On December 18, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado announced he would appoint the replacement for Senator Ken Salazar after talking to people in the community. He would make the decision swiftly but after a thoughtful process. His office provided an e-mail address so voters could submit opinions on the subject.
Yet, no post has been provided on the Governor’s website with the list of potential candidates, their qualifications, or their positions on the very controversial and apparently unsuccessful (we are daily reminded by our Governors, Mayors, President and President-elect that the financial downturn just keeps getting worse) and unmonitored distribution of upwards of $7 trillion of liquidity, loan guarantees, and bailout funds to the financial industry.
There also has been no application process or open call for applicants to inform the Governor’s office to consider them for the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat. Federico Peña, the only Latino mentioned by newspapers and online blogs as a potential candidate for the post, issued a press release on December 20 stating he did not wish to be considered.
Governor Ritter apparently must be trusted to appoint someone who will have the courage to ask the tough questions regarding the unsuccessful, unmonitored financial industry bailout, someone who will take action now before the trillions of dollars disappear into the same abyss that brought us to this point in our history. Governor Ritter is right when he says it his responsibility to make the right decision. Whether he appoints a commission like the one he formed during the recent Secretary of State selection process (please see below), or makes the decision to appoint the Senate replacement with input from the public but no input from a selection commission, ultimately he remains solely responsible for the person selected.
—Sherry Seiber
Go here for a list of questions we believe ought to be asked of every potential candidate for an open U.S. Senate seat.
Has Governor Ritter Abandoned a Commission to assist in the selection of Senator Salazar’s replacement? December 18, 2008
Governor Bill Ritter’s website reports he will proceed “swiftly” to identify and appoint a replacement for Senator Salazar. There is no reference to a bi-partison commission like the one he announced when charged with the responsibility of selecting a new Colorado Secretary of State. More troubling is the fact that there is neither an application nor a deadline mentioned for applying to fill the empty Senate seat.
It should be noted that the Secretary of State selection commission reviewed applications and referred three candidates to the Governor for consideration (please see below). The candidates were announced to the public. The Governor set up an e-mail address through which citizens could have input into the selection after they had read candidates’ credentials. The Governor has interviewed the SOS candidates. Despite the fact he has known and worked closely with all three candidates, he still has not made a decision. The Governor first learned he would have to make this appointment on election night, November 4, 2008. Obviously, the Governor has taken his responsibilities to the public seriously in this particular case.
Whether or not a commission is established to screen applicants interested in filling Senator Salazar’s soon-to-be-vacated seat, each candidate’s qualifications, positions on important issues, and disclosures (financial, relationships and influence) must be made public. To avoid any scintilla of impropriety, the Colorado Open Meeting and Records laws can apply so the names of those the Governor talks to and meets with about this appointment can be be made public. Rather than stand on a technicality (such as using a private cell phone to conduct state business), Governor Ritter must disclose all contacts on this subject.
There is no need to rush to judgment. Once again, the precedent Governor Ritter has set in the appointment of the Secretary of State can guide him in this case. The appointment of the Secretary of State will not be effective until sufficient time has passed to allow the appointed person to put his affairs in order so he may serve the remaining two years and two entire terms. This is being done in order to circumvent the term limits requirement. Thus, Senator Salazar can hold his seat until a replacement can be appointed in the same thoughful manner the Governor is using to appoint a replacement for Secretary of State.
It is not asking too much of those who would be Senator. All one need do is recall the Udall/ Schaffer campaign from earlier this year. Millions of dollars were spent on a lengthy campaign that involved multiple advertisements, town meetings, debates, position papers, and financial disclosures.
Surely any candidate for Senate offered a seat while foregoing the rigors of a campaign will be delighted to take the time to go on record to reveal to the public his/her qualifications, positions on important issues, and appropriate disclosures. We certainly hope Governor Ritter will insist such details be made readily available so Colorado voters can voice their opinions regarding the candidate best qualified to represent them in the United States Senate. —Sherry Seiber
Governor Ritter to name Salazar Successor in U.S. Senate December 16, 2008
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter by statute will appoint a successor to fill soon-to-be-vacated Senator Ken Salazar’s seat until the election of 2010. As we wrote yesterday (please see below), when Salazar’s name surfaced on the short-list for Secretary of the Interior in the Obama Cabinet, it was presumed Governor Ritter would choose to invoke a similar process to select Salazar’s replacement as he did when he set a precedent by selecting a commission to narrow the list of nominees for Colorado Secretary of State to three. On first blush it appears a commission is a fairer way to proceed than the traditional process Delaware recently used to replace Vice-President-elect Joe Biden; on second look it is not necessarily so. The commission which Governor Ritter selects is not accountable to the public. It is he whom we elected and trust to make tough decisions. The commissioners are accountable to their constituencies and own interests, interests which may not be readily visible. Put another way, who vets the commissioners for conflicts of interest?
