Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter looks to be more serious about his payback to Big Labor leaders than even earlier anticipated. As Face the State reports today - having uncovered key communications - the Governor is seriously considering an executive order to institute collective bargaining for state employees. The problem with the governor's proposed policy change is identified well by Republican state senators Kester and McElhany in a recent commentary for the Pueblo Chieftain: Why the secrecy? Maybe it is because they know collective bargaining is a train wreck waiting to happen. Just look at the cost incurred by other states that have gone down that path. Washington's state government, which began its experiment with collective bargaining … [Read more...]

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...]

The Pueblo Chieftain's Charles Ashby reports (H/T Mike Saccone) that Gov. Bill Ritter and the Democrats are trotting out a Republican state department chief as safe cover for his executive order: A Republican Cabinet member in Gov. Bill Ritter's administration already has found the governor's plan to "partner" with state workers beneficial to running his de- partment. But Russell George, executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, would have done that anyway, the former GOP House speaker said. "It's very much in my nature to want to know the people I work with," said George, who previously was head of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources under former Gov. Bill Owens. "So, as I got here, I would have … [Read more...]