One of the most important issues in Colorado Politics - the looming reapportionment (state-level) and redistricting (Congressional) of Colorado’s legislative districts, which will occur next year following this year’s census - has received scant attention from Colorado’s newspaper of record, the Denver Post.  Although disappointing, this cannot come as a surprise to the astute political observer, particularly given the dominant role of the Colorado Supreme Court in both state-level reapportionment and Congressional redistricting - apparently the Denver Post doesn’t want to do anything to upset its most recent tenant (and major billpayer) - that same Colorado Supreme Court. ( “Move along, move along - no conflict of interest to see here.“)

Fortunately, Colorado citizens now have a veritable plethora of alternative sources for news (real news - including direct and unfiltered coverage of major political events, such as the recent Tax Day Tea Party events all but ignored by the Post and other mass media, by such organizations as Peoples Press Collective or Complete Colorado).  For those of you more comfortable with print media, some of the most comprehensive coverage of political news and events is consistently offered by the Colorado Statesman - including an article in their latest edition, “Redistricting rears its ugly head.”

Although the article perpetuates some of the confusion regarding the sequence of events involved in the last round of redistricting battles (the so-called “midnight gerrymandering” decried - with some justification, at least as far as some procedural criticism - by Democrat legislators, although neglecting to mention that the corrective attempt to legislate district boundaries was brought about by obstructing the constitutionally mandated process the previous session, occurred before passage of the statute the current bill seeks to repeal) the article does provide an accurate summary of legislator statements and witness testimony (again, contrasted with the Denver Post coverage) on the bill.  The article’s summary of Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold’s testimony was accurate and refreshingly devoid of “spin”:

Matt Arnold testified against the bill on behalf of Clear the Bench Colorado, a group he said is dedicated to restoring accountability to the courts, especially the Colorado Supreme Court. Arnold said the Colorado Supreme Court has been unaccountable, partisan and activist and has played “far too strong a role” in both reapportionment and redistricting. The General Assembly has the responsibility for redrawing congressional districts, he said but that the Legislature needs to provide guidelines to the judiciary branch when redistricting ends up in the courts. Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey has exerted a partisan influence on the redistricting and reapportionment processes, Arnold charged, and said an effort was made to tie up the process of drawing the maps in the Legislature (in 2002) so the issue could be referred to the courts. Arnold referred to it as “mary-mandering,” which he defined as the use of the courts to achieve results that could not be otherwise achieved through the constitutionally-delineated process accorded the General Assembly.

(Click here to view the entirety of the Clear The Bench Colorado Director’s testimony on the “Mary-mandering” bill)

Don’t let the courts “Mary-mander” away your rights to fair representation - exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the 4 ‘unjust justices’ of the Colorado Supreme Court’s “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 home or business against eminent domain abuse, your right to fair representation in government, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (comment below or Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold appeared before the House Veterans & Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday to testify in opposition to the “Mary-mandering” bill (HB10-1408 Repeal Congressional Districting Criteria) that would remove from state law several factors designed to ensure fair and impartial review by courts concerning legislative district boundaries.

Committee Chair Nancy Todd (HD-41) appeared pre-disposed to disallow citizen testimony (beyond the two individuals who had signed up to testify the previous week), but when she left the room to pursue other business, Vice-Chair Jeanne Labuda announced that citizens who had signed up to testify would be allowed to make brief (3-minute) statements. (An interesting - and somewhat amusing - interplay occurred earlier when Rep. Labuda (HD-1) erroneously stated that the Colorado Bar Association vetted candidates for judicial office, and was later corrected by another witness [El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams] who educated her on the actual process, which is conducted by a bipartisan (by statute) nominating commission jointly appointed by the Governor, Attorney General, and Chief Justice).

The presence of citizens and alternative-media organizations equipped with cameras and recording equipment apparently was a deciding factor in allowing additional citizen testimony - a victory for transparency and representative government.

Another citizen present at the hearing captured this video recording of Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold’s testimony before the committee.

Don’t let the courts “Mary-mander” away your rights to fair representation - exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the 4 ‘unjust justices’ of the Colorado Supreme Court’s “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 home or business from against eminent domain abuse, your right to fair representation in government, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” — Mark Twain (1866)

The Colorado Legislature is still in session - so our lives, liberty, and property (and our Constitution) remain under threat.  In a bizarre twist in Colorado Politics, the General Assembly today moved towards abdicating its constitutional role in drawing up our Congressional districts by advancing a bill to allow courts to draw up those districts as they see fit, removing guidelines enacted in response to the last example of “Mary-mandering” (er, judicial redistricting) which produced the strangely-configured 7th Congressional District (appearing like a claw reaching around the north end of metro Denver).

