Here is the National Journal scorecard on which Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO5) tied for #1 among all congressmen in his conservative voting record. Click for scorecard.
Tax hikes slam Colo. economy
It's folly for Colorado Democrats to raise taxes and then hope for job creation, says John Andrews in the February round of Head On TV debates. But Susan Barnes-Gelt chalks up the state's budget problems to TABOR and other constitutional provisions. John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month over the ongoing national recession, Congress, Sen. Michael Bennet, and former Vice President Dick Cheney. Head On has been a daily feature on Colorado Public Television since 1997. Here are all five scripts for February: 1. TAX HIKES SLAM COLO. ECONOMY
John: You knew the Democrats were in for a tough year when Speaker Pro Tem Kathleen Curry quit the party. Then Gov. Ritter stood down. Someone tell this liberal legislature you don’t raise taxes on employers and then hope for job creation. Colorado can’t afford these dirty dozen Democratic tax bills.
Susan: Sound bites aside, Colorado's budget problems echo California's - TABOR, Gallagher, Amendment 23 plus unfunded federal mandates result in gridlock - Social programs, k-12 and higher ed are being cut to the bone. Tax exemptions are next in line. High unemployment, record foreclosures and no job creation strategies add to the mess.
John: “TABOR, Gallagher, 23.” That’s the emptiest sound bite. Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights with its fiscal guardrails has kept Colorado from becoming California. Our deficit comes from reckless spending by Democrats after TABOR was suspended in 2005. The solution for recovery is to vote for McInnis and Republicans in 2010.
Susan: It doesn't really matter who you vote for in 2010 - Colorado's budget is hamstrung regardless of who is in charge. And the folks who brought you this mess, will give you more of the same. In 2010, throw the rascals out! Vote Hickenlooper!
2. CHENEY AND BIDEN SPAR
Susan: Dick Cheney is the gift that keeps on giving. His command of the Republican stage is great for the Democrats. Even Republican secretary of state Colin Powell disputes his views. Vice President Biden was right when he said it's fine to have your own opinion, but not your own facts.
John: Here’s a fact for you. Muslim terrorist activity on American soil has increased dramatically in the past year since Biden and Obama replaced Cheney and Bush. We are less safe today, and Americans know it. We’re fortunate to have a former vice president with the courage and patriotism to say so.
Susan: Random terrorism has been on the increase since 9/11 - Tied together by the internet and anger, non-state players are multiplying. Cheney's inflammatory rhetoric aids and comforts the enemy. He ought to be tried for treason.
John: You liberals need new talking points. Instead of bashing a hero from the last administration, how about explaining the failures of this administration? Close Guantanamo? Oops, can’t do that. Try the 9/11 mastermind in New York? Can’t do that. Interrogate the Christmas bomber? Can’t do that. Bring back Dick Cheney!
3. SENATE RACE INTENSIFIES
John: What a pathetic sight to see Sen. Michael Bennet and President Obama, both down in the polls, out campaigning together. Republican challenger Jane Norton nailed Obama in a TV ad. Fellow Democrat Andrew Romanoff is polling better than Bennet and might become the nominee. The spirit of Scott Brown stalks Colorado.
Susan: Republican Jane Norton, an avid McCain supporter, is now courting tea partiers. That may work for her in a primary but the bulk of Colorado's voters are centrist independents and her calls to take the country back to separate but equal and kill the Department of Education won't fly.
John: You're half right, Susan. That political arithmetic will help any GOP candidate in the primary and the general election both. Moderate McCain voters, plus Tea Party conservatives, plus all the independents who no longer support Obama, add up to a Republican Senate victory this fall, no matter who we nominate.
Jane Norton may appeal to the far right, but Colorado is fundamentally moderate. She might Michael Bennet - an incumbent with not base. But if - as I predict - Andrew Romanoff if the Dem nominee, pass the marmelade - she's toast.
4. DC GRIDLOCK
Susan: D's and R's in Washington have contributed equally to gridlock. The country is in dire straits and partisan polarization may be filling campaign coffers but is turning off voters left right and center. Every incumbent is in trouble.
John: You get the Oscar for wishful thinking. Incumbent Republicans are looking to take Congress and pick up governorships. Incumbent Democrats are either running as underdogs like Harry Reid or quitting like Evan Bayh. Washington paralysis isn’t my party’s fault. We’re out of power – but that may soon change.
