From our education policy analyst Ben DeGrow:

Our Education Policy Center recently co-sponsored an important discussion about a new strategy to promote choice and accountability in our public schools. Last Tuesday’s conference in downtown Denver (also sponsored by the University of Colorado at Denver’s School of Public Affairs, Donnell-Kay Foundation and Piton Foundation) explored how local school boards can adopt a hands-off, “portfolio management” strategy to offer a greater menu of education options to families in their communities. As one of the panelists, Center Director Pam Benigno explained how our School Choice for Kids website is empowering parents to demand more options. On the Schools for Tomorrow blog, our own Ben DeGrow shared some reasons why he thinks the “portfolio management” approach has promise not only in Denver but also in other Colorado school districts.

I can’t help but be impressed with every post I’ve read on the Colorado Spending Transparency (COST) blog run by our transparency Czar (just kidding), I mean Transparency Director Amy Oliver.  Following our investigative reporter Todd Shepherd’s report, Amy’s thoughts on Bill Ritter’s lack of disclosure transparency were right on the money.  She has also been taking the Greeley-Evans school district property tax hike (3A) to task – both on the COST blog and on her own personal blog. After BJ Nikkel successfully passed transparency legislation forcing the state to create and maintain a website that showed state spending in an easy, search-able format, they unfortunately came out with this poor excuse of a transparency website. Amy has written several times on the inadequacies of the TOPS site in providing spending reports, but this most recent assessment shows just how poor TOPS is.  Evidently, transparency still means general rather than specific, while conveniently leaving out any and all semblance of context.  No, I’m afraid that… “we spent $100″ does not constitute transparency in spending.

Also, don’t forget tonight’s episode of Independent Thinking, hosted by none of than the Mistress of Transparency herself – Amy Oliver.

(Amy, you’re choice is either Mistress or Czar.  “Director” is just too boring).

Why can’t the state be more transparent like Jefferson County?  While Colorado’s largest county actively pursues detailed financial transparency with its new website Transparent Jeffco, Governor Ritter and the state controller violate the spirit of the Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act by providing taxpayers with confusing, aggregated numbers with no context. To discuss the two dramatically different transparency websites, State Representative BJ Nikkel and Jefferson County Commissioner Kevin McCasky join host Amy Oliver Cooke on Independent Thinking. Tune in tonight at 8:30 p.m. to KBDI Channel 12.  Repeated Monday at 1:30 p.m.

© 2008, Benjamin Hummel. To see more cartoons like this go to www.politixcartoons.com.

Thanks to the lovely Nancy Miller for taking these photos from our Real Canadian Health Care Fact Finding Trip. You can see the pics here, but I have to admit, this one is my favorite:

Also, I finally came across the footage of Fox News’ Dan Springer reporting on our trip:

I told you last week about the meet and greet KBDI channel 12 is hosting for me in downtown Golden.  Well, the time is upon us!  Tomorrow from 6pm to 9pm at the Golden Hotel, I will be live in the flesh, glad-handing, kissing babies, and signing autographs.  (8 x 10 glossies not included, please bring your own).  I hope you are as excited meeting me as I would be about meeting me.

But seriously, come on out; I’d love to meet you and hear what you have to say about the show. Besides, a $10 donation to KBDI gets you the chance to buy me a drink.  What a win-win!

Space is limited, so call Channel 12 at 303.991.5038 to reserve your spot.

Subtitle: Or How He Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Disclosure

Last Friday, our investigative reporter Todd Shepherd broke this story about Governor Ritter and his cabinet largely ignoring a 1999 ethics executive order for nearly 3 years.  Todd and I also recorded a podcast for iVoices.org on the matter.  I’ll let Todd’s report give you the low down on what Ritter failed to do:

Governor Ritter’s office has only one “conflict of interest” report on file for the fifteen members of his cabinet, despite an executive order that requires each and every member of his cabinet to file such a (financial) disclosure.

