CO-04 (Special Election)
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(R) Greg Lopez
(R) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%↓
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
90%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
90%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
(R) Ron Hanks
40%
30%
20%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(R) Deborah Flora
(R) J. Sonnenberg
30%↑
15%↑
10%↓
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Dave Williams
(R) Jeff Crank
50%↓
50%↑
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
90%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) Brittany Pettersen
85%↑
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
(R) Janak Joshi
60%↑
35%↓
30%↑
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
February 09, 2015 04:30 PM UTC
15 Comments
Whining aside, what would be the problem with this really? Be specific.
Read slower
Here's the problem. Sen. Hill's statement blaming President Obama for the increase in student loan debt is frankly crazy. Let's look at Colorado. In 2008, the state budget for higher education was $800 million. Then the Great Recession hit and Gov. Ritter was able to stablize the higher education budget for two through the federal Stimulus money but then the roof fell in and the state's contribution plummeted to around $500 million. The only way to keep our public colleges and universities open ws through massive tuition hikes, including as much as 20% one year at CSU.
Last year Gov. Hickenlooper recommended and the General Assembly appropriated $100 million additional dollar to the higher education budget. This year the Governor has asked for an additional $60 million which means we will be approaching an annual higher education budget just shy of $700 million. We're not even back to the traditional level funding.
In fact, to show how bad this situation is we now have 250,000 tudents in our public college and university system in Colorado which is double the number we had twenty years ago but the state's contribution towards paying or those students is, in inflation adjusted dollars only 50% of what it was twenty years ago.
And what are the Republicans doing about supporting public higher education around the nation right now tonight. Four examples should suffice. After massive cuts in the University of Wisconsin system due tot he recession, Gov. Walker is proposing to erase the deficit he created by massive tax cuts (just last year he had a $1 billion surplus) by slashing the UW budget by $300 million and at the same time forbidding the univerity to raise tuition. In other words, he wants to gut the university.
In Louisiana, Gov. Jindal, rammed through massive tax cuts and of course instead of increasing revenues, his revenues have cratered. His solution, cut LSU's operating budget by 40% after the massive cuts and corresponding tuition increases caused by the recession.
In Arizona, the new Republican governor is facing a $1.1 billion defeicit caused again by tax cuts and his answer is very simple – cut taxes even more. In other, even though Arizona's constitution requires a balanced budget, he conciously intends to increase the deficit which will of course require massive cuts to Arizona State University and the University of Arizonas budgets.
and we all know what has happened in Kansas. The massive tax cuts caused massive deficits instead of increased revenues and last week Gov. Brownback announced cuts to the Univeristy of Kansas and Kansas State budgets.
This is not childs play. The Republican governors who have vociferously supported and implemented supply side economics and refuse to admit their failed experiments are now in the process of undermining our economy and our national security. To have a robust future economy is going to require more college graduates than ever before in our history. If we don't support the public institutions that are going to supply those graduates, then our economy will falter and our ability to defend our country will be badly and irrevocably degraded.
The soldiers, sailors and arimen (and women) who we see in uniform are only the tip of the spear. Behind them, behind all of us is the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen and because of that we are able to generate the knowledge and the revenues necessary to pay for it. By continually attacking and underfunding our public colleges and universities the Republican Party, especially its right-wing governors, are undermining what they say they so deeply support and cherish – our national security. They should be ashamed.
Hint. Owen is arguing against higher education while using an example that shows the benefit of higher education. Think, for example how much embarrassment you'd save yourself if you took a remedial reading course. Of course, you'll never see this advice and are probably unaware of the fact that you constantly fail to comprehend what you read here because you never return after dropping your little gems. When we respond we're really just talking to ourselves.
I would prefer "we're really just talking among ourselves".
Too bad we can't attract any thoughtful conservatives who could intelligently articulate their various positions instead of these baboons who are barely able to fling poo at the walls. I remember the days when Laughing Boy would show up with a gem or two of conservative thought that made me appreciate his point of view. Gone the way of the buffalo I guess.
We have quite a few moderate and progressive Republicans on here- CHB is a true conservationist. R36 writes thoughtful and nuanced posts, and seems to respect facts. Fladen is socially liberal on immigration and gay rights. Michael Bowman was a registered Republican, still is, last I recall. Negev supports Obamacare and worries about mass shootings.
All of them registered Republicans or unaffiliated. We have no shortage of principled conservatives on here.
When we disregard the obvious provocateurs such as Carnegie, we find a wealth of diverse opinions on many issues.
If we start looking for commonalities instead of differences, what we find may pleasantly surprise us.
There are a great group of folks on here that have Republicn roots. I was one for 32 years – raised in an 'Eisenhower Republican' family. I held my nose through most of the Musty-era when the Guns, Gays and God wackadoodles took over the party, thinking it was just a 'phase'. Finally, I had to leave. It wasn't only the 3G crowd, but the 'chest-thumping, free-market fakes' who actually want us to believe there is a free market.
My maternal grandparents were small, Minnesota dairy farmers very active in the DFL party, so I've always had exposure to both sides and leaving the party of my youth wasn't that big a stretch when it finally happened.
At the end of the day I care less and less about a persons party affilitation; I want to know what passion drives them and I want to hear their ideas. That makes it difficult to pledge a blind allegiance to any party – but I certailnly lean towards a 'libertarian progressive' theme.
Mike. I too was raised in an 'Eisenhower/Rockefeller Republican' household. It was a time of ideological creativity. Contrast a Goldwater or Buckley or Rockefeller with today's crop of Cruz, Paul or Palin and you can see the devolution of a once open-minded party. I stopped supporting Republicans when they implemented the Southern Strategy to bring in Southern racists who were formerly Democrats and started believing that their point of view was the only one that mattered. The two parties seemed to flip flop their beliefs with Democrats championing civil rights and middle class economics.
Let's remember that it's only recently in historic terms that Republican has equaled conservative. There used to be actual liberal east coast Republicans (the Rockefellers for instance) and most were true moderates, not what passes for moderate (hardcore conservative but not nuts) today. I wouldn't characterize R36 as conservative any more than TR (progressive reformer) or Ike (self described liberal) were conservative. Agree on other points.
C.H.B., Where are you when we need you?
Typical Republican reaction to a modern thought. What makes Hill such a baffoon is that he must not have ever read any of the briefings from his staff to link to a story which made the case for supporting community colleges. If nothing else the young welder in the story would pay back his education costs to society with just his yearly taxes. Good paying jobs also generate good tax revenue. Why wouldn't you want to help the next generation of American workers in any way you can? Mr. Hill is a substandard education chair to deride a serious proposal and offer no serious alternative. Two years of this kind of wasted opportunity will be felt at the polls for these kindergarden politicians.
Owen Hill as education chair? Just shoot me now.
An Air Force Academy degree and a PhD, and no ability to connect the dots in a Wall Street Journal article, and no ability to make a cogent argument to support his canned rhetoric.
Like modster, he probably just takes a glance and grabs the first few words if they suit him. Owen saw the part about a welder making good money and just assumed that proves you don't need any higher education because, hey, it's welding, without reading the rest.
I can't wait to see what comes next, an email deriding the ACA and a link to a profile of an ex soldier and his family that, thanks to the ACA, have health insurance for the first time since leaving the service.
Or maybe a follow up to this email with a link to a story on how much less students pay in interest on federal loans vs private loans.
What a moron.