Clear the Bench Colorado

In today’s (Wednesday) Denver Post, editor/columnist Vincent Carroll, while taking Scott McInnis to task for “budgetary vagueness” in the ‘Platform for Prosperity’ and other campaign statements to date, lauded the platform (aka ‘Contract for Colorado’) for adherence to constitutional principles:

The best thing about Scott McInnis’ new “Platform for Prosperity” is that it shows a respect for voters and the Colorado Constitution. That alone is cause for celebration, given the serial disregard for voters’ rights and constitutional language during the past three years.

The voters of Colorado certainly have a right to expect that their officials - elected OR appointed - demonstrate respect for their rights and for the Colorado Constitution.  As Carroll points out, those rights - such as the right to vote on tax increases, guaranteed under TABOR - have been increasingly undermined (if not downright ignored) by all branches of Colorado government over the last several years.

In other words, no more end runs around the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to hike property taxes by the trick of freezing mill levies rather than allowing them to decline. No more plans to raise $130 million by lifting long-established tax exemptions while ignoring the TABOR requirement that any “tax policy change directly causing a net tax revenue gain” must go to a popular vote.

And no more repealing spending caps for the general fund without asking voters for permission, as TABOR demands.

What Carroll does not mention - at least, not explicitly - is the fact that these “end runs around the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights” were ONLY able to occur with the active involvement of the ruling majority on the Colorado Supreme Court.  Lower courts had held - properly - that the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” was clearly unconstitutional.   That would have stopped the “end run” around TABOR in its tracks - but for the complicit (and politically motivated) action of the Mullarkey Majority to overturn the lower court, in clear and blatant disregard of the Colorado Constitution.

The Mullarkey Court also added insult to injury by inventing a rationale to eliminate constitutional protections for “long-established tax exemptions” in that same case - an insult all the more egregious because those tax exemptions were not even at issue in the case, and were only added to the ruling - a major breach of judicial practice by an appellate court - because an activist majority wanted to push its own agenda in further undermining TABOR.

The repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird 6% limit on growth of government spending - previously held to have been incorporated under TABOR - by the legislature with Senate Bill 228 was also “aided and abetted” by the Mullarkey Court.  Since the unconstitutional nature of the repeal (and thus SB228) was clearly established by years of legal commentary and precedent, in a rational universe, the bill would have been challenged and overturned.  However, a legislature emboldened by the Mullarkey Majority’s clear bias against TABOR - no mere statute, but part of the Colorado Constitution - felt no qualms in ramming through a clearly unconstitutional bill, and the opposition (in the legislature and otherwise) saw no prospects for a successful legal challenge.  The fix was in - it was clear that the ruling majority on the Colorado Supreme Court would NOT uphold the Constitution, and the rule of law, despite their sworn duty to do so.  Like the dog that did not bark in the night, the “case that never was” sealed the doom of this legal limit on the growth of general fund spending.

Carroll continues:

If TABOR can be defied any time an attorney offers an inventive rationale, what’s to prevent public officials from ignoring other inconvenient amendments?

What, indeed?  If the Colorado Constitution means whatever a majority on the Colorado Supreme Court says it means on any given day, why bother to have a Constitution at all?  For that matter, why bother to have any rules; just let decisions be made by rulers.  Oh wait; 200-odd years ago, we had just that; but we called them “Kings” and “Queens,” instead of “Supreme Court Justices.”

Our founding fathers established something unique, something very special, when they replaced the divine right of kings - rule unchallenged by constitutional constraints - with constitutional, limited government: the rule of law, not the arbitrary and capricious rule of men (or in this case, women).  “What kind of government have you given us?”, Benjamin Franklin was famously asked on exiting the Constitutional Convention.  “A Republic, if you can keep it”, he replied.

We The People must again stand up in defense of our Constitution - in defense of our rights as citizens - in order to keep our Republic.  We must throw off those who would re-institute a rule of our “betters” - be they termed Kings, Queens, or Supreme Court “Justices.”

Freedom isn’t Free - Defend YOUR Constitution, and exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey).  They need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.” DON’T GIVE IT TO THEM!  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on these unjust justices in Nov. 2010!

Today’s announcement (with much fanfare and commentary) of a ‘Contract for Colorado’ emphasizing key principles, positions, or policy prescriptions for conservative candidates for Colorado statewide office picked up on several key themes long espoused by Clear The Bench Colorado.  (Although Clear The Bench Colorado is not affiliated with any political party nor is it partisan in orientation, it does stand for certain key principles - most prominently, holding the judicial branch accountable to the Constitution and the rule of law).

