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Home Archives for state house

6/8/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Learning from Bill Ritter’s Four Mistakes (so far) in the Senate Bill 180 Veto

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...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: angry, apparently, astroturfing, backroom, bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, blogosphere, bluff, bulk, burn, called, campaign, chief executive, ColoradoPols, compared, conveyed, damaging, decision, Democrat, Denver Post, enjoy, expression, Face the State, feet, fire fighters, fires, forced, good policy, harping, hide, intend, judge, keep, kill, labor bills, lied, Lois Tochtrop, media, minor, mistake, news conference, observed, offense, Party, politically, promises, prop, public, rally, Rocky Mountain Right, save, SB 180, Senate Bill 180, senator, show, sign, sit back, slideshow, standpoint, state house, state senate, stoked, support, threefold, traction, union-organized, veto, whoops

5/6/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Sine Die

It sounds like a garbled threat, or possibly a song from the High Mass. Sine die means neither, but it is cause for high celebration: The Colorado state legislature is adjourned for 2009, at least for the regular session. (I'm hearing insiders say that the Governor very well may call a special session in the summer.) In one sense, it's a shame to see the legislature walk away from its responsibility: Democrats have kicked the state's fiscal problems a little ways down the road. But then again, the majority Democrats aren't likely to grow a sense of responsibility any time soon. So staunch the bleeding while there's still time. Because, in fact, Democrats are now openly touting a recent state supreme court decision to say they can … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Judiciary, liberty, PPC Tagged With: adjourned, approve, bleeding, capital gains, Clear the Bench Colorado, Colorado, decision, Democrats, deserving, down the road, fiscal problems, garbled threat, Governor, havoc, high celebration, high court, High Mass, insiders, majority, plain language, raise, regular session, responsibility, sense, Sine die, song, soon, special session, state constitution, state house, state legislature, state senate, state supreme court, staunch, summer, support, tax hikes, taxes, vote of the people, walk away, wreak

4/16/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Tax Day Tea Party, Colorado

Update VI, 4/16: Here are some pictures taken by Jimmie H. Butler at yesterday's rally in Colorado Springs. Re-posted with permission: Update V, 4/16: My brother-in-law has a great set of photos from yesterday's Denver event. Slapstick Politics has begun to post video from the well-attended festivities at the West Steps of the Capitol. Rossputin has some "Post-Tea Party Thoughts" that includes photos, video, and an interactive poll question. Here is a great site that is tallying attendance reports from Tea Party events all across the country. I've already notified the site operator with a few reports from Colorado locations he hadn't yet received. Update IV, 10:00 PM: Over at Free Colorado, Ari has a good … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Christianity and Faith, clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: advice, After the Tea Party, blogger, budget, Colorado, compelling, concerned, constituents, debate, Democrats, details, disturbances, doorstep, El Presidente, follow-up, Getting Connected in Colorado, lawmakers, Lefty, legislative calendar, links, majority, mourn, Night Twister, Pinnacol, printable, pro-liberty activist, protest, rally, Randomridge, reasons, resource, Rocky Mountain Alliance, state house, Tax Day, taxpayers, Tea Party, theft

4/13/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

Denver Tax Day Tea Party vs. Democrats’ Overreach on State Budget

It's almost time for the Tax Day Tea Party at the State Capitol in Denver (with a great idea for an official logo, compliments of Ben Hummel). Here's where it gets good: While we citizens will be standing outside, protesting government overreach and proclaiming our rights, inside the members of the state house will be wrestling with the tough decisions of a budget vote. Funny thing is, the decisions wouldn't be nearly so tough if the Democrat-led legislature had voted three years ago to create a rainy day fund (PDF) proposed by Representative Cory Gardner and Senator Josh Penry. Instead, the same day as the Tea Party takes place, the Democrats will be trying to avoid tough decisions by raiding hundreds of millions of dollars from the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, My Life, PPC, property rights Tagged With: bad name, bailout, Ben Hummel, best option, budget vote, citizens, complacent, Cory Gardner, demand, Democrat legislature, Denver, government overreach, hogwash, illegal, indirect tax, information, Josh Penry, Kent Lambert, meet-and-greet, members, mobile updates, official logo, people, Pinnacol Assurance, private, proclaiming, protesting, rainy day fund, Republican Study Committee, Republicans, rights, RSCColorado, shortage, State Capitol, state house, state legislators, successful, Tax Day, Tea Party, tough decisions, workmen's comp

3/16/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Undeterred by Plain Reading of Constitution, State Supremes Stick It to Colorado Taxpayers

Update, 3/17: Law student Constructively Reasonable says the decision is a cause for "outrage". A watcher says Colorado may not as well even have a constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court has done it again, showing its disdain for taxpayer protections in the state constitution. From the majority opinion:When it issued its declaratory judgment order, the district court did not have the benefit of our recent decision in Barber v. Ritter, 196 P.3d 238 (Colo. 2008), in which we held that a statute challenged under article X, section 20 must be proven to be unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court erroneously held that the relevant test of SB 07-199s constitutionality came from the interpretive guideline included in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Judiciary, PPC, property rights Tagged With: 49 states, Allison Eid, arbitrary rule, Ari Armstrong, boss, campaign issue, Cary Kennedy, clairvoyance, Colorado Supreme Court, common sense, compelling case, conservatives, constitutional sanity, constitutionality, Cory Gardner, Democrat, Denver Post, dissenting voice, downgrading, faith, fiscal restraint, forthcoming, full retreat, government, Governor, Grand Junction Jon Caldara, higher threshold, inescapable, Josh Penry, just, justice system, kudos, law, legal arena, libertarian, life support, local elections, local tax revenues, loyalist, most partisan, observation, offense, other ideas, partisan interests, plain reading, realization, reasonable, Republicans, SB 07-199, school districts, senate minority leader, simpler, state constitution, state house, state legal system, state of Colorado, state representative, state senate, state treasurer, tactical idea, tax dollars, tax policy change, tax revenue gain, taxpayer protections, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, The Colorado Index, violated, voter permission, weigh in, writer

