By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

November 12, 2007
A long time ago I served as a negotiator for a union that had a no-strike clause and no binding arbitration. Here’s how much power we had:
None.
Predictions of greater labor muscle based on Gov. Bill Ritter’s recent executive order allowing state workers to join no-strike, no-arbitration unions strikes me as […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
November 9, 2007
Ricardo Marquez, Juan Santa Cruz and Gilberto Hernandez know how lucky they are. They just don’t know how lucky they will continue to be.
For years the three men have traveled to and from their homes in Mexico to Aurora, Colo., to work as seasonal employees for JBK Landscaping. The trio would […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

November 8, 2007
As would-be U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey plays dumb on what constitutes torture, the lessons of Lewis Welshofer Jr. grow fuzzy in the self-imposed moral ambiguity.
By now, most Americans probably don’t remember Welshofer. Those of us who covered his trial for torturing to death an Iraqi general will never forget […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
Novermber 7, 2007
The chart detailing supervised loans in Colorado tells a graphically ugly tale. Too many state residents live on borrowed money and, therefore, borrowed time.
The dollar amount of high-interest, high-risk loans made in Colorado increased for the fourth year in a row in 2006, Attorney General John Suthers announced Tuesday.
It totaled $2.23 […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com

Denver Post owner Dean Singleton’s front-page editorial attacking Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on Sunday appears unprecedented for its name-calling, at least in the newspaper’s recent history.
The editorial criticizing Ritter’s executive order allowing state workers to join unions is only the third front-page editorial in the Post in the past decade.
The Ritter […]

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By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
November 1, 2007
Tom Tancredo, the most divisive politician in Colorado and an embarrassment in the U.S. House of Representatives, will not run for re-election. Hallelujah. Let the healing begin.
Whichever Caucasian male succeeds Tancredo in the white bread, solidly Republican 6th Congressional District, he likely won’t be talking about bombing Mecca, calling Miami […]

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