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Home Archives for Bill Ritter

6/24/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

Guvs Mark Sanford and Bill Ritter: Comparing International Travel Plans

Update, 1:00 PM: Not surprisingly, as Politico reports, there is more to the story: With news of the affair and bizarre cover-up, down goes Sanford. Very sad. Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford did what? For eccentricity's sake, I almost want to hear someone uncover more to the story than the governor of a state dashing off to South America on a whim without telling anyone. Or maybe we're just left to wonder why his staff told the media he really was hiking along the Appalachian trail (and may have "flat out lied" about the Argentina story). To think, just last week I was musing about a possible presidential candidate to support for 2012, and Mark Sanford by default rose to the top of the unofficial and utterly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: 2012, Appalachian Trail, Argentina, behavior, Bill Ritter, budget, Campaign Spot, candidate, Colorado, commander-in-chief, crucial, debates, default, Democrat, eccentricity, first class, flat out lied, Governor, hiking, inconsequential, international, jaunts, list, Mark Sanford, media, potential, presidential, public, Republican, South America, South Carolina, staff, state, strange, taxpayers, threshold, top, travels, unofficial, utterly, week-long, weird, whim, wonder

6/10/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Harmful Card Check Bill Union Cash Cow, Michael Bennet Still Undecided

Update: It's also worth noting that EFCA supporters have engaged in a full-fledged campaign of deception. Someone should ask Senator Michael Bennet if he's buying it. We know the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (aka card-check): Deprives workers of a secret ballot in workplace elections, exposing them to intimidation Imposes costly government bureaucratic intervention in private workplace negotiations Threatens to cost our fragile national economy and hard-working Americans of many thousands of jobs Now, thanks to a new report released by the Workforce Fairness Institute, we see more clearly and concretely the real beneficiaries of this three-headed monster legislation: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Americans, appointed, bailout, beneficiaries, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, bureaucratic intervention, card-check, cash cow, clearly, Colorado, concretely, decide, disability, Employee Free Choice Act, fragile, good, government, Governor, hard-working, hide out, intimidation, jobs, labor unions, legislation, little, longer, membership, Michael Bennet, mismanaged, monster legislation, months, national economy, pension funds, political activity, private, report, Republican Party, revenue, Rocky Mountain Right, secret ballot, silent, Sotomayor, spending, still, take the heat, trust funds, U.S. Senator, union dues, vote, workers, Workforce Fairness Institute, workplace elections, workplace negotiations

6/8/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Learning from Bill Ritter’s Four Mistakes (so far) in the Senate Bill 180 Veto

I asked before if Bill Ritter called the bluff of Big Labor with his veto of Senate Bill 180. If we're to judge by last Friday's union-organized rally, then Ritter made a mistake. To see what I mean, take a step over to Face The State's slideshow, and see signs like "Why does Ritter hate fire fighters?" and "Ritter lied to my dad" (or just Senator Lois Tochtrop's angry expression). Of course, Ritter didn't make a mistake from the standpoint of choosing good policy over bad policy. But he has made four mistakes surrounding this issue: Don't make promises you don't intend to keep. Backroom campaign promises can come back to burn you. As observed at ColoradoPols and demonstrated by the little girl's "Ritter lied to my dad" sign, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: angry, apparently, astroturfing, backroom, bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, blogosphere, bluff, bulk, burn, called, campaign, chief executive, ColoradoPols, compared, conveyed, damaging, decision, Democrat, Denver Post, enjoy, expression, Face the State, feet, fire fighters, fires, forced, good policy, harping, hide, intend, judge, keep, kill, labor bills, lied, Lois Tochtrop, media, minor, mistake, news conference, observed, offense, Party, politically, promises, prop, public, rally, Rocky Mountain Right, save, SB 180, Senate Bill 180, senator, show, sign, sit back, slideshow, standpoint, state house, state senate, stoked, support, threefold, traction, union-organized, veto, whoops

6/5/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Is Bill Ritter’s SB 180 Veto a Dare to Big Labor to Challenge His Office?

