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January 12, 2010 08:45 AM UTC

Colorado GOP Legislative Kick-Off

  • 10 Comments
  • by: DavidThi808

I entered the room and immediately felt the call of the dark side. Coming from Republican parents the dark side of the force was growing inside of me. The evil Jedi knights Penry, Brophy, Stephens, Lambert, & Nikkel all faced me. I was about to succumb.

Then I heard them, the ancient Jedi masters on the side of goodness & hope – Jefferson saying “We hold these rights to be self-evident”; Jackson saying “you want a duel – you’ve got a duel”; Roosevelt saying “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”; and Clinton saying “Hey, is Leia around here”. I pulled out my light saber ready to do battle. Their evil nefarious plans would be put to an end because I had the strength of a majority in the legislature and control of the governor’s office flowing through my light saber.  

Ok it didn’t happen exactly like that – but it was close. The meeting was at the CADA (kudos for truth in ownership – the Dems should do the same and hold theirs at the SEIU office). I think I was the only liberal there. Everyone was very nice and it was a lot less partisan than I expected.

I’m just going to hit the major things I heard. If you want full details you can get it in the recording below.

  1. No discussion about personal issues – nothing on abortion, gay marriage, etc – with the exception of marijuana. They are focused on the economy and improving the government.

  2. No discussion about reducing the role of government. They want to make it more efficient (don’t we all) and they think it does too much in some areas – but this is not a group trying to drown the government in a bathtub. They are focused on what they think is the best way to handle the economic crisis we are in.

    1. The substantial difference between this group and a Democratic group, is there were no complaints about TABOR (no praising it either) and they are quicker to identify cuts.
  3. Penry & Brophy are really good. They both answer questions and do so well. They both come across as intelligent knowledgeable guys. And they both are up-front about their political leanings and what they would like to do.

  4. Lambert is really good. I understand why they put him on the JBC. On any question on the budget, etc. he was listing out detailed numbers. This guy knows his stuff – and that’s step 1 to do an effective job on the JBC. It probably also makes him a strong voice in the JBC as knowledge is power.

  5. Stephens & Nikkel come across well but didn’t talk as much and weren’t diving in to details. Stephens was the best with a partisan quip – she does it very well. (After one about every business in Colorado had done worse under Ritter I pointed out that my company had done better, including through the Bush financial disaster.)

  6. They think marijuana is going to be a giant issue. I got the feeling that they mostly view it as an overblown issue that takes away from handling the budget, but they will use it to maximum effect. I asked if they had considered legalizing it and taxing the snot out of it and Senator Brophy replied that legalizing had been defeated 60/40 on the ballot and the people had spoken. That’s a fair point. So they are going to try and craft legislation that allows for legit medical use – but just that. (Hello State of Colorado – making drugs illegal does not work – you need to vote to legalize it!)

  7. They talked a lot about bringing more transparency to the government – and the giant battle they have with the administration on getting more information out there. Lambert & Nikkel brought this up a lot. When asked Brophy said that Ritter was not much different than Owens on this point. But several of them brought up the difference in the technology today and how that makes it much easier to provide more information. (Of course, that would require the brain trusts in the OIT to actually build a working system.)

  8. I asked if there was anything the government is doing “big picture” that they would eliminate. Penry replied that he would roll back Medicaid to where it was in 2005, but that what they are looking to do is not eliminate services, but to roll them back to where they were 5 years ago.
    1. I think this is a very important point for us to realize. The Republicans (at least as they are presenting themselves) in the legislature are not a group of Doug Bruce acolytes looking to drastically reduce the role of the state. What they are trying to do is implement the services the state presently provides efficiently and at an appropriate level. And their level is a bit below what many of us liberals want. (Granted a lot below what many in Boulder want.) This leaves plenty of room to find compromise.
  9. They also talked a lot about efficiency and eliminating waste. They think transparency will help a lot on that. They also feel that state employees are on average significantly higher paid than equivalent jobs in the private sector. I have no idea if this is true, but if it becomes a major topic of discussion it needs to be clearly answered – and if the pay is significantly higher that’s going to be very harmful to Democratic candidates.

  10. They see PERA headed for financial insolvency (which is a fair estimation) and want to fix it. Penry is working with Brandon Shaffer on this and thinks they will be able to find a good solution that has bi-partisan support. They see the solution as moving from defined benefits to something more like a 401K and increasing the retirement age.

  11. There were also a number of comments about no leadership from Ritter. (They were gracious to him as much as they could be while saying this.) This is one issue where there appears to be strong bi-partisan consensus in the legislature – virtually every Democratic legislator I have talked to has said the same thing.

  12. Oh, and Democrats are evil, Obama is a far left liberal taking us on the road to ruin, and we are all headed for total economic hyper-inflation. So vote Republican.

The Republicans are starting to get a good handle on using the web. I think they still face a basic problem that the web works much better for us liberals just as talk radio works much better for conservatives. But they are making some smart moves in how they are leveraging it.

podcast at Colorado GOP Legislative Kick-Off

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10 thoughts on “Colorado GOP Legislative Kick-Off”

  1. 1. No discussion about personal issues

    Until they get a chance to talk about single moms learning a life lesson on consequences by having babies with AIDS.

    C’mon- they can talk about whatever they want until the issues come up or their voters push them into social stuff. We’re going to have a personhood amendment and a same sex marriage amendment. Ya think they’ve forgotten about personal issues ? That they’ll avoid commenting when it comes up? I’ll bet lunch anywhere within 15 walk of the capitol.

    2.  No discussion about reducing the role of government…. … The substantial difference between this group and a Democratic group, is there were no complaints about TABOR (no praising it either) and they are quicker to identify cuts.

