I haven't commented much on the Republican primary in Colorado's 6th Congressional District, but I wrote in a post two weeks ago:The primary race for the safe Republican seat now appears to be mainly between Coffman and State Senator Ted Harvey. I've been aware of the word on the street (and in the press) that Wil Armstrong, son of former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong, was interested in throwing his hat into the ring. But not having sources that could confirm any activity coming from that corner, I didn't give attention to his candidacy. Until yesterday, that is, when I received a Thanksgiving card from the Wil Armstrong family with a friendly message on the inside and a family portrait on the front. Nothing overtly political about the … [Read more...]
Ritter’s Union Illogic
In the Sunday Denver Post point-counterpoint, a piece co-authored by SEIU union boss Mitch Ackerman asserts that Colorado state government needs a new sort of vaguely-defined union "partnership." It's an attempt to give political cover to Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter, yes. Nevertheless, you still clearly have a solution in search of a problem: A few state agencies account for their performance with measurable outcomes. We'd like to see more of that, possibly incorporated into an annual performance review. If this sounds like a strange idea coming from an employee group, it isn't. All working people like the recognition and pride that comes from doing a good job. As frontline workers and taxpayers, state employees are in a unique position … [Read more...]
Liberal Post Writer Gets Issues Behind Ritter’s Executive Order
On Friday I highlighted the Left-labor-Democrat coalition's internal confusion about whether or not Gov. Ritter's executive order constitutes collective bargaining. Over the weekend, Denver Post editorialist Bob Ewegen - who has actually earned a degree in labor relations - set the record straight with some important observations: The ground rules for collective bargaining in the private sector are spelled out in the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which does not cover public employees. Ritter's order basically paraphrases those federal regulations to apply to state (but not city or county) employees. The NLRA specifies how unions can be certified as "exclusive bargaining agents" for eligible employees in a specific workplace … [Read more...]
Ouch! More Pain in Ritter’s Behind-the-Scenes Union Revelations
The Rocky Mountain News today published an article which may qualify as one of the richest, most revealing local political stories of the year. It begins: On the day he issued his executive order making unions a bigger player in state government, Gov. Bill Ritter and union representatives assured Coloradans they weren't going to rock the boat. But behind the scenes, the waters were anything but calm, e-mails and other documents provided by Ritter's office in response to a Rocky Mountain News open records request show. Ritter's senior staff scrambled in the hours leading up to his announcement to deal with what they accurately predicted would be "a good deal of backlash." And a group representing seven Colorado unions rushed … [Read more...]
Cesar Chavez Success Revisits Merrifield’s Infernal Email
Congrats to Pueblo's Cesar Chavez Academy (and thanks to Colorado Charters for pointing out the accolades) - one of two charter schools nationwide to be featured as models of excellent education in a U.S. Department of Education documentary video. This must only make more painful the recent episode of an email sent by state Rep. Mike Merrifield (D-Manitou Springs) to Sen. Sue Windels (D-Arvada), indicating that there is "a special place in hell" for "charterizers" and the like. If one remembers, the specific context of the message was in response to efforts to replicate the highly successful Cesar Chavez Academy model in Colorado Springs. Democrat education committee chairman Merrifield summarily assigned people who wanted to try a … [Read more...]
Gov. Ritter, Please Leave Partisan Politics out of Rocktober
A classic proof of "correlation does not equal causation": our Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter injects partisan politics into America's game with an off-the-wall comment about how seven of the eight 2007 Major League Baseball playoff teams hail from states with Democrat governors. Did Ritter stumble while trying to make a point with this assessment, or was it just an attempt at a joke that has fallen flat? Who obsesses over partisan politics so much that they not only have to figure out which party is in power in states where professional baseball playoff teams hail from, but also have to proclaim it to the media? To the governor and his staffers: just sit back and enjoy the games. Not everything is about partisan politics. Meanwhile, shining a … [Read more...]
Debunking One Lefty Lie about Ritter’s Executive Order
Rather than take on all the lies and distortions in the debate over Gov. Bill Ritter's unionization executive order en masse, it makes more sense to deal with them one at a time. For starters, in two previous posts (here and here), I highlighted the internal contradictions and patent inaccuracies in the Left's attempt to deny that the order constitutes "collective bargaining." Lefty political hit man David Sirota, who recently appeared on a TV show hosted by my boss Jon Caldara at the Independence Institute, told this to his "progressive" buddies at the national Left-wing echo chamber known as Huffington Post: The most absurd attack on Ritter is the one that claims he acted in secret - even though, of course, he campaigned on a pledge … [Read more...]
Teacher Performance Pay Back on the Docket?
For the second consecutive year, State Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, is coming forward with a bill to provide state dollars to schools that develop and implement performance-based compensation plans for teachers - a reform idea that has gained tremendous bipartisan support nationally. Last year I provided legislative testimony highlighting the new body of research showing the effectiveness of merit-pay programs. On a party-line vote, Democrats in the committee killed it. This year, the Governor's P-20 Education Council has included a tepid endorsement of "alternative teacher compensation." With this new political reality, there may be a better chance to see Colorado become a progressive leader in educator pay. But the devil will … [Read more...]
Where do Colorado Dems Stand on Rangel Tax Increase?
A quick Friday morning question for Colorado farmers, ranchers, and small business owners: What does Boulder liberal Rep. Mark Udall, Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate, think about Charlie Rangel's massive tax increase proposal? What does junior U.S. Senator Ken Salazar think? What about Democrat presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton? The Wall Street Journal makes a cogent point: No one thinks his plan has a chance of becoming law this year, but its beauty is as a signal of Democratic intentions for 2009. In proposing what would be the largest tax increase in history, Mr. Rangel is showing the world what he wants the tax code to look like if Democrats run the entire government. None of the Presidential candidates will admit this before … [Read more...]
More Sirota Selective Deception
Repeating himself at the Dead Governors site and at the Denver Post blog, Lefty political hit man David Sirota plies his latest act of deception with the headline: "Business to CO GOP: 'Where's The Evidence' To Back Up Attacks On Ritter?" Sirota links to a Denver Business Journal piece titled "Mixed reaction to union order" to make his point. The problem? First, Sirota willfully ignores the obvious split in the business community between the self-interested and conflict-averse Chamber of Commerce sector and the more entrepreneurial, independent-minded small business sector. Sirota cherry-picks the apathetic responses of the former (you can read his posts for the excerpts) and disregards the strong anger from the latter: One of the … [Read more...]
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