The most obvious correlation or thematic endorsement comes in at #17 (of 20 items):

17. I will appoint conservative judges who respect the Constitution and try to interpret laws, not make them.

Irrespective of whether one characterizes good judges as conservative, constructionist, or just plain constitutionalist, Clear The Bench Colorado exists to hold our Colorado Supreme Court justices accountable to the people, to the Colorado Constitution, and to the rule of law.

Other provisions of the ‘Contract for Colorado’ (also termed the “Platform for Prosperity”) that align with positions taken by Clear The Bench Colorado include:

1. I will veto any bill and oppose any referendum or initiative that seeks to increase state taxes, or temporarily or permanently relax any spending cap or TABOR revenue limit.

This common-sense stance would hardly be worth mentioning, much less given pride of place (the #1 slot) were it not for the Mullarkey Majority’s relentless efforts to undermine or outright eliminate the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in a series of increasingly aggressive and unconstitutional rulings.   It is clear that the people of Colorado strongly support this provision of the state Constitution, and defend it against judicial attempts to “interpret” it out of existence in pursuit of a personal, partisan agenda.

4. I will veto, or refer to the public for a vote, any significant fee increase.

Again, this issue would not exist except for last year’s ”November Surprise” unconstitutional ruling by the Mullarkey Majority on the Colorado Supreme Court that effectively eliminated the revenue restrictions on funds collected by “fees” as opposed to taxes - while maintaining the legal loophole allowing “fees” to be imposed without a vote of the people, as is constitutionally required for new or increased taxes.  Thanks primarily to the efforts of Clear The Bench Colorado, public awareness of this issue - and justified anger with the legislators, executive, and unjust justices of the judicial branch who perpetrated this end-run around the Colorado Constitution - is already high, and growing.

6. I will work to reverse the massive increase in property taxes brought about by Governor Ritter’s mill levy freeze, and the car tax increase imposed by SB 09-108.

Clear The Bench Colorado was formed specifically in reaction to the Mullarkey Court’s ruling upholding the clearly unconstitutional so-called “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” ruling (which not only effectively increased property taxes, but also eliminated constitutional protections for a whole list of tax credits & exemptions - in other words, taxes you don’t (or at least didn’t, before the ruling) have to pay).  Clear The Bench Colorado was also among the first and strongest critics of the Colorado Car Tax and other taxes posing as a “fee” increase enabled by the Mullarkey Majority’s November Surprise ruling.

20. I will support efforts to reinstate a meaningful limit on state spending growth

The ‘Contract for Colorado’ final item would also be a moot point but for the Colorado Supreme Court “case that never was” - a legal challenge to the Colorado Legislature’s unconstitutional repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird 6% limit on the growth of state spending in the 2009 legislative session (SB 228) did NOT emerge because it was apparent that “the fix was in” following the Colorado Supreme Court’s blatantly unconstitutional ruling in the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case.  The Mullarkey Majority thus “aided and abetted”  the commission of a crime against the Colorado Constitution without even having to lift the proverbial pen to paper - and has clearly emboldened a legislature (and governor) in pursuit of every last dime they can squeeze out of Colorado citizens to spend according to their priorities.

A full 25% (5 out of 20) of the items on the Contract for Colorado/Platform for Prosperity list are derived from issues raised by Clear The Bench Colorado in opposition to an out-of-control, unaccountable Colorado Supreme Court - lending weight to Director Matt Arnold’s statement that casting “NO” votes on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Court (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) in office may be the most important votes cast by Colorado citizens in November 2010.

No contract or platform is required to inform yourself on how - and why -  you can and should exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by a partisan majority of activist, agenda-driven Colorado Supreme Court “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining these unjust justices in 2010!

An article in the most recent edition of the Colorado Statesman -  a  normally nonpartisan and reasonably reliable source of information on Colorado politics and policy - got it dead wrong when mentioning Clear The Bench Colorado at the conclusion of the piece.

Colorado Statesman reporter Janet Simons mischaracterized Clear The Bench Colorado as “a committee devoted to ousting every member of the Colorado Supreme Court” - perpetrating the perception (and partisan criticism) of the grassroots movement to restore accountability to the judiciary as reflexively “anti-judge.”

As astute observers of Clear The Bench Colorado’s many published articles and public appearances are already aware, nothing could be further from the truth.  Holding judges accountable to their sworn duty to uphold the law, not legislate from the bench, is hardly “anti-judge” - just “anti-judicial activism.”  Only those Colorado Supreme Court justices failing in their duty to uphold the Colorado Constitution (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) are recommended for “ousting.”

