Ritter's big ideas lauded, but GOP asks about funding

Speech calls for steady progress in schools, health

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 11, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Photo by Ken Papaleo © The Rocky

Gov. Bill Ritter gives his State of the State speech at the Capitol. He focused on health care, economic development and education reform. He proposed an initiative to align content standards for pre-school through high school with standards for college admission.

Gov. Bill Ritter got the applause he sought during his second State of the State address Thursday when he unveiled an ambitious plan to align content standards for preschool through high school with standards for college admission.

His proposals for economic development, public safety and renewable energy also found a warm reception.

But while Democrats called his speech a visionary call to action on many fronts, Republicans criticized Ritter for leaving out talk of how he'd pay for his big-ticket goals during his 53-minute speech.

Ritter steered clear of making any far-reaching proposals in the areas of health care, transportation or higher education funding - the topics he has called the state's largest needs.

"These are all high-priority issues, as is continuing broad-based discussions on how best to address conflicting provisions in our state's Constitution," he said. "But we aren't going to come up with big fixes in all of those areas all at once. It would be a fool's errand to even try."

Ritter proposed steady, across- the-board progress, especially in education and health care.

Education plan welcomed

"If ever there was a place to be bold and ambitious, to push hard and fast against the status quo, (education) is it," he said.

His bipartisan "Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids," which would basically take the education system apart and put it back together, was broadly received as a good, ambitious proposal.

Instead of passing a set number of courses to graduate, students would have to demonstrate competency in key areas, such as math or English.

He also reiterated his plans, announced this fall, to implement some of the recommendations from his P-20 Council. The suggestions include expanding full-day kindergarten, eliminating the 3,000-child waiting list for the Colorado Pre-School Program and creating a Colorado Counselor Corps to deploy 70 guidance counselors into targeted middle and high schools.

Issue of freeze ongoing

Republicans mostly held their applause there, showing their opposition to Ritter's plan to fund those programs with the property tax freeze the governor pushed through the legislature last year.

Republicans have sued, calling it a tax hike without the public vote required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The latest figures show the freeze will allow the state to keep an estimated $3.8 billion over the next 10 years that it otherwise would have had to return to taxpayers under a 1994 school finance law.

Ritter said his goal remains that all Coloradans have access to basic health care, but he stopped short of repeating the 2010 deadline he gave during his first State of the State a year ago.

"People are frustrated that Washington has failed to craft a national solution," he said. "Maybe a new president changes that. But in Colorado, we won't wait for reforms to come from Washington. Instead, we will make smart changes to the system and do what we can afford as we work toward our long-term goals."

The Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform plans to report to lawmakers on Jan. 31 that it would cost $1.1 billion to cover almost all of Colorado's 785,000 uninsured.

No one under the Capitol dome anticipates the state coming up with that kind of money this year. And Ritter shied from any grand proposals, focusing instead on enrolling 17,000 more children into the state children's health insurance program, getting children immunized, and directing a team to hold meetings with insurance companies, hospitals and physicians on how to drive down the costs of quality health care.

Ritter also stayed in line with Democratic lawmakers by folding the topics of transportation and higher education funding under the broader umbrella of economic development.

New phase in energy

He thanked his blue ribbon transportation panel, which has worked over the past year and determined the state needs to increase road and bridge funding by as much as $2 billion per year to accommodate population growth.

He also said that the Department of Higher Education was finally working closely with college presidents on a long-term funding strategy.

Ritter highlighted the state's progress over the last year on renewable energy, saying the state is headed in a new direction. He announced a new phase, "bringing home the new energy economy." Those plans include creating a Colorado Carbon Fund, residential solar and insulation incentives and tools to help businesses and citizens reduce their carbon footprints.

Democrats, environmentalists and health care advocates praised Ritter's speech.

"He hit it out of the park," said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver. "The governor emphasized the bread-and-butter priorities that keep people up at night."

Republicans gave Ritter credit for his work on the environment, and they took credit for his proposal to raise the bar on education. But House Minority Leader Mike May criticized him for hinting at "a virtual buffet of taxing opportunities" without promising not to raise taxes and fees.

"In last year's speech there was no mention of a property tax hike and we got one," he said. "And last year he didn't mention unionizing the state employees and we got that done. So we'll see where he actually governs vs. the speech."

May acknowledged that it will be hard for the GOP to outright block Ritter and the Democrats' agenda. Democrats outnumber Republicans, 40-25 in the House and 20-15 in the Senate.

"We'll be noisy - that's our job" as the opposition party, May said, comparing the loyal opposition to an ankle-biting Chihuahua. "Sometimes it's our duty to say: 'Are we going down the right road?' "

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059 Staff Writer Alan Gathright contributed to this report.

