February 03, 2010 08:26 PM UTC

Is Ritter breaking his word?

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• by: Awen

This has to do with who he appointed as executive director of the Department of Higher Education.

CRS 23-1-110 (2)(a) says: “The governor shall appoint, with the consent of the senate, an executive director qualified by substantial training and experience in the field of higher education.”

Before he was elected, Gov. Ritter said

“The responsibilities of the executive director position require more than loyalty to the governor or a particular political ideology; they demand experience in the field.”

The history of the appointment of the executive director can be found here:

https://www.cu.edu/sg/messages…

The article says the following:

During his campaign Ritter committed to following the statutory criteria. In a questionnaire submitted to all the gubernatorial candidates by S&GR, Ritter said he would enforce the statute. “The executive director of the Department of Higher Education must be more than a capable bureaucrat,” Ritter said in his response. “He or she must also be able to understand and respond appropriately to faculty issues, make prudent decisions regarding the allocation of state resources, protect the best interests of students, and put the best interests of the citizens of the state before partisan or ideological goals. To accomplish these goals, I would appoint an executive director with substantial training and experience in the field of higher education. The responsibilities of the executive director position require more than loyalty to the governor or a particular political ideology; they demand experience in the field.”

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Substantial training and experience is not defined in state law. However, if you look at the first three people who served under that statute, it’s a situation of “you know it when you see it.”

And you know it when you don’t.

This is nothing personal against either David Skaggs or Rico Munn, but my sources said that the Skaggs administration was beset by what has plagued all CCHE directors since 1999: constant fighting with the higher ed institutions.

How does the latest appointee fit the statutory requirements? Munn’s experience as a member of the state board of education is nice, but that’s K-12, not higher ed.