Top law-enforcement officials on Thursday condemned a proposal to ease prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders as a “sound-bite” solution to the state’s complicated budget problems.
A group of officials that included county sheriffs, a police chief and a district attorney dismissed a call for lighter prison sentences as too dangerous.
Don Quick, district attorney for Adams County, said the state has already cut funding to programs that prevent drug use and to treat parolees who had drug problems. He blamed the spending limits imposed by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
“And now we’re being told the solution to TABOR is just to release the drug offenders,” Quick said. “That’s why I say it’s not about a sound bite. It’s about a sound solution.”
This week, backers of Referendums C and D intensified their claims that budget-reform opponents are part of a radical fringe.
The news conference by law-enforcement officers called attention to the opponents’ proposal to let nonviolent drug offenders avoid prison.
On Wednesday, the budget-reform backers issued a radio-show transcript in which former state Senate President John Andrews said it would be OK for Sad dam Hussein to contribute to the anti-reform cause.
Andrews dismissed the criticism as a tabloid-television exaggeration and said backers of Referendums C and D are attempting to scare voters.
On Nov. 1, voters will consider two ballot measures that would loosen TABOR’s spending limits for five years and reset the base for calculating future spending growth.
Opponents say lawmakers should look for ways to cut spending before keeping more tax money.
In February, the Independence Institute estimated that Colorado could save up to $41.6 million by diverting nonviolent drug offenders from prison.
The estimated savings in the sentencing proposal is a fraction of the $408 million in budget cuts the state will have to make if voters reject Referendums C and D, according to projections by Henry Sobanet, Gov. Bill Owens’ budget director.
Another problem with the proposed sentencing solution is that it endangers the public, officials said. On Thursday, law enforcement officers said the offenders in prison are “frequent fliers” who have had other brushes with the law even if they were incarcerated only for drug possession.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
