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Home Archives for chief executive

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

5/14/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Good Judgment, Leadership Lacking: More Reasons to Doubt Bill Ritter

First state treasurer Cary Kennedy, now our Governor Bill Ritter. Two of Colorado's highest-level Democrat leaders showing a lack of good judgment. I had nearly forgotten about Ritter's other apparent campaign-related improprieties until I read Jessica Fender's piece in yesterday's Denver Post:"Not Waiting" was the subject line of a campaign-fundraising e-mail Gov. Bill Ritter sent last month to a handful of lobbyists as well as his supporters. But in this instance, waiting wouldn't have been a bad thing. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Add new tag, believes, Bill Ritter, campaign finance law, campaign-related, Cary Kennedy, chief executive, Colorado, contemplating, contributions, copy, death penalty, Democrat, Denver Post, District Attorney, email, emergte, Face the State, familiarity, forgotten, former, fundraising, good judgment, GOP, Governor, hard time, high, high-level, hopes, improprieties, inability articulate, interest, invitation, issue, Jeff Crank, Jessica Fender, lack, lack of discipline, lawmakers, leaders, legislative session, liability, lobbyists, momentum, opinion, opponent, piece, rules, Scott Gessler, Secretary of State, specialist, state treasurer, statewide candidates, strong, supporters, topic

1/23/2009 By Ben 17 Comments

Governor Bill Ritter Wants to Welcome Gitmo Terrorists to Colorado Prison

Update: Welcome, Michelle Malkin readers. Perhaps you'll agree that Colorado can do much better than our current Democrat governor. Any article (this one happens to be from 9News) that starts with the following line spells bad news:Gov. Bill Ritter supports the idea of bringing terror suspects to Colorado to be housed at the federal Supermax prison in Florence. Go ahead, read the rest of the article. Governor Bill Ritter clearly has a long way to go making a compelling case to the people of Colorado. So why do it? Theories abound: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, PPC, World Events Tagged With: 2010, 9News, article, Barack Obama, Bill Ritter, Buffie McFadyen, Bureau of Prisons, California, Camp Pendleton, chief executive, civilian prison, Colorado, compelling case, Congressman, contracted. campaign plan, convicted felons, Democratic Party, Department of Defense, enemies, federal cash, federal prison, Fort Leavenworth, Governor, Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, legislation, line, magical money tree, military detainees, Obama administration, operatives, persuaded, prisoners, Pueblo West, Republicans, San Diego, skepticism, state budget cuts, stooge, Supermax, terror suspects, terrorists, theories, thesis, truckloads

1/8/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Hillman Credibly Criticizes Dems for Failure to Save State Money

Mark Hillman - former state senate majority leader and former state treasurer - once again has established himself as a leading voice of fiscal sanity in Colorado. In an op-ed in today's Denver Post, he assails Governor Bill Ritter and his Democratic colleagues at the helm of the state legislature for their ongoing mismanagement of the looming budget crisis:Balancing a budget during a recession is a difficult job, certainly. But balancing this year's budget didn't need to be this hard if only the leaders at the Capitol had learned from the last recession — or listened to those who experienced it. Last spring, as the economic storm clouds gathered, Gov. Bill Ritter and legislative leaders had opportunities to take precautions. One … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: Amendment 23, balancingn the budget, Bernie Buescher, Bill Ritter, Capitol, Cary Kennedy, chief executive, Colorado, Democrats, Denver Post, economic storm clouds, election, fiscal sanity, Governor, looming budget crisis, majority leader, Mark Hillman, mismanagement, op-ed, permanent tax increase, precautions, proposal, rainy day fund, recession, Referendum C, reserve fund, SCR 13, Senate floor, state legislature, state senate, state treasurer, TABOR, treasurer

1/7/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Self-Delusion or Subtlety Behind Bill Ritter’s Assessment of Michael Bennet?

As we chatted about on last night's Blog Talk Radio program, the fallout from Bill Ritter's appointment of Michael Bennet to the U.S. Senate continues. Liberal angst on behalf of the spurned former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff continues to grow. The latest is Susan Barnes-Gelt's column "What Was Ritter Thinking?" in the Denver Post:Bennet's decade-plus resume, elite pedigree and acute intelligence may confer gravitas-lite. However, his utter lack of legislative experience, political/elected bona fides and thorough knowledge of the state, its issues and character cast doubt on the governor's judgment. What does it say about our state's chief executive that he passed over an equally young, talented, out-of-the-box reformer who boasts an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: Andrew Romanoff, Barack Obama, Bill Ritter, Blog Talk Radio, chief executive, City Club of Denver, Colorado, common sense, complicating, conventional wisdom, Democrats, Denver Daily News, Denver Post, Ed Perlmutter, experience, Governor, gravitas-lite, ideology, independent, John Hickenlooper, Joshua Sharf, liberal angst, loyalty, mastermind, memo, mesh, Michael Bennet, passed over, political future, political target, President-elect, promise broken, reformer, rumors, Secretary of State, self-delusion, self-interest, situation, State Capitol, Susan Barnes-Gelt, team player, U.S. Senate

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About Me

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.

Recent Posts

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