Reactions to the speech

* "I think you heard a lot of common ground, where Republicans and Democrats will work together, but I didn't hear a lot of new ground being covered. I didn't hear a lot of the details behind the ideas."

Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma

* "It was incredibly inspiring for me to know that all the things I've worked on over the past seven years are coming to pass."

Rep. Alice Madden, D-Boulder

* "He's been in full retreat from any of the broad-based, sweeping solutions that he proposed last year. I feel we need to declare victory to a certain extent, that the governor has heard us out and he is taking a much more go- slow approach. I'm delighted to see him backing away from radical broad-based schemes that are risky to the people of Colorado."

Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs

* "We were delighted with his bright sunny forecast for Colorado's new energy economy and we're glad that he embraced the Go Solar initiative to make Colorado's abundant sun resources accessible and affordable to all Coloradans."

Elise Jones, executive director, Colorado Environmental Coalition

* "It is great that the governor is being so stubbornly persistent about addressing health care and keeping it front and center."

Dede de Percin, executive director, Colorado Consumer Health Initiative

"* He's put a stake in the ground and he has given us a very clear direction of where we're headed as a state and it's a model that has broad, bipartisan support."

State Treasurer Cary Kennedy

* "State of the State speeches are opportunities for chief executives to paint pastoral landscapes using broad brush strokes, and like every other governor in the nation, ours has done so with some extra dabs of green, that political hue of the day. Small business only asks that whatever Gov. Ritter's 'New Energy Economy' might portend, it results in more green in the landscape and not less from the all-too-thin wallets of mom-and-pop firms and their employees."

Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business

• January 10, 2008

  12:39 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  LoFat writes:

  College graduates who think that the Reniassance is nothing more than a fair in Parker, who do not have the mathematical skills to balance a checkbook, and cannot read an instructional manual aimed at a tenth-grader.

  Health care, an issue guaranteeing government subsidized care to the welfare class unwilling to work for a living, paid for by taxes. The working man is now taxed to the point that he cannot afford health care for his own family.

  These are the most obvious failures of our current entitlement system. Restore INTEGRITY and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

  Socialism has failed all over the world but our Liberal politicians think they can make it work here. I refer you to George Orwell's book "Animal Farm". Beware the "Napoleons" that wish to institute and run these programs for you

• January 10, 2008

  12:42 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  LoFat writes:

  "All Animals are created equal. Some are just more equal than others." George Orwell in "Animal Farm"

• January 10, 2008

  1:09 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  skinny writes:

  Actually the Reniassance is a festival in LARKSPUR. How about teaching ENGLISH ONLY to foreign (re:illegal) students and cracking down on companies in Colorado that hire illegal aliens. It's time victims of illegal alien crime start suing the people who employ them.

• January 10, 2008

  3 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  CWW writes:

  Hey, Guv, WHAT ABOUT THE ILLEGALS!!! I notice that none of the presidential candidates are talking about the illegal problem either. Do they think the issue will just go away if they ignore it?

• January 10, 2008

  3:25 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  slamky writes:

  ritter is a democRAT so he only wants to sell out his country to the highest bidder and murder unborn babies.

• January 10, 2008

  5:52 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  HollyGoLightly writes:

  After paying $6700 in medical bills for my family (on top of what our insurance paid), I'll be damned if I'm taxed one red cent to pay on a medical bill for some illegal.

• January 10, 2008

  6:03 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Beverley writes:

  It makes me nervous to think how how much, exactly, each taxing-paying family will have to pay for the uninsured. I pay $1,200 each month for my family's health insurance. The only way that the uninsured will be covered is to get the money from us. This means my taxes will go up to get these folks insurance. The justification will be that we pay for them anyway, through increased premiums, and that if we pay for the uninsured, our insurance costs will go down. This was the argument the government made when they revamped auto insurance, but my car insurance never went down. Pretty dangerous slope we're headed down.

• January 10, 2008

  7:58 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  socrates writes:

  The argument trying to scapegoat our health care woes on illegal immigrants is wrong. Federal law (and I would hope, common decency) provides for emergency care regardless of legal status.

  Right now you are paying for uninsured. You pay for the uncompensated care at emergency rooms. But that's the most expensive type of care.

  By opposing health care for the uninsured, you're simply shifting higher costs to yourself and other insured people.

• January 10, 2008

  8:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Jimminy writes:

  What about Ismail Mena?

• January 10, 2008

  8:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Jimminy writes:

  What about Lisl Auman?

• January 10, 2008

  8:22 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Phillip writes:

  Really, people, just what did you expect when you elected this charlatan?

  Ritter is the typical leftist Democrat, who believes he and his socialist buddies can spend YOUR money better than YOU can.

  Next, they'll start rearranging the deck chairs, claim the lifeboats are under-funded, and want to charge extra for the upcoming excursion. Meanwhile... the ship is sinking, and we're going to need more than life-jackets. Hold on to your wallets, everyone.

