Representative deGette. Because, as Colorado Luis puts it;
I saw Diana DeGette, my Congressional representative, speak last year, and she was talking about her bill to loosen Bush's restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. That's a good wedge issue for election year, I thought, and a good bill for President Kerry to sign. Once Bush got "re"-elected I forgot about it.
But DeGette didn't forget, and today the Castle-DeGette bill (her co-sponsor is Republican Rep. Mike Castle of Delaware) passed the House by a 238-194 margin. It is on the way to the Senate, where staffers for somewhat unlikely supporter Orrin Hatch of Utah say the bill has 60 votes to overcome a possible filibuster from Bill Frist. If it passes the Senate, the bill is expected to go down in history as the first to be vetoed by George W. Bush.
Contrast this with the dark abscess of Colorado politics inhabited by Tom "Torpedo the Immigrants!" (and, 'war on women!') Tancredo. The wingnut continues on his crusade to demonize the less fortunate, destroy his party, and otherwise do nothing of any remote utility for his constituents, the state, or the country. Pay attention, though ... his national racist backers are pushing him for President ... and Tom recently tested the '08 waters in New Hampshire ...
Definitely the most worthless representative in Colorado's history...
And, while I'm at it, why does Colorado's mainstream media continue to paper over Governor Owens' remarkable incompetence managing welfare system I.T. debacle? It's a story right out of podunk-ville...
As the $365,000 audit (you read that right -- for SIX WEEKS WORK!) out yesterday re-confirmed, Owens would have been fired if government were industry. BTW, which consulting firm was paid the 365 big ones?
According to Owens' résumé, the governor "worked for 20 years in the private sector with the consulting staff of Deloitte and Touche," as the firm was known at the time.
A short litany;
1.
The $200 million computer system was launched Sept. 1, over the objections of county officials across Colorado, who complained that it wasn't ready.
Since then, the system, which administers Medicaid, food stamps and other aid for the needy, has generated enormous case backlogs and become notorious for issuing multitudes of conflicting notices about benefits and who would get them.
2.
The legislature's Joint Budget Committee appropriated $15 million to cover overtime and legal fees incurred by the new glitch-filled $200 million system.
3.
The report also said county workers weren't properly trained. Consequently, many of the 2,700 county staffers who input information from clients weren't ready when the system went live Sept. 1.
The state should bolster its training team and issue clear, simple, up-to-date documents on problem areas, the report said.
Hopkins said the report clearly noted that mistakes were made in the structure of CBMS management. ...
...CBMS lost its project manager, in part due to budget cuts, last summer.
Karen Reinertson, executive director of Health Care Policy and Financing, which oversees Medicaid, said she has only the equivalent of four full-timers working on CBMS, and "a bunch of people trying to sub in."
Owens' current hand-wave? Appointing a nice-guy retired physician legislator of little note to 'fix it'....
My bet? It's another FBI data system debacle. Witwer will work for twelve months then report that the entire system is unworkable and has to be scrapped...
Side bet - the reason the mainstream media in Colorado hasn't called for Owens' head on this (can you imagine Jack Welch at GE letting a manager survive after this magnitude failure? I can't -- and I used to work for Jack) is because Owens is a dialled-out lame duck .. but also (and this is what's worrying) because Colorado is a 'get-along' media state --- the press et al just wants to get along with its sources....
