Governor Bill Ritter surprised everyone when he named Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet to replace Ken Salazar as US Senator. This could be Bill Ritter's boldest move since taking office.
Michael Bennet is a large proponent of accountability in schools. The performance-based pay in the ProComp plan irritated the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and provoked their childish hooky-day last spring.
Many are surprised that Governor Ritter did not appoint one of the elected politicians mentioned for the job (I predicted outgoing House Speaker Andrew Romanoff). Joshua Sharf at View From a Height provides great insight into Governor Ritter's rationale behind this choice.
Gov. Ritter hasn't just avoided picking the winner in this sweepstakes. As importantly, he's avoided picking the losers. Any of them may perceive a primary worth running and worth winning. None of them feels locked out. All of them can proceed with whatever career plans they had just after the election, so nobody's worse off. They could plausibly claim to be disappointed, but not excluded. Down, but not out.
While having no elected experience will challenge Michael Bennet, there is plenty of time for him to learn the nuts and bolts of legislating. After all, the Senate is a place of talking, not action. Another potential issue is that no one truly knows Bennet's political philosophy outside of the education front. One assumes that he is a reliable Democrat. However, Governor Bill Ritter was not going to appoint a Republican. Therefore, Michael Bennet is likely as good of a choice as any for a centrist US Senate appointment.
by Civil Sense
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