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Election 2008
Ritter picks Bennet
LAMAR, COLO.
(hppr) -
It is my privilege and my honor to begin 2009 by doing something that is very rare and even unique for a governor: appointing someone to the United States Senate.
That's Colorado Governor Bill Ritter at a press conference announcing the next U.S. Senator from Colorado. Many names had been mentioned as possible appointments to fill democratic Senator Ken Salazar's seat after he is confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. However, Michael Bennet came as a surprise. Bennet has been serving as the superintendent of Denver Public Schools for the past four years. Prior to that he was the chief of staff for Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, who was also in the running for Salazar's seat. He has also worked for an investment company as a corporate turnaround expert. Governor Ritter praised Bennet's career accomplishments at the appointment.
Ritter: He has this impressive record of restructuring companies, restructuring schools, erasing budget deficits, and making organizations stronger than how he found them.
Although he might have an impressive work record, his resume does not include any elected offices. The word "unknown" has been used frequently to describe him. How Bennet will vote once he is in the Senate is an unanswered question. The extent of his knowledge of rural Colorado is unknown as well. Colorado Representative Cory Gardner from Yuma, Colorado, was disappointed that Governor Ritter chose to appoint someone from the Denver area.
Michael Bennet has not only lived in Colorado very long, I think it's a grand total of ten years, but I wonder if he's been east or west of I-25 that many times to truly understand what it truly means to live on the land, to develop resources, to worry about water everyday. So what we really have to do is embark on an education process so that we can have the representation that we need for rural Colorado.
Acutally, Michael Bennett has lived in Colorado for 12 years. In the last session of the U.S. Senate, Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard represented Colorado. Both are native Coloradans with agricultural backgrounds. When Bennet fills Salazar's seat neither or these things can be said about him or current junior senator Mark Udall. There are only two years remaining in Salazar's term. Bennet is already planning to run for election in 2010. Gardner questions Bennet's ability to get elected.
I think the nomination of Michael Bennet opens this seat to Republican hands. I really do. Prior to Ken Salazar's stepping aside from the seat, I think Republicans would have had a very tough time going after the seat. But now, with an open seat and particularly an unknown person holding that seat, I think that very much puts that seat into play for Republicans.
Dick Wadhams is the Colorado Republicans state chairman. Wadhams says he thinks it is unfortunate that both senators will be from the Denver metropolitan area and that republicans are already planning to field a strong candidate for the 2010 election to run against Bennet.
I think there's a real question if he understands how big our state is and how diverse it is and there are a lot of rural counties and citizens of our state that he will be representing. So, I don't know, he's a big question mark right now.
Wadhams was also surprised Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper wasn't chosen, who would have had a strong shot at re-election. This is Mark Udall's first week as a U.S. Senator. Udall says he will be going to school with Ken Salazar to learn from him in two weeks what he'd planned to learn in two years, and then sit out with Senator Bennet and learn from him where he can put his shoulder to the wheel. Udall expects Bennet to be strong in several areas.
He brings a real expertise in education policy; I assume he's going to work very hard to land a spot on the education and health committee. Secondly, he brings real expertise and experience and success from the world of financial investments and Wall Street. We need him to help us reregulate Wall Street and protect pensions and protects people's investments. So, I think those are two areas where we can complement each other.
Senator Udall says that he expects Bennet will work very hard, in the end though, voters will have the final choice in 2010. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields reporting.
© Copyright 2009, hppr
(2009-01-08)
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That's Colorado Governor Bill Ritter at a press conference announcing the next U.S. Senator from Colorado. Many names had been mentioned as possible appointments to fill democratic Senator Ken Salazar's seat after he is confirmed as Secretary of the Interior. However, Michael Bennet came as a surprise. Bennet has been serving as the superintendent of Denver Public Schools for the past four years. Prior to that he was the chief of staff for Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, who was also in the running for Salazar's seat. He has also worked for an investment company as a corporate turnaround expert. Governor Ritter praised Bennet's career accomplishments at the appointment.
Ritter: He has this impressive record of restructuring companies, restructuring schools, erasing budget deficits, and making organizations stronger than how he found them.
Although he might have an impressive work record, his resume does not include any elected offices. The word "unknown" has been used frequently to describe him. How Bennet will vote once he is in the Senate is an unanswered question. The extent of his knowledge of rural Colorado is unknown as well. Colorado Representative Cory Gardner from Yuma, Colorado, was disappointed that Governor Ritter chose to appoint someone from the Denver area.
Michael Bennet has not only lived in Colorado very long, I think it's a grand total of ten years, but I wonder if he's been east or west of I-25 that many times to truly understand what it truly means to live on the land, to develop resources, to worry about water everyday. So what we really have to do is embark on an education process so that we can have the representation that we need for rural Colorado.
Acutally, Michael Bennett has lived in Colorado for 12 years. In the last session of the U.S. Senate, Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard represented Colorado. Both are native Coloradans with agricultural backgrounds. When Bennet fills Salazar's seat neither or these things can be said about him or current junior senator Mark Udall. There are only two years remaining in Salazar's term. Bennet is already planning to run for election in 2010. Gardner questions Bennet's ability to get elected.
I think the nomination of Michael Bennet opens this seat to Republican hands. I really do. Prior to Ken Salazar's stepping aside from the seat, I think Republicans would have had a very tough time going after the seat. But now, with an open seat and particularly an unknown person holding that seat, I think that very much puts that seat into play for Republicans.
Dick Wadhams is the Colorado Republicans state chairman. Wadhams says he thinks it is unfortunate that both senators will be from the Denver metropolitan area and that republicans are already planning to field a strong candidate for the 2010 election to run against Bennet.
I think there's a real question if he understands how big our state is and how diverse it is and there are a lot of rural counties and citizens of our state that he will be representing. So, I don't know, he's a big question mark right now.
Wadhams was also surprised Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper wasn't chosen, who would have had a strong shot at re-election. This is Mark Udall's first week as a U.S. Senator. Udall says he will be going to school with Ken Salazar to learn from him in two weeks what he'd planned to learn in two years, and then sit out with Senator Bennet and learn from him where he can put his shoulder to the wheel. Udall expects Bennet to be strong in several areas.
He brings a real expertise in education policy; I assume he's going to work very hard to land a spot on the education and health committee. Secondly, he brings real expertise and experience and success from the world of financial investments and Wall Street. We need him to help us reregulate Wall Street and protect pensions and protects people's investments. So, I think those are two areas where we can complement each other.
Senator Udall says that he expects Bennet will work very hard, in the end though, voters will have the final choice in 2010. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields reporting.
© Copyright 2009, hppr