The Colorado Statesman’s mischaracterization may have been due to the reporter’s need for a storyline “hook” (a typical journalistic device) - casting Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold as “perhaps the only disappointed luncheon attendee” in contrast to the remainder who “heard exactly what they had hoped to hear” following pollster Floyd Ciruli’s statement that ““[i]t takes an exceptionally terrible judge to get knocked out of office by the voters,” and “I don’t see it happening.”

Considering the widespread perception that Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey (and her coterie on the Colorado Supreme Court) certainly meets the benchmark of “an exceptionally terrible judge” it seems uncharacteristic of Ciruli, normally a perceptive observer of Colorado political trends, to go so far out on a limb in the admitted absence of any polling data to substantiate his position and in the face of several recent polls (admittedly not as big as Rasmussen) suggesting the opposite conclusion.  Perhaps once Ciruli runs some polls to gauge the actual public perception of the Colorado Supreme Court retention issue he’ll catch up to reality and start singing a different tune…

Don’t wait for the pollsters and pundits to tell you what to think - inform yourself on how - and why -  you can and should exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by a partisan majority of activist, agenda-driven Colorado Supreme Court “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is appearing as a guest at this Saturday’s (21 Nov) South Weld County Breakfast Club meeting at the Branding Iron restaurant in Fort Lupton at 8AM.

Join Matt at Saturday morning’s meeting to learn more about the Mullarkey Court’s repeated assaults on the Colorado Constitution, the resulting impact to your wallet, the degradation or outright elimination of YOUR constitutional rights, and what you can do about it.

Learn more about how - and why -  you can and should exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven Colorado Supreme Court “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

(Note: this article was originally written for, and published by, the monthly ”A Line Of Sight“  news/commentary newsletter which appeared on Tuesday, 17 November)

Last month’s A Line of Sight profiled Mark Hillman’s excellent article describing the Colorado Supreme Court’s latest “power grab”.

In an audacious power grab, the Colorado Supreme Court recently embraced, by a 4-3 decision, a judicial doctrine that would relegate the other two branches of government — and the voters — to a perfunctory role.

The high court’s activist majority used Lobato vs. State not only to intrude on the legislature’s constitutional authority to determine funding for public schools; it also self-servingly suggested that no policy decision is off-limits to judicial review.

So much for separation of powers, consent of the governed, or checks and balances. In fact, the Lobato ruling leads to the obvious question: “What’s left to check or balance the court?”

Unfortunately, this latest ruling is only the most recent in an ever-increasing “long train of abuses and usurpations” perpetrated by the Mullarkey Court against the Colorado Constitution (and, more to the point, against the constitutional rights of Colorado citizens).  The Mullarkey Majority on the Colorado Supreme Court (Justices Michael Bender, Greg Hobbs, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) have abandoned their proper role as impartial referees sworn to uphold the rule of law. They have taken it upon themselves to usurp the power and authority of the other branches of government (executive and legislative), denying the basic rights of the people themselves.

The Mullarkey Majority has been consolidating power – lately, the power to tax (“Mill Levy Tax Freeze” and “fees aren’t really taxes” cases) and to decide policy on spending (Lobato school funding case). This ever-increasing consolidation of power violates Colorado’s separation of powers, resulting in a single branch of government – an unelected judiciary – becoming the Supreme power in the state.

Fortunately, there IS an existing remedy for the people to check this out-of-control Supreme Court, restore accountability to the judiciary, and bring back balance to the bench.  Our unelected judges – even Supreme Court justices – are NOT unaccountable to the people.  Although (in contrast to many other states) Colorado does not elect judges, in a well-intentioned attempt to remove partisan politics from the judiciary, Colorado’s Constitution explicitly reserves the power and the right to hold judges accountable to a vote of the people in periodic retention elections – for Supreme Court justices, every ten years.

These regularly scheduled retention elections – phrased in the form of a ballot question, “Should Justice X be retained in office?” answered with a simple “yes” or “NO” vote – are the only check or balance to the otherwise unrestrained power of Colorado’s Supreme Court justices.

Our system in Colorado is a good one; our institutions (and our Constitution) are worthy of defense.  However, some of the current occupants of the Colorado Supreme Court have shown themselves to be unworthy of their office.  They have politicized the judiciary, substituting their own agenda for the clear letter of the law and our Constitution.  In so doing, they have undermined the rule of law (and respect for the courts).  We The People can – we must – hold them accountable.

Vote “NO” on these unjust justices in 2010 – restore respect and accountability to our judiciary and help bring back balance to the bench.

To learn more about the outrageous rulings of the anti-constitutional, out-of-control Mullarkey Court, visit Clear The Bench Colorado and support the grassroots campaign to restore respect and accountability to our judiciary, and bring back balance to the bench, with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

The Clear The Bench Colorado message - ‘vote “NO” on the unjust justices of the Colorado Supreme Court in November 2010 to restore accountability to the judiciary and bring back balance to the bench’ -  is being picked up by an increasing number of astute observers of the state of affairs in Colorado.

