December 03, 2009 12:45 AM UTC

Say What You Will About Ritter...

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• by: Colorado Pols

Given an easy chance to equivocate and get defensive, like a Democrat making an appearance in hostile El Paso County might be expected to do, Governor Bill Ritter held his own yesterday in defense of recent painful budget cuts and fee hikes–as the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Ritter said he knew that the budget cuts were unpopular, but added that he tried to spread them across the board so everybody would experience an equal amount of pain…

Ritter was the keynote speaker at a three-day conference of Colorado Counties, Inc. under way at the Crowne Plaza. After delivering his speech, county officials marched up to microphones to question him.

Among the first to line up were El Paso County commissioners Amy Lathen and Sallie Clark, who have been sharp critics of the governor’s policies.

Lathen asked the governor if he would work with county officials to repeal the FASTER legislation, which was approved by the Legislature during the 2009 session and will raise vehicle registration fees for many vehicles by $41 over the next three years. She also asked Ritter if he would fight a proposed vehicle mileage travel tax that will likely resurface in the Legislature next year.

Ritter said he had no plans to repeal FASTER, which essentially means that drivers will pay the equivalent of one extra tank of gas annually. The funds, he said, will be used to repair the state’s roads and bridges…

Clark, who is county chairwoman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, also queried the governor about cuts to local social services programs and a proposal by a blue-ribbon panel to consolidate human services. “When the state keeps pushing the burden down to the local level, how are we to keep our safety nets operating?” Clark asked.

Ritter, who is  a blunt speaker, reiterated that everybody has to share in the pain. “This is what’s demanded of the times,” he said.

Unbelievable–do you think it would have been interesting if Amy Lathen had asked fellow Commissioner Sallie Clark if the gubernatorial candidate Clark works for, Scott McInnis, is willing to commit to repealing those same FASTER vehicle registration fees? Might the fact that McInnis is himself in mid-flip flop over FASTER have complicated the faux outrage parade from his supporters? Just a little? In fact, doesn’t it seem like brazen hypocrisy to you?

Folks, there’s no better venue to drive this irresponsible hubris home than El Paso County, whose decades-long experiment with self-justified tax cuts is now a model for how not to govern. And good for Ritter to bluntly remind them of their neglect–how many bridges in El Paso County again?

It’s what Ritter needs to hit back with every time his election-minded detractors “march up to the microphones”–what’s your alternative? How will you maintain core services? What will you cut? As McInnis showed with remarkable quickness backing away from his own “Contract “Platform” last week, their rejoinders are wanting.