Rocky failed to identify "free market" agenda of Independence Institute

Summary: In reporting on a Colorado State Board of Education decision regarding a lawsuit challenging Colorado's 2007 mill levy freeze, the Rocky Mountain News stated that the suit was "led by the Independence Institute." But, in contrast to a separate News report of the same day, the article failed to mention the think tank's ideological agenda.

An April 11 Rocky Mountain News article by Berny Morson about the Colorado State Board of Education's decision on the panel's official stance regarding a lawsuit challenging Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) mill levy freeze reported that the suit is "led by the Independence Institute," but did not identify the think tank's "free-market" agenda. In contrast, an April 11 News article by Chris Barge about union organizing efforts in Colorado identified Benjamin DeGrow as "education policy analyst at the conservative Independence Institute."

From Berny Morson's April 11 Rocky Mountain News article "Board votes in private on lawsuit strategy":

The Colorado Board of Education on Thursday declined to vote in public on whether to defend themselves in a suit aimed at overturning a tax increase approved last year.

The decision was made in executive session.

A suit led by the Independence Institute claims the legislature should not have approved the tax hike. Under the state's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, voters should have decided the issue, the group claims.

Gov. Bill Ritter argues that voters already gave permission in a series of referenda that included most of the state's 176 school districts.

The state board, which is a defendant in the suit, has hired a private attorney for the defense.

The Independence Institute, in radio ads, said the vote should have been held in public. That would put individual members on record.

—E.B.