Whom do you trust, Colorado?
If you don’t believe Republican Gov. Bill Owens that Referendums C and D are necessary, how about Democratic Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff? If not Denver’s Democratic Mayor John Hicklenlooper, how about Colorado Springs’ Republican Mayor Lionel Rivera? Don’t think the Chamber of Commerce is in your corner? How about the county sheriffs of Colorado?
The vote Nov. 1 will do more than decide if the state keeps five years’ worth of revenue it would otherwise have to return to citizens under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (Referendum C). The vote will do more than decide if that money can be used to pay back bonds to build roads and other capital projects (Referendum D). This election is about credibility. It’s about cynicism.
The list of private and public groups supporting C and D runs 18 pages, single spaced. It includes Republicans, Democrats and independents. I count at least 51 city, town and county governing boards on the list. They stretch from Limon to Grand Junction, from Fort Collins to Durango. The people backing these proposals are not fat cats from Denver. They are your neighbors, the people you elected or allowed to represent you.
The folks who oppose C and D want you to do more than disagree with them. The folks who oppose C and D want you to repudiate them as liars. The opposition ads – many funded by out-of-state groups that won’t suffer a single service cut if C and D fail – make that very clear.
Here are the themes of the opponents’ commercials and public statements:
The governor, legislators, city and town council members, county commissioners, business leaders, educators, health-care providers and service groups that support C and D are pigs.
They are incapable of spending your money wisely.
They invented an economic crisis to steal your tax refunds, not to mention ice-cream cones from your kids.
According to opponents of C and D, state funding for higher education faces no crisis, even as the College Board reports that Colorado tops the nation in tuition increases. Opponents say that doesn’t matter because Colorado’s in-state tuition is still $1,200 below the national average, as if keeping college affordable is a bad thing.
There’s plenty of money to build and repair roads, the opponents continue, as the Colorado Department of Transportation details hundreds of millions of dollars worth of delayed building and maintenance projects, as well as safety and congestion concerns.
When the governor’s budget director discusses the possibility of closing state parks, cutting health care to the poor and trimming services to the disabled, he’s indulging in scare tactics, opponents rail.
Here’s how cynical the leaders of the C and D opposition have become. In ad after ad, they claim people will lose $3,200 in TABOR rebates over five years if the referendums pass. The $3,200 figure applies only to people collecting all 16 categories of TABOR rebates. No one collects all 16 categories of TABOR rebates. It’s a manipulative lie.
So is the idea that painless cuts can balance the budget if C and D fail. Last week, opponents suggested that public schools stop teaching illegal-immigrant children. They also said government departments can streamline. But they are never specific enough to measure the hurt.
If the state can’t balance its budget with hundreds of millions a year in unspecified budget cuts, it can always raise money selling its portion of a national lawsuit settlement against tobacco companies, opponents of C and D say. They say this knowing the tobacco money can’t even cover three years of projected budget deficits.
Coloradans have a choice Nov. 1. They choose between solutions to a crisis or a slickly delivered invitation to dismiss as frauds most of their chosen leaders.
Those are the stakes. This vote will not only determine the fate of Referendums C and D. It will determine the faith we have in each other.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
