From the GOP Convention in Broomfield... Balloting is ongoing from state delegates. One of the things they are deciding on is the slate of delegates to the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities. There is a list of nearly 400 candidates for national delegate in the Colorado Statesman along with their Presidential preference. About 40 percent have no preference listed - nearly the same amount (155) are pledged to John McCain. Poised to wreak havoc are 74 Ron Paul supporters, followed by a handful each listed for Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. State conventions can be strange things, though this is a particularly strange year. On a different note, Sen. Shawn Mitchell just compared Bill Ritter to Jimmy Carter ... ouch. … [Read more...]
Promote Worker Freedom for Colorado: Yes on Amendment 47
The Denver Post reports that the petition to bring Right-to-Work to Colorado has been certified for the November 2008 ballot. I laid out my case for supporting this idea a couple weeks ago. The specter of Right-to-Work was raised after a heated fight over House Bill 1072 early in 2007 - Gov. Bill Ritter shrewdly vetoed the Big Labor-sponsored legislation in hopes of restoring peace and order. But even last June, labor groups were working behind the scenes to forestall a possible Right-to-Work initiative. Two months later supporters introduced the initiative, leading us to today's certification - following the collection of well more than the required 67,000 signatures. But Right-to-Work (now known as Amendment 47) might not have … [Read more...]
Now Liveblogging at The Minority Report
At the invitation of Night Twister, I am switching over to join him and others live-blogging the State GOP Convention at The Minority Report. … [Read more...]
Top 10 Ways Colorado Democrats Have Already Spent Your Stimulus Check
Live in Colorado and getting ready for your federal rebate stimulus check to arrive? Don't get too excited yet. Republican leaders in the state legislature have taken a Letterman-esque stab at letting you know what the Democrat majority has already done with your money:10. Higher auto premiums 9. Higher energy premiums 8. $25 marriage tax 7. Higher fees on everything from birth certificates to tire recycling 6. College tuition hikes for everyone! 5. Up to a $100 dollar car tax 4. Gov. Bill Ritter to an aide: “Recession? Hey, let’s go out and hire another 1,300 state employees!†3. “…and let’s make sure they all have collective-bargaining … [Read more...]
Best Destiny: How Not to Respond to the Taxpayers’ Courtroom Win
Yesterday's Colorado Republican State Convention - with key video at Slapstick Politics and a great recap from Night Twister - was bolstered by the announcement of the taxpayers' legal victory against Gov. Bill Ritter for his unconstitutional property tax hike. But Michael at Best Destiny has some sage cautionary advice for Colorado Republicans on how to respond to Friday's courtroom decision:Republicans MUST NOT go out in public and seem too giddy about this. They should talk about checks and balances, and limiting the governor's ability to act unilaterally, and the majority's clear disregard for the Constitution. But if they seem like they're just glad to have the money taken back by the general public, it'll be a lot harder to … [Read more...]
Debunking “49th in education spending” Colorado Fallacy … Once Again
In a story about the new $18 billion state budget signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, a local Fox TV news station reporter stated:In education spending, the State of Colorado ranks 49th. Of course, this sentence is suspect from the start, because it doesn't tell us whether it's measuring higher education or K-12 education. If the article is referring to K-12 education, then it wasn't true two years ago, it wasn't true last year, and it isn't true this year, either. There are two reliable sources for K-12 education funding data. First, Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show Colorado ranks 36th in "current" per-pupil spending. The lowest possible ranking that could be devised shows Colorado at 47th in spending per $1,000 of personal … [Read more...]
Colorado Civil Rights Initiative Seeks Fair Hearing in Traditional Media
Jessica Corry, the new executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, has a Speakout column in today's Rocky Mountain News that clears up many of the charges made against the effort to eliminate government-sponsored discrimination:In 2007, when we first proposed our initiative language, our opponents challenged us all the way up to the Colorado Supreme Court. We won. In February, our opponents attempted to get a competing amendment onto the ballot. We won again after the state's Initiative Title Setting Review Board struck down their misleading and confusing language. On April Fool's Day, our opponents staged a widely covered press conference where dozens of activists falsely alleged that our signature gatherers had … [Read more...]
What Was All That Money Doing in Ritter’s Inaugural in the First Place?
The problems with Gov. Bill Ritter's $200,000-plus in misspent inaugural committee funds raises more questions beyond his apparent gross lack of oversight. In total, about $300,000 in inauguration funds were spent on campaign expenses. Campaign manager Greg Kolomitz returned the $83,250 that was paid to himself and his company, leaving roughly $217,000 still improperly spent. But a question I have yet to see answered is why so much money was needed in Ritter's inaugural fund in the first place. Seems quite extravagant. A quick trip back in time to the tenure of Colorado's last Democratic governor, Roy Romer, hints at a sharp contrast. From the January 3, 1991, edition of the Colorado Springs Gazette (no direct link available):In … [Read more...]
Liberal Denver Post Columnist Assails Do-Nothing Democrat Legislature
Liberal Denver Post columnist Susan Greene expresses her frustrations with the Democratically-led state legislature:After citing budget reform as a top priority, House Speaker Andrew Romanoff has tabled the issue without even a vote in committee. Better to let voters decide than force lawmakers to get their hands dirty, especially in an election year. After working to raise severance taxes on oil and gas drilling, the legislature has dropped the effort without explanation. After a blue-ribbon panel met for eight months on transportation funding, lawmakers passed none of its major recommendations. And after promising voting reform before November's election, they rubber-stamped a bill to recertify voting machines that the state … [Read more...]
Bill Ritter’s Tax Hike on Trial: Day 1
Yesterday was the first day of the court hearing on the lawsuit by the Independence Institute (where I work) and Colorado taxpayers against Gov. Bill Ritter's unconstitutional property tax increase. Today's Denver Post explains a key issue behind the plaintiffs' argument:They noted that in 1993, the General Assembly amended the School Finance Act to ensure that the property taxes raised for the local share of total program funding for public-school education in each school not violate the revenue cap of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. But with passage of the 2007 amendment, Ritter used it to freeze mill-levies, the opponents charged. The freeze holds mill levies — the rate at which taxes are charged — in place when they normally … [Read more...]
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