businesses. Shouldn't we be sure our facts are straight first? … [Read more...]
Top Initiative on Colorado’s 2008 Ballot: Yes on Amendment 46
From the Rocky Mountain News today:The secretary of state certified a measure for the Nov. 4 ballot Monday that would ban race and gender-based hiring preferences in Colorado. Supporters of the the measure, Amendment 46, submitted 128,744 signatures March 10. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared that a random sampling showed that enough of them were valid. The measure is pushed by Ward Connerly, a black Republican who has been vilified by civil rights groups for supporting anti-affirmative action policies. Connerly has led similar successful initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan. Supporters say that the measure's language mirrors the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This should mean Connerly's Civil Rights … [Read more...]
Iowa, Like Colorado, Bending to Government Employee Union Pressure
The pressure to expand the power of government employee union officials at the expense of taxpayers is not isolated to Colorado. The Des Moines Register reports:Ignoring pleas from the governor and a slew of local elected officials to give Iowans time to weigh in, Democrats in the Iowa Senate today approved a labor-backed bill that would give unions more power at the negotiating table. House File 2645 would give public employees the same power as managers to open up contract talks to almost any workplace subject. The Senate approved the bill on a 27-23 vote. Six days passed between when this proposal was offered and the bill’s passage by both chambers. It marks the first substantial change since the collective bargaining law was … [Read more...]
Colorado Democrats Stick It to Taxpayers AND College Students
With Democrats in charge at the State Capitol, we get more reminders than we would like about their party leaders' priorities: 1) Stick it to the taxpayer on the collection end; and 2) Use personal politics to stick it to certain users of state services on the distribution end. What does this add up to? Average Colorado citizens like you and I get stuck. This morning's reminder comes via Rocky Mountain Right, as it appears that statehouse Democrat lawmakers are using their dislike of new University of Colorado president Bruce Benson to undercut the students and faculty on Denver's Auraria campus. Yes, Auraria funding was arbitrarily revoked, leaving a $120 million science facility construction site uncompleted. If you recall, during … [Read more...]
My Marital Happiness Explained
Now I get it. And here I thought it might have something to do with a deep personal compatibility or ongoing spiritual commitment ... or even those kind words, flowers and gifts. Now I have a factor outside my control to thank. … [Read more...]
Samsphere: Windy City Blogging
I have accepted an invitation to appear at a national conference of free market / limited-government bloggers. It's off to the 1st Annual Samsphere Chicago event this weekend:Samsphere is a new media forum, hosted by the Sam Adams Alliance, where bloggers and e-activists from across the country can gather together to network and share ideas. Samsphere will be specifically geared toward bloggers and e-activists who focus on local and state-level politics, and who are dedicated to the principles of individual freedom and limited government. For the hard-core Lefties, yes, Samsphere is the shadowy Vast Right Wing Conspiracy in action. For the rest of my readers, it's not so secretive as all that. It will be an opportunity to expand the … [Read more...]
Union Bosses Act Like State Property Owners Under Ritter’s Order
Face the State has the skinny on "Colorado WINS" union bosses acting like they own state government property:An executive order, signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, last November, empowered unions to serve as “exclusive representatives†of state employees for the purposes of forming “employee partnerships.†Days after the order, a coalition of three major unions – CAPE-SEIU, AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers – announced a cooperative agreement to organize state workers under the name "Colorado WINS." After hearing from state employees that Colorado WINS is aggressively trying to organize an election, Face The State attempted to attend an on-site meeting between the union and state employees. Face The State … [Read more...]
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