From the University of Colorado newspaper comes a story about union organizers accused of harassing state employees:Last week, human resource directors from many state agencies met with leaders from several unions to voice their concerns about union organizers' tactics, which some called over-aggressive. One union organizer, employed by Colorado WINS, was arrested in downtown Denver in November for allegedly trespassing on Regional Transportation District property after attempting to distribute leaflets in an adjacent private building where a state agency is located. In a more recent incident, a union organizer who visited a Department of Corrections (DOC) employee at home, found himself on the business end of a gun. (The DOC could not … [Read more...]
Why did Ritter Leave Worker Protections out of His Order?
The Denver Business Journal interviewed one of the two national labor experts who spoke at an event this morning sponsored by the Colorado chapter of the Federalist Society. From the article headlined "Labor experts make case against Ritter's union order":The governor and Democrats in the House and Senate argue the order is non-binding and won't have a direct bearing on budgets or businesses. Many in the business community also say they're hard pressed to see how the order effects them. But Stan Greer, senior programming director for the National Institute of Labor Relations, based in Springfield, Va., made the case that Ritter's executive order isn't in the state's best economic interests -- particularly if state workers are forced to … [Read more...]
Radio Show Review
Thanks for those who tuned in to News Talk 1310 KFKA this morning to hear my inaugural guest host appearance on the Amy Oliver Show. For those who want more information on the guests and some of the topics discussed: Alan Gottlieb of the Public Education and Business Coalition edits the HeadFirst Colorado blog, which covers a range of education reform issues. Today we talked about the latest on the Bruce Randolph autonomy proposal, including union officials' latest delaying tactic, which Alan also posted on today. There's also a great story from yesterday on the topic at Face the State. I posted on the news of the rapidly growing estimates of revenue from the Governor's property tax hike at the Colorado Taxpayers blog. Other stories … [Read more...]
New Wadhams Blog Welcomed
Colorado state Republican Party chair and political mastermind Dick Wadhams, whom I heard speak confidently and eloquently last night about the GOP's prospects in the upcoming presidential election, has introduced himself to the blogging world today with his first post on the Colorado GOP site - key quote:Democratic Candidate Ritter campaigned as a moderate, almost as a conservative, telling Colorado’s business community he was their ally and friend. Candidate Ritter was a farce. Now we know who the real Bill Ritter is. No doubt after this post, the Lefties will see further evidence of vast conspiracy between Wadhams and the independent, grassroots Ritter Watch blog. Of course, they have the prerogative to be wrong - and to waste … [Read more...]
Ouch! More Pain in Ritter’s Behind-the-Scenes Union Revelations
The Rocky Mountain News today published an article which may qualify as one of the richest, most revealing local political stories of the year. It begins: On the day he issued his executive order making unions a bigger player in state government, Gov. Bill Ritter and union representatives assured Coloradans they weren't going to rock the boat. But behind the scenes, the waters were anything but calm, e-mails and other documents provided by Ritter's office in response to a Rocky Mountain News open records request show. Ritter's senior staff scrambled in the hours leading up to his announcement to deal with what they accurately predicted would be "a good deal of backlash." And a group representing seven Colorado unions rushed … [Read more...]