Citing the recent surge in energy prices amid a deteriorating economy, legislative Republicans today accused Gov. Bill Ritter of stonewalling the development of Colorado's formidable oil-shale reserves--despite a drive by  Washington to open up shale-rich lands.

The Republicans cited it as yet another example of the Democrat Ritter administration trying to hamper the growth of Colorado's booming energy economy. Ritter previously had attempted to dig in his heels against U.S. Bureau of Land Management approval of natural gas development on Colorado's Roan Plateau.

Senate and House Republicans demanded today that Gov. Bill Ritter place an immediate hold on all hiring by the state government in the face of looming budget cuts and a faltering economy.

The action by the legislative GOP follows the release earlier this week of a troubling economic forecast by the nonpartisan office of Legislative Council. The agency's latest quarterly forecast, released Monday, shows the state's 2008-09 budget, adopted last spring by the Democrat-controlled legislature, will come up some $300 million short due to slumping revenue amid the economic downturn.

The GOP members say the first order of business in stemming the state's red ink must be to stop the Ritter administration's hiring binge, which added some 2,500 positions to the state's payroll in the two years Ritter has been in office. More than 1,300 of those were added just in the current budget year alone. 

"Republicans voted against the budget because it was flat-out irresponsible to hire new government employees during tenuous economic times," said the GOP's Sen. Josh Penry, of Grand Junction.

"With our credit markets in ruin and the state's budget soaked in red ink, the governor needs to put the breaks on mass government hirings," he said. "Every dollar the governor spends growing government payroll is a dollar that will be cut from higher education, transportation or healthcare programs."

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said Ritter should borrow a page from his predecessor in office.

A pending, last-ditch attempt by Gov. Bill Ritter to head off four economically ruinous, union-backed ballot issues--reportedly costing business millions of dollars to seal the deal--reflects the governor's desperation as well as his poor judgment all along, the Senate's top Republican said today.

The negotiated agreement to get unions to withdraw the initiatives from the November ballot could be announced as early as this morning and will result in some key business leaders agreeing to provide upwards of $4 million to the campaign against three other ballot issues that organized labor opposes. Senate GOP chief Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs, said that amounts to forcing employers into a "deal with the devil" that would have been unthinkable if it weren't for Ritter's controversial executive orders in 2007 allowing collective bargaining by unions on behalf of state government employees as well as the deduction of union dues from state paychecks.

"As everyone knows by now, that set off a chain reaction that got us into this mess. Frankly, this is all his fault," McElhany said. "Now, the governor wants the business community to drag him out of the quicksand. And he is shaking them down to the tune of at least $4 million.

"That's some deal," he said. "I'll bet no union ever did that well for itself at the collective-bargaining table."

Added McElhany, "Without a doubt, the four ballot issues that Big Labor wants all would be disastrous for Colorado's economy, scaring off potential new employers and even some already operating in our state. Anyone who care about Colorado's ability to create jobs doesn't want to see those measures become law. Yet, this backroom deal that we keep hearing about really makes you want to hold your nose."

Legislative Republicans rapped ruling Democrats today for a "runaway train of spending" following the release of a new economic forecast that points to a $100 million shortfall--and likely cuts--in this year's state budget.

The troubling report from the legislature's nonpartisan office of Legislative Council also notes that some $230 million that was anticipated for highways when the budget was adopted by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly last spring has since evaporated. Given the ongoing economic downturn, that source of highway revenue is zeroed out in the latest forecast, with only about $28 million in leftover funding from last year that now is expected to spill over from the operating budget to highways.

"We tried and tried to get them to not spend every dime that was forecast," said Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs. "We saw the gathering storm of recession, but they didn't see a cloud on the horizon."

Sen. Josh Penry, the GOP's Senate member on the Capital Development Committee, said there is no excuse for not trying to anticipate the nation's, and Colorado's, economic woes and the effect it all would have on state revenue.

"These forecasts must feel like the morning after a drinking binge for (Gov.) Bill Ritter and the legislative Democrats,"  said Penry, of Grand Junction.  "The Democrats showed zero fiscal discipline when they passed this budget and now they've got a budget covered in red ink to show for it."

A Denver-area college professor who is being accused of bias--and of letting students be bullied and harassed in class over their political views--now is drawing the scrutiny of some prominent lawmakers in the State Capitol.

The Republican legislators are demanding immediate corrective action be taken in the wake of allegations by students that Metro State College adjunct Professor Andrew Hallam told his English Composition students to write an essay critical of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin. As reported this week by Denver's KCNC-TV Channel 4, students are also accusing Hallam of singling out Republican students and holding them up to ridicule by classmates.

Students also are saying that Hallam, who has declined to comment to the news media amid the uproar, is known for his expletive-laced, political diatribes. According to the Website worldnetdaily.com, he once declared, "(President George W.) Bush-bashing is one of my favorite things to do." The allegations have left lawmakers shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Good grief, this is supposed to be an English class," said the GOP's Sen. Mike Kopp, of Littleton. "Once again, it looks like an academic at a publicly supported college in our state is using his classroom as a soapbox for his personal politics. And he is trampling on students' free speech in the process--actually telling them what opinions they are allowed to express."

Added Kopp, "Given the high cost of tuition these days, you would think these students--and their parents--could expect more for ther money."

An interim legislative committee on wildfire issues embraced a package of wide-ranging measures today in hopes of heading off—and better preparing for—Colorado’s next round of menacing wildfires.

Created by Senate Joint Resolution 25, the Committee on Wildfire Issues in Wild Land-Urban Interface Areas was the brainchild of Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Genesee, to take an active role in anticipating future wildfires and helping community firefighting programs.

"The interim committee was set up to address head-on the challenges of wildfire issues that Colorado's mountain communities face," said Kopp, himself a former hotshot firefighter.  "I am pleased at the bipartisan nature of the proceedings and that we have grown the ranks of legislators who will join in taking a leadership role on this high priority issue."

The interim committee has met six times this year to study the challenges to traditional firefighting resources and to discuss policy changes and make legislative recommendations on state wildfire issues.  The committee took public comments and testimony from groups involved in wildfire mitigation and has come up with several bills to address this issue.