Colorado Municipal League: Spend taxes electioneering?

(To meet space requirements, a shortened version of this commentary appeared in the 7-18-10 Longmont Times-Call letters column.)

Painful budget problems seem to have faded into a bad dream as hi ho, hi ho, it was off to the mountains they went, 450 officials representing Colorado towns and cities to attend the annual summer outing of the taxpayer-funded Colorado Municipal League, June 22-25 at Breckenridge.

Longmont tied with Glendale for sending the largest delegation: 14. Others from the region: Boulder 11, Loveland 8, Mead 7, Erie 7, Lafayette 6, Denver 4, Firestone 4, Dacono 4, Frederick 3, Berthoud 2; Louisville 1.

Annual CML dues for example: Longmont contributes $44,276; Glendale, $7,650; Boulder, $69,284; Loveland, $33,089; Mead, $1,229; Erie, $2,134; Lafayette, $12,636; Denver, $148,523; Firestone, $1,263; Dacono, $1,259; Frederick, $1,643; Berthoud, $2,771; Louisville, $16,169.

Longmont Mayor Bryan Baum and five council members attended: Sarah Levison, Sean McCoy, Alex Sammoury, Katie Witt and Gabe Santos. They all stayed two nights; each received $113.63 mileage reimbursement (227.26 miles @ $.50).

City manager Gordon Pedrow, assistant Sandi Seader (she was on the program), city attorney Eugene Mei and deputy attorney Jay Rourke also stayed two nights. Assistant attorneys Jeffrey Friedland and Ed Yosses stayed one night. Pedrow and Mei apparently drove city-issued vehicles. Mileage reimbursements: Rourke, $46,97; Friedland, $47.70; Yosses, $57.07; Seader, $56.50. Planner Benjamin Ortiz and purchasing manager Danielle Hinz were also on the program and didn’t stay overnight. Hinz was reimbursed $18.05 for one meal and Ortiz drew $113.63 mileage.

Total expense: $8,295.

After reading the Times-Call afterwards, I’d say Longmont got the biggest bang for its buck – in embarrassment, that is, as the struggle for power slopped over from Longmont into the nice mountain getaway. Having lived in six different communities myself (one of which I served as mayor and would not allow it to join CML), too many people who get elected to council in Longmont nowadays think they are mayor and they are not. You simply cannot have 14 hands on the steering wheel and expect to stay out of the ditch.

Apparently unappreciative of the taxpayers back home that make the Breckenridge festivities possible, the Colorado Municipal League issued this announcement which appeared in USA Today’s state-by-state roundup for 6-25-10:

Colorado: Breckenridge – Communities across the state are gearing up to fight three tax-limit initiatives on the November ballot. Members of the Colorado Municipal League are targeting Proposition 101, which would reduce automobile and telecommunications taxes; Amendment 60, which would cancel voter authorized tax-limit overrides; and Amendment 61, which would limit government borrowing.

So they’re gearing up to use our tax money to influence our votes. How nice. And all along I thought it was unlawful for the government (and its agencies) to participate in the electoral process.

Turning campaign laws into a political weapon

Have our municipal elections in Longmont suddenly become so corrupt and rotten that we need a draconian version of the already confusing state and federal fair campaign laws to bludgeon our neighbors over the head with, in case they step out of line? I don’t think so. But that’s what the Longmont Fair Campaign Practices Act seems to be turning into – just another political weapon.

Forming the city election committee may have been a good idea; but it quickly became immersed in the same old political infighting. The best remedy is to put this subject of political wrangling back into the judicial system, where it belongs.

When an attempt is made to criminalize every little detail of campaign contributions, the matter of fairness arises -- the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. And that’s where the government authorities are expected to be involved. It’s their job, not a committee’s, to examine, investigate, and prosecute any alleged electoral wrongdoing.

The LFCPA eats up a remarkable amount of time in city council business.

Councilwoman Sarah Levison, in an opinion piece in the 5/26/10 Times-Call, took conservative blogger Chris Rodriguez to task over his LFCPA criticisms, likely bringing thousands of new hits to his website Longmont Advocate. Rodriguez, as his writings show, is perfectly capable of taking care of himself—mentally, physically and ideologically. Most of the big boomer letter-writers around town have attacked him and failed.

But Councilwoman Levison didn’t stop there. Rather than debating the issues of fairness that Rodriguez raises over certain parts of the LFCPA, she uncharacteristically questioned the personal integrity and honesty of her four fellow council members, by accusing them of “disassembling the LFCPA,” causing the city “to go back to a closed door review” where “the council now can effectively shield campaign finances from public scrutiny.”

I say uncharacteristically, because I didn’t think she could be that extreme. Yet those are her words. Although she apologized, I do not know why the four targeted could not be expected to react.

