According to a press release today from the Governor's office:
Gov. Bill Ritter announced today he will become director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University to build on his internationally leading clean-energy accomplishments of the past four years. Effective Feb. 1, Gov. Ritter also will assume the title of senior scholar within CSU's School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
New employment numbers are out this morning from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and the news is good: Colorado has now added jobs for three consecutive months for the first time in three years. According to a press release from Gov. Bill Ritter's office (full text after the jump):
In addition to the 3,800 jobs added in November, Colorado employers added 5,200 jobs in October and 3,300 jobs in September, for a three-month total of 12,300.
At 8.6 percent, Colorado's unemployment rate remains well below the national average of 9.8 percent and is lower than rates in many other states.
Economists and politicos can (and will) debate on the reasons behind the job growth in Colorado, but will Gov. Ritter's legacy be in part defined as a "Jobs Governor"? Take a look at the statement from Tom Clark, EVP of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., in today's press release:
"I think Bill Ritter in many respects may go down as the biggest economic development governor," said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Those are certainly strong words, and coming from the well-respected Clark, that statement will raise plenty of eyebrows. But it's hard to completely dispute the idea; with Colorado in better shape than much of the country in terms of unemployment numbers, the Governor has to get some of the credit...just as he would get much of the blame if the opposite were true.
According to a press release from the Governor's office:
Gov. Bill Ritter announced today that his chief of staff, Jim Carpenter, will depart the administration Dec. 17.
"Jim has been a lynchpin in moving our agenda forward," Gov. Ritter said. "His efforts have been central to our many successes¸ and my administration and the people of Colorado have benefited from his ability to manage complex issues under tough circumstances calmly and without fanfare."
Carpenter will join veteran public affairs consultant Mike Stratton as a principal in a renamed firm, Stratton-Carpenter Associates.[Pols emphasis]
Carpenter was hired as chief of staff shortly after Ritter's gubernatorial election four years ago. Carpenter managed Ken Salazar's successful 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, then served as Sen. Salazar's state director until joining the Ritter Administration in November 2006. Carpenter also has served as head of public affairs at National Jewish Health, as director of communications and chief of staff for former Gov. Roy Romer, and in several capacities for former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth.
"As Jim moves ahead to new opportunities, I want to thank him for his long service to our state and for his deep commitment to Colorado," Ritter said.
Carpenter and Mike Stratton are close friends from campaigns past, most recently as two of the top advisors for Democrat Ken Salazar's 2004 Senate race.
The Democratic "Unity" Rally was held this afternoon in Denver to show that things were just hunky-dorey for Sen. Michael Bennet and former challenger Andrew Romanoff (full press release from the Bennet campaign and from Colorado Democrats after the jump).
Said Romanoff:
"I am very, very proud of our grassroots team, and proud to see so many folks standing with us together in this united Democratic Party today. For not just my sake, and not Michael's sake, and not even for the sake of the Democratic Party, I'm asking you today to throw your support fully and unequivocally behind Michael Bennet for the United States Senate."
This is all pretty standard stuff in terms of the Kumbaya atmosphere, which makes it all the more curious that Colorado Republicans don't seem prepared to do the same thing just yet. Heck, GOP Gubernatorial nominee Dan Maes apparently can't even get a phone call right now from other Republicans.
According to a press release from Gov. Bill Ritter's office:
Gov. Bill Ritter announced today that his Chief Legal Counsel, Trey Rogers, will leave his office to return to private practice effective March 1. Gov. Ritter has named his Senior Deputy Legal Counsel, Craig Welling, to the Chief Counsel position.
Welling has served as Senior Deputy Legal Counsel for three years. Prior to joining Gov. Ritter's office, he was a litigation attorney with Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons, LLP in Denver.
Rogers has served as Chief Legal Counsel since Gov. Ritter took office. He will re-join Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons, LLP as a partner, the position he held prior to joining the Governor's office.
Of course, Trey Rogers has been more than just "Chief Legal Counsel" under Ritter. Rogers has always been one of Ritter's closest advisors, on both political and policy questions, and his departure from the office will certainly change the way things are done (or not done) as the Governor enters his final 10 months in office.
Andrew Romanoff held a press conference today to announce that he is still running for the U.S. Senate and will not seek any other office or accept any other job offer in the meantime.
So there's that.
