Eviction of the “Denver 3” from Bush forum
Re: “White House should apologize,” March 6 editorial.
The White House is fully justified in the eviction of the three critics from President Bush’s 2005 public forum in Denver. If anyone owes an apology, it is certainly not the White House. It is right and proper for the Bush administration to take whatever action is necessary to protect the president from possible troublemakers. The facts indicate that this was indeed the case. This is hardly a “wanton trampling of free speech rights,” as you suggest. On the contrary, the language of the critics does not even suggest free speech. It is, in essence, an example of the extreme hatred of the left towards this administration. Your editorial is a case in point.
Brian Stuckey, Denver
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As I was reading your editorial, I couldn’t help but wonder when The Denver Post will apologize. In 2004, it was clear to anyone paying attention that the Bush administration is corrupt, has lied repeatedly to the American people, and has mired us in an unnecessary war of choice. And that’s the short list. Yet whom did The Denver Post endorse for president in 2004? George W. Bush. You seem to have no problem asking for apologies from others. When will you step up to the plate with your own?
Lawrence Jones, Conifer
Owens administration’s questionable contracts
Re: “State job contracts were inappropriate,” Feb. 22 editorial.
The Denver Post took issue with a decision I and several other cabinet officials in the Owens administration made with regarding a contract provision for about 20 state employees.
The implication was that “political appointees” would become permanently entrenched into the state personnel system. This just isn’t true. The contract provision simply states that if the current one-year contract is not extended for the next fiscal year, these career state employees can revert back to their prior classification. I signed eight of these “safe harbor” contracts, all for individuals who were state employees before I came to the department. Two were division directors under Gov. Roy Romer and another was a 30-year state employee.
These individuals are not political appointees but career state employees with expertise to run technical programs. In all cases, they achieved their position through a merit-based selection process. Contracts in other departments were to career employees as well. For example, all 13 of the contracts at the Department of Transportation were for employees with 10 to 33 years of experience and all pre-dated the Owens administration.
It also should be pointed out that these employees are provided no salary protection, and the current Ritter administration can significantly reduce their compensation through any new contract.
My decision to grant these contract provisions to eight career state employees was to ensure that they did not become political footballs. If one wishes to disagree with that decision, fine, but the decision was made with the goal of making sure that technical state programs would continue to operate with trained experts.
When Gov. Bill Ritter reaches the end of his tenure, be it four or eight years from now, his administration will face this same problem. His solution may be slightly different, but his goal for continuing efficient government services will be the same.
Jeff Wells, Former Executive Director, Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration
Conviction of Cheney’s former chief of staff
Re: “Verdict turns all eyes to Cheney,” March 7 editorial.
Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, was convicted by a jury of his peers on lying and obstruction of justice. What many people may have forgotten is that Mr. Libby and his superiors destroyed a Central Intelligence Agency agent’s cover and a front business that dealt specifically with weapons of mass destruction proliferation.
This administration is wont to say that we are engaged in a “global war on terrorism,” but the reality is far different in the actual actions that have hurt American security.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has tried terrorist cases before and has the experience to know how to lay out the uncontrovertible facts of Libby and this administration in obstructing justice.
The arc of history bends slowly towards justice, and on Tuesday, justice was served.
Kenneth DeBacker, Denver
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Re: “Bush should punish, not pardon, Libby,” March 7 editorial.
Which is the worst crime:
1. Scooter Libby lying about leaking the name of Valerie Wilson, a CIA operative and the wife of Joseph Wilson, to news reporters.
2. Someone in the Bush administration actually leaking that Valerie Wilson was a CIA agent and the wife of Joseph Wilson.
3. Someone in the Bush administration trying to get back at Joseph Wilson by leaking his wife’s name because he wrote an article saying the administration’s claim that Niger was providing Iraq with nuclear material was not true.
4. Someone in the Bush administration telling the American people, when they knew it wasn’t true, that Niger was providing nuclear material to Iraq so the United States would have a reason for going to war with Iraq.
5. Someone in the Bush administration dreaming up and pushing the idea to tell the American people that Niger was sending nuclear material to Iraq so we, the American people, would be afraid that a nuclear cloud would get us and we would tell Congress to vote for going to war with Iraq.
Maybe we should demand more prosecutions and maybe impeachments.
Art Cornell, Littleton
Using prisoners for Colorado farm labor
Let me get this straight. The people in prison committed a crime. Their punishment is free room and board for a certain number of months or years. Why is it not possible to find some way for them to honestly earn their living and learn a skill at the same time? Some prisons have successfully had dairy farms, furniture shops, and I even heard of one where the inmates learned the bakery trade. Slave labor? I think not. In our local jail, an inmate was permitted to use a plot of land to grow garden vegetables for the meals. Chain gangs, breaking up big rocks into small ones, picking up litter along the highway, are acceptable labor for prisoners. Farm labor is hot, but so are other options. Making license plates has always been an option. Let the men who are living free at public expense be given the opportunity to truly pay their debt to society.
Barbara S. Brooks, Fort Morgan
Fed up with “take-no-prisoners” politics
Re: “‘Rove 2.0’ elected to lead Colorado’s Republicans,” March 4 news story.
Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, stated of newly elected state Republican Party chair Dick Wadhams, “He’s the meanest, roughest, toughest take-no-prisoners SOB we can get.”
I can’t imagine anyone thinking those attributes are a good thing. Great people won’t run for office because of the dishonest, win-at-any-cost campaign tactics we are seeing. The political landscape is becoming a war zone rather than a public forum. A take-no-prisoners strategy has nothing to do with candidates’ platforms, credentials or passion to serve. People are fed up with political strategists who run unethical campaigns.
Cami Hay, Fort Collins
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