Today’s Denver Post headline trumpets the “loosening” of “Colorado’s fiscal knot” with the governor signing into law the repeal of the 1991 Arveschoug-Bird statute that had limited out-of-control legislative spending by capping the growth of the general fund at a reasonable rate of 6%/year.

However, political reporter Lynn Bartels (formerly of the late and lamented journalistic counterweight Rocky Mountain News) inadvertently gave the game away with her lead-in to the article:

Gov. Bill Ritter signed a landmark budget reform bill Wednesday, with supporters promising it is the start (to fixing a constitutional mess) that has Colorado headed toward a California kind of economic pickle.

OK, I added the parentheses around the dangling participle - to illustrate the point that Governor Ritter and the bill’s supporters have indeed promised that this bill does have Colorado “headed toward a California kind of economic pickle.”  Can’t say they didn’t warn you…

Spending limits such as TABOR - the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights - and the Arveschoug-Bird measure are the only things that kept Colorado from sliding into the deep fiscal hole and “economic pickle” that is the state of California’s budgetary woes.  As Bartels points out towards the end of the article, “California is struggling to close a $24.3 billion deficit.”  Note that deficits don’t magically appear due to declining revenues - they are a direct result of the kind of unrestricted spending that TABOR and the Arveschoug-Bird measure were designed to prevent (or at least limit).

It is the natural inclination of politicians to promise the moon - anything to please constituent interest groups, in order to get elected - particularly when it comes to spending other peoples’ money.  Establishing spending limits (as any parent knows) is the only way to introduce some measure of control to protect the taxpayer’s wallet.

These measures are not only good policy - they are locked in to our state constitution, the highest law of the land (subject only to the U.S. Constitution).  At least, that was the case, until our out-of-control Colorado Supreme Court decided otherwise, substituting their word over written law.

The majority ruling in the Mill Levy Tax Freeze case only this Spring (16 March 2009) signaled loud and clear to Governor Ritter and the Democrat-contolled Colorado Legislature that it was open season on any provisions of the Colorado Constitution (such as TABOR) or statutory law incorporated into TABOR’s constitutional limits (such as the Arveschoug-Bird measure) that had previously shielded Colorado taxpayers from increased taxation and government spending.  It was only AFTER the current majority on the Colorado Supreme Court had cleared the way with this ruling (in March) that an emboldened Governor Ritter and his accomplices in the legislature moved to repeal Arveschoug-Bird through SB-228 (in April). (See my post at the time: Ritter, Legislators Assault Constitutional Spending Limits… Again)

So while it’s appropriate to be critical of Governor Ritter and the Colorado Legislature for acting to increase spending, it’s kind of the nature of the political beast; spending is what they do.  However, they could not do so without restraint until aided and abetted by the current majority on the Colorado Supreme Court.  As noted in the Post article,

House Majority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, opposed the change: “In essence, it’s like removing the spending limits on a credit card.”

May and other opponents also argue that the 6 percent limit was included in the voter-approved 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, so it can’t be repealed without a vote of the people.

The Colorado Supreme Court once again aided and abetted in taking away YOUR right to a vote on this policy - in violation of the Colorado Constitution, and further undermining the rule of law.

The supposed adults in the room - the Colorado Supreme Court - have just handed over YOUR credit card to the shopaholic teenagers that are Colorado’s statewide executives and legislators.

Are you cool with that?  ‘Cause I’m not…

Don’t allow the current majority on the Colorado Supreme Court to continue taking away your rights (and your money). Vote “NO“ on retaining these “unjust justices” in office in 2010.

Tags: Alex Martinez, Arveschoug-Bird, Bill Ritter, Colorado Constitution, Colorado Judges, Colorado Legislature, Colorado Mill Levy, Colorado Supreme Court, Judicial Activism, judicial evaluation, judicial retention, judicial usurpation, Mary Mullarkey, Michael Bender, Mill Levy Tax Colorado, Mill Levy Tax Freeze, Mullarkey Court, Mullarkey Majority, Nancy Rice, Rule of Law, TABOR, unjust justices