Author: Miller Hudson
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Amendment S — It’s like a Trojan horse masquerading as a carousel pony
The American Constitution is admired for its introduction of checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. The opportunity for obstruction and delay this creates has frustrated reformers of every stripe, yet it was the stated intention of our founding fathers that they should guard public policy against the popular whims…
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Randy Atkinson was admired from both sides of the aisle
Randy Atkinson has been hanging around the Legislature for so many years it’s difficult to accept the fact he won’t be back for the next session. His death at 60 caught both friends and foes by surprise. President of the Colorado Professional Firefighters Association since 2006, Randy has been the lobbying voice of firefighters for…
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Bledsoe understood the Legislature better than anyone else at the Capitol
Whenever politicians step into mud puddles of their own making, wags are quick to label them as “poster boys or girls” for term limits. Carl “Bev” Bledsoe, to his credit, was a poster boy for the advantages of seniority and lengthy legislative service. There simply aren’t adequate adjectives to characterize his political skills. Bev was…
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Ted Strickland was a public servant, in the very best sense, and he will be missed
I learned of Ted Strickland’s passing with genuine regret. He represented a generation of Republican leaders who still believed in the importance of government and the positive role it can and should play in all our lives. Unlike many in the current crop of Republican legislators, who would have Colorado voters believe government is our…
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How long can troops remain loyal to a leader who shows little loyalty towards them?
During the Watergate fiasco, one interview stamped itself on my memory. Larry O’Brien was the national chairman of the Democratic Party, and it was his office that was broken into my Richard Nixon’s “plumbers.” O’Brien had a long political career in Massachusetts which concluded with his appointment as the manager for both John Kennedy and…
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State bureaucrats once again dodged meaningful analysis of compensation issues
The Hickenlooper administration raised several hundred thousand dollars in order to survey state employees about their jobs. The results are now summarized on the Department of Personnel and Administration’s (DPA) website. It’s a good thing taxpayer dollars weren’t wasted on this effort. The questions read like they were dreamed up at a blissed out, New…
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Freda Poundstone played her politics as a full contact sport — rugby not badminton
When I was sworn into the Colorado Legislature in January 1979, whether one loved her or feared her, everyone at the State Capitol knew Freda Poundstone. As a Denver Democrat, I arrived abundantly aware that she was particularly reviled for her Poundstone Amendment to the Colorado constitution. She had, nearly single-handedly, applied the brakes to…
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The notion of Hickenlooper for President is brewing with possibilities
If the Hancock media team really wants to raise our new Mayor’s national profile they could do worse than to take a lesson from Governor Hickenlooper. It doesn’t get any better for a Democrat than snagging a shout out from George Will. As the dean of (establishment, not Tea Party) conservative punditry, Will’s recent column…
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Labor Days of the past and present
For most Americans Labor Day is the bookend summer holiday which closes the family vacation months that begin each year with Memorial Day. Not one in a thousand could tell you it was established by a unanimous vote of Congress in 1894. Fewer still would know why such consensus prevailed. Suffice it to say that…
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Searching for someone to blame for the economic crisis in the 21st Century
When I went to work for AT&T as a management intern, fresh out of college, the Bell System was a highly unionized monopoly. Lily Tomlin was launching her comedy career as Ernestine, the telephone company operator who would blithely inform callers, “We don’t care, because we don’t have to.” Americans could order their telephones in…