November 03, 2009 07:06 PM UTC

A Shovel For Josh Penry

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• by: Colorado Pols

Grand Junction Sentinel columnist Bill Grant follows up on last week’s spat between gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry and Speaker Terrance Carroll over the Governor’s Energy Office–Grant, like us, finds it a little odd that Penry wants to cut this particular line-item, which seems to be awfully productive relative to its teensy non-General Fund budget:

Josh Penry’s suggestion that it might be time to abolish the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) may backfire. Rather than exposing a “silo of patronage,” his remark has brought attention to “the single brightest light in our economy,” as House Speaker Terrance Carroll called the energy office.

Rather than a drain on resources that might go “for essential services like schools, roads and public safety,” as Penry charges, the GEO costs nothing from the General Fund that pays for these needs.

In a breakdown of GEO funding, Colorado Pols reports that $1.1 million of its $1.6 million budget comes from the federal government. The remainder comes from gaming and severance taxes via the state’s Clean Energy Fund. None of these funds could be diverted to balance the budget.

The GEO has also become a significant economic driver for the state, particularly since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus bill. As the Denver Business Journal reports, the GEO “will be awash in federal economic stimulus money.” Over the next three years, the GEO will disburse $138.8 million to stimulate jobs, increase renewable energy use and reduce energy use…

In addition to federal stimulus spending, Rep. Carroll points out, “In the past few weeks alone, SMA Solar Technology, SunRun Solar, Siemens Wind and RePower have all announced plans to create new jobs here. Vestas’ Colorado workforce will total 2,500 by this time next year. Xcel Energy just yesterday announced a new solar-expansion plan that will create thousands of new private sector jobs.”

“Closing the governor’s energy office would be a ridiculous idea,” Gov. Ritter said, “Given how fruitful we’ve been in luring companies here to be part of our energy economy.”

…Josh Penry damaged his credibility when he distorted facts and figures to accuse Gov. Ritter of going on a hiring binge during an economic downturn. His uninformed and unsubstantiated attack on the GEO continues this pattern.

We haven’t seen a statewide candidate continue to do this much self-inflicted damage since, really, Bob Beauprez. Penry has a ways to go to fall into that class of bumbling, but he’s trying like hell.