For the past couple years, Wisconsin has been the locus of the political battle to weaken public-sector union power. After Gov. Scott Walker not only survived but thrived amid a failed recall election, conservatives breathed a sigh of relief. Most prominently, the costly but decisive victory revived hopes that fiscal sanity and a sense of fairness could be restored. Modest cuts to lavish benefits for government employees, along with some of the accompanying tools approved in Walker's controversial Budget Repair Bill, put the Badger State back on a healthy fiscal setting and brought compensation more back in line with private sector workers. But a new video from the Association of American Educators reminds us that the Wisconsin … [Read more...]
Bucking Colorado’s Example, Could Michigan Soon Adopt Right-to-Work?
When it comes to freedom of association, Colorado workers soon may have good reason to envy their Michigan counterparts. The Washington Times recently reported some developing momentum for a Right-to-Work law in the Great Lakes State:The possible push in the state Legislature’s lame-duck session has already sparked a battle, as a coalition of about 300 AFL-CIO members as well as a contingent from the state police descended on the Statehouse in Lansing on Thursday to lobby lawmakers against a measure they fear could dramatically limit their influence. Big Labor is trying to nip the effort to empower non-union workers in the bud, organizing vocal pressure before a bill even has been introduced. Before the recent elections, there was no … [Read more...]
Going Further than Right-to-Work to Relieve Labor Leaders’ Burdens
Earlier this week I told you that it looked like Right-to-Work legislation was coming to the Big Labor stronghold of Michigan. And has it ever come quickly! Some of Wisconsin's early 2011 scenes played out yesterday at the State Capitol, as protestors thronged and chanted favorites like, "A people united will never be defeated!" and "Hey hey, ho ho, Right-to-Work has got to go!" News outlets report that Michigan State Police arrested eight people trying to break into legislative chambers as the state senate gave preliminary approval to send the workplace freedom measure on to supportive Governor Rick Snyder. (When similar legislation is introduced here in Colorado in 2013, the reaction almost certainly will be much more quiet... and … [Read more...]
Rubio’s Bold Call for Scholarship Tax Credits Should Fuel Choice in Colorado
Last week, as the honored recipient of the 2012 Kemp Leadership Award, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio laid out a vision for parent-empowered education reform. On one point especially, Coloradans should take heed. When a Republican politician speaks competently, compassionately and courageously about real education reform, my ears perk up. When that politician happens to be hailed as one of the GOP's top contenders for the national ticket in 2016, I also smile optimistically. Rubio framed the education message in his D.C. award acceptance speech around the goal of opening wide the doors to America's middle class. A linchpin is his bold proposal to expand educational choice at the federal level in a way that has not really been … [Read more...]
Colorado Prop 103: Weak Case for Tax Hike’s Job-Killing “Domino” Effect
Update, 11/2: Welcome, Michelle Malkin readers... Thanks for the link! Colorado has one issue on the statewide ballot this year: Proposition 103, a large tax hike sold as a way to increase revenues for K-12 and higher education. Unfortunately, there are two major problems with this proposal that render it unworthy of support. First, it's a job-killer that very well could prolong and deepen our state's current recession. An Independence Institute issue paper by Dr. Barry Poulson finds that more than 11,000 jobs will be killed, a devastating analysis of the Prop 103 "domino" effect most creatively expressed in this amazing 3-minute video: Second, the case for more K-12 education funding rests on a very weak foundation that lacks … [Read more...]
Bargaining Bill Would Force CEA to Confront Local Control Hobgoblin
The 19th century American individualist Ralph Waldo Emerson once famously declared, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." This coming legislative session might just give teachers union leaders a chance to confront their own hobgoblin -- choosing whether to embrace it or banish it far away. Rumors persist that the American Federation of Teachers wants to inflict legislative revenge on the bold Douglas County school board. In exchange for having their monopoly bargaining status and political dues collection revoked, they apparently are tempted to advance a bill that would impose some sort of bargaining requirement on local school boards. To succumb to the temptation would place their Colorado Education Association (CEA) … [Read more...]
How Bad Was the Fiscal Cliff Deal? Michael Bennet May Have Teed One Up for the Teetering GOP
Conservatives have plenty of reason to mope in the fiscal gloom these days, maybe even enough to indulge in a bit of dark humor. That brings us to the Colorado political junkie joke of the week, the first of 2013: "How bad was the fiscal cliff deal Congress approved?" "I don't know. How bad was it?" "The fiscal cliff deal was so bad that Michael Bennet couldn't even vote for it." The serious question, though, that follows Congress' pathetic kicking-the-can-down-the-road exercise -- which strangely divided Colorado's Democratic tag-team duo in the U.S. Senate -- is whether Colorado Senator Michael Bennet's dissent may have set the stage for Republicans to start taking a necessary hard line on the next tough issue around the bend. … [Read more...]
Choice Media TV Tells Douglas County Voucher Story: Spread Hopeful Word
What a week. It may be just enough to motivate me to get this blog back running in full gear. Sorry to disappoint some of you. My election night fresh analysis post got some attention, then Michelle Malkin cited some earlier work I had done on Prop 103 and education funding. Today, it gets better (or maybe worse, depending on your perspective), as my mug is featured in an excellent 8-minute Choice Media TV video feature about the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program: You certainly don't need to watch it for my sake, but please watch it to help keep hope alive... and spread the word. Why? As I wrote in an in-depth post-election analysis for Ed News Colorado, the message has been sent that it's time to do something different, more … [Read more...]
Heath: “Grand Bargain” K-12 Tax Hike “Beginning to Take a Bite” from Elephant
Imagine sitting down to write a term paper or thesis, then releasing the first draft of the paper not only to your professor but to a worldwide audience. Now imagine your paper contains instructions for allocating billions of tax dollars to a bunch of different groups. You can start to understand what Colorado state senator Michael Johnston (D-Denver) feels like after releasing a draft of legislation to rewrite the state's 19-year-old School Finance Act. In the funny game of democratic politics, is it better to make a bold push in one direction, or to try to bring diverse interests together around a "Grand Bargain"? When it comes to Johnston's monumental effort, the question is being played out before our eyes. The idea is to tie "bold" … [Read more...]
One-Two Punch: Ads Leave a Mark on Democrat Ed Perlmutter’s Campaign
Colorado's 7th Congressional district, where I live, covers some of the swingin'-est swing state political geography in the nation. But only recently has incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter's vulnerability become truly apparent. Just this week the national experts at the Rothenberg Political Report upgraded the chances of Perlmutter's opponent and neighbor, likeable Republican businessman Joe Coors. And that was before a pair of devastating ads dropped this week on the incumbent. The first came directly from the Coors campaign, truthfully exposing a pair of disturbing Perlmutter legislative votes, including opposing a bill "that would have allowed children to testify via closed-circuit television when testifying against their abusers" … [Read more...]
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