Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog still ranks Colorado as the most competitive race in the upcoming round of U.S. Senate campaigns, but has noticed the recent encouraging news for Republicans: Republicans (finally) have their man. Former Rep. Bob Schaffer quietly announced his candidacy last week and all indications are that he will have the Republican primary field to himself. Democrats quickly sought to portray Schaffer as a conservative extremist, citing as evidence some of the positions he advocated during his three terms in Congress in the late 1990s. There's no question that Schaffer is more conservative than the average Colorado voter, but he also built up a grassroots following based on the "straight-shooter" … [Read more...]
Here’s Your Chance to Question Governor Ritter
Tonight (Wednesday), Governor Bill Ritter will be taking questions in a live appearance on the Aaron Harber Show. Call 303-296-1253 starting at 8:00 p.m. to get in. I'm sure you have something you'd like to ask. If not, you can probably find some fodder for questions here, here, here, here, here, and here. How about something along the lines of: - If it's so important to raise property taxes, why not ask the voters first? - The Attorney General makes a strong case that you should ask the voters first. Why have you and your legal representatives not responded directly to any of his arguments? - Should politicians and pundits be touting the tax increase as a boon for public schools, when there is no guarantee a single dime of … [Read more...]
Updates
I earlier advertised a new Colorado education blog. Here's a better link to it than the one I provided. I also mentioned my appearance on the Rightalk.com show Labor Pains. The 1-hour show runs on a loop between now and tomorrow (Thursday, 5/17) at noon local time. My segment is on during the last quarter hour, so tune in at 3:45 or 4:45 or 5:45, etc., if you just can't get enough of my opinions and insights. ^^^^^^^ The Cisco 352-001 ADVDESIGN who has been through NS0-163 Network appliance data protection solutions or Microsoft MB2-633 installation and deployment in dynamics CRM is usually great candidates for 1z0-047 Oracle database SQL expert as well as Cisco 642-061 routing and switching solutions for system engineers. Few … [Read more...]
Unraveling Claims of “Bipartisan” Property Tax-Hike Backers
The Dead Governors tout a story about their heroic maverick Republican legislator Al White, who bucked the party line to support a tax increase without a vote of the people (an issue completely ignored in the posting and in the news story linked). White has enabled the Governor to hold forth his property tax hike as a "bipartisan" measure. And the Dead Guvs show no interest in taking a critical look at the piece they so enthusiastically quote. (Nor care to mention the Democrats who voted against it.) The Dead Guvs' silence is consistent with their own faulty usage of the phrase "property tax freeze," which is inaccurate and an abuse of the English language - as I pointed out in a previous post. Unprompted, I am glad to offer my own … [Read more...]
Mount Virtus On National (Internet) Airwaves
Readers who want to hear me share developments in Colorado labor policy and politics with a national audience, please tune in to Rightalk.com on Wednesday, May 16, 2:45-3:00 PM Eastern (12:45-1:00 PM Local). House Bill 1072, the Labor Peace Act, the coming Democratic Convention, Ritter's executive order and other favors to union leaders are all fair game. … [Read more...]
New Colorado Education Blog
This may not be of interest to all my readers, but check out a new Colorado education blog with some diverse viewpoints and provocative thinking: Head First's Schools for Tomorrow. And tell them Ben sent you. … [Read more...]
Ritter’s Tax-Hike Supporters Standing on Weak Arguments
Mike Littwin's Saturday column for the Rocky Mountain News highlights the tenuous ground occupied by supporters of the governor's official endorsement of the $1.7 billion+ property tax increase. Their best argument apparently is that some opponents mistakenly voted for a similar proposal three years earlier. Meanwhile, Littwin typifies the rhetorical distortions made by the tax-and-spend crowd. (I omitted the partisan cheapshots that are standard fare for Littwin columns and not to be taken seriously, anyway. Instead, I wish to tackle some of the subtle and salient points about the issue itself that readers are supposed to accept at face value.) 1. The use of the term "property-tax freeze," as though the change in law were going to … [Read more...]
Denver Union Leaders Should Tout Past Successes
Is the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) a victim of its own salary-negotiating success? Why does the union that represents teachers in Denver Public Schools (DPS) not want to embrace how well it has done to increase compensation for its rank-and-file? Because it's time for DCTA to negotiate for even more money. As the Rocky Mountain News editors highlight today, the district's teachers have not been shortchanged nearly as much as some have touted: The district's figures show a cumulative salary increase of more than 21 percent for teachers who will have worked for DPS for four years, from 2004-05 to 2007-08. To be blunt, that has come in part at the expense of other DPS unions (who have received 11.5 percent) and school … [Read more...]
Schaffer’s In … No, Really, This Time (I Think) … Check Back Later
Update: Yes, he's in. Key graf: "Republicans have lost elections because our leaders have not been bold enough in proposing innovative solutions in Washington and have drifted from our long-held claim to the mantle of fiscal responsibility," Schaffer said. "Republicans have not fought hard enough for children and public education reform, especially in the inner city where the need has reached crisis status." The race is on. It looks like some of us - me included - jumped the gun on the Bob Schaffer announcement that he would be joining the U.S. Senate race for Colorado's open seat in 2008. For reasons I explained in my previous post (as well as others), I've had a good sense that this announcement was inevitable. It's just … [Read more...]
Great Reminders about Education
As usual, one of my favorite teacher friends - Michael at Best Destiny - makes some excellent big picture points about the state of public education, teachers unions, and the hard-working people in the classrooms. His post is a thoughtful follow-up to the story of the unsurprisingly biased Rocky Mountain High School (Fort Collins) math test reported at Face the State and covered here. One point Michael makes is one I don't make enough but needs to sink home with some: The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, that, contrary to popular belief, teachers are not all Democrats. It has been my experience, having worked in 23 schools in my career (yes, I have an odd job description), that there are vastly more Republicans in the education profession … [Read more...]
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