Opinion: Positive notes in bad election season


The negative ads have taken their toll, so it`s been difficult to generate much enthusiasm for this election. But there are some bright spots.
Cary Kennedy, running for re-election as Colorado state treasurer, has done some seriously good things for this state. Normally, the state treasurer is not noticed, as the job involves managing the state`s accounts in a risk-averse way. But in an economic collapse when many smart investors lost their shirts, Kennedy managed to prevent significant losses and even made money.
Kennedy is also willing to invest the time to investigate new approaches that could help Colorado maintain its budget. She made a fundraising call to me that ended up lasting almost three-quarters of an hour, as we discussed the state transportation funding shortfall and alternatives to help solve it. Most fundraising calls are cursory, as the candidate is trying to get a donation and move on. For her to spend that amount of time with someone she doesn`t know is quite remarkable.
Michael Bennett responded to an inquiry of mine about reappointing Bernanke as chair of the Fed with some very intelligent and strategic thinking. I was impressed by his analysis and even more that he answered my particular and detailed questions. In this day of sound-bite politics, the personal touch and intellectual rigor are both much appreciated.
Our state legislators also deserve significant acknowledgement. I just finished scanning thousands of pages of material from a Colorado Open Records Act request relative to House Bill 1365, the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act. The compromises that had to be made to retire some coal plants a bit early so as to get us cleaner air and reduced CO2 emissions certainly demonstrated the adage that politics can be like making sausage, not something that one wants to watch if one wants to enjoy the product.
Recent press coverage of the inappropriate role of certain Public Utilities Commission members in drafting the legislation have obscured the real problem, which, as I have heard repeatedly, is that nothing gets done in the energy arena without Xcel`s approval. According to the e-mails now made public, it appears that Xcel was in charge of drafting HB 1365, and everyone else was reacting. The following gives some flavor:
Frank Prager – Vice President, Environmental Policy, Xcel, Friday, March 5, 2010, “Attached is the revision to the air quality – natural gas bill that attempts to incorporate the discussion yesterday…”
Kelly Nordini – then Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Ritter, Wednesday, March 10, 2010, “Dear lord. They wordsmithed the hell out of this, including the FERC section. I`ve sent this to Matt [Baker] and Ron [Binz, both PUC commissioners] to review too. Give a ring or email after you have retrieved your head from the other side of the room.”
Basically, the bill is “green for green” – Xcel gets the opportunity to invest well over a billion dollars in new gas plants at a high rate of return with essentially no risk, and we get cleaner air a few years sooner.
It`s pretty depressing when Congress is so stalemated that no useful energy or climate legislation can be passed. But with 2B, the Boulder City Council demonstrated its willingness to take a serious look at how we can have a cleaner, cheaper and more reliable energy future. As a proponent of 2B, I have focused on explaining to people that renewable energy is becoming more affordable and fossil fuels more expensive and less available, so it behooves us to prepare for major changes.
As we are seeing this year, the unbridled use of corporate money is a major force in spawning attack ads. What about a law that requires an opt-in by stockholders before a corporation can spend money on political advertising? Stockholders I know would rather have the money themselves than give it to some unknown corporate VP to spend as the corporation chooses. Given how easily dividends are distributed, asking for the opt-in wouldn`t be that hard, and fund managers and retirement account custodians would either get on board or lose customers. Surveys show that a large majority of voters own stock, so even Congress would be hard put not to take action.

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