HIRING EVENT

November 20, 2008

Employers

Loomis 1:00 - 3:30 PM

TransFirst 1:30 - 3:30 PM

EchoStar 1:30 - 3:30 PM

WORKSHOPS

November 19, 2008

12:30 - 4:00 PM (Lands On Cover Letters)

8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Microsoft Word:  Word Principles)

12:30 PM - 4:00 PM (10 Steps to Federal Employment)

November 20, 2008

12:30 AM - 4:00 PM (Workshop:  Job Interviewing)

Please feel free to share with any job-seekers you know!

Some of you may recall that Sen. Williams, Rep. Middleton and myself requested a performance audit a few months ago to look at the interaction and enforcement of traffic laws, including immigration issues raised.  The request was prompted by a fatal collision in Aurora in September when 3 people were killed.

The Audit Committee previously  voted to give preliminary approval to the request and upon finding merit to it, unanimously voted to authorize the full audit.

The purpose of the audit is identify gaps and cracks in the system, the laws, and their enforcement and provide concrete recommendations for fixing them.

Some of the questions included for review are:

Do criminal justice agencies have timely access to accurate and complete information concerning traffic offenses, a person’s driver’s license status and immigration status, if applicable?

What efforts has the State made to keep unlicensed and uninsured drivers off Colorado’s roadways and what opportunities are there for improvement?

What impact, if any, have SB 06-90 and other relevant legislation had on criminal justice agencies’ responsibilities to identify, detain and report illegal aliens arrested as the result of a traffic stop or accident?

Have the State’s efforts to ensure local law enforcement personnel are propery trained to enforce Colorado’s traffic laws and comply with SB 06-90 been adequate?

As a citizen one of the little-known gems is the State Auditor’s office.  This is a tool of good government and opportunity to learn a lot about ways to improve government and laws.  The web site for the state auditor is http://www.leg.state.co.us/OSA/coauditor1.nsf/Home?openform .

As we are gearing up for the 2009 Legislative Session it is clear that creating and keeping jobs in Colorado is a TOP PRIORITY for our individual and state economy.

Because of some policies we implemented over the past few years, Colorado is not being hit as hard as other states.  That said, our unemployment rate is currently 5.2% (compared to 6.1% nationally)  Colorado also need to make sure our PERA and state retirees are protected from an economic downturn.

GREEN JOBS

Nearly 90,000 jobs were created by the end of 2007 is green, reweable energy jobs and this trend looks promising to continue to grow.  Aurora landed a large solar research company and Pueblo has landed good wind turbine work.  Not only are these jobs generally at a living wage but they also get us closer to energy independence.  Designing, building and maintaining more renewable energy plants will continue to provide work as will designing, building and maintaining the necessary transmission lines for our new energy economy.

BIOSCIENCES

Colorado is on the leading edge of bio-medical research and the bio-sciences.  Landing the CU Health Science Center in Aurora at the old Fitzsimmons location will continue to attract health care jobs, researchers, research grants, public and private investment.  there are currently 16,000 direct bioscience jobs in Colorado, 20,000 indirect bioscience jobs and growing with an average salary of $63,000 per year.  This has the added benefit of potentially finding cures and treatment to improve our health care.

AEROSPACE

Colorado is #2 in the country for private aerospace jobs.  Colorado has over 26,000 direct aerospace jobs in the private sector and 171,200 jobs if one counts the indirect aerospace jobs in Colorado and that figure continues to rise.

STATE & FEDERAL JOBS

While Colorado has one of the leanest governments in the country, a job seeker might be wise to also consider working for the State of Colorado.  There are currently 1,397 job openings in Colorado primarily in admin, finance / accounting, engineering and IT.  The federal government currently has 942 job openings in Colorado.

MECHANICS & REPAIR SKILLS

As long as we have things:  cars, houses, businesses, computers, they will break. Training and preparing for repair skills is likely to remain in high demand, even as an economy may slow in other areas.  These jobs are also less likely to be out-sourced.

Many portions of the retail sector remain at risk for lay-offs or down-sizing.  Anytime we see a downturn in the economy it is a GOOD TIME to consider retraining or going back to school .  Our community colleges offer some of the most affordable degree and skills training around and Colorado has some of the best Universities to offer our residents.

For those with disabilities that may impact your ability to find work, please remember that the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation may be able to provide some retraining and job assistance.  (303.866.4150)

Also, remember your county works (i.e. Arapahoe / Douglas Works! 303.688.4825) offices through the Work Force Investment Act.  They have comprehensive databases on the latest employers seeking jobs and different levels of services available to support job seekers, depending on level of need.

TO OUR YOUTH:

Brush up on your math and science and take those courses seriously.  The future of good paying jobs (health care, engineering, bioscience, renewable energy jobs, mechanics) will reward these skills.

