February 16, 2006 09:00 AM UTC

Average Voter Guy Chimes In

• 2 Comments
• by: avguy

Editor’s Note: Our old pal Average Voter Guy (AVG) is back, by popular demand, to give a non-partisan, non-political analysis of a few of this week’s news items. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring AVG back more than just once every few months. For more background on AVG, CLICK HERE.

We asked AVG to provide his perspective on a couple of this week’s stories, and here are his thoughts on two of them…

Average Voter Guy on the latest gubernatorial poll results from The Denver Post:

Ever since Britney Spears teenage virginity was revealed as a cruel, devious lie, I have been skeptical of early and partially informed reports. For similar reasons, Ill wait to see where these favorability ratings go. Who knows what metaphorical hip-hop dancers these candidates have on the horizon.

Two things from this story stand out to me: first, the abortion issue. Ill preface my interpretation by saying that abortion has always been a complementary issue to me  meaning, a position on abortion is part of a candidates portfolio, and a part worth considering, but Ive always been surprised that it becomes the central issue. I understand the media focus to some extent, since it seems to be one of the few issues everyone has an opinion about, but is that really THE most important thing we ask of our elected officials? But enough of the tangent. The point here is that a position on abortion is something I consider, but not the deciding factor  and Im still intrigued that Ritter could be criticized for his abortion stance yet lead with women voters. That makes me think twice about him.

Second, Ritters significant edge in oppositional party support speaks loudly to me. If Broncos fans pull for the Chiefs, I assume theres a good reason why.

I do not, however, see Ritter as the favorite at this point. He has to absorb some punches first.

Its best to mention Holzman as an afterthought, since thats what he seems like in the Post story. Party affiliation aside, hes the Nader of this scenario.

Average Voter Guy on Rep. Joe Stengel billing for significantly more hours worked than his colleagues:

Prior to this story, I thought only disrespected professional athletes gave 110%, so Im glad to know at least one elected official has a similar work ethic. You can question many things, but 110% effort is not one of them.

If someone asked me if $24,000 seemed like too much to bill, I would probably say sure. But given the billions and trillions tossed around like slow-pitch softball at the national level, the appropriate scale for someone in Stengels position is completely lost on me. All I can do is compare, and Romanoffs $14,355 is a distant second. Red flag, at the least.

But Stengel didnt lose me there  its his response. When my naivete gets the better of me, I assume all elected lawmakers take their job seriously and perform leadership duties. Could Stengel have thrown an under-informed dog a bone and told me what, exactly, demanded so much more of his time than was demanded of his peers? Or even responded politely? At least hes right on one point: we can indeed make changes.

Of course, all is forgiven if Romanoff admits next week, You know, I probably give about 70%. And thats only on Mondays.