Democrats always oppose "privatizing" government - except of course when they favor privatizing government, as we discovered this week.

Gov. Bill Ritter announced Tuesday that he was creating a new high-profile position in the state - which is odd, when you think about it, given the cratering revenue forecasts. But have no fear: The $80,000 salary for the governor's new "climate change coordinator" - the title evokes images of a shaman with rainsticks - will not be paid with tax dollars. Three private foundations will pick up the tab.

Nor is this the first time Ritter has resorted to foundation grants to pay a staffer with an environmental mission. His April 2007 press release announcing the hiring of a "climate change adviser" also noted that "the position is being funded by private contributions."

The latest slot will be filled by former House Majority Leader Alice Madden of Boulder, whose zeal for green causes is such that she once sponsored legislation to appropriate $316,000 for an "energy and environmental security" project on whose board she conveniently sat. Oops.

Perhaps you're wondering if it has been common practice in Colorado to fund what amount to state advocacy positions with private money. Certainly it wasn't during the previous administration. A corporation would occasionally provide a "loaned executive" to assist the Owens administration with economic development, but that's about it.

Imagine, though, if Gov. Bill Owens had created an "energy security and development coordinator" whose salary was funded by a grant from EnCana Corp. Democrats, columnists and progressive and environmental groups would have howled.

Yet does anyone seriously believe that the Hewlett, Denver and Energy foundations, which are funding Madden's position, are any more evenhanded on environmental issues than a large energy producer such as En- Cana? To the contrary: I'd bet EnCana's views are more middle- of-the-road. The outlooks of the Hewlett and Energy foundations, in particular, appear indistinguishable from that of any single- minded environmental group you'd care to name.

If nothing else, however, Ritter's forays into privatizing state government offer hope in the present revenue crisis. If the state's climate-change officials are to be funded with special- interest money, surely there is opportunity in other spheres. Perhaps the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry could be persuaded to fund, say, the Division of Workers' Compensation - particularly if that business group could insist upon a friendly sign-off on the bureaucrats in charge.

Oh, so maybe "private contributions" aren't so appealing after all.

An obvious danger

Until Denver Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz tried to outlaw the practice, I wasn't even aware that political groups could collect mail ballots from citizens with the promise to turn them in.

Faatz, a seasoned officeholder who once served in the legislature, told me she was "stunned when I realized this was happening." Nor does state law adequately address the issue, she says.

The danger for fraud is obvious - but not to a majority of Faatz's colleagues on the council, where her plan to limit the practice was rebuffed this week. She says a few of her colleagues wanted evidence that the practice of third-party ballot pickups has been abused, which is like asking someone to prove a negative. How would you stumble upon the evidence, say, of ballot destruction - absent, say, a confession?

But why should evidence for fraud be required to close such an obvious loophole involving ballot security? By all means let voters take ballots of family members to a drop-off site, and let designated parties pick up the ballots of the sick, frail and elderly. But self- appointed activists should not be able to go door to door offering neighbors the "favor" of delivering their vote.

You'd like to believe that no sensible person would hand their ballot over to a smooth-talking stranger, but some people turn over their life savings to strangers. And that practice tends to be frowned upon, too.

Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.