Two days. Two speeches. Two vastly different tones.
On Thursday, Republican Gov. Bill Owens gave his final State of the State speech. He didn’t compromise his conservative values. Neither did he insult his opponents.
Owens’ forceful, but polite, invitation to solve problems stood in contrast to the spew issued Wednesday by Republican House Minority Leader Joe Stengel.
Stengel’s speech on the General Assembly’s opening day covered the same conservative philosophical ground as Owens’. But for shrillness, it came with everything except foam at the mouth.
On Thursday, Owens warned the Democrat-controlled legislature that new revenue produced by the passage of Referendum C was “an opportunity to make prudent investments in priorities – not rebuild government bureaucracy.”
On Wednesday, Stengel warned that “special-interest groups are already lining up at the trough. … Many think this should be their payoff not only for supporting Referendum C but also for helping a year ago to elect a new majority in the legislature.”
Owens pointed to recent budget cuts for road-building and made a case for getting $80 million extra from the general fund for transportation, something the Democrats say wasn’t set out in Ref. C.
A day earlier, Stengel complained that “for some, there will never be enough money.” Obviously, he was not talking about his party’s governor.
Owens proposed to streamline and save money on health care. For poor kids, he called for an agency named Colorado Family Care. For Medicaid patients, he endorsed “a telemedicine pilot program.”
Stengel attacked labor unions.
Owens focused on overhauling the state’s Public Employees Retirement Association, which faces more than $11 billion in unfunded liabilities. Owens talked about lower pensions for new state hires, increased retirement ages and pension cuts for some existing state employees.
Stengel focused on windfall increases in severance taxes, which are tied to prices of oil and natural gas. Then, he railed about “a spending spree the likes of which this state has never seen before.”
Owens spoke of finding a way to let immigrants work legally at jobs that aren’t being filled by Americans.
Stengel talked of police “identifying and detaining illegal aliens when stopping them for other infractions.”
Owens didn’t talk about personal attacks. Stengel did. He decried Democrats who had referred to Republicans as “demagogues.” His criticism came a few minutes after he proclaimed, “My side of the aisle does not think it smart to become like New York or California.”
I asked Stengel if the governor had said the same things as he did in gentler fashion.
“Well, maybe so,” he replied. “I’m the minority leader. He’s the governor.”
Did that mean the tone of the speeches had to be different? I wondered.
“My speech is over. His speech is over. That’s for you to decide.”
Actually, it’s for all members of the legislature to decide.
Owens chose to act like a statesman, not a partisan fire breather. Rep Mike May, the assistant minority leader, claimed Stengel didn’t have that option.
“We’re in the trenches down here,” May said on the floor of the House after Owens’ speech. “I think Rep. Stengel wanted to point out, in particular, the differences between the parties and where we were headed. The governor has a different job. The minority leader’s job would bring about a different kind of speech than the governor.”
It doesn’t have to, said Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, who was on hand for the governor’s talk.
Owens set out a conservative agenda Thursday, Salazar said. But Owens “wasn’t trying to be offensive or divisive. I think that’s good. The way you have good (legislative) sessions is if you bring people together.”
For Colorado politicians – regardless of party or position – that should mean one thing: speeches that provide more fresh air than hot air.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