But that’s what we’re into, with this contentious campaign law stuff – in Longmont.

Communique to Longmont City Council

To me (and I’m writing this in first person to emphasize that these remarks are mine) the dust-up over the appointment of a council member to the board of the Colorado Municipal League is not worth the flared tempers it ignites when the real issue of contention—especially during a stubborn recession like the one we’re in that requires serious cuts in city services--is whether the taxpayers of Longmont should continue throwing their money (upwards of $45,000 a year) at this primarily social organization that also performs lobbying. CML depends solely on dues it collects from nearly every city and town in Colorado. Last year the take totaled around $1.765 million, yet CML pays no property taxes on the $1.594 million headquarters property it owns at 1144 Sherman Street in downtown Denver to help support city services and the schools. I say cut the umbilical cord and use the CML dues locally—where the need is greater.

Depersonalizing law enforcement

MESSAGE TO CITY COUNCIL regarding: the proposed use of cameras in Longmont to nail traffic violators, “Local police field camera concerns,” Times-Call 5-27-10.

I think that, at some point in a supposedly civilized culture, we’ve got to ask ourselves just how far we should go in removing the human element from our law enforcement activities as we go about policing one another in the public domain and instead rely more and more on robots and machines to carry out those duties and serve that purpose. The deterrence factor of using hardware is obvious but what kind of a community is it that finds it necessary to line its streets—as eventually will happen--with cameras to try to catch traffic violators? Is the situation here in Longmont all that bad, and is our police force really that understaffed?

Some who promote this camera idea say, “oh no, revenue is not the reason.” Well, it is for somebody in the food chain. That another city or 10,000 other cities use this stealth methodology should make no difference; this is our community and perhaps we don’t want to see our police activities become depersonalized.

No one has explained why, when the camera arrests you, you are automatically guilty but no points are added to your driving record. That’s odd. Indirectly, however, there’s a numbers angle. People’s names scarcely mean a thing nowadays – everywhere we go anymore we’re just a cold, calculated number. In this remote traffic-photo game, you won’t get to talk to the arresting officer or a judge; you’re just another number to be processed through the system. No plea-bargains here; pay up and shut up.

Lest anyone believe from my remarks that I’m in favor of lawbreakers, forget it. One cop on the street in my estimation is worth dozens of undercover cameras. When drivers see a police cruiser their driving habits usually improve, often dramatically. In a small, friendly city like Longmont, I believe it’s still good policy for the police, who we should regard as our friends, to be visible.

Drop the gadgetry and patrol the streets.

Just asking . . .

Why, in this modern age, does it take so long--usually over two months after work starts--to replace a road bridge in Boulder County? Recent examples: the bridge just completed on 95th Street over Boulder Creek; now one on Niwot Road over the Feeder Canal, and another one on 95th Street just south of Longmont over Lefthand Creek—all with closures and some with seemingly lengthy detours. Still being worked on is a bridge over Boulder Creek at Highway 52 and east county line. Fortunately, one lane has been kept open there for traffic.

Meanwhile out on the range: Boulder County is seeking volunteer open space patrollers for the county’s parks and open space areas, a news item said. They will undergo two days of training and wear a park-patroller shirt and nametag.

“Patroller” sounds ominous and too many people tend to let a little bit of authority go to their head. Will these people be deputized and armed? Will they write tickets? Will they be insured if a rattlesnake bites them? Doesn’t the county’s OS Dept. already have a fleet of four-wheelers of its own with trained personnel for patrolling. Where are they?

Why is it that tobacco smoke, even secondhand, has been declared a serious health hazard, while marijuana smoke escapes this aggressive condemnation? Both add particulates to the lungs and to the atmosphere -- as pictured at the April 20 Boulder smoke-out, where CU police issued a dozen tickets.

How can an organization that’s pushing pot get away with threatening the DA when he’s carrying out his official duties? Certainly the Cannabis Therapy Institute has free-speech rights and its promise to derail the Boulder DA’s quest for higher office (state attorney general) unless he drops the 12 ganja-related cases may be seen as politics by some. Yet it unnecessarily puts the DA on the spot: If he acts to strictly pursue the laws to their disliking, he could be called retaliatory and prejudiced; if he fails to act or dilutes the charges, then he could be regarded by others as being soft on crime. The media can’t have it both ways.

On the sports scene: Why does the Denver news media let the NBA get away with scheduling most of the Nuggets playoff games, even those played at home, so late in the evening? The Denver market deserves better. Oh well, pay-to-view is in store for all the major sports, so maybe we commoners should be grateful to see any game for free –- no matter the time frame.

