State Democrats’ Budget Extravagance Out of Touch with Man on the Street

The clever crew at Colorado Senate News took questions about the Democrats’ state budget to the man on the street and got some predictably disgruntled responses:

Just under $700,000 to give more prison inmates their GEDs? How about another $20,000 for the state’s wine promotions board so it can promote–what else–wine? Or, $676,000 for salary hikes to the state agency that runs Medicaid health coverage for the poor?

And then there’s $150,000 in legal fees to defend the governor against a lawsuit charging him with pushing through last year’s property-tax hike in violation of the state constitution.

Those and other line items in the Democrat-authored 2008-09 budget, now pending before the Senate, were put to the public today when coloradosenatenews.com took to the 16th Street Mall for citizen input. Their feedback, captured on video, ranged from the indignant to incredulous at some budget items they saw as frivolous.

Watch the videos (Quicktime required) to get a sense of how much the nanny-state, tax-and-spend Democrats at the State Capitol are out of touch with average, commonsense Coloradans.