Colorado's Referendum C

Well, the voters of Colorado fell for the scare tactics that the Governor and his minions spewed over the past few months. They voted to reverse themselves and let the state government keep our Tabor refunds over the next 5 years.

Gov. Owens joined forces with the tax and spend Democrats to push for passage. Why? Because he and his fellow Republicans couldn't do their jobs in the Statehouse to work with the other side of the aisle and balance the budget. There are too many spending programs and not enough tax revenue. Let's just ask the voters for more money. If we scare them into thinking their roads will fall apart, and their kids won't be able to afford college, they'll vote for it.

Even the major newspapers supported Ref C & D. You could tell before they published their opinion pieces by the cleverly placed "news" articles about how the Department of Transportation (CDOT) couldn't afford to fix roads, how the higher education system was having to raise tuition to record highs, etc. All scare tactics.

Each year when the legislature convenes and argues about budget issues, you'll notice no one talks about the CDOT budget. CDOT's budget is the biggest sacred cow in Colorado. We could fund many humanitarian needs with the excess CDOT spends. How about a special Governor's task force on CDOT spending? Oh, that's right, the head of CDOT is an old pal of the Gov's.

There's no question we won't miss our Tabor refunds. On an individual basis it's not much money. But, this is just the beginning of their plan to totally dismantle the Tabor amendment. Now that the voters have rewarded them for their inability to balance the budget, watch how much more difficult it will become to do so.