This is just bizarre.
We're facing a massive constitutional crisis (see below). The Coloradoan hasn't published a word on it. As of July 1, Colorado will have $272 million worth of unfunded government spending because Governor Ritter's Mill-Levy Freeze was ruled unconstitutional. That's not news?
There's more.
Last week, State Senate candidate Matt Fries held a press conference with 20 supporters to announce that he was taking the unusual (and, one would think, newsworthy) step of wading into a municipal issue by taking a stand on the proposed Charter Amendment. Just a press conference might have been written off as a stunt. But Fries went further by actually sending out a mailing on the issue.
There was no mention in the Coloradoan.
The Democrats then sent out their e-mail newsletter, encouraging people to vote in favor of the charter amendment.
There was nothing in the Coloradoan to note this escalation.
Do you mean to tell me that the Coloradoan doesn't believe it's important for the citizens of Fort Collins to know where their candidates stand on public-employee unions? (This is, after all, a major statewide issue as well.)
There's not a reporter over there on Riverside who even considered attending a press conference or asking some simple follow-up questions? (There was no Coloradoan reporter at the Fries press conference.)
Is this neglect? Let's hope so. Because the alternate explanation - that the Coloradoan is staying silent because they're afraid of having to get Bob Bacon, John Kefalas and Randy Fisher on the record on this important issue - would be even worse. It would be inexcusable bias. After all, Bacon, Kefalas and Fischer would be forced to either come out against the union or against what in 2006 was 65 percent of the voting public of Fort Collins.
So where do Bacon, Kefalas and Fischer stand on tomorrow's ballot initiative? The readers of the Coloradoan will never know.
(But apparently the fact that Betsy Markey decided to walk door-to-door is newsworthy enough for a big Sunday story in the Coloradoan. Because, you know, walking door-to-door is such groundbreaking phenomenon in politics.)
