Nonprofits’ voter-registration efforts
Last Wednesday, what should have been a great piece of legislation passed the House of Representatives. HR 1461, the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005, will create out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a source of funding for low-income housing, with the first two years of the fund being dedicated to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
The legislation, however, has a huge downside as well. It forbids non-profit agencies from applying for money from an Affordable Housing Fund to build low-income housing if they engage in any voter registration or other non-partisan voter participation work. This was done by a small group within the House of Representatives without the support of the committee that passed the bill. It also does not restrict for-profit organizations that access these funds from doing voter registration.
Who knew how to register to vote the first time? Who knows what to do if you move between election cycles? Who is willing to pay more in taxes so our county clerks have the resources to register and educate voters about the rules? Nonprofits have played an important part in our democracy, leading individuals through a sometimes challenging system to make sure their voice is heard in our democratic process.
Despite quite possibly being unconstitutional, this effort hints at a more fundamental problem for our society. By blocking nonprofit voter registration and education efforts, this bill is in effect saying we as a society don’t want people to vote. And when a democratic society actively blocks efforts to increase participation within it, we become something other than a democratic society.
Brad Wood, Denver
Grateful for help getting out of Cancun
Denver should consider itself very fortunate to have Frontier Airlines based in your city. Frontier set up a base in Merida, Mexico, last week to help displaced travelers return from Cancun. Knowledgeable representatives were on hand to answer questions and set up flights. Also present was a Frontier vice president, who was a very calming influence to those of us who could not get a straight answer from our original carriers. We were able to book a flight at a very reasonable cost, and all promises were met.
When we arrived at the Denver airport at 2 a.m. last Thursday, we were met by Frontier representatives with water and snacks. They quickly arranged for our flights to our next destinations, even coming back later to make sure we were OK. They continued to bring snacks, sandwiches, water and soft drinks.
I can’t tell you how much this meant to us. We thought weathering a hurricane was bad, but found out that trying to get home was even worse. Frontier was there to rescue us.
Tony and Debbie Demuth, St. Joseph, Mo.
Importance of elections
This past week, I’ve had opportunities to make small talk about the upcoming election. Nothing out of the ordinary, just comments like, “So, are you all ready for the election?” I’d have had better success, and more interesting conversations, if I’d asked instead about their favorite reality shows. These people were not only uninformed, but apathetic. I realize this election is not a very exciting one compared to electing a president, but it is both our privilege and our duty to participate. We have our soldiers dying in Iraq for the privilege of living in a free and democratic society. It is pretty sad that too few of us seem to care.
Dave Leman, Lakewood
Perspective on Iraq
Re: “Death of the 2,000th soldier in Iraq,” Oct. 31 Open Forum.
Letter-writer Richard A. Stacy writes that, while so many deaths are heartbreaking, we should nonetheless keep things in perspective. Well, here’s another perspective that Stacy should consider: More than 2,000 U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, along with tens of thousand of Iraqis and the maiming or crippling of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers. All of this because of a choice by George W. Bush.
Not too long from now, the number of U.S. deaths in Iraq will hit 3,000. At that point, the choice made by Bush will have resulted in more deaths of Americans than the choice made by Osama bin Laden on Sept. 11. I am not trying to in any way imply that Bush is as evil as bin Laden, but the fact is that we did not have to go into Iraq, certainly not for the bogus reasons the White House originally gave us.
It is true that 2,000 deaths are small compared to past major conflicts, but it is also true that, had Bush not made the choice to invade Iraq, none of those 2,000 Americans would have been killed there, nor would the tens of thousands of wounded have come home missing body parts.
Paul Ruzicka, Aurora
Boys and their lies
Modern politicians and their advisers answer the question, “Son, who cut down the cherry tree?”:
Scooter: “I can’t remember.”
Bill: “It depends what ‘the’ means.”
Karl: “It was that weird, pinko Kerry kid; I saw him come up in a Swift Boat.”
George: “Saddam is the only one in this neighborhood who cuts down trees.”
They all lie to save their own worthless hides. It is sickening.
Keith Campbell, Denver
Response to Referendums C and D opinion
Re: “The value of $15,” Oct. 27 Susan Thornton column.
Susan Thornton’s column hit a new low in Post-sponsored deception. She said the issue in the Referendum C campaign was how we wanted to spend the “$15” tax refund we would get if C passed.
Lie No. 1: That $15 refund is for the fiscal year that ended June 30. That is not one of the five years listed in Referendum C, which begins with the current fiscal year. We all will get a refund next spring, whether C passes or not, because that refund is not for one of the years to which C would apply.
Lie No. 2: There is no “temporary timeout” from TABOR. Referendum C, a statute, aims to change the spending base and limits in the state constitution, when only a constitutional amendment can do that. Just like Amendment 23, the spending authority will increase forever, even when revenues lag.
Lie No. 3: She blasts the accurate use by opponents of the word “average” in describing the tax refund amount for an “average” family of four. Divide $3.75 billion in estimated refunds by 4.3 million full-time legal state residents. That is $870 for every adult and child in Colorado. Since children don’t get refund checks, two adults and two children would get four times that “average” amount, or $3,480. That is indisputably the “average.” Some get more, some get less, primarily because the same legislators now asking for all our refunds forever had previously voted to siphon off, divert and steal most of our tax refunds to give them to special interests. That law can be repealed in January, and we can return to a broad-based single refund system, with most families of four getting closer to $3,500.
Lie No. 4: Thornton then reverts to the deception practiced by The Post in every article about Referendum C, namely that the refund over the next five years is under $500 per taxpayer. That $491 is only the sales tax portion (42 percent) of the total refund. The rest is being refunded to smaller groups because of the cynical diversion by the legislators who now tell us that the amount left for us is so small we might as well let them have it, forever.
Lie No. 5: To scare voters, she lists billions of dollars of programs we would fund with our “$15” refund. If every one of the 3.4 million taxpayers (not children) gave up $15, that would only be $51 million. How does that pay for 74 times that amount in programs ($3.75 billion taxpayer cost of Referendum C in just the first five years)? The real total refund is $1,106 per taxpayer, according to the amount legislative economists computed on Page 6 of the state’s blue book -almost 74 times the amount she quoted.
Once readers see how the tax pushers are lying to them, they can deduce that the promises of how our tax refunds would be spent by them are also unbelievable. They will also figure out that the claim that “C and D are not tax increases” is another lie. They will grasp that, to make up for $1 billion in phantom “cuts,” we are being told to vote for $7 billion in tax increases for C and D. They will finally realize there have been no overall cuts in state spending, only bad budget priorities by the same legislators who want this windfall. Vote “no” on C and D.
Douglas Bruce, Colorado Springs
The writer is the author of the 1992 Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
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