Thanks to an attentive observer, the Clear The Bench Colorado team was alerted to Mike Rosen’s comments on the Colorado Supreme Court during his Tuesday (17 November) show.  Speaking of the current occupants of Colorado’s highest court, Mike stated that the

“5-member judicial activist liberal bloc on the state Supreme Court is an unelected judicial activist outpost… and this would be a great time for Colorado to try and balance the scales in Nov. 2010.”

(Listen to the podcast of the 17 November Mike Rosen show here - comments at 20:00 minutes in)

Learn more about the most recent Colorado Supreme Court power grab, the Mullarkey Court’s repeated assaults on the Colorado Constitution, the resulting impact to your wallet, the degradation or outright elimination of YOUR constitutional rights, and what you can do about it at Clear The Bench Colorado.

Exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to have policy decided by elected, accountable legislators (not unelected judges); your right to vote on tax increases; your right to have a say in how you are represented; and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is the featured speaker at this Wednesday’s (18 Nov) Weld County Republican Breakfast Club meeting (doors open at 6:30 AM, event/speaker begins 7AM - please note the change of venue for this week’s meeting).

Join Matt at Wednesday morning’s meeting to learn more about the Mullarkey Court’s repeated assaults on the Colorado Constitution, the resulting impact to your wallet, the degradation or outright elimination of YOUR constitutional rights, and what you can do about it.

Learn more about how - and why -  you can and should exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven Colorado Supreme Court “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

The resurgence of “We The People” in the form of local citizens banding together in grassroots civic action organizations to defend our constitutional rights is THE political story of the year 2009 in America…

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is both proud and humbled to have been invited as a guest speaker to several such groups over the last several months - beginning with the massive (7000+) crowd at the Tax Day Tea Party rally at the Denver Capitol and continuing through several events throughout the Spring (examples here, and here), Summer (examples here, here, and here) and Fall (examples here, here, here, here, and here) and Winter (here, and most recently, here) of 2009.

The Grassroots Revival continues - tonight at 7PM (Sunday November 15),  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is speaking at an event sponsored by the Colorado Change the Change (a.k.a. the SE Denver 9.12 Project) grassroots organization at the Parker Mainstreet Center (Click for directions).

Join Clear The Bench Colorado and the Grassroots Revival in restoring “power to the people” - get active, get involved, raise your voice and help to restore accountability to the Colorado judiciary by exercising YOUR RIGHT to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to retain unjust justices in 2010!

The resurgence of “We The People” in the form of local citizens banding together in grassroots civic action organizations to defend our constitutional rights is THE political story of the year 2009 in America…

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is both proud and humbled to have been invited as a guest speaker to several such groups over the last several months - beginning with the massive (7000+) crowd at the Tax Day Tea Party rally at the Denver Capitol and continuing through several events throughout the Spring (examples here, and here), Summer (examples here, here, and here) and Fall (examples here, here, here, here, and here) and Winter (here, and most recently, here) of 2009.

The Grassroots Revival continues - this afternoon starting at 1PM (Saturday November 14),  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is speaking at an event sponsored by the Ladies for Liberty grassroots organization (Click here for directions).

Join Clear The Bench Colorado and the Grassroots Revival in restoring “power to the people” - get active, get involved, raise your voice and help to restore accountability to the Colorado judiciary by exercising YOUR RIGHT to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to retain unjust justices in 2010!

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is appearing as the “special guest” at tonight’s Candidate Search 2010 forum at the Budweiser Event Center, First National Bank West Exhibition Hall (program starts with dinner at 6PM, speaker presentations beginning around 7PM, Friday Nov. 13th).  The forum invites candidates (of all parties) for Colorado’s statewide offices (Governor, U.S. Senate, and Secretary of State) along with regional candidates (Colorado Congressional District 4) to present their case to We The People (click here for the updated list of Candidate Search 2010 participants).

Northern Colorado grassroots organizations Fort Collins Tea Party, Loveland 912 Project, and We Will Not Fail have come together to organize the candidate search forum so that voters from across northern and central Colorado can listen to and ask questions of the candidates running for office in 2010.

Come out to hear, meet and question your candidates for office - and learn more about the most important votes you may not have known you could cast in the November 2010 elections: four “NO” votes on the question of retaining the unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority on the Supreme Court.

YES, YOU CAN exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to have policy decided by elected, accountable legislators (not unelected judges); your right to vote on tax increases; your right to have a say in how you are represented; and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule according to the whims of activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!