So much for a legislative session that is focused tightly on jobs, jobs, jobs, as Democratic leadership intended.
Instead, Sen. Suzanne Williams and Rep. Nancy Todd, both Aurora Democrats, steered the party’s agenda wildly off course with their plan to fine high schools $1,000 a month if they don’t get state approval of their American Indian mascots. Sen. Williams says she doesn’t want to ban all Indian mascots, she just wants communities to have a “healthy dialogue about their heritage.”
We’re all for that, but there are better ways to go about it than punitive state legislation, especially in a year with so many other critical issues. However, their proposal, Senate Bill 107, garnered front-page attention in The Post and hundreds of online comments and blog posts. So, on the positive side for the Democrats, at least no one is talking about budget cuts and the bad economy anymore.
This highway project still brought to you by Gov. Bill Ritter. Sort of. Statehouse Republicans tried, but failed, to prevent more of those unnecessary roadside signs that inform passersby that each highway project is paid for with federal stimulus dollars. Democrats shot down their effort in a House committee, saying the signs were necessary for transparency and to show motorists the state can’t afford to do its own road repairs. Colorado has wasted $247,000 in stimulus money to post those signs at 100 construction sites. Granted, it’s a tiny fraction of total stimulus dollars, but the money could have been better used putting more Americans back “to work,” as the signs imply. And for no apparent reason, the bottom of the signs also read: “Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.” What’s with the free Ritter advertisement? Isn’t this President Obama’s largess at work anyway?
You can run, John Edwards … but you can’t hide from the National Enquirer. Nor can you ever win again. Turns out, despite all of his protestations, the former North Carolina senator and presidential wannabe fathered a child out of wedlock. Democrats should be thanking their lucky stars for those inquiring minds at the Enquirer. Without the supermarket tabloid’s revelations about Edwards’ affair and ensuing love child, the Dems could have found themselves stuck with a scandal-plagued president. Edwards was behind in the polls but left the 2008 race shortly after rumors of his affair surfaced.
Short Takes is compiled by Denver Post editorial writers and expresses the view of the newspaper’s editorial board.