11/6/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Terrance Carroll, Josh Penry: Good Choices for Statehouse Leadership

Colorado soon will have a black Speaker of the House to go along with a black Senate President (Peter Groff). The Denver Post reports today that the Democratic caucus in the state house has thrown its support behind Denver's Terrance Carroll to replace Andrew Romanoff in one of the state's highest political positions. Moving beyond race, Carroll is someone with whom I obviously have many political disagreements. However, on the issue of school choice that I care about deeply, he is as good as the Democratic caucus has to offer. I feel a little better about the hope for defending and advancing gains in educational freedom with him at the helm than with the alternatives. But we'll remain diligent at our post. In other news, Republicans … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: adversary, Amy Stephens, Andrew Romanoff, Bill Ritter, black, Colorado legislature, comeback, Cory Gardner, Democratic caucus, Denver, Denver Post, educational freedom, fiscally conservative, good hands, Josh Penry, Laura Bradford, leadership posts, Mesa County, Mike Kopp, Mike Saccone, minority leader, newfound popularity, on track, political disagreements, Politicker, Republicans, round, school choice, Senate President, Speaker of the House, standing ovation, state house, state senate, Terrance Carroll, Western Slope

10/19/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Denver Post Backs Grassroots GOP HD27 Challenger John Bodnar

The Denver Post gave its complete endorsement round-up for Colorado state house races today. It's impossible for us mere mortals to divine the rhyme or reason behind the Post's endorsements. As expected, the center-left editorial board has backed more Democrats than Republicans, and nearly every incumbent. But interestingly, the Post threw its lot behind two Republican challengers over Democrat officeholders. One of them is here in Arvada, where a hard-working, truly grassroots, common-sense candidate has emerged:HD 27 (Jefferson) — First-term incumbent Democrat Sara Gagliardi, a nurse, has focused primarily on health care. But we're more impressed with Republican challenger John Bodnar because of his balanced views on energy and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Andrew Romanoff, Arvada, candidate Sara Gagliardi, challengers, closer contests, Colorado, common sense, conservative blogosphere, Democrats, Denver Post, editorial board, endorsements, Energy, environmental issues, grassroots, health care options, incumbents, Joshua Sharf, Libby Szabo, Lois Court, officeholders, Republicans, rumors, staffer, star, state house, state senate, taxpaying citizens

10/14/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Nick Kliebenstein for House District 33: Creative Ad, Conservative Leader

Nick Kliebenstein is one of the more impressive candidates I've seen this year. Running for the Colorado State House in District 33, which includes Broomfield and surrounding areas, Nick came up with this creative piece of Web advertising: At least I don't have to pronounce his name as I'm writing this post, but I am looking forward to hearing more about Nick Kliebenstein's independent conservative leadership in the state legislature for years to come. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Broomfield, Colorado, conservative, creative, District 33, independent, Nick Kliebenstein, pronunciation, state house, Web advertising, YouTube

10/8/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Joshua Sharf Confronts Opponent about “Educate the Idiots” Campaign

Now that the whistleblower has come forward to verify the authenticity of the Left-wing Colorado Democracy Alliance documents, including its "Educate the Idiots" campaign, here's a video of Republican state house candidate (and longtime blogger) Joshua Sharf posing the issue to Democrat opponent Lois Court at a recent televised forum: And if you want to know more about what issues distinguish the two candidates, here's a glimpse at their closing statements: It's an uphill battle for Joshua to win this race in a majority-Democrat district, but he is making an impression as an aggressive and articulate candidate for rock-solid conservative Republican principles. Party leaders should take notice. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: "Educate the Idiots", aggressive, articulate, authenticity, candidate, closing statements, Colorado Democracy Alliance, conservative principles, Democrat, distinct views, documents, Joshua Sharf, Left-wing, Lois Court, party leaders, Republican, spokesman, state house, televised forum, whistleblower, YouTube

8/12/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Primary Election Predictions

Today is Colorado's primary election. There aren't too many contested races going on, but the ones that are have rightly been described as "extraordinary" for their competitiveness. Anyway, here are my predictions for the few farthings they're worth (note that they're not all necessarily whom I'm cheering for to win): Congressional District 5, GOP: Incumbent Doug Lamborn wins narrowly, as Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn split the protest vote Congressional District 6, GOP: Businessman and political newcomer Wil Armstrong pulls off a surprising late comeback victory over favorite Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who goes on to mend fences with the state party leadership and prepares to run for U.S. Senate in 2010 Congressional District … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Bentley Rayburn, Colorado, Congressional candidates, Democratic Party, Doug Lamborn, Jared Polis, Jeff Crank, Joan Fitz-Gerald, Joshua Sharf, Mike Coffman, predictions, primary election, Republican Party, Rima Barakat Sinclair, state house, tight races, Wil Armstrong

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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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