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Home Archives for iVoices

5/13/2009 By Ben 7 Comments

Breaking: Jeffco Teachers Union Calls for Impasse over Pay Dispute

Developing story... Last night the board of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA)( (Colorado's largest local teachers union and an affiliate of the Colorado Education Association) voted to declare an impasse in negotiations over renewing the collective bargaining contract with Jeffco Public Schools for the 2009-10 school year. This morning JCEA notified the school district of its decision. According to the school district, the core of the dispute revolves around a proposed compensation agreement to address relative funding shortages during the current economic downturn. Under this plan, teachers would continue to receive their automatic steps and levels for acquiring seniority and credit hours. The plan rejected by JCEA … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: 2007, 2009-10, 2009-2010, acquiring, action, additional, agreement, analysis, arbitrators, automatic, backgrounder, bill, board, bonus, budget projections, carefully, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Education Association, compensation, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, contention, contract, controversial, core, credit hours, current, decision, declare, developing, dig deeper, dispute, district officials, doubtless, economic downturn, emerge, eminently, expenditures, extra, fair, financial status, footing, funding, grievance, hard times, harmful, healthy, higher pay, impasse, increase, Independence Institute, interested parties, iVoices, JCEA, Jeffco Public Schools, Jefferson County Education Association, job protection, Jon Caldara, listen, mediation, negotiations, no work no pay, notified, occur, offer, official timetable, paid days, permanent, podcast, point, probationary period, probationary teachers, process, proposed, qualified, rejected, relative, report, reserve fund, reserved, seniority, shortages, sides, specify, stance, state funds, stay tuned, steps and levels, story, strike, substantive, taxpayers, teachers, teachers union, tenure, terms, threats, unfold, union leaders, used

5/8/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado LOSES: Represent State Employees, No Union Middleman

Having already won Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's November 2007 executive order allowing exclusive union representation in state government, the table is set for organized labor to push for full-fledged and permanent bargaining legislation by next year. Many of those who would be purported to benefit from such legislation might have a different idea, however. On an iVoices podcast, I talk with state employee Dave Ohmart about his developing plan to provide representation for state employees without the costly union middleman services of Colorado WINS: Dave says he's open to input to refine and improve his plan. You can contact him by leaving a comment at the Colorado LOSES website. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: audio, bargaining, benefit, Bill Ritter, Colorado, Colorado WINS, comment, contact, costly, Dave Ohmart, developing, exclusive, Executive Order, full-fledged, Governor, idea, improve, input, iVoices, legislation, middleman, organized labor, permanent, plan, podcast, purported, services, set, state employee, state government, table, talk, union, union representation, website

5/1/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Should Buck Federal Rollback of Union Financial Disclosure Rules

A few months ago I told you about rumored plans that the Obama administration and new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis would relax financial disclosure rules for labor union leaders. Well, they are rumors no longer. Listen to a new iVoices podcast I recorded with Scott Dilley about the federal disclosure rollback and what it means for workers: Check out this detailed posting at Labor Pains to get a further flavor of the hypocritical complaints from union leadership. The disclosure rollback is bad on another level, as well. As I wrote recently in the issue brief Setting the Standard for Pro-Worker Transparency (PDF), Colorado would do well to emulate the U.S. Department of Labor disclosure rules for its own public-sector unions. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: administration, audio, Barack Obama, Colorado, complaints, curtain, Democrats, detailed, development, dues-paying, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, fee-paying, financial disclosure, flavor, further, Hilda Solis, hypocritical, issue brief, iVoices, Labor Pains, Labor Secretary, labor union leaders, leadership, listen, plans, podcast, posting, public, public-sector unions, rollback, rules, rumored, Scott Dilley, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington DC, workers

4/3/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Tune in Sunday to Hear the Lovely Mrs. Virtus Discuss Homeschooling

It's not often I get to sing the praises of the lovely Mrs. Virtus here on my blog. But hopefully this atones a bit for previous shortcomings. Tune in to Backbone America with John Andrews this Sunday, April 5, during the 5:00 PM (local Mountain Time) hour -- around 5:20, to be precise -- to hear an interview with the lovely Mrs. Virtus on homeschooling and parental rights. You can hear it live streaming on the 710 KNUS website. The lovely Mrs. Virtus (better known to many as Marya) will discuss her new in-depth report Colorado’s Homeschool Law Turns Twenty (PDF) - a true call to vigilance for homeschoolers and other supporters of educational freedom - as well as her experiences at Homeschool Day at the Capitol. If you can't wait … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General, liberty, My Life Tagged With: 710 KNUS, audio, Backbone America, call, educational freedom, experiences, Homeschool Day at the Capitol, homeschooling, in-depth, interview, iVoices, John Andrews, live streaming, lobbyist, lovely, Marya, Mrs. Virtus, parental rights, podcast, praises, previous shortcomings, report, sing, Sunday, supporters, Treon Goossen, veteran, vigilance, volunteer

4/1/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Government Transparency Facing a Crucial Crossroads

