As soon as word surfaced that Wayne Allard was interested in the open post of Colorado State University chancellor, the folks at the left-leaning ProgressNow organization hit the apeshit button, arguing that Allard would be as bad a CSU administrator as he's been a U.S. senator. But this response ignores a couple of salient factors. First of all, Larry Penley, the outgoing chieftain at the university, didn't exactly shower himself with glory during his time in the job, and the gimme-gimme nature of his departure leaves a bad taste writer Alan Prendergast satirized in his recent blog "More Perks for Departing CSU President Larry Penley." In addition, Hank Brown proved that being a mediocre Republican senator didn't guarantee an equally weak performance in academia thanks to his stellar work at the helm of the University of Colorado system. Get a taste of Brown's straight talk in "Big Flack Attack," from August 2005.
If Allard follows Brown's example, he might even be able to convince doubters like ProgressNow's Michael Huttner, whose argument against such an appointment can be read by clicking "More." -- Michael Roberts
ProgressNow calls on CSU to reject Allard: Ineffective Senator would be a 'disaster' for UniversityDenver - ProgressNow called on Colorado State University Board of Trustees to reject Senator Wayne Allard as chancellor of their university. Earlier today Allard begin pitching himself to be chancellor of CSU.
"Allard would be a disaster for CSU," stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNow, Colorado largest online progressive advocacy organization. "Allard has been completely ineffective as a Senator and that is the last thing CSU needs in a time of dire fiscal needs."
In 2006, Time magazine ranked Allard as one the country's five worst senators. (Time, April 14, 2007) The magazine went so far as to dub Allard as "The Invisible Man" and reported that he "almost never plays a role in major legislation." Time concluded that Allard is one of our country's "least influential senators."
The Denver Post concurred with Time, noting that Allard "squanders any influence he might have with a narrow agenda." (DP, 4/22/2006)
"With the new dynamics in Colorado and DC, the last thing we need is a right-wing ineffective Senator," stated Huttner. "Allard has proven that he has ineffective in bringing back money to Colorado as a Senator, how will be any better in helping CSU fiscal needs as a former Senator?" asked Huttner.
In his first five years in the Senate, one of Allard's top priorities was banning interstate cockfighting. Since then he has ignored the important issues and instead make his top priority interfering in other people's privacy by pushing to amend the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. He is also a notable denier of man's influence on climate change.
"Contrary to his own claims, Allard is no workhorse," stated Huttner.
Since Allard entered office the amount of money Colorado gets backs on every dollar of federal taxes we pay, has consistently dropped, leaving our state at the bottom tier of all fifty states according to the Tax Foundation.
"Allard was even recently criticized in the media for not returning constituents' letters -- months before he left office," Huttner added.
