Subject: Bill Ritter

• Bill Ritter Blasted in Page One Denver Post Editorial

  November 5, 2007

• Possible Fallout From the Denver Post's Front-Page Editorial About Bill Ritter

  November 8, 2007

• The Roan Plateau: A Guide for the Perplexed

  December 29, 2007

• Pandering Over Parole at the Statehouse

  March 20, 2008

• Commercial Break

  April 7, 2008

• Ritter Meets the Press

  June 30, 2008

• The Bill Ritter Meet the Press Transcript

  June 30, 2008

• Governor Ritter for Vice President?

  August 1, 2008

• The Obama Ticket Giveaway: What's the Word That Usually Goes With "Cluster"?

  August 6, 2008

• The Obama Ticket Giveaway: What's the Word That Usually Goes With "Cluster"?

  August 6, 2008

• Bill Ritter and Federico Peña: America's got talent?

  August 14, 2008

• Bill Ritter and Federico Peña: America's got talent?

  August 14, 2008

• Exploring terrorism at the CELL with Governor Ritter

  August 25, 2008

• DNC Party Scene: Monday Night

  August 26, 2008

• Another Denver Post anti-Ritter editorial that reads as if Dean Singleton wrote it

  October 3, 2008

• Anti-abortion clamor at the Colorado capitol

  October 8, 2008

• Building for the future: Who's next for 1100 Bannock?

  For lease: the luckiest building in Denver. Four years ago, this space at 11th Avenue and Bannock Street was home to the Ken Salazar for Senate campaign -- a race that Colorado's then-attorney general won easily when the Republicans lined up behind Peter Coors, whose candidacy fell flatter than a day-old glass of beer. Next occupant of 1100 Bannock: Bill Ritter's gubernatorial campaign. Although it took a while for Democrats to acknowledge that the former Denver District Attorney was reall

  November 28, 2008

• Wake-Up Call: Ritter's vote is in for Colorado Secretary of State

  At 9:30 a.m. this morning, Governor Bill Ritter will announce Colorado's next secretary of state, the culmination of a six-week process that officially started on the night of November 4, when Mike Coffman was elected to replace Tom Tancredo in the sixth congressional district. Although Ritter had the power to pick Coffman's replacement at any time (and a good candidate: term-limited legislator and runner-up to Coffman for the secretary of state seat in 2006), he instead established a task forc

  December 19, 2008

• Wake-Up Call: Building -- and budgeting -- for the future

  The holidays push most action off the public calendar this week. Tonight at 5:30 p.m., Denver City Council will start the process of stuffing someone's stocking with coal: Over the next few weeks, councilmembers will decide whether to grant landmark status to two, '60s-era Hornbein and White buildings on the old University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Unless they come up with a very clever compromise (say, save one, the old daycare center), their decision is bound to piss off S

  December 22, 2008

• Wake-Up Call: Countdown to a Senate nomination

  At gatherings on New Year's Day, the talk was all about when Governor Bill Ritter will announce a new senator -- and, of course, just who his pick will be to replace Ken Salazar, Barack Obama's choice to head the Department of the Interior. Technically, there's no hurry; Salazar's confirmation hearing isn't slated until January 15, and he's announced no plans to resign before he's confirmed. But practically, time is of the essence: If Ritter's choice has the domino effect of opening up ano

  January 2, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: The week ahead, from calf-ropin' to budget-bustin'

  Governor Bill Ritter was at the last day of the National Western Stock Show, taking in the rodeo with his family (Ritter was one of twelve kids, all raised on a farm in eastern Aurora) -- and enjoying a few light moments before the hard work of the week ahead. When a steer broke free of his handlers and the rodeo announcer pronounced, "This is like trying to get the governor of Illinois out of office." Ritter wasn't the only one laughing. But he may have been laughing the hardest. Ritter and

  January 26, 2009

• The Bill Ritter friends-into-foes transformation continues

  Bill Ritter keeps his pen busy in a photo from the Colorado AFL-CIO's Employee-Free Choice page. Earlier this week, Governor Bill Ritter got an earful from grocery workers while signing a bill they saw as a full-frontal attack on them at a time when they're involved in a contract drama with three major chains. Not that all labor organizations were upset with him. On its Employee Free Choice page, the Colorado AFL-CIO praised Ritter for a couple of Tuesday signings. But the worm turned yesterda