The bill (HB10-1408 Repeal Congressional Districting Criteria) would remove from state law several factors designed to ensure fair and impartial review by courts concerning legislative district boundaries.  Although the bill passed out of committee does preserve some of the factors (such as equal population size, compactness, keeping cities & counties intact and seeking to maintain “communities of interest”) from the earlier legislation it seeks to repeal, which was designed to prevent the courts just doing whatever they pleased if the state legislature fails (or is blocked) in its constitutional duty to create a congressional districting plan - the bill advancing out of committee (on a 7-3 vote, with one Republican, Rep. Carole Murray (HD-45) voting with the Democrat majority)

eliminates language in current law that says courts cannot consider “non-neutral” factors that include “political party registration, political party election performance and other factors that invite the court to speculate about the outcome of an election.”

The (Democrat) sponsor(s) and supporters of the bill maintain that allowing consideration of “non-neutral” factors is needed to promote “political competitiveness” (a criterion invented by the Colorado Supreme Court in justifying their usurpation of legislative power in the Salazar v. Davidson redistricting case in 2003).

However, using “non-neutral” factors such as political affiliation constitutes the textbook definition of gerrymandering:

Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes (Wikipedia article)

Some committee members saw through the pretense:

Republicans called Weissmann’s bill a Democratic gerrymandering effort that was taking neutral factors out of the law. They said that state court judges, especially those on the Colorado Supreme Court, have been partisan for the benefit of Democrats.

“We would all like to depoliticize the process,” said Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs. “This is a political process not only in the legislature, but I also believe it becomes a partisan political process in the courts as well.”

The bill - by virtue of advancing the use of the courts to advance a particular political agenda and deliberately modify legislative boundaries for electoral purposes - is setting the stage for the next round of “Mary-mandering” following the 2010 Census (and 2011 Congressional redistricting that will follow) in expectation of the Democrats losing their majority in one or both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly and following the same blocking tactics that prevented the Legislature from carrying out its constitutional responsibility and sent redistricting to the courts following the last Census.

Coupled with the Colorado Supreme Court’s dominant role in state-level reapportionment of legislative districts, anyone with a modicum of political savvy can see that the MOST important elections on the ballot this year - the four MOST important votes that Colorado citizens can cast in this pivotal election - are “NO” votes on the four unjust justices of the Colorado Supreme Court who are seeking retention in office for another 10-year term.

Don’t let the courts “Mary-mander” away your rights to fair representation - exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the 4 ‘unjust justices’ of the Colorado Supreme Court’s “Mullarkey Majority” (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who needYOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your home or business from against eminent domain abuse,  your right to fair representation in government, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

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 continuing political story of the year 2010 in America and is profoundly affecting Colorado Politics in this year and beyond…

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) Fall (examples here, here, here, here, and here) and Winter (examples here, and here) of 2009 - we’re back for more in 2010, most recently at the Tax Day Tea Party rallies on April 15th.

The Grassroots Revival continues.  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is speaking this evening (Tuesday) at the Brighton Patriots meeting at the Brighton Library starting at 7:00PM.

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 the four unjust justices of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and - last but not least - 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 home and business against eminent domain abuse, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not suffer under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!),  your contributions, and your “NO” vote to remove these unjust justices on election day this November!

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” — Mark Twain (1866)

The Colorado Legislature is still in session - so our lives, liberty, and property (and our Constitution) remain under threat.  Many of the worst threats against our constitutional rights are being aided and abetted by the Colorado Supreme Court - the latest threat is an attempt by the Colorado legislature to remove some of the rules restricting the power of the courts to draw up our legislative boundaries whichever way they want (not that they’ve been much constrained by the laws on the books, anyway).  As a recent Denver Post editorial (”What are Colorado Democrats up to?“) points out:

Here we are, in the waning weeks of the state legislative session, and Democratic leadership has introduced a bill that would whack a big part of congressional redistricting law from the books.

