Here's a great quick read to get you back into the routine following a long holiday weekend ... Ari Armstrong's Sunday guest column in the Colorado Daily makes a point I have seen seldom argued in the debate over so-called credit card reform -- namely, that Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall's bill protects the irresponsible and punishes the responsible. With those kind of incentives, the biggest surprise is that nearly 70 members of Congress actually voted against it. … [Read more...]
Ari Armstrong, Modern-Day Sam Adams, Helping Fill the Watchdog Gap
Sign of the times ... The American Journalism Review has released its annual survey of statehouse reporters. The unsurprising result? Forty-four states - including Colorado - have fewer full-time journalistic watchdogs tracking how elected legislatures are doing the people's business. As much as the Right pines about the liberally-biased media, this is not entirely a phenomenon to be rejoiced over. The news-gathering local media terrain is shifting under our feet as we move. A clear reason why we need more of the Modern-Day Sam Adams variety: Congratulations to Ari Armstrong for his well-deserved award and the lucrative success it brings. We don't always agree, but no one can deny Ari's diligent and persistent advocacy on behalf of … [Read more...]
Undeterred by Plain Reading of Constitution, State Supremes Stick It to Colorado Taxpayers
Update, 3/17: Law student Constructively Reasonable says the decision is a cause for "outrage". A watcher says Colorado may not as well even have a constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court has done it again, showing its disdain for taxpayer protections in the state constitution. From the majority opinion:When it issued its declaratory judgment order, the district court did not have the benefit of our recent decision in Barber v. Ritter, 196 P.3d 238 (Colo. 2008), in which we held that a statute challenged under article X, section 20 must be proven to be unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court erroneously held that the relevant test of SB 07-199s constitutionality came from the interpretive guideline included in the … [Read more...]
Folly and Hypocrisy of Colorado Media Matters in New Deal Debate Exposed
Over at Free Colorado, Ari Armstrong does excellent work deconstructing the silliness of Colorado Media Matters (CMM) and its well-compensated director in the debate about the New Deal. It seems CMM has placed nearly all its intellectual eggs in one basket, the bottom of which has just fallen out. Armstrong took the initiative to contact directly the one source CMM cites to "debunk" those who note the abundant academic evidence of the New Deal's economic failures. Unfortunately for CMM, this economist (Gene Smiley) refutes their case. But don't expect the Left to stop trying to shill for Barack Obama's new massive federal spending program, no matter how little window dressing they are left with to cover their embarrassingly thin … [Read more...]
Romanoff Missing Summer Fun to Put Anti-Taxpayer Measure on Ballot
The Rocky Mountain News reports today on outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's intense efforts to place an initiative on the ballot that would forever end TABOR refunds for Colorado taxpayers. Of course, the skewed way the Rocky describes the ballot measure, you wonder what sensible person could oppose it:While the rest of Colorado is hiking, rafting, barbecuing or putting in some serious hammock time, Romanoff, D-Denver, and a group of volunteers will hit the streets attempting to gather about 120,000 signatures from registered voters.... The proposal aims to unsnarl the fiscal knot of conflicting spending mandates and limits embedded in the state's constitution. Called SAFE (Savings Account for Education), the effort would seek … [Read more...]