How did Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, occupy his time during this spring as lawmakers argued over the state budget? What parties did Colorado's top executive attend to celebrate President Barack Obama's inauguration? And what was Ritter doing in Silicon Valley hobnobbing with tech sector heavyweights? It's all in Ritter's calendar, a copy of which was obtained through the Colorado Open Records Act. Face The State has updated its Web archive of the calendar, available below, to now include entries from February 2007 through the close of this year's state legislative session. (Peruse previous years' entries, here.)
Of note: There are noticeably fewer redactions in Ritter’s calendar this time around than when we last requested it, though lawyers still marked out plenty of entries. Most commonly blacked out are items that are protected by attorney-client privilege, including regular meetings with Trey Rogers, Ritter’s Chief Legal Counsel. Entries related to Ritter’s March trip to New York and Italy were also largely shielded from public view. According to Craig Welling, Ritter’s deputy legal counsel, those off-limits appointments are “unrelated to the conduct of public business.”
Campaign-related activities were also redacted, but public accounts of Ritter's whereabouts help to fill in the blanks. A May 8 fundraiser for his 2010 re-election campaign, for instance, caused a stir because its timing may have set up a possible violation of campaign finance law. Under Colorado's current campaign finance structure, statewide officials, including the governor and state legislators, are prohibited from seeking campaign contributions from lobbyists during the legislative session. This rule is extended for the governor until all pending legislation is cleared from his desk, which did not occur until June 5.
Some entries may evoke chuckles from politicos familiar with government acronyms and shorthand. In entries related to Barack Obama’s Feb. 17 visit, Ritter’s scheduler refers to him as GOCO, short for "Governor of Colorado,” as a play on POTUS, for “President of the United States.”
Ritter met frequently with state legislators regarding contentious issues of the session like House Bill 1299, which would have awarded Colorado’s electoral votes to whichever candidate won the national popular vote, or Senate Bill 228, which eliminated the state’s 6 percent general fund growth cap. He also rubbed shoulders with royalty and enjoyed a March 25 lunch with Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark at the Ritz Carlton in Denver.
Many local government leaders and lobbyists also met with Ritter throughout the session. He met multiple times with Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer, including on January 15 to discuss “potential land site for renewable eco devo.”
On April 6 and 7, Ritter took what is described as a “tech trip” to Silicon Valley where he meet with the software and Internet sites such as Facebook, Juniper, Google, Adobe, LinkedIn, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and Oracle.
Take a look through Ritter's calendar for the first five months of the year, as well as other documents posted in the Face The State Reading Room. If you find anything inspiring, feel free to write about it and enter Face the State's Investigative Reporting Contest or send us a news tip.
Governor Bill Ritter's Calendar:
Feb. 2007 through Dec. 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
February 2007 - December 2008