Update, 9:30 AM: AFL-CIO press release in response to Ritter's SB 180 veto pasted below the fold. Also, Amy Oliver notes that several legislators from northern Colorado went against the will of the people in voting for SB 180 -- having benefited from thousands in labor campaign contributions. Yesterday I gave Governor Bill Ritter kudos for the veto of SB 180. Today's Denver Post follow-up by Lynn Bartels is headlined with the statement that Rep. Edward Casso and organized labor interests see the decision as a "tipping point". It could be my imagination, but I got the impression from reading the story that Ritter essentially is saying something like this to the unions:So yeah, I have this penchant of making a wide spectrum of different … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Chamber of Commerce, change his mind, dare, decision, Democrat, Denver Post, different, Edward Casso, follow-up, good policy, Governor, groups, imagination, impression, indecisive, intentions, interests, issue, known, kudos, labor unions, last minute, Lynn Bartels, mad, motivation, Municipal League, open enemy, organized labor, penchant, politics, prevented, primary, SB 180, story, string along, tipping point, Unions, veto, wait

6/4/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Kudos to Bill Ritter for SB 180 Veto: Good Public Policy Beats Out Politics

It's not often I laud Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, but he is to be commended today for choosing good public policy over political pressures by vetoing Senate Bill 180 -- the firefighter collective bargaining legislation. While Ritter's official statement put the matter more diplomatically than I have, he didn't buy the phony argument about firefighter safety:Third, the debate on this bill raised important issues about firefighter safety, but there are better ways to address these issues than mandatory collective bargaining in certain communities. We must address firefighter safety at the state level. Doing so ensures that all areas of Colorado can benefit. Under this bill, however, the safety issues would only be addressed in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: announcement, argument, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, choosing, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Municipal League, commended, decision, Democrats, diplomatically, escalate, fire chiefs, firefighters, gain, good, Governor, how long, incumbent, intra-party, jurisdictions, laud, legislation, LIAR, mandatory, official, often, open fire, phony, political pressures, politically, public policy, question, safety, Senate Bill 180, sparing, standard, state level, statement, statewide, today, veto, warfare, wrath

6/4/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ritter, Kennedy, and Morse Loosening Fiscal Knot for Taxpayers’ Necks

Today's Denver Post news story on Governor Bill Ritter's signing of Senate Bill 228 offers the generous headline: "Colorado's fiscal knot loosens". I've taken the liberty to complete the thought with my own sub-headline: "Noose nearly large enough to fit around taxpayers' necks". The article is correct insofar as it points out that the impact of this bill in repealing limits on the growth of discretionary government spending likely won't be felt for a couple years. But that provides little solace, especially when you listen to the righteous confusion coming from the Democratic cast of characters behind this anti-taxpayer legislation. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, media bias, PPC Tagged With: 10-point margin, 2010, Amendment 59, another dimension, battle plan, Bill Ritter, black, California, Cary Kennedy, caucus, Colorado, complete, conflicting, crystal clear, Democratic, Democrats, Denver Post, disaster, discretionary, down, expounds, Face the State, fight, fiscal knot, fiscal troubles, fitting, generous, Gordian knot, government, government spending, Governor, growth, headline, heaping, heart, increase, John Morse, liberty, limits, majority leader, measures, memo, mess, message, multi-billion dollar, necks, news, noose, November, offers, old-fashioned, prudent, rainy day fund, raise, reasonable, recipe, repeal, repealing, righteous, Rod Serling, sacred, Senate Bill 228, shell game, shooting down, signing, simple, soul, spending, stake, state budget, state senate, state treasurer, step, story, sub-headline, TABOR, tax dollars, tax-and-spend, taxes, taxpayers, thought, trip, up, vote, voters, white, work

6/1/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Denver Post Catches On to Anti-Bill Ritter Roadside Sign Phenomenon