The bill (HB10-1408 Repeal Congressional Districting Criteria) would remove from state law several factors designed to ensure fair and impartial review by courts concerning legislative district boundaries.  As another Denver Post article explains,

Redistricting is an intrinsically partisan process, and while most citizens may not take notice of it, the exercise is deeply important to political parties, as it can greatly influence which one has the upper hand in an election.

Weissmann’s bill would eliminate language in the law that says courts, in determining whether congressional districts have been drawn fairly, cannot consider “non-neutral” factors that include “political party registration, political party election performance and other factors that invite the court to speculate about the outcome of an election.”

The bill also would eliminate requirements that a redistricting plan avoid splitting cities or counties or “communities of interest” that can include ethnic, economic or geographic groups.

Finally, the bill also would clip language that calls for district lines to be as compact as possible.

Numerous commentators have pointed out that battles over legislative redistricting - drawing up those lines on a map that will determine how we are represented in Congress and in the state legislature - and the shenanigans that often accompany those battles, are nothing new (and hardly restricted to any particular political party).  Indeed, the term “gerrymandering” (used to describe such shenanigans, and the twisted boundaries and odd-shaped districts that result) is just shy of 200 years old last month:

Gerrymandering is a form of boundary delimitation (redistricting) in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are deliberately modified for electoral purposes, thereby producing a contorted or unusual shape. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process.

Gerrymandering may be used to achieve desired electoral results for a particular party, or may be used to help or hinder a particular group of constituents, such as a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group.

The term first appeared in the Boston Centinel on March 26, 1812.  (Wikipedia article)

What is new (or relatively new - since the Colorado Supreme Court also played these shenanigans during the last redistricting battles in Colorado following the 2000 Census) about this approach is the use of the courts to advance a particular political agenda and deliberately modify legislative boundaries for electoral purposes.

Given the prominent role of Colorado Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey in advancing the practice - going so far as to declare the courts “part of the General Assembly” (Salazar v. Davidson, 2003) in order to get around the Colorado constitutional requirement that the Legislature (and no other branch) should draw up our Congressional districts - we propose that the political lexicon should be updated to reflect this 21st Century innovation, and coin the term “Mary-mandering” to describe the process.

Don’t let the courts “Mary-mander” away your rights to fair representation - exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the 4 ‘unjust justices’ of the Colorado Supreme Court’s “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 home or business from against eminent domain abuse,  your right to fair representation in government, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” — Mark Twain (1866)

The Colorado Legislature is still in session - so our lives, liberty, and property (and our Constitution) remain under threat.  Many of the worst threats against our constitutional rights are being aided and abetted by the Colorado Supreme Court - so we’re sending out the distress signal.

Answer the call, and help Save Our State - come out, have fun, and support Clear The Bench Colorado as we lead the fight to keep Colorado’s ‘unjust justices’ from getting another 10-year term.

Answer the call; exercise your right to vote “NO” on the 4 Colorado Supreme Court unjust 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 home or business from eminent domain abuse, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Help to support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10-year term!

Clear The Bench Colorado was at the forefront of the opposition to the unconstitutional “Dirty Dozen” tax increases passed by the Colorado Legislature at the start of the session - testifying before the House and Senate Finance Committees that the tax increases were violations of the rights of Colorado citizens under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights to be consulted (by vote) before being subjected to more or higher taxes, despite an interpretation of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling in the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case that the requirement to ask first could be ignored.  In a typical example of Colorado Politics as usual, the Legislature ignored the constitutional objections and other testimony by Colorado citizens (appearing in large numbers) against the bills and hurriedly passed the new taxes into law (ramming them through SO quickly that many have already taken effect beginning March, instead of starting in July as per normal legislative practice).

Among the worst of these from a constitutional perspective was the so-called internet sales tax (or “Amazon Tax”) House Bill 10-1193: Sales Tax Out of State Retailers (Pommer/Heath) - which not only violates the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, but also the U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable searches & seizures, as Clear The Bench Colorado pointed out in testimony before the Colorado Senate Finance Committee prior to the bill’s passage into law:

This bill also presents a constitutional challenge of a different kind – issues of invasion of privacy. Collecting information on every online purchase of Colorado citizens in attempting to enforce this tax will justly provoke extreme outrage. It will also inevitably provoke a host of legal challenges based on 4^th Amendment protections.

Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

We advised the committee that constitutional challenges to this law were practically inevitable, and stood a very good chance of success, even before the frequently anti-constitutional Colorado Supreme Court.  We also advised the committee that citizens would be justifiably outraged by the intrusion into their private affairs since the only way the state could hope to enforce the tax is by obtaining detailed lists of purchases Coloradans made and invading their privacy -  as the bill contains provisions to subpoena online retailers to receive lists of purchases made by Colorado citizens.

Recent news about a similar situation in North Carolina has highlighted the danger to personal privacy posed by the bill:

Prior to Colorado, the New York and North Carolina state legislatures passed an “Amazon tax”, ostensibly as an attempt to close budget holes. North Carolina then went on a fishing expedition looking for lost tax revenues from the past seven years. After receiving “voluminous information about nearly 50 million items sold to North Carolina customers, including order numbers; the city, county, and zip codes to which items were shipped; transaction dates and prices; and Amazon’s standard product code for the items,” now the Tar Heel state is asking Amazon for more personal information on all its customers.

More personal information… like what exactly?

The Internet retailer says the state’s Department of Revenue is demanding the name and address “of virtually every North Carolina resident who has purchased anything from Amazon since 2003, along with records of what each customer purchased and how much they paid.

Luckily for North Carolinians, Amazon is fighting that request in the courts.

Can we be confident that our own courts will defend our rights?  Not as long as the “Mullarkey Majority” rules the Colorado Supreme Court - since they were the ones who aided and abetted this assault on your rights in the first place!

Defend your rights while you still can - exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on the four ‘unjust justices’ of the Mullarkey Majority (Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, & Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away more of your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to be safe against unreasonable search & seizure by tax collectors, your right to defend your home or business against eminent domain abuse, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of rule by an oligarchy of activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Help to Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices in the November elections!

Clear The Bench Colorado was well represented at several of the Tax Day Tea Party rallies across the state - Director Matt Arnold spoke at both the Denver and Fort Collins events, and spokes-people (no spokes-dogs, this time) were also at the Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Grand Junction events.

Although the mass-media (lamestream?  LEMMing?) coverage of Colorado’s Tax Day Tea Party rallies was underwhelming at best, and superficial or misleading at worst (just what is it with the mass media obsession with downplaying attendance levels?) several of the state’s more serious and professional journalists provided accurate and insightful reporting on the event(s).

The Colorado Statesman - a nonpartisan weekly covering events of significance in Colorado Politics  - profiled the Denver Tax Day Tea Party rally as one of their featured stories (”Tax day rally in Denver steeped in Tea Party discontent nationwide“) in this week’s edition.  The Statesman was also one of the few print media publications to accurately depict what was blindingly obvious to anyone in attendance:

Matt Arnold of Clear the Bench Colorado received some of the largest applause. His organization targets Colorado Supreme Court justices who, according to Arnold, uphold attacks against the Taxpayers Bill off Rights. Arnold inspired a “clear the bench” chant as he left the podium.

(CTBC Director Matt Arnold’s speech can also be viewed in its entirety online)

The Denver Post - the state’s newspaper of record - distinguished itself by appallingly poor coverage of the event, missing or misrepresenting even some of the most basic facts.  (Um, 300 attendees? Riiiight)

Fortunately, alternative media leaders Peoples Press Collective were on-scene to provide complete, unfiltered (including video live-streaming) coverage of the event.  See for yourself what really happened  - remember, if you’re getting your news from the mass media, you’re not getting the news.

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 the four unjust justices of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and - last but not least - 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 home and business from seizure by government abuse of eminent domain powers, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven judges.  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to remove these unjust justices on election day this November and prevent them from having another 10-year term of violating your constitutional rights!

Clear The Bench Colorado made appearances as a featured speaker at several of the Tax Day Tea Party rallies around the state on Thursday, April 15th (Tax Day!) as grassroots groups and citizens of all stripes came together to reassert their voice in Colorado Politics…

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold spoke at two events, in Denver (speaking about noon) and Fort Collins (speaking about 6PM).  Matt’s speech at the Denver event was video live-broadcast and recorded by the Peoples Press Collective new-media organization, which is rapidly becoming the “go-to” source for coverage of events in Colorado Politics (”if you’re getting your news from the legacy media - you’re not getting the news“).