More on “sports”: The NFL suspended Pittsburgh’s Big Ben Roethlisberger for his indiscretion, while MLB’s Mark McGwire (back with the Cards), Sammy Sosa et al., NBA’s Kobe Bryant and PGA’s Tiger Woods all escaped that stigma for theirs.

Finally, what’s this business with telephone surveys? Do people with cell and gadget phones escape this annoyance? I don’t know how it is at your house, but at mine hardly a day goes by without the phone ringing with someone taking a survey on something or other. I think it’s an invasion of privacy—after all, our home is supposed to be our castle. Furthermore, because they’re closer to the people, representatives in local government should be able to monitor public sentiment themselves. That’s one reason for the neighborhood ward system, and the casual vis-à-vis sessions are helpful. Otherwise, we may as well go completely plebiscite.

Explosions not a rare phenomenon in local coal mines

As the two most recent tragedies in West Virginia and China show, coal mining is a dangerous occupation and local-area mines of the early 1900s were not immune. The following excerpts are from two books authored by Carolyn Conarroe, “The Louisville Story” and “Coal Mining in Colorado’s Northern Field.”

Mining was hard work for long hours. The early mining was done without the benefit of mechanized, labor saving equipment. Men worked with skill, not fear, although there were dangers.

Mine accidents were recorded in ledgers in offices at the mines. After 1909 when Colorado Governor John Shafroth ordered inspections in the coal mines, the accidents became a matter of state record. Injuries and deaths were statistics, a consequence of working with the danger. A fall of coal or rock from the ceiling of a room caused many deaths and injuries. Coal cars in motion had to be avoided. Coal dust and gas caused explosions.

For decades operators held miners responsible for accidents: they had been careless. An inquest into a fatal mine accident would rule the cause as unavoidable and the operator had no liability.

Explosions were a danger to which miners were always alert. Newspaper reports in 1902 told of Louisville’s Sunnyside Mine having four gas explosions in one month. The last one killed a miner and another was burnt badly.

The Simpson Mine at Lafayette also experienced explosion and fire in 1902. The Denver Times reported that gas exploded Nov. 20 at the mine. Men and mules were evacuated. Air was turned to force the fire toward the shaft and water was then poured onto the fire. The mine was reopened Nov. 24.

The worst mine explosion in the Northern Field was at Monarch Mine, south of Louisville, in the early morning of January 20, 1936. A crew of 10 men had entered the mine to do prep work for the 100 day-shift workers. (Notation: Miracle of miracles, they were not in the mine at the time.) The fire-boss was inspecting because coal dust had been accumulating on the mine floor. The force of the explosion shattered mine timbers and rock falls filled in an area where two passageways came together. It was speculated that two coal cars had collided at the intersection during the pre-shift work and sparks from the collision ignited the coal dust.

Two men in the mine escaped: Nick Del Pizzo and William Jenkins Jr. were able to reach an airshaft and climbed 300 feet to safety.

Losing their lives were Steve Davis, the fire boss; Ray Bailey, Oscar Baird, Tom Stevens, Tony DeSantis, Kester Novinger, Leland Ward, and Joe Jaramillo, mule-driver, whose body was never recovered. A monument to his memory, which was placed over the approximate site of the explosion has been moved and is now in a park area on the north side of FlatIron Crossing Mall.

Monarch Mine was reopened for mining as soon as the debris could be cleared. As in every case of explosion, fire or mine accident, whether fatal or not, the miners returned to their work at the first signal of their mine’s whistle.

Addendum:

One of the signal pleasures of my life when my family and I published the Louisville Times from 1965 to 1998 was to take a few minutes away from my work nearly every morning to join the conversations at Joe Colacci’s Blue Parrot coffee club, just down the street from my office. Almost any topic was fair game, but I always considered it a privilege to listen whenever the old coal miners who happened to be there would open up about their experiences, not only the “close calls” but some of the humor they shared as well.

Joe himself started out to be a miner, but gave it up. Traditionally, fathers took their sons into the mines at a tender age to teach them the skills. Joe (who is now deceased) said he was working alongside his dad Mike in a room when they heard a crack snap across the roof. Ready for lunch anyway, the two decided to go into another room to eat. Crash, the ceiling where they had just been working collapsed. It would have buried them alive. A similar event claimed the life of Rome Perrella’s dad only a few days earlier, Joe said.

John Madonna Jr. told of his dad taking a job at the Columbine Mine near Erie, a distance that appears to be about five miles from his Louisville home. No matter the nasty weather or physical exhaustion, he walked both ways every day.

On a lighter note, John Jr. (now 91 years old) was working in a mine when the anvil in the mine’s machine shop turned up missing. Weighing a guesstimated 250 pounds, it was traced to a burly miner who confessed to just picking it up and carrying it home after dark. The boss told the absconder to return it. And he did, carrying it back.

