Gov. Bill Owens, House GOP still not won over By Leigh E. Rich It was a pep rally Tuesday at a joint Democratic caucus luncheon, as Colorado’s donkeys geared up for Wednesday’s big budget game. House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, and Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, rallied their team during the lunchtime affair at […]
01.28.2005
01.21.2005
Categories: Editorials, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on It’s dangerous to run in Colorado
2006 governor’s race already heating up By Leigh E. Rich The election judges have barely put their away badges and Coloradans are already stretching for the next race, sure to be as exciting and exhausting as the run for Colorado’s open Senate seat in 2004. Though we’ve barely rung in the New Year and the […]
01.21.2005
Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Gov. Bill Owens’ 2005 State of the State address
Political aisle more divided than united By Leigh E. Rich The “state of our great state is sound,” so said Gov. Bill Owens during his seventh State of the State address on the House floor on Thursday. Not so, rebutted the state Democrats via a rushed press release disseminated by the Senate Majority office shortly […]
01.21.2005
Final budget proposal may be a chimera By Leigh E. Rich In a desperate attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, it seems all the state’s lawmakers have weighed in recently about how to fix Colorado’s cracked budget. They have no choice. Colorado’s Constitution requires a balanced budget every year. And this fiscal year, […]
01.21.2005
Categories: Elections, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on President Bush pledges to let freedom ring
Inauguration focuses on foreign policy By Leigh E. Rich There’s a 2,080-pound gorilla in the world and it’s called freedom, President George W. Bush intimated in his second inaugural address to the nation Thursday, explaining that the first time “the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, ‘It rang as if it meant […]
01.14.2005
Categories: Feminism, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on After 128 years, there’s a woman in charge
Colorado’s Senate swearing-in ceremonies, however, don’t go as planned By Leigh E. Rich History was made Wednesday, as Colorado’s first female Senate president was sworn in on opening day of the General Assembly’s 65th session. But not everyone voted for her. In what was otherwise expected to be a scripted, routine and—compared to the reputedly […]
01.14.2005
Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Not a case of potato-potahto when it comes to Colorado’s laborers
AFL-CIO asks Statehouse to save jobs and benefits By Leigh E. Rich “We are protecting potatoes from being farmed out, but we’re not protecting jobs,” Sen. Deanna Hanna, D-Lakewood, said, at an AFL-CIO rally held just moments after Colorado’s Statehouse swearing-in ceremonies concluded. “I support the potato,” she emphasized, nodding to Colorado’s agricultural sector, “but […]
01.14.2005
Categories: Editorials, Humor, Media, Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on The inside scoop on the scoopers
Legislators, don’t hate us because we’re critical By Leigh E. Rich Word to the wise: If you’re not a public official, the middle aisle in the House and Senate chambers is politics’ version of the third rail. I’m not sure what happens when a regular Joe off the street or, if they dare, any one […]
01.14.2005
Colorado government in need of extreme makeover, both parties say By Leigh E. Rich Presenting far more challenges than any number of television reality shows, the 65th General Assembly is gearing up for an extreme session, complete with a budget and a state that are in crisis. According to statistics compiled by the state’s Senate […]
12.24.2004
It ain’t Santa … it’s the Republicans By Leigh E. Rich Nope, it wasn’t Santa Claus but State Reps. Joe Stengel, R-Littleton, and Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, who donned new caps—stocking caps, that is—this holiday season. Last weekend, incoming Minority Leader Stengel joined with other House Republicans for a Christmas party at the Interfaith Task Force, […]
12.24.2004
Categories: Politics, Utrinque Paratus | Comments Off on Lawmakers get fiscal time bombs as stocking stuffers
Legislators must tackle economic issues in new year By Leigh E. Rich While many Coloradans have just settled down for a holiday-laden wintry nap, the state’s top officials already have a bundle of political “time bombs” on their hands. This week, Colorado’s governor, treasurer, and returning and incoming legislators unveiled their plans to bring stability […]
12.17.2004
Statesmanship, not partisanship, essential to budget fix By Leigh E. Rich Despite some Republican wound-licking and Democratic bravado over the recent red-to-blue switchover in the Statehouse, there could be more statesmanship than partisanship in the upcoming session of the 65th General Assembly—if what leaders at the sixth annual Colorado Press Association Legislative Forum said ring […]