On one hand, this is the first good bit of strategy (okay, really the only strategic move) that we've seen from Romanoff as a U.S. Senate candidate. Romanoff got a lot of free media attention by holding a press conference to announce basically nothing, while at the same time trying to beef up the impression that he is still a sought-after politician due to all of the people who encouraged him to run for Governor. Romanoff also needed to publicly affirm that he was staying in the race for Senate because of so much speculation to the contrary. In that regard, today's press conference was a good move.
On the other hand, it's hard to really understand this decision in general. Romanoff is a talented policy wonk who is widely liked and respected by both Democrats and Republicans, but his campaign for Senate has been downright awful...and it's destroying his political future in the process. Romanoff has tried meekly to distinguish himself from incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet on the basis of not accepting PAC money or special interest contributions, but policy-wise and issues-wise, there's really not much difference between the two. The lack of a strong, clear message for why Romanoff is running for Senate has been startling, and his campaign in general has been a mess. Witness this weird item today from Westword:
UPDATE #5:No confirmation yet that Hickenlooper is going to run, but last night sources said that the Mayor really wanted to do it but was waiting for Salazar's decision. Given the fact that Salazar publicly endorsed Hick if he runs, it's not a stretch to assume that he did so with knowledge of what the answer would be.
If Hickenlooper does not run, the next name to watch is Rep. Ed Perlmutter. We wrote earlier that is was highly unlikely that Salazar, Hickenlooper and Perlmutter all pass on running for Governor, but if that does happen for some reason, the next names on the list are Treasurer Cary Kennedy (the only potential candidate who could actually transfer some of her current warchest to a race for Governor), Andrew Romanoff and Rep. Betsy Markey.
UPDATE #4:Denver Postreports Salazar will endorse John Hickenlooper for Governor.
"I know John and Helen will seriously consider this historic opportunity that will define the future of State of Colorado and her people. This is a personal decision they must make and I will fully respect that decision," Salazar said.
"As for me, I have a job to do as Secretary of the Interior to implement President Obama's vision for a clean energy economy and to better protect America's great outdoors."
UPDATE #3: Multiple sources now confirming, Ken Salazar will NOT run. In that case, we'd put the odds that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper will run at 95%. Developing.
UPDATE #2:Ken Salazar out? Just relaying this from The Atlantic'sMarc Ambinder until we get additional word, which we are seeking now:
This just in.... Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decided NOT to run for governor in Colorado. Incumbent Democrat Bill Ritter is retiring. The likely candidate for the Dems, then, is Denver mayor John Hickenlooper.
UPDATE #1:: It seems that The Denver Post isn't buying the Republican spin that Ritter is retiring because he didn't think he could win:
...we don't believe that Ritter dropped out of the race because he was down in recent polls and feared losing the gubernatorial election to Republican Scott McInnis. [Pols emphasis] The margin was only single digits, and voters haven't unseated an incumbent governor since 1962...
...It may not have been noticeable to Coloradans, but this job has worn on the governor. We couldn't help but notice the lightness in Ritter's demeanor at his press conference, joking at times with journalists. It seemed as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
He had the appearance of a man who was very comfortable with his very difficult decision, and we're happy for him. The moment he finished his speech in the Capitol foyer, he turned and hugged his teenage son. Sometimes stepping away from a job to spend time with one's family means just that.
Colorado Pols also broke a record yesterday with our highest number of Page Views in one day, with 60,629 (but not a record for Unique Visitors in one day, curiously enough).
So we thought you might want another open thread on the topic.
(Bumped into Thursday for self-evident reasons - promoted by Colorado Pols)
After a wild 24 hours that saw more than 500 comments from Polsters in two separate posts, its time to take a look at the questions and answers from one of the more surprising political announcements in recent Colorado history.
Here's what we know, what we've heard, and all of the questions both answered and unanswered surrounding Gov. Bill Ritter's announcement today that he will not run for re-election in 2010.
The political blog "The Fix" recently named Republican Bob McDonnell's campaign for Governor in Virginia as its "Campaign of the Year." As you'll see in a moment, the award says a lot about the problems ahead for Scott McInnis:
...from the start of the race, McDonnell had the message exactly right: jobs, jobs and more jobs. Everywhere he went, McDonnell talked about not only his commitment to create more jobs in the state but his plan on how to make it happen. His slogan -- "Bob's for jobs" -- was a little cheesy but it undoubtedly stuck in the minds of voters whose number one priority was the health of the economy and the need to bring more jobs to the Commonwealth...
