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Governor faces more congenial CACI crowd

By David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Gov. Bill Ritter's speech before the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry on Thursday was noteworthy for what wasn't said.

A year ago, Ritter faced an unhappy business crowd that was watching a Democratic-controlled legislature advance a bill expanding union powers. He was noncommittal on the bill at the luncheon and ultimately vetoed it in a surprise move.

No such tension existed Thursday.

"We have concerns about the national economy, but we in Colorado have been doing everything we can to separate ourselves from (that)," Ritter said, outlining efforts in aerospace, tourism and renewable energy.

Ritter reviewed his agenda in a frenetically paced speech, highlighting health care, transportation and education.

He said the "conversation" about raising the state's severance tax continues, and "that conversation is certainly going to involve industry - it is a wide- open conversation, a very dynamic conversation." He said he expected something to emerge in the middle or late-middle part of the legislative session.

Ritter didn't touch on labor or union issues. Given the chance, the audience didn't, either: The three questions posed to Ritter focused on partisan politics, math and science education, and relations with the federal government.

The governor's executive order last year giving collective bargaining rights to state employees went unremarked upon.