Bill Kaufman served eight years in the Colorado General Assembly as a Republican representative from Larimer County. He has been chairman of the Larimer County Republican Party three times.
So when Kaufman went ballistic with the Larimer Republican executive board recently, he was no outside agitator.
“I learned with great dismay that the … Executive Board voted to oppose Referendums C and D,” Kaufman wrote in an Aug. 24 e-mail to current chairwoman Nancy Hunter. “In effect, you have just told Sen. Steve Johnson and Rep. (Bob) McCluskey to go to hell … .”
Like Kaufman, Johnson and McCluskey are Republicans who support C and D.
As the campaign for state budget reform enters the homestretch, Republicans across Colorado should seriously consider Kaufman’s caveat.
This vote is not a partisan event.
For the next five years, Referendum C lets the state keep money otherwise refunded to citizens under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Referendum D lets the state sell bonds for public projects.
Together, they are the brainchild of a Republican governor and a Democrat-controlled legislature. But C and D could not be on the ballot without significant GOP support from state and local legislators.
The idea that guys like Johnson and McCluskey aren’t true Republicans because they support C and D is plain stupid, Kaufman said. That’s why as party chairman, Kaufman never let the Larimer GOP board take stands on referendums. The current board, Kaufman wrote to Hunter, is “splitting the party.”
Hunter said the board’s decision on C and D came after state Rep. Jim Welker, a board member, offered a resolution opposing the referendums.
Hunter said the board listened to arguments for and against.
“We didn’t tell anybody to go to hell,” Hunter said. “We believe in Steve and Bob, and we’ll support them in 2006. Folks will say we agreed to disagree and move forward.”
Kaufman says it won’t be that easy.
The Republican Party in Larimer and throughout the state has “spent the last 20 years telling people the government is no good,” Kaufman said. “I will never tell you that government is perfect. I will never tell you that government can’t improve. But you have to have government. And the never-ending denigration of government is wrong.”
Not to mention self-destructive.
Hunter claims “taxpayers should not be the ones doing without” by giving up TABOR refunds.
In fact, many taxpayers will see programs cut without C and D. Many of them live in Larimer County.
By insisting that the state needs no more money, the Larimer GOP board has officially positioned itself against Republican Gov. Bill Owens. It has officially positioned itself against the ruling bodies of the county’s three largest communities – Fort Collins, Loveland and Estes Park. It has officially positioned itself against one of the county’s most important economic engines – Colorado State University, which already has suffered budget cuts and badly needs C and D to pass.
The board has also rebuked Kaufman, a member of the state transportation commission. For two years, the ex-Republican legislator has been telling folks that funds are not available to maintain existing roads, much less build new ones.
Hunter noted that she “didn’t see any money for transportation coming to Larimer and Weld (counties) from C and D.” Even if that’s true, the executive board’s opposition to the referendums leads to no future funding from another source.
Instead, the Republican board’s stand is an ideological attack with no practical fallback position.
If C and D fail, the state estimates it must make $365 million in cuts to balance next year’s budget.
Yet members of the executive board of the Larimer GOP have gone on record that Colorado is flush with dollars.
Conveniently, they didn’t bother to discuss which government services they are willing to give up. And they sure didn’t ask their neighbors.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
