Wake-Up Call: The trickle-down economics of an open Senate seat

On Monday, Governor Bill Ritter offered Colorado journalists an advance look at what we can expect from the next legislative session: belt-tightening. But there's one sure, if risky, way to fill Colorado's coffers: Sell the Senate seat that could soon be vacated when Senator Ken Salazar moves to a Secretary of...

By Patricia Calhoun

December 16, 2008

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On Monday, Governor Bill Ritter offered Colorado journalists an advance look at what we can expect from the next legislative session: belt-tightening.

But there's one sure, if risky, way to fill Colorado's coffers: Sell the Senate seat that could soon be vacated when Senator Ken Salazar moves to a Secretary of the Interior post -- if that's where the Obama cabinet carousel ultimately stops.

If a governor can ask a million bucks for a vacant Senate seat in Illinois, what's the going rate in Colorado? "I'm not answering that one," Ritter told me. But one thing's certain: Pundits will get a lot of free entertainment speculating who could fill that Senate spot. -- Patricia Calhoun

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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