Some of you may remember many months back when Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard gave national coverage to "The Colorado Model". Certainly a fine piece in its own right, but you'll find an even more detailed and insightful piece along the same lines in the new issue of National Review, written by my friend and former state representative Rob Witwer. Check out "Rocky Ride". By reading the piece, I learned that Rob and Adam Schrager of 9News (a Wolverine and a history major, a double-plus) are co-authoring a full-length book along the same lines titled The Blueprint: How Democrats Won the West (and Why Republicans Should Care). I plan to read their book (apparently scheduled to be released in 2010) after I get caught up and read … [Read more...]
Is Dennis Apuan Still Boulder’s Own Representative in El Paso County?
Face The State follows up on a Complete Colorado lead about Democrat State Representative Dennis Apuan. He is the lead sponsor of a resolution honoring fallen soldiers (PDF), but he also has been arrested as an anti-war protester. Jeff Crank, former Republican Congressional candidate and current Colorado Springs radio host, wants to know why Apuan is hiding from his 2003 arrest. The following response was fired back from the Democrats' press office:Statement from Rep. Dennis Apuan (D-El Paso) Date: Fri, Mar 6, 2009 "Six years ago, long before I was an elected official, I participated in a peaceful prayer vigil at Peterson Air Force Base. With a group of religious leaders, I peacefully expressed my opposition to the use of … [Read more...]
“Union in Practice” vs. “Union in Theory” Highlights Card Check Danger
Update: Face The State has more, including Colorado WINS' rude treatment of state representative Amy Stephens. As teased last night to our handful of Blog Talk Radio listeners... If I try to come up with something witty, you can leave it to Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency to come up with something even wittier. A few days ago I brought your attention to the most recent exploits of Dave Ohmart and his Colorado Loses, a vocal minority of state employees opposed to Governor Bill Ritter's gold-plated invitation to unionize their workplaces. Apparently, Dave wasn't greeted so kindly by union organizer Ryan when he decided to tag along for last week's Colorado WINS union event at the State Capitol featuring Ritter as … [Read more...]
Michael Bennet Can’t Be Counted On to Challenge Obama’s Wasteful Spending
Colorado's newly selected U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is seeing his chances to stand up as an independent-minded, moderate Democrat slipping away. Even a group of 14 Senate Democrats (including Indiana's Evan Bayh) now have emerged to say "enough is enough" with Barack Obama's destructive massive intervention in the U.S. economy - his pork-laden, wild spending spree. Michael Bennet is not among the 14 Democrats showing a shred of fiscal sanity. The Denver Post's Chuck Plunkett - hardly a right-wing fanatic - asks the question on Colorado's mind: "Where are our moderates?" While Michael Bennet remains dazzled by the Obama glow, his "senior" Senate colleague Mark Udall shows what a farce his campaign as a centrist really was. Udall … [Read more...]
SB 228 a Sure Way to Lower Colorado’s High Economic Freedom Ranking
Sean Paige (the American Contrarian) points readers to a recent study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University that shows Colorado ranks 3rd among the states in economic freedom. Apparently, statehouse Democrats, along with the occasional useful Republican, strongly feel Colorado ranks too high. How else do you explain Senate Bill 228? One of the leading arguments against SB 228 - including among the moderate sectors of the business community - has been the threat posed to a reliable stream of transportation funding. But a watcher makes the case that the real winning argument is simply to demonstrate the outrageous growth of government caused by repealing the 6 percent spending cap. I say: Give me both arguments. … [Read more...]
At Least Agnes Sobczyk Didn’t Come Out for a Republican Candidate
"And people wonder why union card-check legislation is such a problem for workers" Exhibit # 2863. From the Chicago Sun-Times (via The Union Label):[United Food and Commercial Workers staff employee Agnes Sobczyk] said she passed a letter to a co-worker detailing her concerns about State Rep. John Fritchey, the candidate the union has endorsed to replace [Rahm] Emanuel. She passed the letter to her co-worker on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning, she said Union President Ron Powell called her into his office. "He shoved this in my face and said, 'Explain this!'" she said. Sobczyk said she told Powell she was concerned about some stories she read about Fritchey and that she thought [Victor] Forys was a better candidate. "Then I … [Read more...]
Study: Union Card-Check Could Cost Thousands of American Jobs
A new study released gives you one more reason to write your Congressman and Senators to tell them to vote No on the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Economist Anne Layne-Farrar's quantitative analysis finds that "for every 3 percentage points gained in union membership through card checks and mandatory arbitration, the following year's unemployment rate is predicted to increase by 1 percentage point and job creation is predicted to fall by around 1.5 million jobs." Let's simplify: EFCA (or union card-check legislation, if you prefer) will keep many, many Americans from a productive job and a paycheck - an especially devastating effect in the midst of our current economic turmoil. … [Read more...]
How Does a Federal Agency Lose So Many Computers, Cameras, & Forklifts?
You hear a lot of talk about waste in government, especially in the bureaucracies at the federal level. But then you see an investigation by my Independence Institute colleague Todd Shepherd (also the founder of Complete Colorado), and that waste sort of comes to life. It becomes a little less abstract. If the headline doesn't draw you to take a peek, I'm not sure what will: "Excuse me, Homeland Security Department, how do you lose two forklifts?" (H/T Amy Oliver) During one calendar year, the Customs and Border Patrol Agency by itself lost $7.1 million of material, including 171 desktop computers, 28 motion picture cameras, and - yes - 2 forklifts. Check it out for yourself, then do what the Independence Institute did: write members … [Read more...]
TGIF: Obama as Urkel
From Michelle Malkin and Right Wing News (take your pick): The Obamessiah meets one of the more well represented figures on all-time "most annoying TV characters" lists. The first person who can accurately identify the reference in the title of the post, please leave a comment below to win the prize ... ... of a satisfying job well done. Win or lose, here's hoping you enjoy the humor and smile today. … [Read more...]
RIP, Rocky Mountain News
Update (3:15 PM): Here is a hot-off-the-presses iVoices podcast, with Jon Caldara and Dave Kopel discussing the end of the Rocky Mountain News era: Only one more edition of a 150-year-old Denver journalistic institution before the axe falls. We knew the day was coming, but the sudden realization is still striking. More often than not, the Rocky's editors have provided a sensible, Rightward-leaning balance to the liberal Denver Post. That will be missed. It's a sad day for many good people - some of whom I have agreed with much more than others - who only have left the guarantee of one day of work and two months of pay. Here's wishing them all the best in landing on their feet somewhere soon. Even as we reflect back, the local … [Read more...]
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