( – promoted by Danny the Red (hair))
I had the opportunity to interview Don Marostica today. It was really interesting, he does a great job of laying things out eloquently and directly. (I had a dead battery in my recorder which is unfortunate as the podcast would have been great.) And the OED offices are really nice digs with an awesome view of the Rockies.
I started off asking what is it the OED does. Don broke it out to 7 parts.
Don believes OED is doing a good job in a rough environment. He takes a lot of pride in the number of small start-ups they have helped that are still in businesses, and the number of jobs across all of them. I asked him why I hadn’t heard of them and he asked me how large my company is and if we’re hiring (we are). And his reply was we don’t need them. I take this as a good indication – they are focused on getting companies started.
I next asked what industries will be driving Colorado over the next 20 years. He first brought up the excellent point that the single biggest issue of the economy going forward is that we are now in a worldwide global economy. This is true today for software but he sees it as being true even for land development (his background) and that’s about as localized a business as any. Excellent point – companies that can’t compete worldwide, or that don’t sell worldwide, are not going to be successful. He then listed what he sees as the biggies:
My $0.02: I think everything he says here is spot-on. But if we want our companies to be successful worldwide, then the state needs to update its tax laws to take into account sales worldwide. And install leadership in the Department of Revenue who can actually figure out what should be done, and implement it.
Finally I asked him about the future of the Republican party in our state. He believes the GOP suffers from a lack of leadership, that they need strong experienced leaders who are not career politicians. This was interesting that his discussion was not at first about the philosophical schism, but instead he discussed how the leadership is people who have made a career of politics and who have not been in it that long.
I then asked about the schism between those who want a more conservative party and those who look to the private sector and want to minimize government, but are somewhat moderate and can therefore craft compromise with the moderate Democrats. This also got an interesting response in that he talked about the social conservatives who wanted to tell everyone how to live vs. the “independent” Republicans who want to leave the social part to individuals. This was interesting because he didn’t even bring up the “drown government in a bathtub” contingent. (I should have asked is that because this contingent is so small.)
I finally asked if he thinks the two wings of the Republican party will come back together. Don does not see that happening. I pointed out that we Democrats managed to do it, but he was adamant that it’s not happening on the GOP side (soon).
My $0.02: I think he’s correct that the state GOP is missing that senior active level of political leadership. They have young up and comers like Penry and McNulty. And they have the retired old dogs like Armstrong & Brown. Scott McInnis is really all the GOP has and that’s not a deep bench (Jane Norton has connections, but not the depth of experience). I don’t know why the state GOP is missing this segment in their leadership but Don is spot-on with this observation.
On his view that people should not make politics a career, it is a somewhat common viewpoint, but much easier to hold for someone who themselves has not made it a career. As you move up the ladder, there is a strong advantage, both in electability and in being effective in office, in having a ton of political experience. Reagan and Clinton were both very effective presidents – and both were career politicians. It’s an interesting question, but I don’t think it is the root of the GOP woes.
His opinion that the schism in the Republican party will not be healed is the most worrisome. Don is one of the leaders of the “independent” Republicans. He clearly speaks to many other Republicans of similar view. And he sees them sitting politics out because of this schism (and the requirement to fully disclose finances). If this is true, the Republican party will either break in half or will stay in a minority position. Either way that is not good for Colorado because a permanent Democratic majority will lead to a corrupt system (see Boulder).
My final question was where he sees the economy going. He thinks the next 2 – 3 budgets are going to be awful. Income for the state is a lagging indicator and the federal money is going to dry up – both the direct dollars to the states and the stimulus funding. So the first 3 years of the next administration are going to be awful. (So as Dems, should we work to get McInnis elected?)
I enjoyed talking to Don. He’s a nice guy, speaks what is on his mind, and has a good understanding of helping business in Colorado. I think Governor Ritter made a good choice here. On the flip side quiet competence tends to be boring – so no fireworks out of OED.
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I don’t think of Reagan as a career politician, nor do I think of him as particularly effective. (He spent pretty much his entire term blocked by a House of another party, then had a lot of fallout from a big scandal.)
Clinton kind of ended up the same way.
They left office fairly popular (and their popularity has grown since they’ve left), but I don’t think of them as accomplishing a whole lot of their agenda.
I think of W. and Obama as being more effective in terms of getting what they wanted through a friendly Congress. (Obviously “effective” and “good” are unrelated in this usage.)
Reagan turned the country from what was still to a large degree the new deal of FDR in a much more conservative direction.
Clinton took us to the “middle way” for the Democratic party, from the conservatism of Reagan/Bush.
IMO – you should keep news (interviews) and commentary (opinion) separate. At least two different sections of the piece. It disrupts the flow – I actually copy / pasted it into another document to delete the $0.02 to read it better.
First off, I make it very clear when it’s me.
I do this for a couple of reasons. First rather than bringing in context in a supposedly evenhanded way, I am up front that the context is based on my views and knowledge.
Second, just the interview, with a block of commentary to follow, is less interesting IMHO. Not as big a deal in this interview as there wasn’t much I had to add, but in some of them I think it adds a lot.
You’re always careful to differentiate facts from impressions. I enjoy reading your impressions.
I suppose you could go on Fox News and lose the differentiation, but then you’d be part of the problem instead of part of the solution.
Worth every penny 🙂
It’s not distracting enough that I don’t read the interview.
Definitely interesting on several topics (esp. the first public acknowledgement I can recall seeing from a Republican about the schizm in the GOP).
But I’m surprised you are surprised over the size of the business of government.
Between the Fed Center, the labs in the Golden/Boulder area, the Air Force facilities in Aurora and the Springs, the Federal government is easily the biggest economic driver in Colorado. Did you know the Federal government also owns 36% of all the land in the state?
Fertile territory for prospecting by startups and growing small businesses!
And yes I was surprised. Put this down to in the category of a bunch of things in politics I really should know, but just learned.
Interviewing Don is like interviewing Bernie Buescher – on one hand it’s sort of boring because they are competent, they don’t toot their own horn, and they focus on doing their job rather than politics.
On the flip side, these are the interviews that make me feel really good about our political system. Because they are the ideal of what we want in office.
All those schools collectively employ a huge number of people.
Due to the Fed’s highly visible presence in the Aerospace and Environmental industries that are closely tied to government contracts.
State and local government is a significant factor too. But in doing a quick bit of research, I’m not sure where Don is getting his numbers about Government and Tourism being our #1 and #2 industries.
Here’s what I dug up:
Colorado GDP 2007
You mean he thinks we should grow businesses without using pesticides? What the hell does “organic” have to do with whether businesses launch in Colorado or start elsewhere?
Simply means growing internally vs. recruiting companies to move to Colorado via economic incentives.
Companies grow organically (internally) or by acquisition.
I like the idea of Colorado companies piled high with steer manure.
I thought that just happened to people listening to certain GOP candidates and their plans for improving Colorado based on their brilliant qualifications in growing jobs and providing essential services by cutting taxes.
Governor McInnis will have no use for you, Benedict Donald.
where McInnis works even hiring?
Working with the other party does not make you a traitor, it makes you someone who works for solutions. I respect Don, even though I disagree with him politically, because he does the hard work of crafting compromise. That is the essence of democracy.
You sit in your mother’s basement and yell traitor at anyone who does not agree with your list of 10 purity test items. It’s very easy to do that, but it’s not finding solutions.
… though I’m half-persuaded by a perio commenter that he’s actually a hilarious prank identity crafted by a lefty to make the right look like stereotypical dolts.