State capitol runs rampant with shady deals and questionable tactics
April 2nd, 2009
Legislators at the Colorado State Captitol are running rampant and out of control. (Photo/manufrakass, Flickr)
What the heck is going on downtown at the Colorado State Capitol these days? It seems as if our state legislators are absolutely out of control with all sorts of crazy things happening.
First up, we had the School Finance Transparency Act. This bill was an important measure that would have provided voters and residents important information on where their tax dollars are going by requiring school districts put their expenditures on their websites for public viewing. Taxpayers pay the schools’ bills, why should we not have easy access to learn where our money goes? Of course the bill was killed in the Democratic led House Education Committee after extensive lobbying from education associations and unions. One does have to wonder… The Democratic representatives on the committee receive significant campaign contributions from teachers’ unions – did that curry them some favor? I tend to think so.
Second there is SB 170, the so-called ‘Tuition Equity’ bill, or put in layman’s terms, a bill to give in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrants. Those that supported this bill (Democrats as you might imagine) believe that you, the taxpayer, should subsidize the education of those who are in this country illegally more than what you already do. They claim that a more educated worker can contribute more to society but of course they ignore the fact that the person cannot even work legally in this country to begin with. Their logic escapes me. This bill simply rewards bad – and illegal – behavior and taxpayers foot the bill for it, something which I do not approve of. There is no other way to put it. It looked like the bill was on its way to a slow death in the Senate Appropriations Committee until yesterday when Democrats on the committee took advantage of the absence of another senator who opposed the bill to bring it up again and approve it! This type of shenanigans is absolutely sneaky, dirty politics and completely unacceptable.
And lastly we have the impact of a recent Colorado Supreme Court ruling which has some at the capitol frothing at the mouth to raise taxes. In recent weeks the court decided that it was okay for Governor Ritter to keep property tax increases without asking voters for permission thus evading the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). That money would have been returned to the taxpayer were it not for this bill. With the court decision in hand, the legislature was giddy today to learn that they could repeal many tax credits and exemptions without asking for voters permission. The result? Possibly an additional $1.9 billion in state tax revenue all coming out of your wallet. Legislators at the capitol continue to erode your rights and take money from your wallet!
This would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Democratic legislators – including the north area’s own representative – are so far in the unions’ pockets it is ridiculous. As for the illegal immigrants… Obviously the Dems view them as an important constituency that they want to cultivate.
Judy Solano is like many teachers and quite beholden to unions and apparently unable to do any real critical thinking on her own. Since she has been a legislator she has proposed and supported some of the most outrageous bills simply to pay them back for their campaign contributions.
Folks seem to forget all the good that unions do. Are we supposed to leave teachers employment up to the whim of administrations? Do they not deserve protection?
Aaron – Why should teachers have greater job protections than what the law already provides for? Why should their protection be greater than anyone else’s? If I screw up at my job, I get fired – that is a fact of life and is the way it should be. Teachers don’t deserve any special treatment.