Every day is seeking to rise to the challenge, 'neath the shadow of the mighty Rockies.
Fresh Air: Legislative Respite
Ahh... what a breath of Colorado fresh air! The state legislature is out of session for the time being, which means taxpayers will be spared further damage for awhile. There's not much to congratulate the majority Democrats for this time, except two things: 1. The legislature dismissed early, saving thousands of taxpayer dollars. 2. The overall hit taxpayers and businesses will take from the session's legislation will be bad, but it could have been worse. I'm enjoying it while it lasts, but with rumors swirling that Governor Ritter will call a special session in which a bill mandating collective bargaining for public employees will be introduced, the extra dose of freedom may be short-lived. … [Read more...]
Pulling Back the Lid on Colorado School Financial Accountability
Face the State is on top of a story about public education agency fiscal mismanagement that I've personally been aware of for some time. I urge you to read the story and ask yourself several questions: - Is Centennial BOCES an isolated case or symptomatic of a larger trend? - Why do some in power in the local education establishment strenuously resist real financial oversight and accountability? - Why are taxpayers constantly begged for more funds for the school system, yet struggle to find a clear, careful, and comprehensible accounting of how all public funds are spent? (Have you ever requested a copy of your local school district's budget and financial statements to review?) - Shouldn't we encourage the State Auditor … [Read more...]
iVoices: Hear AG Suthers Explain Need for Vote on Tax Hike
Tune into the Independence Institute's iVoices.org to hear my interview with Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, as he explains why his office filed a formal opinion this week that Governor Bill Ritter and the Democrat-led state legislature needed to submit their property tax increase proposal to a vote of the people. As Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, stated to his Democratic colleagues supporting the tax increase: "The inconvenient truth is TABOR." A narrow majority of the legislature ignored the inconvenient truth, arrogantly passing the tax hike. The governor is sure to sign it into law. And because of TABOR, some kind of a taxpayer lawsuit against the abuse of legislative power seems almost inevitable. I think it's most … [Read more...]
Schaffer’s In
Former U.S. Congressman Bob Schaffer, overwhelming winner of last month's Mount Virtus Republican straw poll, dropped the news at last week's Teller County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner: he will be running against Mark Udall for Wayne Allard's open U.S. Senate seat. Schaffer's decision shows me at least a couple things: 1) He has cleared the primary field of any potential opponents and received assurances of support from most or all of the Republican players. 2) Internal polling gives him a respectable chance to defeat Udall next November. Expect a formal announcement soon. … [Read more...]
Seebach Skeptical of NEA-Funded Review Project
In Saturday's Rocky Mountain News, columnist Linda Seebach brought attention to the biased, teachers union-funded Think Tank Review Project - featured on Mount Virtus back in January. When I publicly criticized the Project, I received a long, friendly email response from Project co-chair Kevin Welner. In our exchange, Welner and I came to agreement on our mutual respect for Ms. Seebach's evenhanded, analytical approach. A couple key grafs from Seebach's column: After the formal discussion was over, I broached that subject with Welner. He said there is no intention on anyone's part to make the project political, and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity. He also said it's difficult to find expert reviewers on the right, and I don't … [Read more...]
Hardly a Surprise: CEA Officials Caught in a Lie
The Denver Post reports today that State Representative Kent Lambert (R-Colorado Springs) has filed a lobbyist-ethics complaint against the Colorado Education Association for spreading misinformation about the Governor's property-tax measure before the legislature: He cited an e-mail Mason sent to eight CEA members and a CEA website posting as including the misleading statements. According to Lambert, Mason and the CEA are saying the proposal, which was added Monday to the annual funding bill for schools, would "take pressure off future cuts to K-12" and "is NOT a tax increase." Of course, both statements are untrue. Amendment 23 protects K-12 from any potential future cuts - even before Amendment 23, K-12 rarely received a funding cut. … [Read more...]
With Democrats in Charge, Forget Common Sense
The reactionary Democrats in the State Capitol are at it again, and one of them got caught in a lie! This afternoon, the House Education Committee - on a party line vote - killed Senate Bill 73, a proposal sponsored by two commonsense Democrats (Senator Chris Romer and Representative Michael Garcia) and supported by the Republican caucus. The bill would require students receiving a public high school diploma to demonstrate basic English competency. It even lets local school boards define the standards. SB 73 passed the Senate 33-1, with only arch-education establishment apologist Senator Sue Windels (D-Arvada) voting against it. But the House Education Committee is stacked with a flock of reactionary Democrats, who want to preserve the … [Read more...]
The Phony “Watchdog Group” That Cried Wolf Before
Today's Rocky Mountain News gives a platform for partisan criticisms from Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government (CCEG)'s Chantell Taylor of the Senate Republican website Colorado Senate News. Democrats under the Golden Dome are too clever to launch the same frivolous charges and half-baked conspiracy theories that Taylor has made, yet it's apparent they are politically allied. Is there any thing legally or ethically wrong with their political alliance? Of course not. Let's just be a bit more transparent about it, so people can judge fairly for themselves. As far as Taylor goes, she has been exposed before. When she came forward to hurl ethics accusations against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez and then-Secretary of … [Read more...]
Giving a Hearty Second to “Colorado Call to Action”
Coloradans need to be more aware of and engaged with what's going on at the state legislature, especially when economic freedom, educational choice, individual rights, and good judgment are regularly under attack by the Democratic majority. Hello ... are you paying attention? Well, to help facilitate more interest in the goings on under Denver's Golden Dome, I commend you to check out Backbone America's "Colorado Call to Action" on 710 AM KNUS. I'd be interested to hear from someone who got a chance to tune in for this evening's 7 PM debut, since I was occupied at the time. Of course, if you're a reader of some of Colorado's active center-right blogs - like Best Destiny, View from a Height, The Daily Blogster, Exvigilare, Slapstick … [Read more...]
Tupa Joins Right Side of School Accountability
It's not often I praise a liberal Democrat in our state legislature. But it only seems appropriate to highlight the fact that Sen. Ron Tupa (D-Boulder) demonstrated some common sense on the matter of school accountability today. Tupa joined the 3 Republicans on the Senate Education Committee - Nancy Spence, Josh Penry, and Mike Kopp - to kill House Bill 1284, which would have stripped the CSAP test of any effective meaning as a way for parents to judge the quality of schools. So kudos to Tupa on this one. I don't see eye to eye with him on many issues, but I have admired him more than some of his other Democratic colleagues for at least taking a more free-thinking approach to education issues. Of course, it would be a lot better if his … [Read more...]
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