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Denver – Today Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, issued the following statement on the December Economic and Revenue Forecast.

“The additional reserve fund balance is testimony to the wisdom of conservative and prudent fiscal decisions made in 2011. Unfortunately, much will be spent on supplemental requests from the Governor’s office and the increased cost of federally mandated health care continues to consume Colorado revenues. While there is good news in the budget forecast, this new revenue does not solve our structural budget problems or give us the excuse to avert hard decisions for the 2012 session.”

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State Senator Keith King is not seeking re-election after being shanked in the back by the Democrats on the Reapportionment Commission, who forced him into the same district as Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman. But Senator King is a class act, compared to the cowards on Reapportionment who didn't want a fair fight at the ballot box.

Rather than throw in the towel on public policy, Senator King has announced his intention to keep fighting for the cause most near and dear to him: education.

Continue reading CLASS, THY NAME IS KEITH KING: State Senator To Focus On Education After Reapportionment Shanking on Colorado Peak Politics.

Colorado’s politically vindictive redistricting maps — drawn by Democrats to benefit Democrats and upheld by the Colorado Supreme Court — have cost Colorado Springs the future terms of an extraordinary legislator.

The new political boundaries would have caused state Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, to run against Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs. King and Cadman are class acts and highly effective politicians who work for the benefit of the Pikes Peak region. As such, they won’t battle each other in 2012.

“The court ruled today to accept the map, which means I will not be running again for the Senate,” King said Monday in an email to board members of Colorado Springs Early Colleges, a charter school he founded and administers. “I do not want to run against my friend, Bill Cadman. We vote the same, and our values are the same on almost all issues.”

Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, has appointed Senator Tim Neville, R-Littleton, to serve on the State, Veterans, & Military Affairs and the Local Government Committees.

“It is an honor to be appointed to these committees,” said Neville. “I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find solutions to the challenges we are facing as a state in the upcoming legislative session.”

The Senate State Affairs Committee considers matters concerning elections, campaign finance, military and veterans affairs, and other subject areas related to state government. In addition, the committee has legislative oversight responsibility for the departments of State and Military and Veterans Affairs.

Yet, Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs said the salary survey may be somewhat distorted. Lambert pointed to the employers the survey uses as a basis for comparison—a dozen other states, local counties, and three private-sector companies: Newmont Mining Company, Northern Colorado Medical Center and the University of Denver–and said the survey is skewed.

“It seems these are high-end comparisons,” said Lambert. “We need to a take a look at that to see if the state is using an appropriate benchmark. Otherwise, I mean, why aren’t we pulling a company out of the phone book and asking what do you pay your employees? It might be a more accurate description.”

Additionally, government jobs have stayed fairly constant in terms of total employment throughout the down economy, says Lambert, while private-sector jobs have dropped by about 100,000.