On Point: Unfettered ambition

Published June 21, 2006 at midnight

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Marc Holtzman, self-proclaimed Reaganite extraordinaire, has decided that perhaps his last political act in Colorado will be to ask the state Supreme Court to indulge in a brazen exercise of judicial activism. He wants the court to rewrite from the bench the law governing how candidates secure a place on the statewide ballot, nullifying the requirement that he gather 1,500 signatures in each congressional district.

What an ironic end to the political career of a man who claims he is the only true conservative in the race for governor. Also a sad end, because Holtzman is a genuinely talented, likable guy - if the sort of man, it seems, for whom the term "naked ambition" may have been coined.

No one who runs for governor is unambitious, and everyone who runs is a risk-taker willing to throw the dice. But in Holtzman's case, ambition and risk-taking seem to have been on steroids the past few months. They've propelled him into scorched-earth tactics that now conclude with a clever legal argument for why the high court should ignore the plain language of the law.

Ronald Reagan, Holtzman's hero, believed "it was the role of the judge to interpret the law, not to pre-empt the rights of the people and their legislatures by making the law" (October 1987). Holtzman no doubt believed this, too - until ambition turned his head.

An untapped treasure

You may have noticed the recent clash on these pages between the News and 2nd District Rep. Mark Udall over offshore drilling for natural gas. It began with an editorial lamenting "shortsighted lawmakers and hidebound greens" who can't bring themselves to support drilling for clean-burning gas far offshore where the rigs can't even be seen.

Their real agenda, the editorial suggested, is to choke off virtually all new domestic fossil fuel production while beating the drum against supposedly rapacious Big Oil.

Not so, protested Udall, whose letter we published June 6. "Drilling in additional outer continental shelf areas may be justified with the right safeguards," the congressman maintained, "but that has not been properly established . . . "

Studying Udall's letter, you get the feeling the "right safeguards" might be rather hard to pin down, but the purpose here is not to revisit that debate. It's to recount a conversation I later had with the congressman, in which I asked about the possibility of a compromise on energy that would provide both sides with something that had eluded their grasp for years: for liberals, to cite one possibility, higher mileage standards for automobiles; for conservatives, say, the opening of part of the continental shelf to energy production.

Udall said yes, he did believe sentiment was growing for a grand energy compromise containing goals from both sides of the aisle, and that he at least would be willing to consider one. Let's hope he has plenty of company. Because if he doesn't, we may never see an end to a self-destructive policy blocking access to offshore oil and gas reserves that are, by any estimate, nothing less than huge.

Reality check

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey says his "search for meaning and purpose led me into the counterculture movement of the late 1960s and 1970s," which in turn propelled him to found an organic foods market called Safer Way.

Mackey explained what happened next in a speech he gave in Las Vegas three years ago at FreedomFest. "Safer Way managed to lose half of its capital in the first year - $23,000," he said. "Despite the loss, we were still accused of exploiting our customers with high prices and our employees with low wages. The investors weren't making a profit and we had no money to donate. Plus, with our losses, we paid no taxes. I had somehow joined the 'dark side' - I was now one of the bad guys. According to the perspective of the left, I had become a greedy and selfish businessman. At this point, I rationally chose to abandon the leftist philosophy of my youth, because it no longer adequately explained how the world really worked."

Mackey's pronouncements on capitalism often reveal a man somewhat full of himself. In this case, however, they reveal a fellow in touch with basic economic truth.

Vincent Carroll, editor of the editorial pages, writes On Point several times a week. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.

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