...McDonnell, learning from the mistakes of past GOP nominees Mark Earley (2001) and Jerry Kilgore (2005), almost never talked about his social conservative beliefs -- understanding, rightly, that it would alienate a critical segment of votes in northern Virginia and that even among his base of support there was as much interest in solving the economic crisis. [Pols emphasis]...
...In winning so overwhelmingly -- 59 percent to 41 percent -- McDonnell helped revive the Republican party nationally but also provided aspiring GOP candidates with a campaign plan for how to win (and win big) in a swing state.
Virginia has some political similarities to Colorado in that both have relatively moderate electorates that had recently trended toward Democrats in races for U.S. Senate and Governor. McDonnell understood from the beginning that he needed to stick to an economy/jobs theme and avoid divisive social issues, particularly since he had a weird history of strange proclamations in his past.
Here in Colorado, McInnis may understand that he should avoid social issues, but he also might not have a choice given that the State GOP has clearly decided that Tea Party activists are going to be vitally important in 2010. In order to placate the Teabaggers, McInnis must pander to their interests, including taking public positions on things aside from divisive social issues. As we've pointed out before, opposing things like FASTER and the destructive "Dr. Evil ballot initiatives" may make the Tea Party people happy, but it doesn't endear him to traditional GOP supporters like private construction contractors who depend on government projects to stay afloat.
McDonnell may have provided a great blueprint for McInnis to follow in his own gubernatorial campaign, but that doesn't mean he can follow the instructions. It could be a mighty frustrating 11 months for McInnis of doing exactly what he knows he shouldn't do.
We noted yesterday that while the Republican "Contract for Colorado" "Platform for Prosperity" might be a good political move to get voters to believe that the GOP actually has a plan, the meat of the "Platform" was a little weak.
We aren't the only ones asking just how GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis plans to fix Colorado's budget crisis with mystical new cuts and no plan for bringing in new revenue. Even conservative Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll is having a hard time with McInnis' vague answers:
If McInnis wants to establish a new level of seriousness in political campaigns, however, he's got to do more than rail against the current administration's tax hikes and regulatory excesses, and disdain for voter-approved amendments. He ought to explain how he'd balance the budget and make needed investments, too. After all, even the most pro-jobs governor can't wave a wand and repeal the business cycle.
If he intends to roll back auto-registration fees, for example, how would he repair Colorado's decrepit bridges, or get a handle on the backlog of road maintenance? How would he invest in infrastructure without going to voters with fees, taxes or tolls? [Pols emphasis]
"I can't drive the machine until I get the keys to the machine . . . ," McInnis told me Tuesday. "We won't even know what we're facing until after the legislative session. . . . What we can talk about are basic premises."
I received essentially the same dodge when I asked him about support for higher education, which could plummet when federal stimulus funds expire.
Not only is McInnis determined to spare taxpayers when balancing the budget and shoring up highway or higher-ed spending, he even opposes an extension of Referendum C's timeout on TABOR refunds - a position that could come back to haunt him if the economy heats up.
McInnis talks as if he will identify major waste or inefficiencies once he dives into the budget and reviews property leases, credit card use, management of state lands and buildings, and so forth. This is unlikely, to say the least. When pressed, he volunteers that more dramatic reform is inevitable. "We are going to have to do with less," he says. "We are going to have to make very hard decisions between what we want and what we need. . . . We are going to have to downsize."
Yes, we are - absent new sources of revenue or a visit from a very wealthy leprechaun. And at some point next summer or fall, McInnis should be expected to tell us how. [Pols emphasis]
We've seen a noticeable change from the media in recent months in regards to how they cover politicians and their talking points about the budget. Reporters and columnists are no longer letting them get away with broad generalities about how "we need to just cut more" without saying exactly what we could cut that hasn't already been decimated. Politicians are no longer getting away with boldly claiming "no new taxes" when the stark reality is that Colorado needs some kind of new revenue, and soon.
So kudos to those reporters and other media folks who are keeping a closer eye on the reality of our state's troubled budget and ignoring empty statements. Telling the public that we can just cut our way out of the problem and won't need new revenue isn't just disingenuous -- it's downright dangerous. Whoever ends up as Governor in 2011 is going to have a lot of work to do, and they are going to need the support of the general public to turn the budget around.
UPDATE: More editorial boards weigh in after the jump.
