Update, 3/17: Law student Constructively Reasonable says the decision is a cause for "outrage". A watcher says Colorado may not as well even have a constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court has done it again, showing its disdain for taxpayer protections in the state constitution. From the majority opinion:When it issued its declaratory judgment order, the district court did not have the benefit of our recent decision in Barber v. Ritter, 196 P.3d 238 (Colo. 2008), in which we held that a statute challenged under article X, section 20 must be proven to be unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court erroneously held that the relevant test of SB 07-199s constitutionality came from the interpretive guideline included in the … [Read more...]
U.S. Supreme Court’s Ysursa Ruling a Sweet Victory for Clean Government
Update (3/10): Mike Reitz weighs in with an observation some of my readers may have a hard time believing: "Public policy wonks are real people, too." Here's a U.S. Supreme Court decision that may have flown past your radar - Ysursa v Pocatello Education Association. The ruling ensures states (like Idaho and Utah already have done) can regulate the use of government payroll systems to prevent the collection of political contributions. As Mike Reitz from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation explained to me in a new iVoices podcast, it's a victory for clean government, taxpayers and orderly state labor relations: … [Read more...]
How Does a Federal Agency Lose So Many Computers, Cameras, & Forklifts?
You hear a lot of talk about waste in government, especially in the bureaucracies at the federal level. But then you see an investigation by my Independence Institute colleague Todd Shepherd (also the founder of Complete Colorado), and that waste sort of comes to life. It becomes a little less abstract. If the headline doesn't draw you to take a peek, I'm not sure what will: "Excuse me, Homeland Security Department, how do you lose two forklifts?" (H/T Amy Oliver) During one calendar year, the Customs and Border Patrol Agency by itself lost $7.1 million of material, including 171 desktop computers, 28 motion picture cameras, and - yes - 2 forklifts. Check it out for yourself, then do what the Independence Institute did: write members … [Read more...]
Democrat Shell Game: Raise Your Car Fees to Grow State Government
John Ingold at the Denver Post reports, not surprisingly, that Governor Bill Ritter plans to sign SB 108 (aka FASTER) the Democrat bill in the state legislature to raise car fees by an average of $41 a year per vehicle. A reminder for Colorado: You put Democrats in charge, you pay more taxes for bigger government entitlement programs. What, you say? The state has legitimate transportation needs that SB 108 is designed to fund. Those aren't entitlement programs. Except that the so-called "FASTER" bill is merely half of a liberal shell game. The other half is SB 228 - which would rip away limits on state appropriation increases and enable the Democrats to divert hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to the highway fund (PDF) … [Read more...]
Tell Congress to Read the Bill: Why Not Sign the Online Petition Today?
Transparency (or the lack thereof) is the name of the game these days. After the Generational Theft Act got shoved down our throats in such a hurry - with Congress having a matter of only a few hours to read the mammoth bill - supporting this idea is the most basic sort of common sense we can ask for in our representative form of government. So go ahead and sign the online petition at Read the Bill, a very simple process that will take you one minute or less (H/T Soren Dayton). Why? The Democrats in charge of Congress don't want you to do it It might help the Republicans find a backbone and champion real reform on the issue It's the right thing to do For more on the government transparency movement (at least in Colorado), visit … [Read more...]
Does God Oppose the Secret Ballot?
Hey, who knew intimidating and badgering workers was a religious virtue? Or that God opposes the secret ballot in workplace elections? Well, apparently, so say "55 Colorado faith leaders" who signed a letter and sent it to Congress on behalf of the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act. (Or maybe they haven't actually read the bill to see what it does.) I don't deny the Religious Left's right to petition the government. They just happen to be terribly wrong on this issue. … [Read more...]
Democrats and Marostica: “Forget the Constitution, California, Here We Come”
When talking politics or economics, it's usually a powerful rhetorical tactic to compare our own Colorado to California - especially these days. In that light, here's a fitting and timely reminder from state senator Ted Harvey:The lesson Colorado’s legislators must learn from this recession is clear: fiscal responsibility works. Even though the legislature collectively fell short of creating a rainy day fund, TABOR and the Arveschoug-Bird 6% spending cap forced Colorado legislators to keep spending low. Had the government enjoyed free rein in ramping up spending – which is a great temptation to many lawmakers tasked with spending other people’s money – Colorado’s budget crisis would be as serious as California’s. [emphasis … [Read more...]
Obama “Stimulus” Overreaches, But Republicans Still Have Much to Prove
A candid word from liberal Mickey Kaus about a major effect of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Generational Theft Act:But the reference to liberalism isn't irrelevant, because the now-undermined welfare reform was the key to rebuilding confidence in (liberal) affirmative government. As Bill Clinton recognized, voters may well have been willing to let government spend, but they didn't trust old style liberals not to spend in actively destructive ways, like subsidizing an isolated underclass of non-working single mothers with a no-strings cash dole. It's a 75-25 values issue. Work yes. Welfare no. Even if welfare spending was only a tiny portion of the liberals' spending agenda, it poisoned the rest of it. Only when Clinton's New Democrats put an … [Read more...]
Liberty on the Rocks Responds to Obama’s Final Stimulus Package
Tired of all the government bailouts? Then watch the great new video from my friends at Liberty on the Rocks: Should Amanda's fame continue to grow as a result of this video, it's going to become difficult to avoid the inevitable comparisons with this comic legend. … [Read more...]
Growing Labor Clout Puts Michael Bennet in Bind Over Card-Check Bill
The first big line in the sand this year for Colorado's selected U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and not-so-senior partner Mark Udall was the vote in favor of the massive federal spending (so-called "stimulus") bill. Next on the docket is the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would take away employee secret ballots in workplace election and impose costly binding arbitration procedures. … [Read more...]