Share your ideas for job creation here or else email me at morgan@senmorgancarroll.com .

This is a quick update to let you know I will be Vice-Chair of Senate Judiciary and a member of the Health & Human Services Committee.  As the remainder of assignments come you will be able to get a full list from the Colorado General Assembly web page.

The Colorado Senate today voted on leadership positions today.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Senator Peter Groff was re-elected President.  Senator Betty Boyd was elected President Pro Tem, Senator Lois Tochtrop was elected as assistant Majority Leader, Senator Williams was elected as Majority Caucus Chair, Senator Mo Keller is chair of the Joint Budget Committee and Sen. Tapia is on the Joint Budget Committee.

The Colorado House also voted on leadership positions today.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Rep. Terrance Carroll was elected Speaker.  Rep. Paul Weissmann was elected as Majority Leader.  Rep. Andy Kerr was elected Assistant Majority Leader.  Rep. Karen Middleton was elected as Caucus Chair and Rep. Claire Levy was elected as Whip.

I have to say, as a long-time resident of Aurora, we are not used to receiving this much political attention.  I am delighted that people are starting to recognize the importance of our community in reaching out on national campaigns.

Former Presidential Candidate John Kerry made a stop at Rangeview High School in 2004 which was unusual for our community but he was born in Aurora.

Since then Barack Obama visited Aurora in 2006 to support Ed Perlmutter.  Of course our current Governor, Bill Ritter, Jr. grew up in Aurora

Now that Obama is a presidential candidate, we have also seen Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY), Gov. Bill Richardson (NM) and Actor Robert Redford join us in Aurora.  John McCain was also in Aurora earlier this year.

We are a growing community that should not be ignored by anyone.  This community has demonstrated that it is willing to put policy over party and neither Democrats nor Republicans should assume that any part of Aurora will always go “their” way.

Our citizens are independent and will go their own way depending on the issues and candidates at the time.

In the meantime, congratulations to our community for flexing your political muscle and for exercising your right to vote!  We will have another historic figure, Gloria Steinam at the Community College of Aurora tomorrow Sat. Nov. 1 at 3:00 PM.

Early voting finishes today (Oct. 31).  If you have a ballot out, return it as soon as possible!  If you haven’t returned your mail ballot by today (Fri. Oct. 31), the post office is recommending you drop it off in person to make sure it is received by election day.

Here’s a few things in the bailout bill which you might not have heard about:

• renewable energy credits
• tax credits & policy on carbon, coal, conservation, renewable diesel, ethanol, biomass, solar & wind policy
• tax credit for the steel industry
• mental health parity
• abandoned mines
• hurricane Ike disaster relief
• tuition issues
• permanent authority for undercover operations
• film & TV production
• deduction for school teachers
• issues on American Samoa & Puerto Rico
• mine rescue
• Indian Reservations
• railroads
• motorsports
• farming
• wool research fund
• terrorism issues
• child tax credit
• wooden arrows exemption

Congress does not have the ability to “line-item” their thoughts on each separate provision but must decide in total “yes” or “no”.

I support some of the policies in here (i.e. mental health parity and for renewable energy tax credits), but what I really oppose is a lawmaking process that glues so many otherwise unrelated ideas together into one, unseverable bill.

This is in addition to the fact that I think it is not fundamentally sound public policy to go $700 billion further in debt so taxpayers can buy the bad debt of a few reckless corporations.

I am GLAD the house initially voted the measure down.  Our grand-children will be paying off the bad debt of these corporations who fell prey to their own excesses.  And even if I thought it was appropriate for grandchildren to be paying for this generation’s expenses and mistakes, I certainly wouldn’t spend it for this purpose.

But the so-called “improved” version is not improved it simply leverages various people’s wish-lists to try to secure enough votes for passage.  What it actually does is make a compelling case for the need for single subject reform at the federal level. Colorado voters wisely passed single subject reform in Colorado in 1994.  As a result, we can not and do not have the ability for “riders” or “pork barrel projects” or “vote trading” within a given measure.  This is a good thing.

I hope that Congress does not succumb to swallowing financial cyanide with “a few sweeteners” added. And for the sake of the future of good legislation in the United States, I hope they will seriously consider single subject reform in the future!

I am in the process of writing a series giving my analysis on the various ballot measures.  Here is also a link to the blue book.

2008 State Ballot Information Book

In the meantime, here is the quick summary of my positions:
*means DECEPTIVE wording - watch out!