City and County are barking up the wrong tree

With apologies to the renowned poet Joyce Kilmer, I too think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. There may be justifiable reasons for killing off a certain variety of these living organisms, but in at least one case I have my doubts.

Having grown up on the high plains of east-central Colorado at Calhan (alt. 6,507 ft. vs. Longmont’s 4,979 ft.) and not being an arborist, I can only cite my experiences. In that region it was difficult to grow almost any kind of a deciduous tree, especially out on the open prairie, because of the soil condition (mostly adobe), scarce moisture with a lack of live water, and little or no irrigation. Evergreens thrived in the rocky hills to the northwest of Calhan in the Black Forest. But out on the prairie the most likely to adapt were deciduous trees, notably the Cottonwood, which is truly a water guzzler, the Chinese Elm, and the Russian Olive. Fruit trees and most hardwoods were scarce. Hardy buffalo grass, chokecherry and lilac shrubs, soap weeds and pear cacti rounded out the greenery.

In defense of the lowly Russian Olive tree, Elaeagnus angustifolia, which the U.S.D.A. 50 years ago recommended for planting but later declared it a noxious weed and ordered its eradication, most of the farmers and ranchers that I remember left it alone because it provided not only cover and sustenance for birds and wild animals, but offered shade and often windbreak for domestic animals as well. In the rare riparian areas, its roots helped knit the precious topsoil to keep it from washing away when the rains did come. Like some varieties of locust trees, the Russian Olive does produce thorny limbs.

But that unpleasant feature can be forgiven for the beautiful silvery leaves it produces which offer an interesting contrast when mixed among other tree varieties, as currently seen in the grove along the east side of Highway 42 just north of Baseline Road in Lafayette, at the old Beauprez dairy farm. Those beautiful Russian Olives have been there a long time without spreading like weeds.

It would be a shame to deliberately kill those trees “because they’re weeds,” and I’m sorry to see our Longmont and Boulder County open-space authorities engaging in this senseless war against a tree that has gotten a bum rap. Let them live , , , for only God can make a tree.

Dems crank up propaganda machine

After turning one-fifth of the nation’s economy, our once-private health-care system, over to the federal government at God only knows what cost and in defiance of the people’s wishes, the Democrats are frantically attempting to save face by unleashing a propaganda barrage the likes of which this country has never seen. Already their clever handiwork is showing up in the local media.

Immediately responding and to no one’s surprise, The Denver Post posted in its Sunday edition a story with two huge photos, praising Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey of the 4th District, whose allegiance in the crucial showdown-vote was in lockstep with the Obama, Reid, Pelosi & Stern group, not the folks back home in her district. (Show me the poll where a majority of voters in the 4th District approved of this bill.)

The Post’s puff-piece on Markey included some flattery from John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University. It’s remarkable that no conservative political science professor is ever quoted by the reporters who write these stories. (Show me an example.)

Arrogantly pouring salt on the wounds of the awe-struck people “back home,” Andy Stern’s rich and powerful Service Employees International Union is running ads on Denver TV praising Markey’s courage and righteousness. For this, the folks back home might ask what sort of a political debt their congresswoman now owes to a key member of Obama’s inner circle.

To his credit Steve McMillan, the Post’s business news editor, published in the Sunday edition a three-column guest commentary by Robert J. Samuelson who writes about business and economic issues for Newsweek and the Washington Post. Samuelson brought at least some clarity to the extremely dangerous and confusing long-term debt risk that we all must now face.

Meanwhile, at our local Times-Call, business section editor Tony Kindelspire seems pleased with the bill and other than being happy about chain restaurants being forced to post calorie data spent most of his Sunday commentary chastising the 13 attorneys general (including Colorado’s) who plan to test the constitutionality of this massive, unprecedented centralization of power. And why shouldn’t they test it? It’s hard to believe that an editorial writer at the Las Vegas Sun (whose material Kindelspire quoted) has any special knowledge of what’s constitutional and what’s not, let alone Denver Post columnist Ed Quillen who is on the same wavelength. Do they really know more about the Constitution of the United States than 13 attorneys general? If they do, perhaps they should run for the office of attorney general.

Let it be said here and now: I’m glad my 50-year career as a reasonably successful independent, self-employed small business owner engaged in publishing small-town newspapers ended in 1998. For one thing, the bureaucratic red tape was already intractable and will be 10 times worse under Markey’s new law. With the government running the banks, the automobile industry, the energy industry and now the health-care system, I just don’t see any of the incentives any more that made so many of us want to thrive and achieve. And we did, despite poor health, economic hardships and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

America, America, have we lost our way?