(Denver Tax Day Tea Party Rally 15 April 2010, Matt Arnold of Clear The Bench Colorado)

Learn more about why voting “NO” on the Colorado Supreme Court justices who aided and abetted unconstitutional tax increases (including the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” and “Dirty Dozen” tax increases, and especially the Colorado Car Tax) along with other assaults on your constitutional rights, may be theMOST important votes you can cast this year.

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 the four unjust justices of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and - last but not least - 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 home and business from seizure by government abuse of eminent domain powers, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven judges.  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to remove these unjust justices on election day this November and prevent them from having another 10-year term of violating your constitutional rights!

Clear The Bench Colorado has alerted Colorado citizens over the last several months to the Colorado General Assembly’s underhanded tactic (Colorado Politics at its worst) of circumventing the TABOR requirement to receive voter approval before imposing or increasing taxes by playing the word game of calling the charges “fees” instead - thanks to a ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court last November:

Governor Ritter, the Colorado Legislature, and the Mullarkey Majority seem to find the requirement to first ask before raising taxes (as required by TABOR) to be rather tiring - and restricting their power to accomplish their goals with your money.  What to do, what to do?  Simple - creatively define their way out of the restrictions; impose fees, instead of raising taxes - no need to ask the voters first; then just transfer the collected revenue (the ol’ shell game) into the general fund, so as to avoid those pesky restrictions on spending the money…

The most universally despised use of this tactic - and the one affecting the greatest number of Colorado citizens - was last year’s Colorado Car Tax increase, the so-called FASTER bill (SB 108).

It’s even worse than you think - as I discovered by researching the impacts in greater detail for the following article, published in the “Taxed Enough Already” April edition of The Constitutionalist Today monthly newspaper (add it to your “recommended reading” list).

The Colorado Car Tax - It’s Worse Than You Think

The Colorado Car Tax increase passed last year (SB108, the so-called “FASTER” bill) is quite possibly THE most unpopular tax increase in Colorado history - made all the more repugnant by how it became law (evading the TABOR requirement to receive prior voter approval for any new or increased taxes).

The deeply unpopular Car Tax has already contributed to the demise of the political careers of the bill’s main advocates: Governor Bill Ritter, who signed the bill into law, has chosen not to seek re-election rather than suffer the fate of governors in other states, including New Jersey, Virginia, and Arkansas (yes, Bill Clinton suffered his first big electoral defeat after passing a car tax increase his first term) who passed similar tax increases on vehicle registration and ownership.  State Senator Dan Gibbs (D-SD16), the bill’s Senate sponsor, has likewise decided not to seek re-election.  Only House sponsor Rep. Joe Rice (D-HD38) remains, and he is facing a tough re-election fight in his Republican-leaning district (Littleton) against challenger Kathleen Conti , who is sure to use the car tax issue against him during the campaign.

The Car Tax has also highlighted the role of the Colorado Supreme Court’ “Mullarkey Majority” in aiding and abetting increases in taxes and other “fees” thanks to several rulings against the clear letter of the Colorado Constitution (particularly Article X, Section 20 - the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) in recent years.  The political careers of four of the state Supreme Court justices who ruled to enable this tax increase (among others, including the “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” property tax increase) may also be coming to an end, as they come up for re-election (phrased as a question on the ballot: “Should Justice [name] be retained in office?” with the option to vote yes or “NO”) this November.

So why is the Car Tax (er, “vehicle registration fee”) increase so deeply (and deservedly) unpopular?

One reason is the deeply regressive nature of the tax (er, “fee”) increase - which hurts most those least able to afford it (especially those with lower or fixed incomes, such as blue-collar workers, students, and retired or unemployed individuals).  Since newly increased tax (er, package of “fees” - which will go up not just once, but each year through 2012) is now based on vehicle weight, the increase may not seem like much to the latte-sipping Prius-driving set, but makes up a significant portion of the total vehicle registration bill for anyone driving an older, heavier (and incidentally, safer) vehicle.

SB09-108 Registration fee increase total

Actually, it’s even worse than you think.  The FASTER bill (the Colorado Car Tax) actually consists of TWO new “fees”: a “road safety” surcharge fee, and a “Bridge Fund” fee (that will increase in each of the next two years).  The new law also imposes a new “vehicle rental fee” of $2/day - with an exemption for politically-correct “vehicle sharing” arrangements, such as instituted in Boulder and other trendy spots.  The two new “fees” - and the additional bureaucracy created for each - have been ignored in most of the reporting about the impact of the Car Tax increase on most citizens.

