Colorado Governor Bill Ritter screwed up with his handling of the Senate Bill 180 veto. Stumbling across a good public policy decision, he provoked the wrath of labor union special interests. Since Bill Ritter has found himself on this sensible path, perhaps he could continue a little longer and throw his weight behind an idea which time has come: financial transparency for labor unions representing state and local government employees. Of course, in doing so, Ritter would have to buck the trend of Big Labor cronyism being advanced by his party leader, President Barack Obama. From my recent Independence Institute op-ed: … [Read more...]
Lessons: Unparallel Treatment of George Tiller & William Long Murders
No two events are perfectly parallel, but seldom are two such similar and terrible stories juxtaposed for our edification. Within 24 hours and within 500 miles from each other, two notable murders occurred -- both evil acts perpetrated in public by two different men, but both for apparent ideological reasons, both sudden and horribly unexpected events for the families and loved ones of the victims, both suspects quickly brought into custody. That's where the parallels end. What's most informative is some of the prominent responses to the two incidents: … [Read more...]
Continuing the Tiller & Long Discussion
Update, 6/4: Thanks to a comment left by Politically Correct Death author Francis Beckwith, I refer you to his newer and more relevant book Defending Life. I'll have to check it out myself very soon. Update, 9:30 PM: My final thought (for now) on the matter, from Doug Wilson: "The question is whether you would be willing to reduce a society to anarchy for the sake of saving that kid, when you (should) know that the anarchy you introduce is going to be responsible for the deaths of far more children than you managed to save." And for further edification, I will commend the thoughts of Dr. Albert Mohler as being squarely right on the matter. Thanks to one of the more thoughtful liberals I know, David Thielen, a link to this morning's … [Read more...]
Ritter, Kennedy, and Morse Loosening Fiscal Knot for Taxpayers’ Necks
Today's Denver Post news story on Governor Bill Ritter's signing of Senate Bill 228 offers the generous headline: "Colorado's fiscal knot loosens". I've taken the liberty to complete the thought with my own sub-headline: "Noose nearly large enough to fit around taxpayers' necks". The article is correct insofar as it points out that the impact of this bill in repealing limits on the growth of discretionary government spending likely won't be felt for a couple years. But that provides little solace, especially when you listen to the righteous confusion coming from the Democratic cast of characters behind this anti-taxpayer legislation. … [Read more...]
Kudos to Bill Ritter for SB 180 Veto: Good Public Policy Beats Out Politics
It's not often I laud Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, but he is to be commended today for choosing good public policy over political pressures by vetoing Senate Bill 180 -- the firefighter collective bargaining legislation. While Ritter's official statement put the matter more diplomatically than I have, he didn't buy the phony argument about firefighter safety:Third, the debate on this bill raised important issues about firefighter safety, but there are better ways to address these issues than mandatory collective bargaining in certain communities. We must address firefighter safety at the state level. Doing so ensures that all areas of Colorado can benefit. Under this bill, however, the safety issues would only be addressed in the … [Read more...]
Is Bill Ritter’s SB 180 Veto a Dare to Big Labor to Challenge His Office?
Update, 9:30 AM: AFL-CIO press release in response to Ritter's SB 180 veto pasted below the fold. Also, Amy Oliver notes that several legislators from northern Colorado went against the will of the people in voting for SB 180 -- having benefited from thousands in labor campaign contributions. Yesterday I gave Governor Bill Ritter kudos for the veto of SB 180. Today's Denver Post follow-up by Lynn Bartels is headlined with the statement that Rep. Edward Casso and organized labor interests see the decision as a "tipping point". It could be my imagination, but I got the impression from reading the story that Ritter essentially is saying something like this to the unions:So yeah, I have this penchant of making a wide spectrum of different … [Read more...]
Learning from Bill Ritter’s Four Mistakes (so far) in the Senate Bill 180 Veto
I asked before if Bill Ritter called the bluff of Big Labor with his veto of Senate Bill 180. If we're to judge by last Friday's union-organized rally, then Ritter made a mistake. To see what I mean, take a step over to Face The State's slideshow, and see signs like "Why does Ritter hate fire fighters?" and "Ritter lied to my dad" (or just Senator Lois Tochtrop's angry expression). Of course, Ritter didn't make a mistake from the standpoint of choosing good policy over bad policy. But he has made four mistakes surrounding this issue: Don't make promises you don't intend to keep. Backroom campaign promises can come back to burn you. As observed at ColoradoPols and demonstrated by the little girl's "Ritter lied to my dad" sign, … [Read more...]
Calling All Colorado Congressmen to Back Federal Reserve Transparency
Update, 6/11, 10:30 AM: Impressively, HR 1207 now has 208 Congressional co-sponsors. But only two from Colorado: Republican Doug Lamborn and Democrat Ed Perlmutter. Open government is an important non-partisan issue. I recently brought readers' attention to the need to persuade Republican Congressman Mike Coffman to sign on in support of transparency for the nation's Federal Reserve bank. It's good to see Face The State join the cause and raise the stakes by urging members of Colorado's delegation across the political spectrum to back HR 1207. … [Read more...]
Denver Post Catches On to Anti-Bill Ritter Roadside Sign Phenomenon
Several weeks ago I brought your attention to a sign of Bill Ritter's sagging popularity. As the Denver Post's Tim Hoover reports today, it seems the handmade signs attacking Ritter and his tax hike policies are popping up all over the place in different parts of Colorado. The article raises the query of who is responsible for the homemade, roadside creations. All I can tell you is they aren't being paid for by taxpayer dollars -- which cannot be said about Bill Ritter's highway re-election signs. I cannot tell a lie. … [Read more...]
RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Candidates Dan Maes, Cleve Tidwell
Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 29th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Guests for tonight's show are a pair of political newcomers making longshot bids for statewide office. Evergreen businessman Dan Maes will join us to talk about his grassroots campaign for Colorado's Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010. Causing a stir in the local blogosphere this week, U.S. Senate hopeful Cleve Tidwell will make an appearance in the latter half of the program to discuss his candidacy. If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. … [Read more...]
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