  June 5, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: Stimulate This

  The last time this state's economy went bust, Colorado fought its way back by constructing Denver International Airport. That's not going to be an option this time, Governor Bill Ritter said as he walked along DIA's Concourse B Thursday, off on a fast (less than 24-hour) trip to the East Coast to brief Democratic House members on the New Energy Economy -- right after they listened to Barack Obama describe his stimulus plan. Colorado Republicans have labeled Ritter's quick trip a "junket," bu

  February 9, 2009

• Bill Ritter turning friends into enemies

  A Flickr photoBill Ritter. As of this writing, shockingly enough, no one's uploaded a video to YouTube of angry grocery workers confronting Governor Bill Ritter at a bill-signing ceremony yesterday -- but expect it to pop up soon enough, adding one more smudge to the good-guy image that helped get Ritter elected in 2006. The same can be said of a Denver Post article from earlier this week that spotlighted anti-Ritter signage featuring messages such as "Why Does Bill Ritter Hate Taxpayers?" Of

  June 3, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: After a hundred years, the News goes fast

  When the official news came down at noon yesterday that today would be the last day for the Rocky Mountain News, I was at a Colorado Press Association luncheon -- in a painful bit of timing, the state's newspapers are holding their annual convention in Denver this week -- at the governor's mansion. And the first question to Bill Ritter was about the end of the state's oldest newspaper. "It's a very, very sad day," he said. "We're losing a Colorado icon. We're losing a newspaper that helped cr

  February 27, 2009

• Denver Blogs: When in Florence, it's kind of hard to be governor

  When he's not hanging with Willie Nelson, Bill Ritter is... hanging in Italy? Here some links to things about things we hope may interest you. If not, come back tomorrow and we'll give it another go. Feel free to try to influence us. What might help Bill Ritter fix Colorado is being in Colorado. (Face the State) A former Rocky reporter breaks down the Rockies on his new website. (Inside the Rockies) Chaperone horny teenagers grinding to Akon, or attend a party with a bunch of dorky Democrats

  March 12, 2009

• Frontier Cuts to the Core of Colorado

  Plane talk about the state's homegrown airline.

  July 3, 2008

• Did Governor Ritter flip-flop on needle exchange?

  Photo from Wikipedia Commons.Bill Ritter once supported needle exchange, but now he's silent on the issue. Listen to Ritter's testimony on a 1998 bill seeking to legalize syringe exchange in Colorado. Colorado lawmakers last tackled the legalities of syringe exchange -- the topic of this week's feature "Ahead of the Needle" -- eleven years ago, when they tried to change the state law prohibiting it. They failed. But not before Governor Bill Ritter, then Denver's district attorney, weighed in.

  April 8, 2009

• The Post Takes Opinions Above the Fold

  November 8, 2007

• Mayor Hickenlooper and Governor Ritter Inhaled!

  Putting the high back into the Mile High City.

  April 3, 2008

• Wake-Up Call: Mall in the family

  At Monday's tourism rally, Governor Bill Ritter urged us to "Rediscover Colorado" this summer. I started by walking the length of the 16th Street Mall at lunch yesterday, and found that this seventeen-block stretch -- touted as the most successful pedestrian mall in the country and one of this town's major tourist attractions -- is looking much better these days. There wasn't a panhandler in sight, and while I didn't miss them, I was sad to find just one busker (playing "Hey Jude" on the pan f

  April 29, 2009

• Denver Blogs: Ritter, and the power of his pen

  Our daily tour of the Colorogosphere. Send tips. Did Bill Ritter promise to sign the death-penalty-repeal bill? He says no. The always-reliable Society of Nameless Internet Commenters say yes. (Colorado Pols) No nameless commenters necessary: Ritter will sign a bill extending health benefits to same-sex partners. (Colorado Independent) How Chrysler's demise will impact Colorado. (5280)

