Word on the street is that the majority Democrats at the State Capitol are preparing to ram through a package of bills repealing tax breaks -- not only without a vote of the people as the state constitution's TABOR would require, but also pushed through the process quickly to minimize public scrutiny and apparent outrage. Taken together, House Bills 1189 through 1200 (look them up here) would end up increasing the tax burden on Colorado businesses and families. Currently, the "dirty dozen" business tax hike bills are slated on the House calendar for a hearing on appropriations at 8:30 AM tomorrow (Wednesday). The first question then is whether the Democrats will then quickly rush the bills into the Finance Committee -- where public … [Read more...]
Fiscal Analysts: Total Price Tag of Dems’ Dirty Dozen Tax Hikes = $337 Million+
The dirty dozen tax hike bills scheduled to be rammed through Colorado's Senate Finance Committee tomorrow? Legislative analysts released fiscal notes for 11 of the 12 bills this afternoon -- they estimate a total net tax increase of $20.4 million for the rest of the current fiscal year (through June 30, 2010), and a total net tax increase of more than $337 million between now and the end of FY 2011-12. While that wouldn't solve all the legislators' budget problems, passing the package of bills would shift a good share of the hard decision-making from the State Capitol to many a business and household in Colorado. And don't even ask how it might lead to creating stable, private-sector jobs.... … [Read more...]
Stage Set for State Capitol Showdown on (Most of) Dirty Dozen Tax Hikes
Update: I'm not a big fan of the tax credits and exemptions per se. Some represent better policy than others. I would love to see a legislator propose an amendment that one or more of the tax credit revocations be offset by a general reduction to make it revenue-neutral. But since the Democrats' motivation with these "dirty dozen" bills is about scratching together more funds to help backfill the state budget, and not about creating a more equitable tax system with a minimal shared burden by businesses and consumers, I don't see the idea going anywhere. And that doesn't even bring us to the whole legal question of whether some or all of these bills violate TABOR in the state constitution because they raise taxes without a vote of the … [Read more...]
Too Much “Transparancy” in Secretary of State’s New Campaign Finance Site?
Update, 9:00 PM: They fixed it. That's responsive, same-day government service for you! First of all, I have to commend to you the Secretary of State's work in creating the new TRACER campaign finance website, which is a more user-friendly, valuable tool than its predecessor. On the lighter side, while it's imperative for candidates and committees filling out important disclosures to cross their t's and dot their i's, someone should have checked on TRACER's main page to ensure the same level of accuracy: … [Read more...]
Friday Quick Hits: Obama Dissed, Arrogant Dems, Howard Zinn Eulogized
I hope you enjoy one or more of the following: David Freddoso at the Washington Examiner points out that Senate Democrats very quickly have killed President Obama's very modest "spending freeze" proposal before it barely had a chance to get going. Speaking of Obama, my PPC friends are licking their chops at the prospect of The One coming to Denver to stump for our appointed junior U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. Speaking of arrogance, guest writer Don Rodgers at Reclaim the Blue calls out Democrats in our state legislature for their hubris, after shoving through four of the Dirty Dozen tax bills on Wednesday (and are scheduled to hear the rest starting this morning) as a prelude to their dying political majority. Speaking of death, the … [Read more...]
Ryan Frazier’s Individual Contributions Nearly Top Ed Perlmutter’s Total Take
As fellow RMAer Don Johnson has noted, Republican 7th Congressional contender Ryan Frazier won a small but noteworthy victory by raising more money ($218,824) in the 4th quarter than incumbent Democrat Ed Perlmutter ($215,201). More notable is that Frazier very nearly raised as much money just from individual contributors ($215,074) as Perlmutter did altogether. The incumbent Democrat brought in nearly half his take from PACs and political committees -- including PACs belonging to corporations, trade groups, trial lawyers, labor unions and various liberal interest groups ($103,100 vs. $112,101 from individuals). Even with all the special interest heft that often comes with incumbency, Ed Perlmutter was narrowly outraised by Ryan … [Read more...]
No-No: Democrat Senate Leader Endorses Hickenlooper on State Email
Complete Colorado has broken a story on Democrat state senate president Brandon Shaffer using state email resources to endorse John Hickenlooper for governor. As noted:State resources cannot be used to conduct or further political campaigns for office. Last fall Colorado Pols spent a lot of energy making hay out of the fact that then-gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry sent a campaign email to some unwanted state government addresses, noting:And it's not against the law to send electioneering emails to a government address, sending electioneering emails from one would be the problem. I'm sure Pols will be equally zealous about criticizing Brandon Shaffer for this obvious wrongdoing. Right? More importantly, what will Shaffer do? And … [Read more...]
State Rep Sara Gagliardi (D-Arvada) Stands For Government Health Care
A couple days ago I told you about my friend Libby Szabo running for House District 27. Well, you also ought to know a bit more about the incumbent Democrat who she is trying to unseat: Rep. Sara Gagliardi. Check this out from a recent Colorado News Agency story about Tuesday's health care freedom rally at the State Capitol:“We need to do something in this country, and I am in favor of single-payer national health care reform—so I would not support this initiative at all,” said Rep. Sara Gagliardi, D-Arvada, who is vice chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee. Yes, that's right. My state representative thinks the current Obama Care proposals rejected by a majority of Americans -- and most recently, Massachusetts … [Read more...]
House Minority Leader Mike May Blends Seriousness, Humor in Opening Speech
Update: I've also uploaded a copy of the opening speech from Mike May's counterpart in the Senate -- minority leader Josh Penry, who sounds a strong note on the need for government reform. He's not running for governor, but when it comes to this issue, go Josh go! Today kicks off the legislative session down at Colorado's State Capitol. Because of a federal grant deadline, action is already swiftly underway on some education bills. Meanwhile, Republican House minority leader Mike May helped to kick things off with a speech that shows not only his party's serious face to bring some fiscally conservative backbone to tackle some of the state's looming problems, but also his own good humor. Full text of the speech below the fold: … [Read more...]
John Suthers Takes Bold Stands, Plugs Colorado Political Survey
I don't agree with attorney general John Suthers on everything, but kudos to him for taking some bold stands recently. Of course, there is his active role in participating and speaking out against the Obama Care Nebraska bribe in the U.S. Senate. Then this week came Suthers' three-fourths endorsement of the Clear the Bench Colorado cause, another bold move. Lesser known, but also important today for those procrastinators out there, is the Attorney General's Twitter endorsement of the Survey of Colorado's Political Temperature. While the endorsement came with the original survey in July, the January edition is closing up at 5 PM today, so... Time to Take the Survey! And thank you, Attorney General John Suthers! … [Read more...]
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