As the Denver Post reports:
Dueling news releases from the Democratic speaker of the House and the Republican Senate minority leader over the state budget crisis likely signal a testy legislative session ahead.
Not only will budget woes consume the 2010 session, but the arguments will play out in a year when the minority leader, Josh Penry of Grand Junction, is trying to unseat Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.
"I think it's going to get very ugly," predicted former state Sen. Norma Anderson, R-Lakewood, who served nearly 20 years in the legislature...
The tit-for-tat between Penry and House Speaker Terrance Carroll came after Carroll said he was "stunned" at Penry's budget proposals, including eliminating the governor's energy office and giving the lieutenant governor "real" responsibilities.
"The new energy economy is the single brightest light in our economy. Killing jobs in our fastest-growing economic sector is Penry's answer to the serious crisis facing Colorado?" Carroll said in a release.
"When Sen. Penry and the Republicans are ready to offer some serious solutions, we're ready to listen," Carroll added.
Penry, in return, accused Democrats of being AWOL and showing up in "full hyper ventilation."
"Welcome to the budget debate, Mr. Speaker," Penry said...
Yesterday's spat between Speaker Terrance Carroll and gubernatorial candidate/Sen. Josh Penry is just more of what we'll see continuously for as long as Penry remains a gubernatorial candidate. We admire Carroll's willingness to mix it up with Penry--we're sorry to say it's probably a waste of breath, arguing with somebody who has no intention of finding common ground with you, in fact arguing with someone motivated to find every way to disagree with you possible. We've established the lack of basis in reality for a good deal of what Penry says these days, but that's not slowing him down a bit. Any parents of teenagers out there? You know what we're talking about.
So it's the Governor's Energy Office today, is it? Let's take a brief look at that. According to the Long Bill, the energy office operates on a budget of $1.6 million. Fully $1.1 million of this total comes from federal funds, and the rest from the state's separate Clean Energy Fund--funded directly by statute from gaming and severance taxes. This means that there is no General Fund money going to this office. What's more, if it weren't for the Governor's Energy Office, the state would be limited in terms of taking advantage of certain federal stimulus energy funds. Now we know how Penry feels about the stimulus, but can somebody explain to us how Penry's suggestion to eliminate this particular office helps anything? If it won't help balance the budget, and makes Colorado less competitive for federal funds...why plant the flag here? It's just nonsense.
There are a couple of other claims by Penry in his press release, as summarized by the Post, mostly a cheap shot on Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien having 'no responsibilities.' That's pretty far from our understanding of her job as Speaker Carroll ably noted (and even if it were true, what does that have to do with fixing the budget?), but anybody who thinks Penry's throwaway line merits the dignity of an additional response can go for it.
Aren't the next ten months going to rock? |
