More than he bargained for

Colorado's Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter has to be shaking his head, wondering what he's gotton himself in for.

Here it is some six months until the fall election, but the radio and TV airwaves are already hot with oil industry-funded commercials blasting the Governor and his office for trying to put them out of business. Two initiatives are serious problems for oilmen in Colorado: first was a complete rewrite of oil and gas exploration and production regulations, dramatically increasing the cost of doing business in the state. Now the Governor's friends are trying to petition an initiiative onto the fall ballot to raise serverance taxes on oil and gas, that the industry says could cost some $340 million a year.

It would largely fund college scholarships for Colorado high school graduates, plus some renewable energy initiatives the Governor has been pushing. Colorado college presidents are livid, as they wanted the proceeds to go directly into their budgets, rather than indirectly through student scholarships.

This is shaping up to be a very costly, loud campaign and the colleges may wind up with nothing. The Governor has stirred up a hornet's nest in taking on the oil industry, and the failure to get the college presidents on board before announcing his initiative may have doomed it to failure.

This whole mess may be a bad omen for the Governor's re-election campaign two years from now, if the centerpiece of his agenda crashes and burns in 2008.