    Sure- when you can’t win you can say anything.

    Oh, I have a plan for fixing healthcare, but the evil D’s won’t let me even bring it to the floor.  or  I have a way to improve higher ed by doing XYZ but the D’s won’t allow it.   Or the formerly perennial now permanent canard if we could just ignore illegal immigrants, we’d be fine.  Sure, removing illegal immigrants is fine by me. But it’s a federal jurisdiction- how is the Colorado legislature going to start deporting people?  Oh, wait they could impose fines and penalties on employers who hire illegals.  Never gonna happen.

    4. Lambert is really good. I understand why they put him on the JBC. On any question on the budget, etc. he was listing out detailed numbers. This guy knows his stuff – and that’s step 1 to do an effective job on the JBC. It probably also makes him a strong voice in the JBC as knowledge is power.

    Will he be reasonable like Marostica?  Or was his appointment to JBC so that he wouldn’t be reasonable but ideological?  Yes, you can be both. I’ll be the same lunch above that he’ll be ideological.

    They think marijuana is going to be a giant issue. I got the feeling that they mostly view it as an overblown issue that takes away from handling the budget, but they will use it to maximum effect.

    Sounds irresponsible: we know it’s overblown and a distraction to the real work, But, we’re going to get as much ink as we can.

    I asked if they had considered legalizing it and taxing the snot out of it and Senator Brophy replied that legalizing had been defeated 60/40 on the ballot and the people had spoken.

    So, “the people had spoken” is enough to not even address this. But Amendment 23 passed 55/45 and we don’t hear Brophy acknowledging that “the people have spoken” , instead we hear Amendment 23 must go.

    Senator- a follow up, to that please. Under what circumstance is it enough to know “the people have spoken” and the voters get what they want or voters know best, and under what circumstances is it ok when “the people have spoken”  to decide the voters are idiots or just don’t know what they want so you can do everything to oppose the will of the voter?

    They talked a lot about bringing more transparency to the government – and the giant battle they have with the administration on getting more information out there.

    Public records exist, and are accessible. What they want are better sound bites. I don’t believe they want actual transparency. I’ll believe it when they start practicing it.

    Senator Penry- why are you leaving politics? Just recently you spoke with sincerity and passion about serving the people of Colorado- whatthehell happened?

    Brophy- (see above) or Senator Brpohy –  you support outlawing abortion. What steps can Colorado take to undermine Roe v. Wade and doesn’t the person hood amendment make that easier?

    If the legislature wanted actual transparency in a web friendly way they could do it. Of course, they would have to invest some public funds.  but for less than $1mm upfront and a couple hundred thousand per year, we could do it.  How do I know ? Other states already have. (I know, I know, here in Colorado we do our own thing. No one wants to hear about any other state especially that one with the higher mountain that also starts with  a C and ends in a vowel.)

    Penry replied that he would roll back Medicaid to where it was in 2005,

    Why 2005?  It sounds arbitrary. Does he have some math or other analysis that shows the level of funding in 05 is adequate for what we want/need now?

    Unless,… oh, wait a minute. Wasn’t there a white paper from some ideology tank that showed that if you could screen out illegal immigrants from Medicaid, then the funding from 05 would be adequate to fully fund Medicaid?  I’m sure it’s a coincidence.

    Republicans (at least as they are presenting themselves) in the legislature are not a group of Doug Bruce acolytes looking to drastically reduce the role of the state.

    Only because they have realized that the death by bathtub stuff can’t win elections anymore.    I believe they want efficiency.  As you point out DT, we all do.

    But since there is no line item in the budget that says “waste” the question is never whether efficiency is a good thing,  Sure sound as reasonable as you want.  I’ll believe it when I see it.  (See Lambert above)

    They also feel that state employees are on average significantly higher paid than equivalent jobs in the private sector

    The numbers, of course, can be made to look like anything.  If we could eliminate health insurance from the employee’s benefit package, total comp would be significantly lower. (single payer, please)  We can’t (won’t) so it pencils out a little higher on the low end, and lower at the high end.

    But just saying it over and over and over will capture the framing- since everyone wants to believe it.

    There are ways to fix PERA.  Every proposal I’ve seen but one unfairly screws a significant number of people.  That one raises the eligibility age.  It still screws some- but it screws everyone, and it’s not unfair.  Besides life expectancy is longer and longer- increasing the eligibility age is a no brainer.

    Oh, and Democrats are evil, Obama is a far left liberal taking us on the road to ruin, and we are all headed for total economic hyper-inflation. So vote Republican.

    There’s only one thing worse than evil Democrats.

    1. Brophy said that the law does need to allow those that qualify to get marijuana, because that was also what the people had passed. So he’s not trying to end it, just have it match what he thinks matches what has passed.

      On what they said and didn’t say, pushed and didn’t push – I was the one liberal there. This was them lining up the conservative blogosphere for what they are going to do this session. I doubt the whole thing was arranged for my benefit. So I think you can take this as where they are planning to go this session.

      I disagree with a lot of what they present – but what’s key is that for a lot of this there is also common interest and many places where we can reach agreement. And in some of these cases I think they can help us make things better.

  2. California today is somewhat controversial. Just recently, California won applause from some, and derision from others, when voters of the Golden State voted to pass Prop 8 or Proposition 8, a law which prevented same sex marriage.  Granted, the divorce rate is over 50% for heterosexual couples, and in reality, same sex marriage is an issue that we, as a people, can certainly afford to ignore, but that involves logic and reason, two things which are virtually illegal.  That said, the California Supreme Court is hearing arguments that the law is unconstitutional, but the hearings won’t be televised – thoughts about payday loans for pay per view are wasted, and it won’t even get on CSPAN.

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