*Amendment 46 - No (Constitutionally Eliminates Equal Opportunity Programs, Guts Civil Rights Movement)
*Amendment 47 - No (Constitutionally Eliminates Workers Voice on the Job & Services to Community)
Amendment 48 - No (Constitutionally Defines Egg as Person — Legally Bizarre Results)
Amendment 49 - No (Constitutionally Prohibits Dues Deduction)
Amendment 50 - No (Constitutionally Changes Gaming Limits, Adds another constitutional budget formula)
Amendment 51 - Yes (Statutorily eliminates wait-list for people with developmental disabilities)
Amendment 52 - No (Constitutionally shifts spending & reallocates another constitutional budget formula)
Amendment 53 - Yes (Statutorily makes execs culpable for know corporation violations - closes loophole)
*Amendment 54 - No (Constitutionally eliminates 1st Amendment donor rights for relatives of contractors)
Amendment 55 - No (I support “just cause for termination” but NOT in constitution).
Amendment 56 - No (health care good, but NOT in constitution)
Amendment 57 - Yes (Statutorily gives remedies to injured workers if unsafe or unhealthy workplace)
Amendment 58 - Yes (Removes oil & gas industry subsidy loophole to fund other services in state)
Amendment 59 - Yes (Constitutional Correction:  Savings Account for Education, Simplifies existing budget)

Ref. L - Yes (Constitutionally adjusts current constitutional age limit to serve from 25 to 21.
Ref. M - Yes (Removes Obsolete Provisions in Constitution)
Ref. N - Yes (Removes Obsolete Provisions in Constitution)
Ref. O - Yes (Constitutionally adjusts current constitutional initiative process to incentivize statues in future)

City Ref. 3A &B - Yes (Academics in Aurora!)

The more detailed analysis on each will continue to follow.

The Bush administration is joining big corporations asking for a $700 Billion corporate bailout to buy the bad debt of Wall Street in a package that could ultimately cost taxpayers $1 Trillion. This comes in the wake of systematic de-regulation that facilitated high risk practices combined with good old-fashioned greed — and it backfired — and we shouldn’t have to pay for it.

This comes in the wake of an $85 Billion dollar bailout for AIG insurance company.

The last time taxpayers subsidized a socialized bailout of corporate America was with the Savings & Loan crisis in 1989 and that cost taxpayers to the tune of about $51 Billion dollars.

You may recall that there was a scandal involving the “Keating Five”.

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

As of September 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.7 trillion^[2], about $31,700 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident).  With a stroke of a pen, we may looking at $10.7 trillion.  That is NOT responsible.

This bothers me for a few reasons:

• It rewards irresponsible and reckless behavior
• Taxpayers can’t shoulder anymore burden
• People have been left to struggle, corporations get help
• This is corporate socialism except - they get / keep all profits, we pay all their bad debts, huh?
• Leaving appropriate regulations up front would have cost us less and been less of a free market intrusion than tolerating wild excesses and then following with a $1 Trillion bailout to the corporations rather than people.
• The people who deserve help can’t get it
• Taxing the public to transfer wealth to corporations and bad debt to the public is WRONG.
• We the people have enough of our own debts and can’t absorb Corporate America’s debts a well.
• What really incenses me is that Congress & Bush removed the ability for average Americans to get debt relief by bad Bankruptcy Reform written by credit card companies.  So if ordinary people can’t get debt relief why should big corporations?
• There is an economic crisis and it is on Main Street.  The economic relief we need is for:
  • jobs
  • home ownership
  • stagnate wages
  • health care inflation
  • savings & retirement

Transferring public funds to private corporations for bad behavior that hurts consumers and investors is wrong.

But here’s what really gets me, what else could $700 Billion buy?

• How many lives could we insure for $700 Billion?
• How much could we lower premiums for $700 Billion?
• What could we do for education in this country for $700 Billion?
• How many teachers could we hire / train for $700 Billion?
• How many young people could go to college for $700 Billion?
• How many jobs could we create for $700 Billion?
• How many discoveries or cures could we find for $700 Billion?
• How many neighborhoods could we improve for $700 Billion?
• How much could we improve Social Security or retirements with $700 Billion?
• How many law enforcement officers could we hire where currently understaffed for $700 Billion?
• How many disabled people could get the services they need for $700 Billion?
• How much job training and re-training could we do for laid off workers with $700 Billion?
• How many small farmers and ranchers could we help with $700 Billion?
• How much environmental contamination could we clean up with $700 Billion?
• How much could $700 Billion provide in Veterans benefits and medical care?

This is the same approach McCain took in 1989.  And while the Democrats are talking about putting some safeguards and limits, including blocking “golden parachutes” for huge cash rewards for CEOs, I don’t think the discussion should be “what kind of bailout?” but  whether we should bailout at all.

As someone who has been blocked many times on efforts to give greater rights to consumers and workers in the name of the “free market”, it goes without saying that transferring public wealth to private corporations is definitely NOT part of the free market.

The public should keep a close eye on the lobbying activity going on in Congress that could make anyone think this is a good idea or somehow the “only” way to fix our economy.