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...]
What Kind of Online State Spending Database Will Colorado Get?
Update, 4/4: The editors of the Denver Post agree with my commonsense observation, saying "We would prefer to see Ritter's project hew more to the kind of details espoused in the legislative proposal." What kind of online state spending database are Coloradans going to get if they are going to hope to keep an eye on state government and help find cost efficiencies to save us all money? This is the question of the hour, after Governor Bill Ritter's weak executive order came out yesterday. We're also learning that the Governor is working to kill bipartisan House Bill 1288, which would provide the real detail that is lacking from his watered-down order. The highly impressive new State Representative B.J. Nikkel is the sponsor of HB … [Read more...]
Senate Bill 57 School Transparency Defeated But Not Forgotten
It's been a full week since the establishment education lobby and Democrats on the House Education Committee teamed up to kill the spending transparency in Colorado's Senate Bill 57. Amazingly, this little bill that (almost) could in our Colorado state legislature is still making national waves. From an essay written by Paul Miller and published today by American Thinker:This past week in Colorado, Senate Bill 57, also called the Public School Financial Transparency Act, which simply require public school districts to put their spending online, died in committee. How could any responsible public official forbid parents from seeing how their tax-dollars are spent educating their children? The answer to that question is simple: … [Read more...]