Several weeks ago I brought your attention to a sign of Bill Ritter's sagging popularity. As the Denver Post's Tim Hoover reports today, it seems the handmade signs attacking Ritter and his tax hike policies are popping up all over the place in different parts of Colorado. The article raises the query of who is responsible for the homemade, roadside creations. All I can tell you is they aren't being paid for by taxpayer dollars -- which cannot be said about Bill Ritter's highway re-election signs. I cannot tell a lie. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC, property rights Tagged With: article, attacking, attention, Bill Ritter, brought, Colorado, creations, Denver Post, dollars, handmade, homemade, policies, popping up, popularity, query, re-election, roadside, sagging, signs, tax hike, taxpayer, Tim Hoover

5/30/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Union LIAR Ready to Suck Money from Workers to Attack Bill Ritter?

Sound the alarm on Bill Ritter's re-election chances. Hard-core Democrats are swearing they're going to abandon ship, at least if you take the Dead Governors at their word. But really, Ritter's sagging popularity is not exactly newsworthy for those who have been paying attention the past couple months or so. The real reason I gave a link to Colorado Pols was the unintentional humor behind a new union political group aimed at challenging (or at least threatening) Colorado's incumbent Democratic governor:A group calling itself Labor Initiatives Against Ritter - or LIAR - has filed the paperwork needed with the Internal Revenue Service to begin raising money for political purposes. Mark Johnson, an International Brotherhood of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, liberty, PPC Tagged With: abandon ship, agency fees, agent, alarm, area, Bill Ritter, certainty, challenging, chances, Colorado, Colorado Pols, Colorado Springs, Dead Governors, Democrats, filed, greater, hard-core, hard-earned money, Humor, Internal Revenue Service, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Labor Initiatives Against Ritter, LIAR, link, Mark Johnson, member, money, newsworthy, paperwork, paying attention, plans, political group, political purposes, popularity, portion, re-election, really, Reason, sagging, sound, swearing, Trust us, unintentional, union, union goons, union members, word, workers

5/28/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Western Slope Pressure Heightens Bill Ritter’s Bad Policy SB 180 Dilemma

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports today, the day of reckoning draws closer for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to decide on the bad policy that is SB 180 -- a costly favor to Big Labor. The Sentinel today also editorializes strongly against SB 180 -- using many of the same arguments I've brought forward before, and even one I haven't really emphasized:Strikes would be prohibited under the legislation, but there are no sanctions listed in the bill for those who violate the provision. Now it would seem that Bill Ritter has an opportunity to start mending fences with folks on the Western Slope, where his popularity is low and heckling is a common greeting for him, by vetoing SB 180. He could listen to Grand Junction mayor Bruce Hill, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: arguments, bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Bruce Hill, campaign contributions, candidate, coerce, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Professional Firefighters, common, community, costly, day of reckoning, debate, deja vu, editorializes, emphasized, excuse, favor, fences, folks, good policy, Governor, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Sentinel, greeting, HB 1072, HB 1170, heckling, inflaming, lockout, low, make up, mayor, measure, mending, observed, opportunity, political favors, political retribution, popularity, promised, reports, rhetorical question, same, sanctions, SB 180, sign, state government, strikes, strongly, supporters, tidbit, union agency fees, union hall, union leaders, veto, Western Slope, workers

5/26/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Statewide Races, Higher Education

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 28th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Guests for tonight's show are: Longtime GOP political consultant Patrick Davis to dissect the state of play in Colorado's major statewide races for 2010, as fields of Republicans seek to challenge Governor Bill Ritter and appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet Jessica Corry from the Independence Institute, to talk about the ongoing budget controversies at the University of Colorado and possibly the increasing attention on the drug legalization debate If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, National Politics, PPC, property rights Tagged With: 2010, appointed, attention, Bill Ritter, Blog Talk Radio, budget controversies, challenge, Colorado, debate, drug legalization, GOP, Governor, guests, increasing, Independence Institute, Jessica Corry, major, Michael Bennet, Patrick Davis, podcast, political consultant, Republicans, Rocky Mountain Alliance, sidebar, statewide races, tonight show, U.S. Senator, University of Colorado, widget

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Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

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