  May 1, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: Hit the road

  Governor Bill Ritter is heading down to Colorado Springs today, where he'll host a town-hall meeting and sign a number of bills. And along the way, he'll no doubt pass a handful of unauthorized signs along I-25, all asking, "Why does Ritter hate El Paso County?" Why indeed? I asked Evan Dreyer, his press secretary, about the signs, and he offered this: "Silly political stunt by someone with too much time on their hands. At least they spelled Ritter right. The Governor LOVES El Paso County. H

  May 11, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: The show must go on

  "Denver Stories" is a genius marketing move: Every May, Curious Theatre Company picks four local celebs (or what passes for a celeb in this town), has a local playwright create a short play about them, and then produces all four on one evening that turns into a giant fundraising event. The result has been a loving, literary look at some of the people who really shaped this town. Last year, for example, Jack A. Weil, founder of Rockmount Ranchwear, then 107 and the oldest still-working CEO in

  May 21, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: All over but the shouting

  The last bill of the legislative session has been signed, and it's all over but the shouting -- particularly in front-page stories over the governor's vetoes of union-friendly bills (and likely when the governor is on Mike Rosen's show at 9:15 a.m.). But Bill Ritter also managed to please at least one important group, as evidenced by a big advertiment in today's Denver Post sponsored by Amgen, the Colorado BioScience Association, Metro Denver, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Pharma. The a

  June 8, 2009

• John Hickenlooper's savvy response to the Dump Ritter movement

  John Hickenlooper. Governor Bill Ritter's continued success at turning friends into foes has caused even some supporters to doubt his political aptitude -- but no one questions Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's talents in this area. Today's front-page story in the Denver Post, about his disinterest in offering Ritter a primary challenge, showcases those skills. By publicly rebuffing entreaties by unnamed "influential" interests, he establishes his loyalty to the Democratic Party apparatus even a

  June 10, 2009

• Bill Ritter gets defensive on Channel 9

  Bill Ritter as he appeared on Channel 9 last night. It's not a lot of fun to be Bill Ritter these days. The governor swept into office with high marks from a broad coalition of voters, but of late, he's managed to piss off plenty of longtime supporters -- including grocery store workers and firefighters, many of whom no doubt worked to get him elected through their various unions. Then, to add insult to injury, he had to watch yesterday as Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper got better publicity for

  June 11, 2009

• Denver Blogs: Promises, promises

  Our daily tour of the local blogoshpere. Send tips. Is Bill Ritter passing the buck on health care? (5280) More Ritter: He really, really likes his bike. (Face the State) The ethanol industry descends on Denver to try to save itself. (Colorado Independent)

  June 15, 2009

• Wake-up call: Return to sender

  Yesterday, a reader sent me this note: The other day I got a letter in my mail box from Governor Bill Ritter about Long Term Care. It is great to see him helping out Coloradans with a very important life experience issue. I applaud his efforts. However, it pained me to see the postage permit on the envelope was from PA. Working for the print and mail industry, it made me very sad to know that while print and mail shops are struggling to stay open it appears, at least on the surface, that th

  July 17, 2009

• Happy Birthday to Colorado and its canny State Capitol

  State of ColoradoYummy!​ Happy Birthday Colorado. You are 133, and frankly, you are looking a little worse for wear. But that's okay because we're celebrating you anyway on Colorado Day. Although Colorado officially became a state on August 1, 1876, it technically honors that day on the first Monday of every August. This year, Governor Bill Ritter has made it free for anyone to visit a state park today -- which might be worth doing considering the fact that Ritter's administration, faced

  August 3, 2009

• Beers and Brewhahas: Bill Ritter vs. Labor Unions and his own party

  chug-a-lug​If the president can do it, so can everyone else. What Colorado needs now are more sudsy sit-downs. Here's an example (see our previous pairings here, here and here): Dispute: Bill Ritter vs. Labor Unions and his own party Beer: Steamworks Brewing Company's Colorado Kolsch ​Ouch. It's not easy fighting a war on two fronts. But Governor Bill Ritter is catching flak both from his Republican foes and angry constituents within his own party. Time to take stock, Governor, and

  August 7, 2009

• Bill Ritter carries Barack Obama's water on Meet the Press

  Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy In the wake of President Barack Obama's town hall in Grand Junction on Saturday, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter got some spotlight time on the next day's edition of Meet the Press, claiming that Obama's mediocre poll numbers relating to his handling of the healthcare issue are primarily due to "partisan wrangling," which may be "too nice a word" (or maybe two) for what's really going on. It wasn't a long appearance: Ritter

