One of my favorite aphorisms about Colorado politics is that the House Education Committee is where good education reform goes to die. Case in point is Senate Bill 57, the school spending transparency legislation that committee Democrats shot down after hearing more than 30 citizens and activists who volunteered to come down and testify for the bill. Thanks to a Face The State mini-investigation, we learn today it was even worse than that:Also known as Senate Bill 57, the bill was postponed indefinitely after four hours of committee debate that lasted late into the evening. [Democrat] Speaker Terrance Carroll and [Republican] House Minority Leader Mike May arrived to work the next morning ready to revive it. But they were too … [Read more...]
What Does Bill Ritter Know about Court to Gamble Taxpayer Dollars?
Yesterday, highlighting Governor Bill Ritter's arrogant response to the recent court decision finding his property tax hike unconstitutional, Republican leaders in the state legislature Mike May and Andy McElhany dashed off a scathing letter:It is irresponsible to assume that the Colorado Supreme Court will overturn the decision of the District Court that your property tax proposal from last year is unconstitutional. A new analysis by Legislative Council shows that the cost of doing nothing to address this possibility, before the budget goes into effect on July 1, 2008, will be $272 million! The price of inaction is too great. Serving in the justice system, you saw how difficult it is to win on appeal, and must recognize the need for … [Read more...]