Sparring with the opinion makers

With the demise of the Rocky Mountain News, no major newspaper is left in the Denver market to duke it out politically with The Denver Post on a day-to-day basis. Naturally, the Post’s opinion pages have swung even farther to the left, and the March 7 “Perspective” section is a good example.

Front and center, Post editorial writer Alicia Caldwell sings the virtues of renewable energy sources (RES), replete with a panorama of a massive installation of ugly solar panels shown against the background of our beautiful Rocky Mountains. It makes no sense for us taxpayers in Boulder County to have gone into debt for one-hundred-and-ninety-eight million dollars to buy open space for the alleged purpose of protecting the environment, when cluttering up the landscape and wildlife habitat with RES devices (panels, windmills, wires, poles) so clearly defeats that purpose.

Another photo shows solar panels installed on a roof. But nowhere does Caldwell, or the author of a backup commentary, explain who will pay for removing and replacing the panels when the roof needs to be re-shingled. Who will divert the hailstorms?

Typical of the Post’s disdain for conservative thought, Caldwell wastes no time in scolding Republicans for asking questions about this huge, costly government program which, of course, is based on the shaky science of global warming, and she does so in her second paragraph.

Then we turn inside to the Post’s editorial page editor’s column where Dan Haley continues the Post’s incessant war on TABOR, branding as extremists Coloradans who use the initiative process to protect themselves and their property from the relentless overreaching of state and local governments. Far from being antigovernment and knowing that money does not grow on trees, these people are interested mainly in seeing that their hard-earned tax dollars are spent wisely.

Here we have Haley trying to picture Sam Mamet, personable head of the Colorado Municipal League, as a “leader in fighting the forces of extremism.” But the CML, funded entirely by the taxpayers, is one of the most extreme political forces around as it lobbies the state Legislature on behalf of Colorado’s towns and cities for increases in taxes and fees from everybody else. CML’s own headquarters building at 1144 Sherman Street in downtown Denver, valued officially at over $1.5 million, will never be affected because it is tax exempt.

In this year alone, CML escapes from paying about $30,000 in property taxes into the schools and city and county of Denver. Now that is truly antigovernment.

Here’s to the late Sue O’Brien: The Post’s editorial page will never be the same.

ADDENDUM: Affiliated Media Inc., parent company of Dean Singleton’s MediaNews group, the second largest newspaper chain in the U.S., which locally owns and operates The Denver Post, Boulder Daily Camera/Longmont Ledger and Broomfield Enterprise, emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month. Under a reorganization plan approved by a federal judge in Delaware, a $930 million debt was reduced to $165 million, with Bank of America and Wells Fargo ending up with 89 percent of the reorganized company’s stock.

This week, the Freedom Communications chain, headquartered in Orange County, CA and longtime publisher of the Colorado Springs Gazette, also went through Chapter 11 proceedings in Delaware. Its debt of $770 million was reduced to $325 million, with J.P. Morgan Chase Bank ending up with a majority of that reorganized company’s stock.

In both cases, Wall Street banks that are now deeply intertwined with and obligated to the administration through its bailouts, will be big in controlling the communications game. This is not good news for the First Amendment.

Gathering the news is hard work

The 132nd annual convention of the Colorado Press Association, Feb. 26-27 in Denver, has just drawn to a close. The staff at our local Times-Call did quite well—as usual—in the concurrent newspaper contests to prove once again that Longmont has one of the best newspapers in the state. This recognition comes not by accident; it takes good management with a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated people. In all of industry and forms of communication, for advertisers nothing is quite like paid-circulation newspapers—people will voluntarily pay to read them.

Founded by William Byers in 1859, Colorado’s first newspaper--while still a territory—was of course the Rocky Mountain News. The press association wasn’t formed until 1878. Its first president was W.B. Vickers who had been part owner of the Rocky (1876-78) but moved on to edit the daily Denver Tribune.

The Denver Post, a relatively newcomer to the scene, was started by George Herbert and W. P. Caruthers in 1892. Three years later, Frederick Bonfils and Harry Tammen took over the Post and it blossomed to finally outlast the competing Rocky. Gene Fowler’s book “Timberline” tells about this pair who are probably the most familiar characters in Denver’s newspaper history. A personal favorite of mine on the Denver scene was always Gene Cervi, who was adept at kicking the shins of the two powerful dailies.

But the newspaper game has changed. As Charles Krauthammer so eloquently opined in his recent column dealing with a different industry, the predicament he outlined is equally devastating to newspapers as they try to deal with “the high price of modernity.” But unlike the Internet, somebody has to go out and dig for the news and report it. Virtual news won’t do, and you won’t find much community news there.