Susan: Check out G O O O H.com - Get Out of Our House.com - Founder Tim Cox is on to something, advocating replacing every Congressperson with a citizen legislator. The movement will catch on as his message goes national. Incumbents - be ware!
John: Another day, another website, yawn. Congress won’t be fired en masse according to Tim Cox’s daydreams. America has a governing party, the Democrats, and an opposition party, the Republicans. Your guys have failed big time. My guys aren’t perfect either, but this may be their year.
5. WEAK ECONOMY CONTINUES
Susan: Wall Street may be recovering but Main Street isn't. A lack of direction at the federal, state and local levels is at the root of America's discontent. The failure of political and civic leaders to communicate effectively and work together to solve problems is the most disturbing aspect of today's turmoil.
John: Obama took office hoping to emulate FDR, and in one way he has. Democrats today, just like in the 1930s, have made a bad economic situation much worse. Obama’s fiscal and regulatory power grab has frightened business away from the hiring and investment decisions that would restore prosperity.
Susan: In times like these, the government is the spender of last resort. Our infrastructure is failing, the US lags in technology, high speed rail, transit and education. Without jobs & innovation, this recession will morph to depression and deficits will grow bigger. The US must be bold.
John: Jobs and innovation, yes. Collectivist bureaucratic central planning, no. Less government and more free enterprise, not vice versa, is the only cure for America’s economic woes. As for last-resort government spending with money borrowed overseas, we need less of that too. Prosperity will return when the politicians butt out.
Campaign's just begun, Mr. President
Mr. Obama admonished Sen. John McCain yesterday at the health care summit and reminded him the campaign is over.Sen. McCain had the nerve to attempt to bring up a major concern of the American people with Obama's health care insurance overhaul, specifically, the back room deals that were made to win the votes of certain Democrats. It is irony at best that Mr. Obama would think the campaign is over when a WH staffer has been quoted as stating Mr. Obama's staff is actually gearing up the Chicago team for his re-election campaign. Mr. Obama also chastised Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor for carrying in the massive bills put forth by Congress. He referred to the stacks of wasted paper as political props. On one hand, he's angry with Republicans for not voting for those props, and on the other, he claims they now are not relevant, but rather his 11-page bill prototype is the topic for debate. The CBO can't rate that prototype because it is void of specificity in terms of cost and spending. Yet, the Dem's argued yesterday about cost from the CBO, conveniently ignoring the fact that Obama's own plan can't be rated.
I believe Mr. Obama sat across the room from Rep. Paul Ryan and also Mr. Cantor and saw potential opponents for 2012. The president was so rude and dismissive of Paul Ryan that he spent most of Ryan's first allotted time with eyes diverted and listening to an aide talk in his ear. He did not have the courtesy to pay attention, in part because he didn't like hearing the disagreement with having Kathleen Sebelius, an unelected WH appointee, determine the course of individual healthcare. Mr. Obama came back quickly and said she would only be making those decisions for people in his new sytem, but we all know most of us will eventually end up in the ash heap of government controlled health care. That was Mr. Ryan's point, but the president failed to allow him the reasonable opportunity to make his case. His blatant display of direspect for Mr. Ryan's comments was indicative of the purpose of the entire exercise. The summit was designed to diminish Republican ideas, ignore concerns and relevant questions, and allow the president yet another bully pulpit moment. He intentionally ran out the clock, speaking more than either party combined. It was very symbolic of the president and his interpretation of his office. He does not view Congress as an equal partner in legislation development. He is the infinite decision-maker and his comments are more valuable than those that must answer to their constitutents for their votes. Mr. Obama's dominance yesterday was in fact, little more than a 2012 campaign stump speech for him.
The president commented afterward that the Democrats will move to pass the Senate bill, with or without the Republicans. He fails to recognize that it just isn't the Republicans that he is going foward without, he's also going ahead without the support of the American people. That type of political move is always a starting point for the next campaign and election season.
