Has Democratic candidate for governor John Hickenlooper managed already to surrender campaign narrative control to GOP rival Scott McInnis? Maybe. Progressive analyst and talk show host David Sirota is fed up these days with the way Democrats seem to be governing in the interests of corporations. He’s had enough, for example, of the health care industry consulting on legislation and tugging on lawmaker sleeves. Sirota asked David O Williams, ace energy reporter for the Colorado Independent, to speak on Wednesday morning’s 760 “Progressive Talk” radio show. Williams has been reporting on the way Hickenlooper appears to be backing away from Gov. Bill Ritter’s more environmentally friendly oil and gas regulations, appearing to concede to McInnis’s stance that the regulations have cost Colorado jobs– a stance increasingly at odds with the facts. Follow the link to the lively banter after the jump.
Choice bit:
SIROTA: But as you mention in your article, surveys say regulation is popular… Hickenlooper is just confirming the [McInnis] frame, that tougher regulations are bad for jobs…
WILLIAMS: Yeah… There’s increased support for the new regulations. The Western Slope isn’t the same as it was in the 1980s when Hickenlooper worked there as an oil industry geologist. There’s more support for regulation. Colorado is not Pennsylvania. It’s not Texas. We’re an outdoor lifestyle and tourism state. Retirees and second-home owners pour money into our economy…
Williams goes on to detail how the new regulations have actually not yet been tested and refers to the fact that the oil and gas industry is naturally cyclical, a boom and bust business.
Click here to listen. The first part of the clip includes an interview with U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff. The Daves begin their back-and-forth about 10 minutes into the discussion.
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