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(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(R) Somebody
80%
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Governor
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(D) Joe Neguse
(D) Phil Weiser
(D) Jena Griswold
60%
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40%↓
Att. General
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(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Alexis King
(D) Brian Mason
40%
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30%
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(R) Sheri Davis
40%
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State Treasurer
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(D) Brianna Titone
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(D) Jerry DiTullio
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CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
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CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(R) Lauren Boebert*
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(R) Jeff Crank*
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(D) Jason Crow*
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(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Yadira Caraveo
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State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
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State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
September 21, 2009 11:18 PM UTC
25 Comments
Congratulations, Bill. You’ve done it. Your resume officially places you in the top five worst Governors in America.
1–Pat Quinn
2–David Paterson
3–Ed Rendell
4–Bill Ritter
5–Arnold Schwarzenegger
6–Jon Corzine
7–Deval Patrick
8–Charlie Crist
9–Mark Sanford
10–Bill Richardson
Quite an accomplishment.
A link would be nice.
n/t
I know most of you disagree with it. But I think running a state like Colorado into the ground with half a billion in debt in your first term is a pretty worthy accomplishment.
…”revenue shortfall.”
Point is, there’s a big gap in our budget thanks in large part to our governor.
Pray tell me, how Gov. Ritter or any other governor of Colorado controls the revenue flow.
…based on supporting legislation that has a positive effect on the economy. He can also threaten and back-up threats of vetoing any legislation or budget that doesn’t meet that goal.
Governors can also control expenses, and cut programs that aren’t necessary (i.e. most of them).
Boulder–
It’s a huge stretch to say a governor can “control” revenue flow. A governor might be able to influence revenue flow through the mechanism you suggest, but not “control” it.
Also, the idea that a governor can “control” expenses is silly–and you know better. They can influence expenses, but that is about it. As you undoubtedly know, spending originates in the General Assembly, not the governor’s office.
To claim otherwise is to suggest the governor’s office has powers it clearly does not.
That’s a fair point.
But I think that the threat of a veto is something governors don’t use enough to control expenses. They need the assembly’s permission to spend money on a program, but the assembly also needs the governor’s permission to spend money on a program. It’s tough to do much without their approval on existing programs though, which is the bulk of expenses. Fortunately, Ritter has a solid Democrat majority in each house.
The low tax states would attract all the jobs and business. NY , NJ, and CA would quickly turn into ghost towns as the high income industries centered there all moved to South Dakota, Wyoming or Alaska. Hell evener CO is in the top 10.
But it doesn’t happen- NJ, NY and CA are still crowded with biz and new startups. How could that be?
http://www.taxfoundation.org/f…
What did Governor Ritter do that has caused the budget hole we are now experiencing? I think you’ll find it was caused by the economic downturn and he doesn’t have any control over that. I wish he did because in that case it wouldn’t have happened.
By the way, don’t blame the revenue downturn on the new oil and gas rules and regulations. That has been discussed to the last inch on this blog and the overwhelming evidence is that drilling declined throughout the United States oil patch, including Colorado, because the price for natural gas and oil collapsed.
You are so completely full of shit that there’s no point in engaging you in discussion.
The legislature controls appropriations. The economy controls revenues.
Since we don’t print our own money in Colorado, the Governor controls whether to expend what has been appropriated.
End of discussion, unless you have a different version of the Colorado Constitution that I haven’t seen yet.
Ritter did that?
If he’s responsible for the worldwide recession, he must be awfully powerful. Don’t you think that awesome power alone is reason enough to keep him out of your five worst list?
…Rick Perry or Mitch Daniels, who still have budget surpluses, have cut taxes, increased education funding, maintained a multi-billion dollar rainy day fund, etc…
Yes, the recession will hit everyone. But some much harder than others.
And I take issue with MADCO’s statement up above that NY and California are seeing a lot of new businesses and investment in their states. People and businesses have been leaving those states in droves for years, and with the new tax increases this year New York especially will see a increase in the rate at which they lose medium to large corporations.
Without that back-up information this list is meaningless.
The wacky R logic behind it will be something like- these governors just sat and watched when they could and should have been cutting taxes.
Which makes sense in some states and some years- but if we look at the changes that altered the CO taxes, it should be Owens, no Ritter who makes the list. Which governor gave us Ref C? Which governor changed the rule preventing the University form becoming a private enterprise? Etc
Tough times – let’s cut back and fire some citizens.
Of course, if we really attempted to run the state like a business, we’d stop all expansion projects- no new roads. And we’d hire some new sales people to get more market share and increase revenue. And we’d eliminate unprofitable activity – no prisons unless those prisoners can make it pay.
I would “Like” this.
When I first read that I thought it said “lick”
And I was thinking- whoa- I’m not on that pat of Facebook.
If CO were run like a business than we could truly convert to a green economy here.
All schools teach green curricula and nothing else. There will be nothing else except green jobs for Coloradans.
Welfare moms, running green community gardens.
CEOs of investment banks, only investing in green.
Kids selling medical marijuana instead of lemonade.
If one was to visit NYC, for example, and introduced themselves as a Coloradan, the New Yorker would say, “Oh, what part of the green economy do you work for?”
[Actually he would say, “F***! Wha paht uh’da green ecaunomy d’ya wark fah?”]
That, my friend, is running the state like a business! None of this half assed hundred green job here, hundred green jobs there crap.
We’d outsource all the jobs to China. The guv and other elected officials would keep any excess revenue. And we wouldn’t hear any complaints because the only way to complain would be through some web-based form.
They have all the jobs. All the money. they’ve never gotten their asses kicked in Afghanistan. They’re going green.
Oh- and there’s no Texas.
It’s the only way to fix this mess.
We can then focus the issue on TABOR and the true causes of last years financial meltdown.