from OurFuture.org:
That's Why We Call It the Big ConBy Rick Perlstein
February 21st, 2008 - 10:22pm ET
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Did you know that the University of Colorado just picked as its new president a former oil executive who denies global warming?
Benson Battle Bruises CU ImageBy Richard Martin, 2-11-08
The candidacy of Republican fundraiser Bruce Benson to become the president of the University of Colorado received another blow over the weekend when CU regent Cindy Carlisle announced she would no longer support him. A candidate for state Senate from Boulder, Carlisle had previously been the sole Democrat on the board of regents to come out in favor of Benson.
Late last week the CU faculty assembly postponed a vote on whether to support the proposed appointment of Benson, who has been an oil and gas CEO and is the former chairman of the Colorado Republican party. He is the sole finalist for the job of CU president.
The strikes against Benson are easily compiled: he has no experience as a scholar or a college administrator; he holds no advanced degrees; he has been a partisan political figure (helping head up, for instance, the right-wing Trailhead Group); he doesn’t believe in global warming (at one campus gathering last week he cited National Geographic as proving that current climate change could be part of long-term cycles); and he has no apparent qualifications to head a major state-funded research university. ........ (more at:
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/benson_battle_bruises_cu_image/C94/L94/ )
Now that I've got your attention.
In a post yesterday David Sirota mentioned Colorado's lunatic "Taxpayer Bill of Rights," or TABOR—the fruit of mad scientist Grover Norquist's attempt to drown government in a bathtub, one state at a time. TABOR laws basically force state legislatures to systematically cut spending, regardless of need. How's that working out for the Rocky Mountain State? Well, an outstanding and comprehensive post on the blog Scholars and Rogues shows how, thanks to TABOR's enforced budget cuts, "the state isn't producing enough quality grads to meet the labor demand here."
That's why they've brought in this millionaire right-wing Republican to run the flagship state university. To, you know, help them raise enough money to make up for the shortfall brought on by millionaire right-wing Republicans.
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/thats-why-we-call-it-big-con