I am the only candidate for governor encouraging voters to support Referendums C and D. They will get us on the path to economic recovery, fiscal sanity and a 21st century budgeting process.
They will allow us to invest in our future. They will let us grow jobs, improve our schools and keep our children and senior citizens healthy. They will give companies a reason to relocate and remain here.
As a native Coloradan, I’m discouraged by what I see happening to our state, by the lack of investment in our people, institutions and infrastructure. Some 767,000 residents lack health coverage. More than 100,000 Colorado jobs have been eliminated in recent years. Tuition at our public colleges and universities is skyrocketing beyond the reach of working families. The number of Medicaid and food stamp recipients is rising at a pace far faster than the national average, and we rank 44th in child immunization rates.
We simply aren’t getting the job done here in Colorado. We aren’t delivering on the promise that all Coloradans deserve a better quality of life. C and D will change that – without raising the tax rate, without abolishing our balanced-budget rules and without eliminating voters’ existing right to approve or reject tax increases.
Over the past few years Colorado has cut $1 billion in state services. We’re spending 20 percent less on higher education than we did four years ago. And as someone who earned two degrees from public universities in Colorado thanks to student aid programs, I know first-hand the opportunities that government can provide. My children and your children deserve the same opportunity.
Other cuts have impacted early childhood education and health-care programs. Basic infrastructure like roads and highways is falling apart – and we have no hope of growing new jobs and rebuilding our economy if the transportation network is in disarray.
If I am elected governor, whether C and D pass or fail, I will establish a 21st Century Government Efficiency Task Force led by proven business and government leaders to provide oversight. Government must always seek more effective ways of operating, while eliminating waste and inefficiencies.
In many respects, government spending already has been cut to the bone in Colorado. And where those cuts can occur is limited by federal mandates and state constitutional amendments such as Medicaid guidelines, Amendment 23 and the Gallagher Amendment. In practical terms, additional discretionary reductions will be limited to a few areas like higher education, transportation and prisons, which is why it is so important that C and D pass.
If they fail, hundreds of millions of dollars will need to be cut from the state’s budget. I will work with the people of Colorado and the legislature to make those hard choices if I am governor.
But we can keep from sliding even farther backwards by voting yes on C and D.
Bill Ritter was Denver district attorney from 1993 to January 2005. He is seeking the Democratic nomination to become the next governor of Colorado.
