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Home Archives for political power

3/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bad Legislation Parade’s SB 180 Would Harm Taxpayers, Employee Rights

Today brings a chance to review another member of the bad legislation parade down at the Colorado State Capitol. Senate Bill 180 (PDF) would override the local will of voters and impose collective bargaining on all local police and fire departments. After making it through the Democrat-controlled State, Military, and Veteran Affairs Committee, the bill is on the slate to be heard by the full senate any day now. From the Denver Daily News:Concerns are being raised that collective bargaining leads to overtaxing government budgets through increased payroll costs, which ends up hitting taxpayers hard. The last time the issue raised so many conservative eyebrows was in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order authorizing state … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: automatic, bad legislation parade, bargaining, Bill Ritter, budgets, coercion, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, committee, communities, compensation, concerns, conservative eyebrows, costly, Democrat, Democrat-controlled, Denver Daily News, equipment, fire departments, fire fighters, full senate, gem, hard truth, higher salaries, impose, law enforcement, local will, Lois Tochtrop, member, negotiating, override, overtaxing, paid, payroll costs, police departments, police officers, policy, political activities, political power, procure, public servants, public services, Pueblo, review, SAFE, safety equipment, Senate Bill 180, services, slate, State Capitol, support, taxpayer premium, taxpayers, Thornton, tools, uniform, union dues, union fee, union officials, union representation, Unions, voters

1/26/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

The Democrat “Stimulus” Bill: “Serious times call for silly, self-serving solutions”

Here's my new slogan for the day: "Serious times call for silly, self-serving solutions." At least as it applies to Democrats and their approach to addressing the current economic downturn . The Wall Street Journal sorts it out very nicely in today's editorial "The Stimulus Time Machine":The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, a mere $26 billion of the House stimulus bill's $355 billion in new spending … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Add new tag, bad idea, bailout money, Barack Obama, Congress, Congressional Budget Office, Democrats, Denver, discredited, economic downturn, economic history, economic plan, economic theories, economy, editorial, embarrassing, exhibit, fiscal year, Hall of Historical Ignorance, ignorance, John Boehner, justification, lessons, marginal tax rates, Michael Bennet, museum, national well-being, New York City, past, political power, pork bill, public works, Republicans, Rossputin, slogan, stimulus, taxpayer money, time machine, U.S. Senator, unelected, votes, Wall Street Journal

10/31/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Well-Heeled Union Lobbyists Flout Law to Oppose Ethical Standards

The Rocky Mountain News reports on a complaint filed yesterday by Amendment 49 supporters:Backers of Amendment 49, which would prohibit union dues from being deducted from public payrolls, have filed a complaint with the Colorado secretary of state alleging that an opposing group failed to disclose its intention to campaign against them. Instead, Coloradans For Middle Class Relief states in its registration with the secretary of state that it would campaign against Amendment 47, according to the complaint by Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute and author of Amendment 49. But Caldara said Coloradans For Middle Class Relief has sent out fliers on other ballot measures as well, including Amendments 49 and 54. The Denver … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, campaign laws, Coloradans for Middle Class Relief, complaint, Denver Post, Ethical Standards, fair hearing, flout law, flyers, forgiveness, government collection service, illegal, Independence Institute, initiatives, issue committees, Jon Caldara, level playing field, no comment, political power, registered, right-to-work, Rocky Mountain News, Secretary of State, special interest group, supporters, truth, union dues, union lobbyists

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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.

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