  August 17, 2009

• Bill Ritter's campaign-style defense of new budget

  Bill Ritter puts on a happy face.​Yesterday, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter presented a new budget that includes nearly 300 state job cuts and the early release of some prisoners, among other politically toxic proposals. In an effort to sell it, Ritter penned (or at least authorized) an op-ed for the Denver Post entitled "This Budget Minimizes Pain," in which he doesn't just play the empathy card; he fans out the entire empathy deck. Near the top of his essay, he writes, "I grew up in a big

  August 19, 2009

• Wake-Up Call: The DNC's island of misfit toys

  ​I'm looking across the highway at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field at Mile High, the settings for so many memorable sights during the Democratic National Convention, which kicked off exactly a year ago today. And between them -- at least from this vantage point -- is Elitch Gardens, where, before all the political pomp and circumstance, the Denver Host Committee staged a welcoming party for the media and other visitors. Dean Singleton, the Denver Post owner who funded the festivities,

  August 24, 2009

• Odd couples show off their fun bags for Denver Mag

  John Hickenlooper and Bill Ritter let their hair down (click to enlarge).​In today's Denver Post, media writer Joanne Ostrow takes on the September cover of Denver Magazine, in which Channel 31 stars Libby Weaver and Natalie Tysdal are transformed from anchors to shank-ers. After spotlighting quotes from Weaver and station exec Carolyn Kane shrugging off any scent of controversy over the couples' quasi-salacious pose, Ostrow essentially suggests that, given the difficulties the TV industry

  August 27, 2009

• Turn off the heat? Was Bill Ritter drunk?

  Bill Ritter.​When reports surfaced that Governor Bill Ritter was considering diverting $1.3 million earmarked for extra drunk-driving patrols to help close the budget gap, I started a mental stopwatch to time how long it would be before he'd have to eat shit regarding this misbegotten plan. And lo and behold, after mere hours of heat over the possible extinguishing of the "Heat Is On" program during the last few months of the year, Ritter did a wholly predictable about-face. But a question

  September 3, 2009

• Scott "Fear Factor" McInnis is very, very concerned about your safety

  ​Governor Bill Ritter's modest proposal to parole hundreds of inmates a few weeks or months before their mandatory release date, thereby cutting millions from the state budget, has become the political whipping boy for his most opportunistic critics, from GOP legislators to Weld County District Attorney (and Senate candidate) Ken Buck to the hand-wringing editorial board over at the Denver Post. But nobody has stomped on the issue with more enthusiasm than gubernatorial opponent Scott Mc

  October 19, 2009

• Will new blood breathe life into Ritter's clemency board?

  New clemency board appointee Allison Ailer.​Last month's feature, "The Forgotten," focused on clemency -- an executive power that prosecutor-turned-governor Bill Ritter has been reluctant to use. We showed how modifying the sentences of even a handful of state inmates who've received draconian punishment, like the guy doing eighty years for burglary, could save the state millions in prison costs and serve justice. In his first three years in office, Governor Ritter has issued two pardons

  November 3, 2009

• Fast-track this: Five untapped Colorado energy sources

  Thar she blows: The Penry-Huttner Geothermal Project.​The Department of the Interior just designated six renewable energy projects, including a 400-megawatt solar tower, as "fast-track" developments deserving of the highest priority. All six of the projects happen to be in California. Hard to believe that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar would ignore all the potential energy sources in his home state. We've got tons of excess energy around here, begging to be harnessed for productive use.

  November 6, 2009

• Live blog: Bill Ritter's budget meets the Joint Budget Committee

  Bill Ritter is budgeting his time -- and timing his budget.​Editor's note: Westword is live blogging Governor Bill Ritter's presentation to the state's Joint Budget Committee about his proposed 2010-11 budget. The state is facing a $1.02 billion shortfall. The most recent posts are at the top. For the complete story, read from the bottom up. 3:50 p.m.: Ritter answers his last question, about the new energy economy. He calls Colorado a "hub" and then exits the room quickly, with a "thank y

  November 10, 2009