Thursday, October 26, 2006

Amendment 42 The Rocky Mountain News is running a background piece on Amendment 42. From the article, "They can't both be right. Opponents of Amendment 42, the proposal to increase Colorado's minimum wage, say it'll be a job-killer that reduces economic opportunity for the people it intends to help. Proponents say the measure will have no effect on jobs and that other states that have increased minimum wages have actually seen increased employment in the fast- food industry, one of the primary users of cheap labor. Find the truth somewhere in between. The very nature of the economic debate over the minimum wage has changed in the past two decades. For years, basic economic theory dictated economists' thinking on the minimum wage. Labor is a product like any other. And when prices for that product increase, less is purchased. So if wages for the least-skilled workers rise, businesses will either hire fewer employees or cut benefits... "The studies, however, include newer research that suggests otherwise. One of the pioneering academic studies that contradicts the history of minimum-wage research was authored in 1994. Two economists, David Card and Alan Kreuger, surveyed fast-food restaurants near the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border after New Jersey increased its minimum wage in 1992. The Card-Kreuger report found 'no evidence that the rise ... reduced employment.' Instead, the increase in the minimum wage boosted employment. A response by economists David Neumark and William Wascher criticized the Card-Kreuger methodology because they used a telephone survey of restaurant managers and asked about the number of workers, not the hours worked. Neumark-Wascher used payroll data from the same region and time and came to the opposite, traditional conclusion: Hours worked at New Jersey fast-food restaurants declined after the wage increase." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 7:40:36 AM

Referred Question 1A Here's an analysis of Referred Question 1A from the Rocky Mountain News. They write, "In less than two weeks, Denver voters will decide whether to pay to send up to 2,000 4-year-olds to preschool every year starting in 2008. Initiative 1A would raise the city's sales tax by 0.12 percent, generating about $12 million annually for 10 years, primarily to fund preschool tuition credits for Denver parents." Be sure to read the whole article. Category: Denver November 2006 Election 7:37:13 AM

Romney for president? Mitt Romney was in town Wednesday howling with U.S. Congressman Bob Beauprez, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came to town Wednesday to stump for fellow Republican Bob Beauprez during a lunchtime fundraiser. Romney, who is eyeing a presidential run in 2008, sounded many of the same themes Beauprez pounds on the campaign trail. Voters expect Republicans to be stewards of fiscal discipline, improve roads and run "the machinery of government.'" Category: 2008 Presidential Election 7:31:02 AM

Amendment 43 Denver Post: "Forces pushing a Colorado constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage quickly seized on a New Jersey court decision Wednesday to press their case, while opponents stressed that such a ruling has no bearing on local law. New Jersey's Supreme Court found that gay couples have a right to either marriage or civil unions - but, in an opinion that gave neither side a clear-cut victory, sent the issue back to the state legislature with a mandate to revise its statutes. Supporters of Amendment 43, which seeks to etch Colorado's existing one-man, one-woman legal definition of marriage into the state constitution, pointed to the New Jersey case as evidence that Colorado's marriage law remains vulnerable to 'activist courts.'[...] "But opponents of Amendment 43 pointed out that New Jersey has no existing law defining marriage. Colorado statutes already define marriage as between one man and one woman. 'The court did not find a fundamental right to same-sex marriage,' said Lisa Moreno, director of the Say No to 43 campaign. 'Amendment 43 won't have any impact except to change something important - the state constitution.' Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political science professor who has followed ballot issues nationwide, noted that while proponents of marriage amendments may use the New Jersey case to try to leverage their arguments, the reasoning is tenuous." Category: Denver November 2006 Election 7:28:41 AM

Ritter or Beauprez for governor? Bill Ritter and U.S. Congressman Bob Beauprez were at each other again yesterday, according to the Denver Post. From the article, "On one of the debate's key issues - protecting water quality in southeast Colorado - Ritter said he would support a bill that gives water courts the authority to consider how changing water use would affect a community. Beauprez said he wouldn't sign such a bill, which died by one vote in the state legislature this year. 'It's not surprising that one of us wants to push everything into a courtroom,' Beauprez said. On water storage, Ritter said he would require policymakers to consider ways to conserve and reuse existing water at the same time as considering any new efforts to store extra water. Beauprez touted his experience as a federal lawmaker, saying that the source of much of Colorado's water is on federal land in the state... "On protecting water quality "Beauprez: 'We've got a water-quality commission in the state, and I think the important thing is that we make sure that water-quality commission works. We don't necessarily need more government. We need better government.' "Ritter: 'I would sign a bill into law that affects the water quality of all of the basins in the state and allows water judges to take into account water-quality issues when they look at the transfer of use out of one use, an agricultural use, to another, whether it's municipal or industrial.' "On expanding water storage "Beauprez: 'We could store a lot more water than we currently do here. It's fairly straightforward to me. The engineering is difficult but not the most difficult part. It's the politics that have inhibited our ability to move water projects forward for years and years and years ... But I'll say it again, we've got to augment existing storage where and how we can.' "Ritter: 'We have to ensure that we're doing all we can in this state to address climate change. Augmentation of storage - you do whatever you can, have a template in place that looks at how we conserve water, how we get to a different place of sustainability. Storage only happens when we do those things first.'" More coverage from the Pueblo Chieftain. From the article, "With less than two weeks before the general election, the two candidates showed off their differences, with Ritter saying he would sign a water quality bill similar to one Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, nearly got through the Colorado Legislature earlier this year, and Beauprez saying he wouldn't. That measure, which narrowly cleared the House but died by one vote in the Senate during this year's legislative session, called for requiring water court judges to consider water quality before approving large transfers of water from or within a river basin... "Beauprez, however, said he would veto such a measure, saying the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission already is responsible for overseeing water quality in the state. The congressman, who represents the 7th Congressional District on Denver's northern environs, attacked Ritter for saying he approved of the idea, saying the former Denver district attorney only wants to clog the state's courts. 'Pushing water into water courts in an already overburdened court system is going to do what? Make it more expensive, create delays, add more bureaucracies, not necessarily protect anybody's water,' he said. 'It's not surprising that one of us wants to push everything into a courtroom and lawyer-up.'" Category: Denver November 2006 Election 6:40:06 AM

© Copyright 2006 John Orr. Last update: 11/1/06; 7:48:34 AM.