A recent report by Americans For Prosperity Colorado (Colorado in Transition: Killing the Golden Goose - A Report on Colorado’s Economic Future)

“says Colorado is only one generation away from a California-type fiscal crisis, thanks to what it calls excessive taxation, uncontrollable spending and an environment hostile to job growth.“

According to the Denver Post, the report “laid almost all the blame on Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and the Democratic-controlled legislature.”

As usual, the Post doesn’t quite get the facts straight.

In the Post’s ongoing campaign to ignore the culpability of the Colorado Supreme Court in Colorado’s fiscal woes (and attempts to bury news about the Clear The Bench Colorado campaign to hold the unjust justices of the court accountable to the Colorado Constitution and the rule of law), the report’s frequent mention of “[r]ecent court decisions…” undermining the “biggest factor in protecting Colorado’s tax and spending climate from outside political pressures and runaway growth” (TABOR, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights) is left completely unremarked (fulfilling the Post’s unofficial mission of filtering, rather than reporting, the news).

In fact, the report specifically mentions the “Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to approve an increase in property tax rates without a vote of the people” as THE greatest single threat to “TABOR’s heretofore straightforward protections.” (p.6)

The report recommends a number of “[s]pecific proposals policy-makers should consider”, with several directly reversing actions of the Colorado Supreme Court, such as “reaffirming TABOR’s requirement that tax hikes be approved by voters” and acting to “rein in tax hikes masquerading as fees…” (p.7)

The definition of a fee has been abused.  Many of these so-called fees are nothing more than tax hikes in disguise. During the 2009 legislative session alone, hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees were proposed and contemplated by the legislature. One, increasing vehicle registration fees by an average $41 per vehicle per year, was passed and signed by Governor Ritter. At $250 million per year, this “fee” will raise far more in new revenue than is warranted by the cost of administering the vehicle registration and licensing program. As such, it is really a tax increase. (p.21)

The Post article falsely characterizes the report’s summary of the increased cost of “vehicle registration fees” (Colorado Car Tax) as an “error”, asserting that the “fee increase is for only three years and in the third and final year the average Coloradan will pay $41 extra” (total).  This assertion is uninformed at best, disingenuous at worst - the “fee” increases have already cost the average Coloradan $40-$50 extra in the first year of increases alone - as other (less-biased) journalists have reported, “the pain of FASTER is just beginning.”

Further addressing transportation policy, the AFP report notes that

“the number of dedicated sources for transportation funding has dropped by three with the repeal of Arveschoug-Bird and the elimination of the Senate Bill 1 (1997) and House Bill 1310 (2002) diversions. Gas tax revenues, car registration fees, and drivers license revenues remain, but with the 2009 passage of Senate Bill 228 dedicated transportation funding from the General Fund is cut.” (p.9)

The culpability of the Colorado Supreme Court in eliminating “dedicated sources for transportation funding” is less direct, but equally important.  The General Assembly’s unconstitutional repeal of the Arveschoug-Bird 6% limit on General Fund spending growth with SB228 has NOT yet been challenged in court because, so long as the Mullarkey Majority controls the Colorado Supreme Court, “the fix is in” - no challenge, despite the legal merits, has any prospect of success before this agenda-driven court.

Other policy areas addressed by the report include Colorado’s Civil Justice Environment - with “the most important improvements Colorado should pursue” starting with:

1. The selection of sound judges: Ensuring fairness and predictability in civil justice necessitates good laws and good interpreters of the law. Outcome-based judicial decisions (rendering verdicts based on what the judge thinks the outcome should be instead of what the law says it should be) significantly jeopardize the stability and predictability of the tort environment. Instead of activist judges, the Governor should work to appoint judges committed to the philosophy of judicial restraint. (p.29)

What makes a good judge? was one of the first issues addressed by Clear The Bench Colorado.

The report also notes that the Ritter administration (and Colorado General Assembly) policies and legislation have increased the cost of health care in Colorado (above and beyond the massive pending Federal legislation) by (what else!?) imposing additional “fees” on insurance companies “by $13 million in 2009 and $30 million in 2010 with the approval of House Bill 1390” (p.33) - costs that will be passed on to Colorado consumers, courtesy of the Colorado Supreme Court ruling enabling the proliferation of “fees” to circumvent TABOR.

Finally, the report also recommends that Colorado “[t]ighten up laws regarding government condemnation of private property” (p.69) to defend Colorado citizens against eminent domain abuses (expanded by yet another Colorado Supreme Court ruling undermining our legal and constitutional protections, the “Telluride Land Grab” case).

The report is well worth reading in its entirety - but as this article (hopefully) makes clear, the Colorado Supreme Court is inextricably involved in “Killing the Golden Goose” of Colorado’s economic prosperity.

Don’t let your own goose get cooked! Exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on 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, instead of suffering rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Please help to support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining these unjust justices in 2010!

The sheer volume of objectionable Colorado Supreme Court rulings makes it difficult to keep up with researching and writing analysis and commentary - it seems that there’s a new decision on an almost weekly basis eroding one or more of our constitutional rights.

I’m therefore indebted to prolific Colorado blogger (and occasional radio talk show host) Ross Kaminsky of Rossputin.com for addressing the recent Colorado Supreme Court ruling “saying the promotion of public health supersedes the right to free speech” in an article appearing Saturday on his site and on the syndicated Peoples Press Collective site (which also syndicates Clear The Bench Colorado articles).

Although this decision addressed “expressive” free speech rather than political free speech (the heart of the free speech protections guaranteed by the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution), I agree with the point raised by Ross that ANY infringements of free speech should be viewed with a very healthy (pardon the pun) skepticism and a very high threshold of demonstrated need (such as “the prevention of violence”) which a nebulous “promotion of [state interest in] public health” fails to meet.

The lone dissenter in the case, Justice Gregory Hobbs (who, as Ross correctly notes, is “unfortunately not a reliable vote for fundamental rights or good government” but “certainly got it right this time”) makes much the same argument is his dissent:

“Under the applicable constitutional standard, the state must carry its burden of demonstrating that its prohibition of expressive conduct is narrowly tailored to meet a significant governmental interest.

Colorado’s smoking ban is not narrowly tailored as applied to theatrical performances that call for smoking because the statutory ban bars the use of any plant matter in addition to products of the tobacco plant, fails to take into account measures that limit exposure to patrons of the theater to demonstrably harmful tobacco products, and renders alternative means of the protected First Amendment expression untenable and even laughable.”

Unfortunately, the ongoing erosion of our constitutional rights by the Colorado Supreme Court is no laughing matter.  Fortunately, We The People DON’T have to be the “butts” of the joke any longer…

Colorado citizens can laugh last (and laugh best) by exercising YOUR right to vote “NO” on 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, vice suffering rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Please help support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining these unjust justices in 2010!