Category — Politics
What if the tea party was black?
July 19th, 2010 — Politics, Press
This rap nicely sums up the whole NAACP/Tea Party controversy.
July 19, 2010 No Comments
Et tu CDE? Et tu O’Brien?
May 12th, 2010 — Budget, Education, Politics, Taxes & Fees
Our official, state web page is pretty bland and not very informative. A few years ago I asked if I could substitute this site, or at least link to it. "No," was the answer. The state pays for the official page and state money can't support anything political or partisan.
I single out Democrats for an obvious reason; to vote for Senate Bill 10-191 – aka the teacher evaluation and tenure bill – means bucking the Colorado Education Association, the most powerful education interest group in the state. The CEA is pulling out all the stops – including fear-mongering, arm-twisting and fact-twisting – to defeat this bill.The organization obviously views SB 10-191 as an existential threat; not to teachers but to itself. Why? Because if SB 10-191 becomes law, it means the CEA failed to muster the political force to stop it, despite having both houses of the legislature and the governorship in the hands of the Democratic Party, CEA’s longtime soulmate.
Perhaps CEA should strive to be more honest, or at least to do its homework by reading this thorough and careful analysis from the Tax Foundation (H/T Free Colorado). Among other things, the analysis shows that Amazon taxes:
- Are “unlikely to produce revenue in the near-term”
- Make the playing field less (not more) level between brick-and-mortar businesses and their Internet-based counterparts “because they require Internet-based businesses to track thousands of sales tax bases and rates while brick-and-mortar businesses need to track only one”
- “Undermine legal certainty, burden interstate commerce, and harm economic growth”
So maybe CEA is ignorant of tax policy and chose to accept the official fiscal note that claimed Colorado’s Amazon Tax (aka HB 1193) would raise nearly $5 million more state revenue per year. Or maybe CEA is just trying to provide cover for its allies in the legislative majority at the State Capitol.CEA’s choice in supporting tax policies conveniently appears less dependent on how the policies affect school funding than on how they affect the interests of its Left-leaning political coalition.
May 12, 2010 No Comments
The Promise is the Message
July 24th, 2009 — Elections, Politics, Talk Back
What if the only promise a candidate ever made was to never promise anything? Could he keep that promise? We probably wouldn’t let any candidate get away with it, but I’m beginning to think that it’s the only promise we should ever accept.
David Sirota wrote in the Denver Post that campaign promises used to be sacred. “Breaking campaign pledges was one of the surest ways for politicians to hurt themselves — until 2006.” he wrote. He worries that his children “will guffaw in disbelief when I tell them politicians once knew that breaking campaign promises without explanation had consequences.”
Campaign promises have been the but of jokes for too long to have ever been sacred. But there does suddenly seem to be a lot of talk about them. Sure the blogs are full of critiques, but even the mainstream media is weighing in, papers like the LA Times and the New York Times. One paper’s website even has an “Obameter” keeping track of the President’s record of promises kept, broken or compromised.
Does this always happen when president gets elected? Is President Obama getting special scrutiny? Did an unusually large number of people believe his promises? It’s hard to say. But campaign promises are always a problem.
Joseph Ellis thinks politicians routinely break promises. Ellis is a professor at Mount Holyoke College who teaches about presidential history. He was on NPR while back explaining why presidents break promises. He missed the mark, I think.
First, he claims just two presidents kept their promises: George Washington and James Polk. I have no idea if that’s true. It doesn’t matter anyway. Who knows what Washington promised? Who knows James Polk was president?
Then he suggests politicians break promises because modern campaigns don’t allow time for deliberation and that campaigns have nothing to do with a candidate’s ability to govern.
This doesn’t make much sense. If modern campaigns are the problem, why are Washington and Polk the only presidents who kept their promises? What about Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and so on?
His other two explanations are better, and related: People can’t predict what will happen and they often change their views. He’s uses George W. Bush and 9/11 as an example. Bad example, but a reasonable point.
I think there are two basic reason why politicians break campaign promises. First, they make stupid promises during the campaign. Second, there’s little consequence to breaking a promise. [Read more →]
July 24, 2009 No Comments
Any more questions?
October 28th, 2008 — Politics
Town Meeting with Rep. Jack Pommer
Monday October 27, 2008
What Colorado Needs from the Next President
Please join State Rep. Jack Pommer to talk about key challenges facing the State of Colorado; some we can solve ourselves and others we’ll only work out by building a better relationship with the federal government.
For more information, please visit http://www.pommer.us
Event details
Begins: 6:30 PM
Ends: 8:00 AM
Cost: Free
It did run over a bit, but ended long before sunup.
October 28, 2008 No Comments
Vote No on Amendment 52
October 26th, 2008 — Budget, Energy, Politics, Transportation, Water
The backers of Amendment 52 say it will improve I-70 or other transportation in Colorado (the measure’s a big vague). Yet none of the traditional traditional transportation groups in Colorado are contributing any money to the effort. Club 20, the big West Slope lobbying group is opposing it. It goes against recommendations by I-70 communities. And all of the money behind Amendment 52 comes from out-of-state oil and gas companies.
Why would out-of-state oil and gas companies suddenly take such a big interest in Colorado’s transportation problems? They’ve never gotten involved before? They didn’t weigh in on Referendum D, the mostly-transportation companion to Ref. C in 2005. What’s going on? [Read more →]
October 26, 2008 No Comments
No on 58
October 8th, 2008 — Elections, Energy, Politics, Taxes & Fees, Transportation
Amendment 58 is a bad idea. It's nothing but a ploy by out-of-state oil interest to mess without budget and avoid paying severance tax. Here's my argument to the Rocky Mountain News:
October 8, 2008 No Comments
How Green is my Candidate?
September 30th, 2008 — Energy, Environment, Politics
Where are they on climate change? Grist has put together an easy-to-read chart comparing the presidential candidate’s positions on climate and energy.
September 30, 2008 No Comments
