Sound the alarm on Bill Ritter's re-election chances. Hard-core Democrats are swearing they're going to abandon ship, at least if you take the Dead Governors at their word. But really, Ritter's sagging popularity is not exactly newsworthy for those who have been paying attention the past couple months or so. The real reason I gave a link to Colorado Pols was the unintentional humor behind a new union political group aimed at challenging (or at least threatening) Colorado's incumbent Democratic governor:A group calling itself Labor Initiatives Against Ritter - or LIAR - has filed the paperwork needed with the Internal Revenue Service to begin raising money for political purposes. Mark Johnson, an International Brotherhood of … [Read more...]
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...]
Bill Ritter Ginning Up Excuses for His Attack on Taxpayer Protections
Wandering out to the Western Slope on his cross-state jaunt with his U.S. Senate protege Michael Bennet, Governor Bill Ritter yesterday sat down with the editors of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. When asked about his reckless anti-TABOR remarks ("the straightjacket") in his State of the State speech, here's reporter Mike Saccone's retelling of how Ritter defended himself:He started by saying that if Colorado has taken all the money it has refunded under TABOR and kept it in a rainy-day fund, Colorado would not have had to make massive budget cuts in the last recession and an estimated $600 million worth of cuts this year. Here's the problem, though. Bill Ritter already chose to pass up a legitimate chance to put money from Referendum … [Read more...]
GOP Leader Mark Hillman Speaks Reason to the Conservative Coalition
Former Republican legislative leader Mark Hillman once again shows why he deserves a leading position in Colorado's GOP, by speaking reason to the conservative coalition. It's a must-read from beginning to end, but here's the key thought:If the goal is winning elections, rather than purging membership rolls at the country club, throwing social conservatives under the bus is a catastrophically bad idea. … [Read more...]
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...]