Thus, we have former prosecutor Bill Ritter ignoring a law, an ethics law, for almost 3 years.  Why is it that this administration must be dragged kicking and screaming into transparency?

He had a few options he could have taken when faced with former Governor Bill Owen’s executive order:
1. Follow it.
2. Rescind it.
3. Ignore it and hope it goes away.

Unfortunately for Ritter, option 3 did not work out. He was caught dead to rights and was forced to publically dig himself out of a ditch – which he tried to do on 850KOA’s Mike Rosen show. Here is the audio of Ritter on Rosen explaining what went wrong and what he plans to do to fix it. I’ll give you a minute to listen to the clip….

Did you hear that?! Ritter THANKED me and the Independence Institute! (You’re welcome, sincerely Guv, thanks for stepping up and taking responsibility for this one).

Ritter’s plan to correct this ethics misstep is to rescind Bill Owen’s executive order and issue a new one, which he’s done as of this morning, as reported by the Denver Post. And by new I mean virtually identical to the old one (minus the gifts part which is now covered by Amendment 41).

The Westword covered the story with an emphasis on the Governor’s office ignoring all of our requests for facts and comment. Didn’t Evan Dreyer realize we could tell he was reading our emails and ignoring them?

Prison spending in our state has tripled over the last 20 years.  Unless Colorado has suddenly become a vacation destination for the common criminal, something has gone awry on the sentencing law front.  Thus, we have the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) to address sentencing reform, and possible solutions to our criminalization, probation, and recidivism problems. Commission member and Colorado State Public Defender Doug Wilson joined Justice Policy Center director Mike Krause on iVoices.org for an overview of what the CCJJ plans to do, how things are going, and what he hopes will result from the meetings. In addition, Mike has planned an event out on the western slope that features quite the distinguished panel: State Senator Morgan Carroll; Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger, Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey, Chairman of the 9th JD Community Corrections Board Steve Reynolds, Colorado Department of Public Safety Director Pete Weir, and Colorado Department of Corrections Director Ari Zavaras. They will be discussing the impact of sentencing on Colorado’s prison population and on the Colorado budget, and the ongoing work of the CCJJ to address sentencing reform in Colorado.

Event info:
Thursday, October 22, 2009
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Two Rivers Convention Center – 159 Main Street, Grand Junction, Colorado 81501

Admission Free
Refreshments served

RSVP to Angeline Roles at (970) 242-3246 or aroles@club20.org
by October 19, 2009

     There is an on-going debate about the extent to the First Amendment bars congressional campaign finance limits. That debate is important, but it doesn’t address a more fundamental question: What empowers Congress to regulate congressional campaign finance at all?

         Remember that the Constitution gives Congress only the powers the Constitution lists. All other powers are reserved to the states and people by the Ninth and Tenth amendments.

         Regulation of campaign finance is said to be part of Congress’s power to govern the “Manner” of congressional elections under the Time, Manner, and Place Clause (Article I, Section 4, Clause 1).  That provision says the states shall prescribe “the Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives,” but that Congress may (with one restriction) “make or alter such Regulations.”

         This past summer, I investigated to find out what the Founders meant by the “Manner of holding Elections.” I found a lot of evidence, most of it unexamined by prior researchers. Interestingly, almost all the evidence suggests Congress was not given power to regulate campaign finance. That was a power reserved to the states and the people. Continue Reading »

There is abundant evidence that government “stimulus” programs hurt the economy more than they help.  The auto industry is getting a taste of that right now.  The “Cash for Clunkers” program accelerated sales for a while, but since then car sales have crashed.

But that describes only the damage to the auto business.  Think about all the goods that weren’t bought or the investments that weren’t made because the government diverted all that cash into a one-time spending spree.

Now two economists have put a price tag on the damage.  A new study by Burton A. Abrams and George R. Parsons, both of the University of Delaware, found that the economic damage from the program exceeded the benefit by $2000 per car!

So instead of helping the economy, the “Cash for Clunkers” program made the situation even worse.