As we discussed on last night’s Blog Talk Radio show with the Grand Junction Sentinel‘s Mike Saccone (to listen to a recording, you can go to the sidebar or directly to the RMA page) – the fight over transportation dollars is the big story brewing at the State Capitol.
Senate minority leader Josh Penry and the Republicans say their proposals haven’t been taken seriously in negotiations and are willing to let the Democrats own measures like the unpopular interstate highway tolls and the controversial Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) fee.
Reasonable compromise is part of lawmakers’ job, but I hope that conservatives in the House demand a little more from Governor Bill Ritter and the majority Democrats. Namely, the legislature needs to seriously seek other sources to fund genuine transportation needs (and not costly prevailing wage provisions) in order to minimize the burden on taxpayers. Ritter and Company have yet to show themselves truly earnest in this area.
It will be interesting to see whether the Democrats at the State Capitol play this one wisely or end up trying to overreach.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.