LETTERS THAT NEVER GET PRINTED
To The Denver Post:

A MODEST PROPOSAL

Re: “Rentals take a vacation from tax,” The Denver Post, 2/12/2010. Instead of dogging the homeowners in these plush ski resorts for a piddling bed-tax, why don’t the local governments team up with the Colorado Legislature and go after the ski companies--where the money is--for more revenue? In almost every case these businesses are using public domain (land owned by all of us and nontaxable) for private gain.

The co-opting of public property for private enrichment with little or no reimbursement to the taxpayers is an issue that needs to be examined much more closely. Any bets?

SCOPING THE FOURTH ESTATE

“Recipe for real reform,” a column by Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University who always has a lot to say about politics, appeared in the Feb. 13 edition of the Longmont Times-Call. Let’s take a look at some of his “reforms,” most of which incidentally are not new.

Turley advocates removing barriers to third parties and wants a federally funded electronic forum to post their positions and materials (what’s wrong with using the Internet?), and thinks they all should be entitled to federally funded debates (a dozen candidates on stage?). Well, whenever the government injects money into the electoral system the partisans in Congress will prevail. The government should stay out of elections; it’s already in too deep through McCain-Feingold.

Turley says one of the reasons incumbents are returned to power is that the voters have little choice in the general election. He suggests a constitutional amendment to put the two top vote-getters in a primary on the general election ballot instead of just one. Which I think would only make it easier for the officeholder because the opposing votes would be split.

He wants to abolish the Electoral College. This argument is so old I’m surprised that anyone who is dedicated to the rights of the minority, as I’m sure Turley is, would keep bringing it up. Without the EC, scarcely populated states such as Colorado, Wyoming and Montana would be afterthoughts.

He also says that if no presidential candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, there should be a runoff of the two top vote-getters like, get this, “in most other nations.” What that will prove, I do not know. We need more voters. People who don’t vote get the kind of government they deserve.

To enact all this reform, Turley wants the people to call for their own Constitutional convention. A very difficult process at best and a dangerous one because God only knows what the political opportunists will do with our Constitution once they get their busy little fingers on it.

In the name of reform, I think Turley should stick with teaching law.

THE LONGMONT LEDGER, a freebie published by the Boulder Daily Camera, is currently flooding the Longmont market. Talk about greed. Founded by the Paddock family of Boulder in 1884, the Camera was sold in 1969 to the Ridder Company. In 1977, Ridder merged into Knight-Ridder; then, in 1997, K-R traded it to E. W. Scripps for two west-coast dailies. Scripps, enjoying a nice stream of revenue from its Home & Garden channel grew weary of subsidizing its newspaper operations, so the Rocky Mountain News died and Dean Singleton’s MediaNews group (the second largest print-media chain in the U.S.) absorbed the Camera and the Broomfield Enterprise. The Camera’s massive press was dismantled, and the Camera Building, long a landmark in downtown Boulder, was placed on the market but remains unsold. In the freebie’s “In Brief” column of Feb. 14 titled “City settles open meetings suit with newspaper,” it is implied that the citizens of Longmont overturned the LifeBridge Church decision at the ballot box when in fact that proposition has never been brought to a direct public vote.

As a source for Longmont information, I prefer the local Times-Call. Incidentally, editor Clay Evans of the Ledger lives in Longmont and once worked at the Lehman family's T-C.

COMMENTS ON SOME OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS appearing on the Longmont Times-Call opinion page of Feb. 9, 2010:

First, Robert Ferenc’s letter, “Cameras don’t know who is driving,” regarding the proposed traffic cameras made a lot of sense. (Note: He and I exchanged barbs recently on another issue.) In addition to the several problems Ferenc cited in questioning the use of these devices, my objection is that the cameras installed for traffic enforcement purposes can easily be converted to provide the government with constant surveillance of the people. Unless we prefer to live in the world of “Big Brother,” I think we can do without the authorities watching our every move. And no, I’m not “for” allowing scofflaws behind the wheel to run amok.

In his letter “What do we get for health care?” Tony Umile recommends that it may be worthwhile to compare our health care with that of Europe, which, according to the data he presented, is superior to ours. He may be correct, but I have my doubts. For one thing, the countries involved usually collect heavy taxes from everybody to pay for it. So their free health care may not be so free after all. From personal experience, I’ve visited several different European countries and fortunately had no need to experience their health-care services. Unfortunately, I was once hospitalized in Cartagena, Colombia, and to get out of there and into a hospital in the United States was a most welcome experience for me. We’ve got to be careful in screwing around with our health-care system that we not end up destroying what we have.

And finally, I wish there was some way for Brad Jolly, education activist who authored the essay “School district still misrepresenting the basic facts” to serve as a full-time analyst of school finances and policies. I think it would be helpful to have a knowledgeable, outside person of his caliber monitoring and interpreting the issues, making recommendations if warranted, and publishing the findings on a regular basis. What do you think?

