Bill Ritter Bait-and-Switch Continues … Desperate? Unethical? Incompetent?

Update, 11/2: Another campaign email from Ritter begging multiple times for contributions, with only a brief passing mention of “improving the quality of our children’s education” …. Yes, that’s one bait-and-switch online petition.

The Bill Ritter email bait-and-switch continues. Three weeks ago, during my first and only ever contact on Bill Ritter’s website, I signed an online petition urging “the U.S. Department of Education to recognize Colorado’s distinct education reform initiatives, and to award Colorado a ‘Race to the Top’ grant….”

What followed within the first couple weeks were a pair of emails from Ritter urging me to take action in support of Obama Care. Did it occur to anyone in the Bill Ritter re-election office that just because I or anyone might agree with some aspects of the governor’s education reform efforts that it doesn’t mean I’m also a fan of increasing government intervention in the health care system?

But the bait-and-switch continues…. Earlier this week I received an email from Ritter touting the latest employment numbers (though one sentence of the message finally mentioned “Race to the Top”). Then this morning I received an email from Ritter for Governor titled “Mystifying” — attacking his Republican rival and fellow education reform supporter Josh Penry on the energy issue and begging for online contributions.

About the begging for money? Not once, but four times. Four different bolded links pleaded with me to “make a contribution” to Ritter’s re-election campaign, all because I signed an online petition supporting Colorado’s bipartisan effort to win education reform grant dollars. So what accounts for Bill Ritter’s bait-and-switch scheme?

• Fundraising desperation?
• Questionable ethics?
• Partisan gamesmanship?
• Incompetent technical management?
• …Or some combination of the above?

You decide. It may get lost in the litany of bigger reasons to send Bill Ritter home at the end of 2010, but just add this pathetic email bait-and-switch to the list.