With a little shameless self-promotion, I tie it all together on the longest day of the calendar year. First, news broke earlier this week that Gov. Bill Ritter has done the inevitable, by agreeing to appeal a district court ruling that came to the clear and appropriate conclusion that Ritter erred in raising school property taxes without voter permission. Sure, I could link to lots of articles that highlight this news, but only the one in the Denver Daily News quotes the author of this blog:"I believe the district court judge did the right thing by recognizing that Colorado voters should be asked before they endure a tax increase," said Ben DeGrow, a policy analyst at the Independence Institute. "It's simply a matter of honoring the … [Read more...]
“Slightly Incoherent”? Not Bad
Joshua Sharf yesterday had the mild misfortune of having to endure our Independence Institute's candidate briefing. Glad to know my highly-compressed 15-minute presentation on school finance and teacher quality only came across as "slightly incoherent," and that Joshua seems to have had a good time. … [Read more...]
Ethiopian Journalist Tells Story of His Persecution and Flight to U.S.
A month ago I made a very unique friend in Habtamu Dugo, the persecuted Ethiopian journalist who had just fled to the United States from the repressive regime in his homeland. Today, the Independence Institute has released a 5-minute video in which Habtamu tells his compelling story. More on the video at Jon Caldara's blog. … [Read more...]
Debunking Medicaid Job Creation Myth
Linda Gorman from the Independence Institute (where I work), in a recent posting on John Goodman's Health Policy Blog, highlights a myth from the advocacy group Families USA being cited as facts in the current health care policy debate:Medicaid spending, the group says, creates jobs. By their reasoning, a law diverting the entire GDP of the United States to the Medicaid program would leave the U.S. awash in jobs. By contrast, the group claims the Bush administration's efforts to rein-in Medicaid spending will leave tens of thousands of people unemployed. Gorman quickly picks apart the assertion in four points, using a little fact-checking and basic economic analysis. First:Roughly speaking, for every four jobs created by spending, five … [Read more...]
Intellectual Ammunition for Colorado’s State and Local Candidates
Calling all Colorado candidates for state and county office! Want to catch up on your policy homework? The Independence Institute (where I work) is sponsoring an important event on June 11:Want your state legislative candidates to be intellectually well-armed for battle on the campaign trail? Then make sure he or she attends our candidates' briefing on Wednesday, June 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Independence Institute offices. We gather the state's leading free market experts on everything from TABOR, to transportation, to education, to property rights, to energy policy and more. Candidates will leave well-prepared to debate issues and field questions from friends and foes alike. This event is free of change and open to all state … [Read more...]
Ed is Watching
Why the cryptic title: Ed is Watching? It's the name of a new blog I've started contributing to as part of the Independence Institute's Education Policy Center. If you go there now, you'll already find posts up on charter schools, on Flunked: The Movie's Colorado debut, and on a new major school choice law in Georgia. From Jon Caldara's blog:Ed’s job is to keep an eye on, “… legislators, state officials, school boards, administrators, principals, teachers, and other people and groups that have an influence on public education in this great state.†So to get your daily education fix, check in with Ed and see what he has to say. Please stop by the site, bookmark it for regular visits, and tell all your friends! … [Read more...]
Come See Flunked: The Movie’s Colorado Debut Next Wednesday
Flunked: The Movie - an Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) production - comes to Colorado next Wednesday, May 21. The Independence Institute (where I work) is sponsoring the showing of this spectacular 47-minute film about the success stories that should inspire transformational change in our nation's education system. The film, narrated by Joe Mantegna, is more engaging and entertaining than your average documentary. Here's a preview: Also, you can listen to this iVoices podcast recorded today with EFF's Steve Maggi to learn more about the film. And go here to find out how to sign up for the May 21 event. … [Read more...]
Congressional Democrat Payback of Big Labor Marches On: Public Safety Edition
Update, Part Deux: Sources have contacted me to correct my update. The Act hasn't officially passed the Senate yet. The final vote will be later this week. The first vote was a procedural motion that appears to be a strong indicator of a final vote. Anyway, there is hope for this bad legislation to die yet. Update: Just as I was publishing this post, it looks like the Act has passed the Senate, with a lot of so-called Republicans also enabling the legislation. So goes the world... Unsurprisingly, the Democrats in Congress haven't accomplished much since they took over. Most notably, Nancy Pelosi's 2006 "plan" to bring down gas prices is still in the works. One special interest group to which Democrats have been busy pandering is … [Read more...]
Bill Ritter and Colorado Dems: Cheap Tactics, Poor Leadership
It's a classic trick to try to extort taxpayers, yet Bill Ritter and Colorado Democrats are acting as if we're too naive to see it. Mr. DNA at Rocky Mountain Right yesterday highlighted a story in the Denver Post where Ritter and other Democrat leaders made an absurd and startling revelation - blaming the Republicans (who are in the minority across the board) for the inability to move forward a transportation agenda:"I feel like this conversation broke down around politics, that we tried to get the Republicans interested in looking at how we would put together different pots of money," Ritter said. "We began our conversation very early in the session and could not get the Republican leadership to act on it at all." Senate President … [Read more...]
Denver Post Exclusive: My Commentary on Big Labor in State Government
The Denver Post has put up my exclusive commentary on Gov. Bill Ritter's November executive order, which may soon end up unionizing two-thirds of state government. Here's a taste:Thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter's gold-plated invitation, union leaders are on the verge of taking a major role in state government. Taxpayers and dissenting workers should pay attention. Under the terms of Ritter's November 2 executive order, 30 percent of the affected workers in an occupational group have to express formal interest in a union "partnership" election. The Colorado WINS union coalition that formed four days after the order has collected enough signatures to hold five separate elections that could make it the "exclusive representative" of more than … [Read more...]
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