(Copy of letter e-mailed to both publications.)

LIBERAL PANDERING

The way The Denver Post and Longmont Times-Call are promoting their favorite liberal politicians lately, giving them glowing publicity of the kind and extent that no conservative could ever hope for, I’m wondering what sort of ethical standard for journalistic fairness today’s newspapers follow.

The Post’s display of ecstasy over Mayor Hickenlooper’s gubernatorial candidacy defies description. The syrup oozed all over the front page and spilled over inside. It’s as if we had never seen nor heard of this fellow.

Under the headline “Call to order” (1-14-10 Times-Call), readers were exposed to similar fawning involving another liberal, this time it was State Senator Brandon Shaffer of Longmont, whose photo graced half the newspaper’s front page and the minutia-filled story with more photos went on and on to occupy nearly a whole page inside. And this is news?

While it is an honor for Shaffer to have been selected by his peer group to lead the Colorado Senate, it is not the first time that a Longmont resident was chosen by his fellow senators to serve in a leadership role.

Back before Art. IV of the Colorado Constitution was amended in 1974, the lieutenant governor automatically served as president of the senate. From 1877 to 1974, the senate leader, elected by members, bore the title of senate president pro tem. At the fourth legislative session in 1883, Rienzi Streeter of Longmont was selected by members to serve as leader (president pro tem) of the Colorado Senate. Streeter also had the distinction of serving as speaker of the house during the second session, in 1879. I doubt that he received 1 1/2 pages of glowing publicity.

I may be an old-fashioned journalist, but I still believe that political favoritism belongs on the opinion pages, not in news reports.

P.

UNBRIDLED SECRECY POISONS GOOD GOVERNMENT

To the detriment of the public, transparency of government in Colorado is taking a pounding from court interpretations that continue to weaken key elements of the state’s Open Meetings and Open Records laws. Two current examples:

Based on fairly clear-cut evidence, the Longmont Times-Call filed a complaint in Boulder District Court in June alleging that the local city council violated the executive-session provision of the Open Meetings law (i.e., no public policy can be formed or straw votes taken behind closed doors). Five months later, in November, the judge ruled that since the executive session was announced as an attorney-client briefing wherein no tape recordings or written records were required, there was nothing to review and sent the case back to the newspaper, leaving the alleged violation unaddressed.

Obviously, this half-baked ruling invites abuse of the OML by opportunistic public officials who can now hide behind the anonymity and confidentiality of the executive session at will by simply calling it an “attorney-client briefing.”

The Open Records law: In an effort to get some idea of with whom and what our governor might be discussing in the calls he makes when conducting the people’s business on his private telephone, The Denver Post has been rebuffed by the Colorado Court of Appeals which won’t allow the public watchdog to see the records.

Another precedent-setting court decision that, if allowed to stand, will encourage public officials at all levels in Colorado to govern via their private phones and the public be damned.

Secrecy is making serious inroads into our governmental systems; not good news if you believe in freedom.

JOURNALISTS MAY BE SELF-DESTRUCTING

Regarding the alleged need for Congress to enact a federal shield law to protect reporters and their sources, as a retired longtime newsperson I must say beware -- for whatever privilege the Washington politicians bestow, they can easily regulate, license, amend, use for ransom, or snatch it away. Requesting the government to protect a crucial reportorial practice that the watchdog itself indicates it is no longer willing to defend on principle by going to jail if necessary, does not speak well of a fearless free-press and sends the wrong message to the public.

It may well be declared nostalgic, but we in and of the press cannot let the basic idea of freedom of the press die. Freedom of religion, speech and the press are specifically cited in the First Amendment as being protected from government interference. There is nothing in there that says the judicial branch and its occasionally overzealous judges and prosecutors or the legislative or executive branches are free to override this profound protection. The legal profession has no similar exemption. Yet, as we all know, lawyers are free to routinely enjoy impenetrable attorney-client secrecy as they go about their work without requesting a shield law.

Colorado is generally regarded in the news business as having a good shield law and since it’s close to home, there is less danger of it being tweaked on a politically partisan basis. But unlike the simple and direct language of the First Amendment, Colorado’s shield law typically includes caveats, one of which is that a newsperson does not have to disclose a source “unless the information cannot reasonably be obtained by any other means.” New York Times reporter Judith Miller of Libby-trial fame arguably could not have been saved from jail under Colorado’s shield law.

This is not to argue that freedom of the press is absolute. Rather it is a call for media-types to concentrate their time, energy and money toward defending the First Amendment, and doing everything else they can within their own organizations such as publicizing its value to the public and, most important, working to keep from abusing its privileges themselves.