Whether or not a selection commission is established to screen potential Salazar replacements, we believe the Obama team would not nominate Senator Salazar for Secretary of the Interior unless they were confident his Senate replacement would be in tune with their agenda. Nothing we know about the transition team’s leader, John Podesta; or the new Chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel; or especially President-elect Obama would suggest their ideal replacement senator from Colorado would share current Senator-elect Mark Udall’s view of the bailout, a view made evident when he voted against it as a Congressman.
There is mounting pressure from the New York Times, Washington Post, and online journals such as ProPublica for the Department of Treasury to inform the Congress and public as to what has happened to the bailout money already distributed. Obama’s nominees, appointments, and silence during the transition make it clear he intends to continue current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s and the Federal Reserve’s practices. One need look no further than Obama’s appointment of Timothy Geithner for proof of this. The current New York Governor of the Federal Reserve has been intimately involved in letting Lehman Brothers fail and propping up Paulson’s old firm Goldman Sachs. President-elect Obama wants to continue, if not expand, the Treasury Secretary’s exercise of unlimited power.
Governor Ritter, please appoint someone to Ken Salazar’s soon-to-be-empty Senate seat who will ensure that safeguards and accountability are put into place immediately. Please appoint someone who will not be afraid to ask questions on behalf of the American people. —Sherry Seiber
Colorado Secretary of State Selection Process Update December 15, 2008
We at Imagine A Great Election have learned the three finalists for appointment to be the next Secretary of State of Colorado (please see below) have been interviewed. Although Governor Ritter has worked closely with all three candidates, he gave each of them an equal opportunity to respond to a set of identical questions in an individual interview. The Governor is scheduled to make his decision this week.
Governor Ritter’s selection of a commission to screen applicants for this office may well be an important precedent. As Senator Ken Salazar is reportedly on the short-list for Secretary of the Interior in the Obama Cabinet, it is now presumed Governor Ritter will choose to invoke a similar process to select Salazar’s replacement should that become necessary.
The real issue will center upon the people chosen to serve on a selection commission charged with vetting applicants for Senator Salazar’s replacement and providing the Governor with a short-list of top candidates. If any of these people is determined to serve usual vested interests, he/she will likely select nominees who will also serve those same interests.
Immediately after Barack Obama’s election, political friends began to speculate that Ken Salazar would be appointed to be Secretary of the Interior and that the darling of Colorado’s pay-to-players would be appointed in his place. Should the scenario play out as they suggested, does this mean they are clairvoyant, or was the “fix in” from the outset? We will follow this story with great interest.
—Sherry Seiber
Candidates for Colorado Secretary of State
Rather than appoint a new Secretary of State to replace newly elected Congressman Mike Coffman, Governor Bill Ritter will choose from a list of three finalists for the job. While these candidates are Democrats like Ritter, the application process was open to members of other parties. Ritter plans to name the new Secretary of State later this month.
Selected from a pool of 20 applicants by a bipartisan search committee, the finalists are:
State Rep. Bernie Buescher of Grand Junction Outgoing Joint Budget Committee Chair and Appropriations Committee Chair Bernie Buescher failed to retain his seat in November in a surprise loss to Republican Laura Bradford. Buescher had been in line to serve as Speaker of the House.
A native of Mesa County, Buescher ran a law practice in Grand Junction for many years; served as CEO of an aviation company and now runs two of his own small businesses; reorganized the Colorado State Fair in the late 1990s at the request of Governor Roy Romer; and was assigned to Romer’s cabinet as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance, where he inaugurated the Colorado Children’s Basic Health Plan.
Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon of Denver In 2006, State Senator Ken Gordon was narrowly defeated by Mike Coffman in the mid-term election for Secretary of State:
Secretary of State Candidate
Political Party
Popular Vote
Mike Coffman
Republican
772,403
50.78%
Ken Gordon
Democratic
748,532
49.22%
To read more about the 2006 election for Secretary of State, go here.
A native of Detroit and graduate of the University of Michigan and Boston University, Gordon has served as a Public Defender and private lawyer in Denver. He was named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by Westword in 1988.
In 1992, Gordon was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, where he has served as Minority Leader in the House and as Senate Judiciary Chair as well as Senate Majority Leader. He has been a long-time advocate for environmental issues and campaign finance reform.
Term-limited House Speaker Andrew Romanoff of Denver Currently the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, Andrew Romanoff was first elected to the House in 2000. He has served on the Health and Welfare Committee and on the Criminal Justice Committee and as the House Minority Leader. Romanoff has fought to expand access to drug and alcohol treatment, mental health services, preschool and kindergarten.
Romanoff teaches political science at local colleges. He first began teaching in Central America and speaks fluent Spanish. A graduate of Yale and Harvard, he is completing a law degree at the University of Denver.
Romanoff recently led an unsuccessful campaign to reform the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and several other amendments. In 2005, he and Ken Gordon both were involved in the bi-partisan proposal and promotion of Referendum C. A measure designed to preserve higher education and support primary education, health care, and transportation resources in the state, Referendum C was passed in 2005.