During a March 9 discussion on Rocky Mountain PBS about a Democratic state Senate resolution opposing President Bush's plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq, Denver Post editorial writer Dan Haley echoed Republican talking points in claiming that the Democratic-led Colorado General Assembly “waste[s] plenty of time.” On the Colorado State of Mind broadcast, Haley mentioned legislation regarding “whether kids can go to tanning booths” and “microchipping humans.” But he ignored the fact that the Colorado Democratic leadership agenda for the current legislative session is based on education, health care, and renewable energy, as Colorado Media Matters has noted. Furthermore, discussing the Iraq war during the same broadcast, Haley ignored recent reporting in the Post to assert dubiously that “there has been somewhat of a lull in the last week or so” in the amount of violence in Iraq.

Colorado State of Mind host Cynthia Hessin introduced the topic of the Senate resolution opposing Bush's troop increase in Iraq by saying, “Two Colorado senators, Democrats Ken Gordon [Denver] and Ron Tupa [Boulder] -- along with Representative Terrance Carroll [Denver], a Democrat from the House -- are the sponsors of a measure soon to be debated, which calls on Congress and the president to stop the escalation of the war in Iraq. If it were passed, the nonbinding resolution would simply put the state on record in opposition to the war.” Hessin then summarized the debate over the resolution:

And the public will have a chance to be heard on this issue March 14, when a public hearing is to be held at the Capitol. Colorado's not alone in this. State lawmakers in at least 22 other states and many smaller local governments are also making room in their agendas to talk about Iraq. Opponents say that measures like this are a waste of time because they have no effect in law. Rather like writing a letter to Santa Claus, says one Capitol observer. Another senator -- Republican Greg Brophy of Wray, Colorado -- believes you accomplish nothing and you do destroy morale.

On the other hand, the sponsors of this say it is their right and their responsibility to talk about this major issue facing the country. And an anti-war group monitoring this activity says that states do have the power and authority to speak out because of readiness at home and the impact on National Guard units. In response to the first measure, Republicans [Sen.] Mike Kopp [Littleton] and [Rep.] David Balmer [Centennial] this week introduced another resolution they'd like to see passed expressing support for U.S. military personnel.

Responding to Hessin's comments, Haley replied:

My -- my first thought when I heard about this was, one, you can't prosecute a war, a war on terror, by looking at opinion polls. So what good is it? Two, this is much like the Boulder City Council when they put out their, you know, usual foreign-policy statements. Why is the Boulder City Council putting out a foreign-policy statement on something? It's completely nonbinding. However, is it a waste of time? This is the same legislature that's been talking about whether kids can go to tanning booths. They wanted to talk about microchipping humans and how that's a bad thing. So, they waste plenty of time at the statehouse. So at least this is something of value, and it is actually something that affects this country. So I think it's -- it's fine if they want to have the debate.

Presumably Haley was referring to Senate Bill 23, which, according to the Post, "[P]rohibits anyone under 18 from using a tanning salon unless they have a doctor's prescription." He also apparently was referring to House Bill 1082, which would have “made forced microchipping a crime,” according to the same Post article. Democrats were the lead sponsors of each bill.

Haley's comments echoed recent Republican criticism of the Democratic-led assembly. As Colorado Media Matters noted, Republican Sen. Nancy Spence (Centennial) misleadingly accused Democrats of not focusing on “more pressing problems” such as “transportation, education and health care” in a March 7 article in The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

But contrary to Haley's comment that “they waste plenty of time at the statehouse,” the Post itself has noted several legislative accomplishments regarding the priority issues of education, alternative energy, and health care by the Democratic-led assembly during the 2007 legislative session:

• The Post reported on February 6 (an online version appeared February 5) that Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed Senate Bill 1, establishing a program allowing the state to buy discounted generic prescription drugs and sell them to lower-income and uninsured Coloradans.
• On February 21, the Post noted that the Senate passed Senate Bill 97, which divides a $34 million tobacco settlement between the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and “rural health care, mental-health and drug-and-alcohol counseling for inmates, and immunization programs.”
• On February 27 the Post reported that, while “there are disagreements over details, a core agenda is taking shape” on education. The article noted that Ritter signed into law on February 6 the bipartisan House Bill 1048, “creat[ing] a more sophisticated way to show achievement than the current snapshot of scores on statewide assessment tests.”
• The same article also noted that Tupa introduced Senate Bill 53, which “sets a commission to create smooth transitions from preschool up to college.”
• A March 1 Post news brief noted that the bipartisan House Bill 1256, which “would allow in-state tuition at Colorado colleges for those who move to the state because of an economic-development initiative” passed the House on February 28.
• A March 7 Post article noted that House Bill 1118, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Todd (D-Aurora), “requires the state Board of Education to establish different graduation guidelines for college-bound students, those headed to trade school and kids going straight to work.”
• Finally, a March 8 Post article (an online version appeared March 7) said that "[u]nder House Bill 1281, which passed the House and awaits Senate action, the requirement [for the state's utility companies' generation of renewable energy] would rise to 20 percent for Xcel and Aquila, and set a 10 percent minimum for rural co-ops and municipal electric systems."

Moreover, Post reporting contradicted Haley's assertion, made later in the broadcast, that there had been “somewhat of a lull in the last week or so” in violence in Iraq:

HALEY: Mostly what I hear is, people just want it [the war] to be over, which is a completely understandable feeling when you see the nightly newscasts and, you know, the daily bombings, although there has been somewhat of a lull in the last week or so on that. But what I'm afraid is, people aren't taking it that next step forward and saying, “So, if we did pull out troops, then what happens to the Middle East, then what happens to Iraq?” And so that's where I think I would -- you know, I think the conversation should go from there.

However, the Post on March 6 published an Associated Press article, headlined “Carnage breaks Baghdad lull” (accessed through the Post's electronic edition), that reported, "[A]fter a relative three-day lull in Baghdad ... [a] suicide car bomber turned a venerable book market into a deadly inferno and gunmen targeted Shiite pilgrims," killing at least 45 people and injuring 105. The same article reported that an additional “30 bullet-ridden bodies [were] found across Baghdad. Many of those killings are blamed on Shiite death squads, and Monday's figure was the highest in weeks.”

In addition, according to a March 7 Los Angeles Times article published in the Post (accessed through the electronic edition), “Bombers and gunmen killed more than 110 Shiite Muslim pilgrims observing a religious ritual and wounded more than 250 others in scores of sectarian attacks Tuesday [March 6] that threatened to derail a renewed effort to stabilize Iraq”:

The attacks came on a day when the U.S. also disclosed the deaths of nine soldiers in roadside-bomb attacks on their convoys in northern Iraq on Monday. Six soldiers were killed in one bombing, and three were killed in another. It was the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Iraq in nearly a month, according to the military.

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...Tuesday's attacks on Shiites inflicted one of the heaviest tolls related to a major Shiite holiday since the nascent civil war began.