Say What You Will About Ritter...

9 thoughts on “Say What You Will About Ritter…”

1. “Freedom” to report BS, that is! This reporter knew that McInnis had flip-flopped on FASTER, and chose not to report that. Because if he had the Tea Party readers of the Gazette wouldn’t have been whipped into the same rage. It might have gotten them thinking, as a matter of fact, and goodness knows we can’t have that.

   Ritter did fine, but does it matter if the reporter omits the most important facts?

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2. Here’s my letter to the editor published in Sunday’s Denver Post. (Does anybody still read that paper?)

   Editor,
   
   Governing is easy in Scott McInnis’ mind.  Asked by the Denver Post how he would plug a $1 billion budget shortfall, McInnis channeled his inner Sarah Palin.  His solutions?  “Place job growth as the top priority”, “restore respect for Colorado taxpayers”, “improve (government) program performance” and, “create a rainy day fund”.  

   That wasn’t so hard, now was it?  Finding himself with spare time, he could move on to other fields.  I imagine McInnis’ financial planning advice would be to “buy low, sell high”.  His universal coaching advice for any sports team would be to “score more points than your opponent.”

   In the real world, balancing a state budget in today’s environment requires hard choices bound to leave most, if not all constituents, dissatisfied.  Any politician, like Scott McInnis, who suggests otherwise is not telling you the truth.

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   1. Except who reads print anymore?
      

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      1. if it still circulated where I live. And I still love to read ink smudges on dead trees.

         I guess I and thousands of my neighbors were “unprofitable” readers of the Post. It might pain Mr. Singleton to know that I — and all those neighbors — read newspapers mainly for the news, not the ads.

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   2. particularly the “buy low, sell high” analogy.

      It was a little shocking that the Singleton run paper would actually print letters like yours.  Actually there was an entire section of letters mocking the “Contract with Colorado” stunt.

      I still think they put it out too soon.  It is fodder for ridicule right now and is paving the way for a Scotty Knows Nothing narrative.

      Hopefully there were other commissioners who asked relevant questions and received reasonable answers.  Would be interesting if the Pols had any other gems to share along with the usual suspects.

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3. Just a little to ask “low on braincells” how she squares:

   Lathen asked the governor if he would work with county officials to repeal the FASTER legislation, which was approved by the Legislature during the 2009 session and will raise vehicle registration fees for many vehicles by $41 over the next three years. She also asked Ritter if he would fight a proposed vehicle mileage travel tax that will likely resurface in the Legislature next year.

   with this:

   Clark, who is county chairwoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, also queried the governor about cuts to local social services programs and a proposal by a blue-ribbon panel to consolidate human services. “When the state keeps pushing the burden down to the local level, how are we to keep our safety nets operating?” Clark asked.

   You don’t get to tell Ritter he needs to cut taxes and hold services steady. Act like a grown-up.

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   1. Aren’t most of the counties pretty sensitive about this consolidation issue? The basic concept appears to be to enlarge the state human services bureaucracy at the expense of the counties who are currently charged with delivering most but not all services. The HCPF record is not encouraging.

      That strikes me as a legitimate, non-partisan question having little relation to the FASTER issue.

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      1. Lathen asked the governor if he would work with county officials to repeal the FASTER legislation, which was approved by the Legislature during the 2009 session and will raise vehicle registration fees for many vehicles by $41 over the next three years. She also asked Ritter if he would fight a proposed vehicle mileage travel tax that will likely resurface in the Legislature next year.

         vs

         Clark, who is county chairwoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, also queried the governor about cuts to local social services programs and a proposal by a blue-ribbon panel to consolidate human services. “When the state keeps pushing the burden down to the local level, how are we to keep our safety nets operating?” Clark asked.

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      2. Would be CDHS – the state Dept of Human Services.  There clearly have been some bad child protection decisions in some counties, but it would be wrong to assume that the state would automatically do a better job if they had that direct responsibility.  Good child protection decision-making is no simple matter, regardless of whose job it is – it takes very well-trained staff, very good supervisory oversight, and a lot of consulting with experts in the field.  Making appropriate decisions regarding the safety and welfare of children is full of gray areas, and the very complex subject of human behavior.

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