And of course there are the “Late Fees” -

“A late registration penalty of $25 for each month or portion of a month that a vehicle is not registered after the one month grace period, not to exceed $100, will be charged beginning June 1, 2009. Expired temporary permit registrations are also included in the $25 penalty. There is no grace period for permits.”

Late fees are now mandatory - the bill removed existing language allowing clerks to exercise discretion:

The department or the authorized agent registering the vehicle may waive the late fee.

Adding insult to injury, the Car Tax bill also creates entirely new bureaucracies, complete with new staff:  the “Bridge Enterprise” and the “Transportation Enterprise” - both of which “operate as a government-owned business” within the Department of Transportation.  These “government-owned businesses” not only have “exclusive authority to budget and approve the expenditure of moneys” collected by the Car Tax (er, “fees”), but also have the authority to issue/re-issue bonds and contract for loans or grants.  The “enterprises” were also added as entities authorized to use eminent domain to seize private property.

Yet despite all of these revenue-generating and spending powers, the bill’s language explicitly states that both “enterprises” - “shall not be subject to any provisions of Section 20 of Article X of the state Constitution” (i.e. TABOR, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights).  They are not constrained, or accountable.

But all of this is necessary “to preserve our crumbling transportation infrastructure,” right?  That was the justification for passing the bill - along with claims that any and all “fees” collected “shall be used exclusively for the construction, maintenance, and supervision of the public highways of the state.”   Says so right in the legislative language (43-4-810), so it must be true, correct?

Not so much.  The dirty little secret of the FASTER bill is that many of the taxes (er, “fees”) collected don’t go towards the construction or maintenance of roads or bridges at all, but for “multi-modal and demand-side transportation solutions” - such as the desire of certain state Senators for streetcars in Denver - justified by other language in a following section (43-4-812):

43-4-812. Use of user fees for transit - legislative declaration.

(2) THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY HEREBY FINDS AND DECLARES THAT THE FUNDING OF TRANSIT-RELATED PROJECTS AUTHORIZED BY SUBSECTION (1) OF THIS SECTION CONSTITUTES MAINTENANCE AND SUPERVISION OF STATE HIGHWAYS BECAUSE IT WILL HELP TO REDUCE TRAFFIC ON STATE HIGHWAYS AND THEREBY REDUCE WEAR AND TEAR ON STATE HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES AND INCREASE THEIR RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND EXPECTED USEFUL LIFE.

In fact, the bill MANDATES state spending of $10 Million per year on “transit-related projects.”

It’s an outrageous semantic shell game - and a blatant violation of your constitutional rights.

To sum up: the “FASTER” car tax increase raised vehicle registration fees by $22.50-55 per vehicle, including a “road safety surcharge fee” of $16-$39 per vehicle, PLUS a “bridge fund fee” of $13-$32 per vehicle (halved the first year - so it’s $6.50-$16 this year) in the FIRST YEAR ALONE (with two more years of tax - er, “fee” - increases to come).  Plus mandatory “late fees” of $25/month (capped at $100) - for all “vehicles” (including trailers barely even worth that much).

All while creating two new state bureaucracies with power to spend, borrow, & seize private property unconstrained by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and not accountable to the people.

Oh, and increasing mandatory spending by over $10 Million per year on purposes other than roads, bridges, or other transportation infrastructure used by those paying the “fees.”

If anything, the angry crowds at Motor Vehicle offices last summer may have been a MILD reaction, although the anger was misdirected at the hapless county clerks.

Some of the politicians who did this to you - including Governor Ritter and Senate sponsor Dan Gibbs - have quit, rather than face the voters.  House sponsor Joe Rice remains, but is facing a tough challenge from Kathleen Conti in his GOP-leaning district.  But most importantly, you CAN vote against the four Colorado Supreme Court justices (Mullarkey, Bender, Martinez, and Rice) who enabled this type of sham legislation in the first place with their Nov. 2008 ruling to allow “fees” to act like taxes, in violation of your constitutional rights to have any say in the matter.  Clear The Bench, Colorado!

Fight back against this assault on your rights - and your wallet. Exercise your right to vote “NO” this November on the four ‘unjust justices’ of the Colorado Supreme Court’s “Mullarkey Majority”- (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, & 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 home and business from seizure by governments abusing eminent domain, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and “NO” vote on retaining these unjust justices on the bench for another 10 years!