• January 11, 2008

  6:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  vudumom writes:

  Free preshool is a horrible idea. If you can't have high quality Preschool what good is it? Your just wharehousing kids. The teacher pay is low and the turnover is high.I know I worked for different preschools and wouldn't send my hamster there for care.
  I opened my own Preschool and charged affordable fees. I was not out to make a huge amount of money. I started my Preschool because I got sick and tired of the way kids were being treated in Preschools. After I opened my business I never had an opening spot after a month. I took as many children as I could and sometimes went over the limit,but alot of my parents were single parents and my best clients.They appreciated that I didn't charge an arm and a leg . They could go to work and never worry about their children. I was told this over and over again by the parents.
  I had all children ready for kindergarten and all were actually past the kindergarten level. I got many notes from teachers at the schools thanking me for having the children ready and they never missed a homework assignment. After school every day would be round table homework. The children sat around this big round table doing homework and often helping each other.Every child that went through my school,( I had very little turnover most of the children were with me from the age of 2 until they could stay go home from school by themselves)all graduated,went to college,started their own businesses,one went into business with his father,one went to Culinary school,many are married and have their own children,one just became a new mother in November,and sadly my toughest kid I ever had in behavior and attitude,but he had a heart of gold is leaving for Iraq next week.I am still in touch with the majority of them.

  Preschool today is very expensive.The quality is not there.Not only that but why should the tax payers pay for free preschool for the poor children and expect high quality. Everybody knows once the government starts a tax payer funded program it is filled with cost overruns and top heavy and the program turns to crap. Why should we pay for a program to wharehouse poor people's children.Maybe one out of 50 Preschools are decent.This is a bad idea.I don't want to pay more taxes for it.
  They can't teach older kids in schools with degreed teachers. How do the expect to teach Preschool children that makes a difference?

• January 11, 2008

  7:20 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Bob299 writes:

  I am amazed how short everyone's memory is. Owens was governor for eight years, and the Republicans controlled the state legislature for decades. The Republican legacy is failing schools, hordes of illegal immigrants, a broken health care system, crumbling bridges, traffic congestion, and a slumping economy.

• January 11, 2008

  8:09 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  pamelaw writes:

  theQ to answer your question, NO. Governor Ritter and this Colorado State government want illegals here, afterall, Colorado is a sanctuary state. Yeah, I know they passed laws to stop the illegals coming here, but name 5 companies under the new laws starting Jan 1 of 2007 that were actually fined for hiring illegal aliens, doubt me, give me prove that any laws that were put into force starting Jan 1 2007 have been enforced. Go to any mobile home park, Mobile Home parks do not have rules and regs set down by either city, or state and pretty much have free rein to do whatever they wish. My mobile home park is inundated with illegals, as other parks that I have visited.

• January 11, 2008

  8:14 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  glowrock writes:

  Hey Sasquatch, I'll bet you're the first one to be against Ritter changing the absurdly-low severance tax rate natural resources companies pay for the value of energy extracted, eh? Wyoming makes about twice as much as Colorado per value of resources extracted, that's why they have more money. Not to mention of course, Wyoming has about 15% of our population...

• January 11, 2008

  8:15 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Bob299 writes:

  Maybe we should be like the Bush Administration: cut taxes, keep on spending, and run up the deficit. Thankfully the Chinese and Saudis are will to lend us money. It's great to know that our children's future has been mortgaged by foreign despots.

• January 11, 2008

  10:08 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Darwin writes:

  Bob299 and Froward69, I agree that the Republicans did little to address many of the issues and problems. That being said, the fact is the Democrats have done little when in majority. Without a viable third party (and even that may not solve the problem), things will continue to move in their contentious ways with little progress being made. It is time that people start thinking on their own and not be led by the thinking of the Dem leaders or the Repub leaders. The herds (sheep/Dems,Repubs) are getting larger and louder searching for a true leader that seems to be unavailable. Whatever happened to working together on problems and issues?

• January 11, 2008

  12:35 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Bob299 writes:

  Anyone wonder why the Republicans never did anything about the illegals? Cheap labor. They had to protect the bottom line of their corporate donors.

• January 11, 2008

  1:11 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  glowrock writes:

  1,100,000,000 / 785,000 = 1401.00

  Earl, you're a fool.

• January 11, 2008

  2:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Bob299 writes:

  Earl and Sasquatch are obviously products of Colorado's underfunded school system.

  South of Colorado is New Mexico, which was admitted to the United States on January 6, 1912. Those New Mexicans have been over-running out state for years. Let's build a wall!

• January 11, 2008

  4:50 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Diff writes:

  Lots of things that cost money! Some well worth it! But we cant do it all -
  I am just hoping we keep taxes in line and consider who we tax and how we raise the money!

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