Everybody's talking about "transparency" as the buzzword at the Colorado state legislature this year: even the Sterling Journal-Advocate has taken notice. I've spent plenty of time talking about what happened to Senate Bill 57 and school district transparency. But there's also the promise of greater transparency in House Bill 1288's proposal for a state government spending database, and the threat to transparency in House Bill 1293's sick person tax. My Independence Institute colleague Amy Oliver joined me to discuss these different proposals at the State Capitol on a 9-minute iVoices podcast: The last month of the current legislative session will be a crucial time to see whether Colorado - with the Democrats in charge - will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, My Life, PPC Tagged With: Amy Oliver, backward, buzzword, colleague, Colorado, Democrats, forward, House Bill 1288, House Bill 1293, Independence Institute, iVoices, plenty of time, podcast, promise, school district, Senate Bill 57, sick person tax, State Capitol, state legislature, state spending database, Sterling Journal-Advocate, threat, Transparency

3/26/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

More Reasons to Make Sure Senate Bill 180 Doesn’t Simply Stall, But Dies

It's encouraging news that the Colorado state senate keeps putting off a vote on Senate Bill 180. The Democrats would seem not to have confidence in the votes to override local control, impose collective bargaining, raise the cost of government services, and threaten the rights of our state's police officers and firefighters. If you need more reason to understand why SB 180 is a bad idea, and why you should keep the pressure on and tell your state senator to vote against it, you should listen to this new iVoices podcast I recorded with Stan Greer from the National Institute of Labor Relations Research: What might seem on the surface like a nice thing to do for our public safety employees is really bad public policy when you take a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, PPC Tagged With: amok, bad idea, bad public policy, closer look, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, confidence, cost, Democrats, Democrats Gone Wild, employees, encouraging news, firefighters, government services, impose, iVoices, legislative session, local control, National Institute of Labor Relations Research, override, podcast, police officers, pressure, public safety, Reason, rights, Senate Bill 180, special labor interests, Stan Greer, State Capitol, state senate, threaten, understand, vote

3/9/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

U.S. Supreme Court’s Ysursa Ruling a Sweet Victory for Clean Government

Update (3/10): Mike Reitz weighs in with an observation some of my readers may have a hard time believing: "Public policy wonks are real people, too." Here's a U.S. Supreme Court decision that may have flown past your radar - Ysursa v Pocatello Education Association. The ruling ensures states (like Idaho and Utah already have done) can regulate the use of government payroll systems to prevent the collection of political contributions. As Mike Reitz from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation explained to me in a new iVoices podcast, it's a victory for clean government, taxpayers and orderly state labor relations: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, General, Judiciary, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: Amendment 49, analogy, clean government, Congress, debate, decision, Employee Free Choice Act, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, fans, government, Idaho, iVoices, job growth, labor relations, Mike Reitz, payroll systems, podcast, Political contributions, poorly-named, resurrecting, ruling, secret ballot, Star Wars, taxpayers, U.S. Supreme Court, Utah

1/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Consider Yourself” Ready to Refute Inflated Colorado Child Poverty Claim

Oftentimes big, misleading headlines can circumnavigate the globe many times over before the much more nuanced truth gets a chance to catch up. Well, here's a terrific case in point that figures to pop up in Colorado policy debates. Last June the Colorado Children's Campaign released its annual Kids Count report. Latching on to that report, newspapers from the Denver Post to the New York Times climbed on board the claim that Colorado leads the nation with a 73 percent rise in child poverty from 2000 to 2006. In case you were confused, and wondered why you weren't seeing scenes like this one in and around our great state, the Independence Institute's Linda Gorman cleared up the picture a bit for you in last Friday's Denver Daily … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care Tagged With: 73 percent, Annie E. Casey Foundation, artificially low numbers, catch up, child poverty, circumnavigate, Colorado, Colorado Children's Campaign, column, conversation, data, Denver Daily News, Denver Post, details, globe, headline-grabbing, headlines, Independence Institute, inflated claim, issue paper, iVoices, Kids Count, Linda Gorman, misleading, New York Times, newspapers, nuanced, podcast, policy debates, report, tall grass, true story, truth

1/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

iVoices: What the $632 Million in State Budget Cuts Actually Represents

More than once I've discussed the $632 million or so in state budget cuts being proposed in these rough economic times. But it's important to note what this figure represents (the drop-off from projected spending) and what it does not (the amount of actual reduction in spending from the previous year). On this iVoices podcast, the Independence Institute's Penn Pfiffner explains with host Jon Caldara: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: actual reduction, figure, Independence Institute, iVoices, Jon Caldara, Penn Pfiffner, podcast, previous year, projected spending, rough economic times, state budget cuts

6/26/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Chalk One Up for the Constitution… and Independence Institute’s Dave Kopel

Once in awhile, the U.S. Supreme Court gets it right. Today that's the case with the 5-4 landmark ruling in DC v Heller that overturns the Washington, D.C., gun ban and sets the Second Amendment on the solid terrain intended by our nation's Founders. Around the Independence Institute, where research director Dave Kopel is one of the most renowned experts in the field, this makes for a busy day, and one of celebration. Dave authored a friendly brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Institute and numerous law enforcement organizations, providing evidence of how citizens owning firearms is important to public safety. Dave also was one of three attorneys who sat at plaintiff Heller's table during the oral arguments before the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, Second Amendment Tagged With: amicus brief, ATF party, Constructively Reasonable, Dave Kopel, DC v Heller, Human Events, Independence Institute, iVoices, Jon Caldara, oral arguments, Pajamas Media, Reason, SCOTUS blog, Second Amendment, U.S. Supreme Court, Washington DC

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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

  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
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