The only answer for the newspersons who believe they must have a shield law would be, I suppose, to amend the U.S. Constitution and embed their own version. But, as the noted contemporary journalist John Seigenthaler is quoted, “The people are not on our side,” indicating that the press stands to come up short even if a Constitutional Convention were to occur, which in itself is not a likely event.

So here is where America’s journalists are, back to the only protection that counts: the First Amendment.

P.

BAL SALVAGES SOME EARLIER PRINTING EQUIPMENT

Members of the Book Arts League deserve kudos for their efforts to establish a collection of outmoded letterpress printing equipment at their home base, the historic Ewing Farm on north 95th street in Lafayette.

BAL held an open house Dec. 5 at the Farm, and what a surprise it was for me to see a hand-fed “snapper” platen press in operation again, after having fed one by the hour upon learning the trade as a printer’s devil over 60 years ago. Unlike the motor-driven commercial presses of the past, the “snapper” on display is hand-powered—probably by choice for safety reasons. But that has no effect on the quality of the printed product it churns out, as evidenced by the group’s nice self-produced souvenir bookmark.

Noticeably missing from this collection is the iron monster that revolutionized the printing industry, the Linotype machine. Rarely found and still in use at only two Colorado newspapers, the Crescent at Saguache and the South Y-W Star at Kirk, surely BAL could find one somewhere to display, if it so desires.

BAL and volunteers have already come a long way in establishing an interesting collection at an equally interesting historic farm, both well worth the visit.
P.

COMMISSIONERS SET LEGISLATIVE AGENDA FOR FELLOW LIBERALS

According to the Longmont Times-Call in an article filed by reporter John Fryer, the Boulder County Commissioners have compiled a wish list for the Colorado Legislature’s 2010 session. The itemized list follows with my comments added in italics.

• Criminal sentencing reforms that promote drug-treatment courts and alternative treatments.
Code words for legalization.

• Allowing local governments to post certain legal notices online rather than requiring them to be published in newspapers.
If they truly believed in transparency, they would publish and post too.

• Limiting the interest rates and other fees charged with “payday” loans, as well as limiting the number of consecutive loans such lenders can make to a consumer.
The county commissioners should be examining their own list of unfair fees.

• Allowing counties and statutory cities and towns — those without home-rule charters — to enact ordinances that could require existing residential and commercial buildings to meet minimum energy-performance standards.
Who’s going to pay for all of this? Oh, see next item.

• Allowing counties and municipalities to impose fees that building owners would be allowed to pay in lieu of meeting “green” building standards for their structures, if those owners cannot make required energy-conservation improvements.
Another tax increase masquerading as a fee.

• Allowing state and local governments to collect sales taxes on items purchased over the Internet.
Our three commissioners might explain why their fellow liberals in Congress and the White House refuse to act on this.

• Providing a “pay-as-you-go” auto insurance option for Colorado vehicle owners, tying insurance premiums to the number of miles driven.
More miles, higher premiums -- just the thing for those rural residents.

• Legislation or administrative changes to improve eligible Coloradans’ access to Medicaid and Children’s Health Plan Plus programs.
No use thinking about this until Congress gets through playing around with healthcare reform.

• Giving counties authority to impose a transportation maintenance fee to help pay for local roads’ maintenance needs.
Yet another tax increase masked as a fee so that even more money can be transferred out of the R&B fund. The people are catching on.

PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW SUFFERS SETBACK

Preamble to the Colorado Open Meetings law: It is declared to be a matter of statewide concern and the policy of this state that the formation of public policy is public business and may not be conducted in secret.

I’m afraid that these words were taken in vain last week in Boulder County District Court where Judge Roxanne Bailin failed to rule on the crux of a complaint lodged by the Longmont Times-Call and reporter Rachel Carter that a substantial discussion of nonexempt topics and adoption of public policy had unlawfully occurred during a June 23 executive session of the Longmont City Council which, if true, would render any action therein null and void.

The local newspaper, defending the public’s right to know, offered evidence that indicated the council indeed had taken a “straw vote” behind closed doors, was led to believe the session was recorded, and asked the court to review the tapes for verification. But there were no tapes, which is permissible under the attorney-client exemption. City attorney Eugene Mei nonetheless fought to prevent release of the “audio recording” of the June 23 session and referred to it twice later in communications with the court. Knowing all along there was no recording, Mei finally presented to the court a tape that had nothing on it to review except the required pre-secret meeting announcement. Instead of sanctioning the city attorney for playing games, Bailin merely called the city’s position “mystifying” and left the allegation of forming public policy in secrecy hanging in the wind.

Attorney-client communications behind closed doors are exempt; forming public policy is not. Unfortunately this half-baked outcome opens the door wide for all local governments in the state to now declare every executive session attorney-client privileged, with policy-making off limits to the press and public.