CSAP Testing to Sunset
When Arne Duncan was appointed by Mr. Obama as the Secretary of Education last year, his first call to action was increased spending for public education and overhaul of NCLB.An unprecedented amount of federal funds have been borrowed and printed to funnel to public schools. George W. Bush was the first president to dramatically increase education spending, and he reached across the political aisle and signed Ted Kennedy's No Child Left Behind Act into law. President Bush would never overcome the criticism of his action, along with accusations of failure to fund the Act. In spite of record spending, it apparently was not enough. Colorado public school kids will take their last round of CSAP tests this spring. Administrators are telling their teachers that the dreaded and much maligned CSAP tests will go away. Maybe now teachers, both union and non, will have some other gripe besides having to "teach to the tests". Most teachers had a real problem with being held accountable as to whether or not their students were proficient in basic math and reading. They were forced to give up their own lesson plans and unable to insert their own particular diversity in how they taught and what methods were used. Instead, from the first day of school, they were asked to focus on getting right down to business--teaching the basics so their students would produce good test scores the following spring.
To be fair, the system was indeed flawed in some ways. Older students knew they could deliberately do poorly on the tests if they had a reason to get even with a certain teacher or their school in general. Younger students were under alot of pressure to cram everything they'd learned all year into a couple days of testing. Schools went to great lengths to get students ready to test. Meals and snacks were provided; the promise of recognition and rewards for doing well. Parents were educated on proper sleep required on the nights before tests, balanced with sufficient activity to prevent getting antsy in those testing seats. All of that hassle will go by the wayside now, at least in Colorado.
Secy Duncan came to his national position from being Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, often considered one of the worst systems in the nation. During his term of service to the City of Chicago, he left behind failed and even closed schools, low graduation rates and his share of poor testing scores under the NCLB system. Some would consider that a failed resume and indictative of a person perhaps not ready to lead the nation's public school districts. An Obama loyalist and insider of Chicago and Illinois politics, Mr. Duncan is now our children's headmaster.
Mr. Duncan began his appointment last year by meeting with the largest national teacher's unions in the country. He commented during an early interview that he had "lived through" the NCLB era under President Bush and as a result, he had a vision of more rigorous academic standards and accountability. As that pertains to Colorado, some might wonder how public school officials are going to be able to monitor progress of students undergoing more rigorous learning if they aren't tested.
The CSAP tests were very expensive for Colorado school districts. Teachers and administrators felt the pressure of government intrusion. Teaching styles and curriculum preferences were shelved in order to teach in such as way as students would perform well, and subsequently, keep funds coming into the schools. The tests are going away now and while all the details are not yet available, apparently under the direction of Arne Duncan, a new day is dawning for public school students in Colorado. Our head of education out of Washington, D.C., brings hope and change, or at least we better hope so, otherwise, our schools may follow the trends of Chicago public schools under his guidance.
Teachers and administrators will almost always tell you what they believe is the answer to solving all problems in public education: we need more money. We've thrown more money at public schools in the last 10 years than ever before in history. Our U.S. Constitution does not even delegate the responsibility of public schools to the federal level, but rather to state governments. Arne Duncan doesn't just want to increase accountability and require more rigorous academic standards, he also wants to overhaul Division I college athletics, and Mr. Obama's "Organizing for America" group is recruiting high school students to volunteer this summer. Required reading for young volunteers includes Saul Alinsky's, "Rules for Radicals". Our First Lady gets into the act by instructing us on what to eat and how much. Apparently, too many parents are too irresponsible to make good food choices for the family table.
Administrators and teachers want more money and less govt. interference. Parents want better grades and more accountability of teachers, including having bad teachers fired. Mr. Obama wants to pacify teacher's unions and he also wants to get those young voters to join his initiatives to reorganize America. Mr. Duncan wants more money, too, along with stricter student requirements and he wants to purge what he believes is a bad system in college basketball and football. Mrs. Obama wants to bring her version of change to school lunches and student exercise initiatives. (Doesn't the Dept. of Agriculture set standards for food served in schools? Is it possible we have yet another govt. agency that maybe isn't doing it's job satisfactorily? Should we perhaps start there and leave American families alone?)
Maybe those that support home schooling and charter schools and choice in education in general have it right after all. Keep government out of the classroom to the extent possible, unless of course, we decide to start teaching American history again that hasn't been revised to suit political agendas.
02/21/2010: Kaminsky
7:30PM: Ross Kaminsky