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Governor warns of slow recovery
Ritter to announce more budget cuts, including state jobs that won't be restored
Herald Denver Bureau
Ritter
Ritter in Durango
Gov. Bill Ritter will be in Durango at 1:30 p.m. today to hold a town hall meeting at the Transit Center, 250 W. Eighth St. The event is open to the public, and questions will be taken.
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Ritter to hold meeting at Transit Center - 10/22/2009
DENVER – Colorado will need a smaller, more nimble government as it faces a “new economic reality,” Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday.
In remarks he likely will echo today at a town hall meeting in Durango, Ritter warned Coloradans to brace for a long, slow recovery.
“This isn’t some sort of a temporary hiccup. We are living in a new economic reality, where flat or just slightly up will be the new up, or at least the new normal,” Ritter said in a “state of the state” speech to Rotary Clubs in south Denver.
Ritter and the Legislature already have closed a $1.8 billion gap in the last two state budgets, and next week he will announce another $250 million in cuts. Some of those cuts include state jobs and programs that will not be restored, Ritter said he has told his deputies.
Ritter is running for re-election next year, and his opponents have criticized his handling of the state budget. The two leading Republican candidates, Scott McInnis and State Sen. Josh Penry, will appear at the same forum next Monday in Denver.
On Thursday, however, Ritter defended the priorities he laid out in his 2006 campaign – investments in renewable energy and improving the school system.
That campaign happened in a much better economy, he acknowledged, but he wouldn’t change his priorities.
“The strategy is still the right one. I’d argue, it’s an even better strategy,” Ritter said.
The state must continue to align its educational standards from preschool through college, the governor said.
He also cited success stories in luring energy and bioscience businesses to the state, in part thanks to new tax incentives the Legislature passed with his support, he said.
“For this new Colorado partnership to succeed, government must do all it can to strengthen its ties to businesses. Government can’t do everything,” Ritter said. “But especially in tough times like this, we can do a lot.”
Colorado’s unemployment rate dropped to 7 percent in figures released this week, well below the national rate of 9.8 percent, Ritter said. La Plata County’s rate fell to 4.7 percent for September, down from 4.9 percent in August.
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Sunday, October 25, 2009
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Barry Perkins says...
Ritter is an idiot. If he is re-elected then we deserve every thing we get