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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2006-06-13

Stray Thoughts

CO GOP "PRIMARY"

A Denver judge gave Marc Holtzman a spot on the Aug. 8 Republican primary ballot Friday, even though the courts have yet to determine if he has enough valid signatures to qualify for the primary.

The decision by Denver District Judge R. Michael Mullins gave Holtzman's gubernatorial campaign a boost, even though Mullins said that if he is disqualified from the ballot, any votes cast for him will not be counted.

So while Holtzman has been spending all his time for two weeks fighting just to get his name on the ballot--maybe--and guaranteeing that Bob Bauprez has to spend time and energy on the primary, Bill Ritter has managed to out-fundraise both GOP candidates combined for the last two months, and he picked up the endorsement of some Republicans who supported Ref C last fall. Great.

DOES THE GOVERNOR MATTER?

The proposed ballot initiative would prohibit illegal immigrants in Colorado from receiving all taxpayer-funded public services except those required by the federal government - K-12 education, emergency medical care and assistance in the event of a public safety emergency.
Defend Colorado Now did not outline exactly what services would be prohibited, choosing instead to leave that decision - and how the measure would be enforced - to the legislature.
But in a 4-2 opinion, with one justice abstaining, the Supreme Court ruled Monday the proposed constitutional amendment violates a requirement that ballot questions deal only with one subject [emph. mine].

In the majority opinion, Justice Alex J. Martinez wrote that the measure asks voters to approve two subjects: decreasing taxpayer funds for medical and social services, and restricting "administrative services" such as registering a vehicle or filing property deeds with the county recorder.

To put it just right:

The Colorado Supreme Court embarrassed itself Monday by apparently letting its political predilections determine an important decision. . . .

The court really had to reach to find that second subject, prompting us to conclude it worked backward from the finding it wanted instead of forward from the arguments made.
The court killed the proposal despite approving virtually identical language two years ago without dissent. That proposal never made the 2004 ballot because sponsors couldn't gather the signatures in time.

AND, FINALLY, THE REAL REASON OUR SCHOOLS STRUGGLE

The Colorado Department of Education has served notice on 19 teacher-training programs that it's time to bring their curriculums into the 21st century.

Two programs, at Adams State College and the University of Northern Colorado, which were up for reaccreditation this year, were told that they would get only a one-year, conditional approval rather than the usual unconditional five. And the private University of Phoenix was turned down entirely . . .

Once upon a time, the University of Northern Colorado was THE teacher training school in the region, and it still enjoys an outstanding reputation--not to mention that it still turns out a sizable portion of the new teachers in Colorado every year.

Which means a sizable portion of the new teachers every year are unprepared for their profession. Which means nothing, in the real world. But in the education world, it means no chance of being dismissed for doing a poor job, coupled with the "mistakes" being victimizing a whole generation of students.

Great.
Posted by: Michael / 6/13/2006 12:39:00 AM

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