What’s not to like about this year’s elections? Plenty. Here’s a partial list of problems, issues and curiosities, one for each of the 10 days left until Election Day.
1. Five extra days of aggravation. In 2004, the election was on Nov. 2. This year, it’s Nov. 7. That’s five more days of 30-second TV spots, mailers, push polls, pre-recorded phone calls and all the other mudslinging media available to a 21st century politician.
2. Those 527 groups. They seem to get worse every election cycle. Named for the section of the IRS code that allows them to spend freely, these groups must remain “independent” of the campaigns they support, so they spend most of their money attacking the opposition. Their defenders say they bring out negatives that voters wouldn’t hear about otherwise, but they also often operate independently of the truth.
3. The phrase “mid-term election.” How condescending. It reinforces the idea that the only politics that matters happens in Washington, especially at the presidential level. But it’s not mid-term for members of Congress, for the governor or other statewide office holders, or for state legislators. Those elected officials matter a great deal to Coloradans, and usually have more effect on their lives than the president.
4. The immigration issue. The federal government is responsible for border security and for deciding who can become a citizen. But immigration is an emotional issue, useful for getting angry people to the polls – or keeping them away – so it is being used in places it doesn’t belong, such as the governor’s race.
5. Too many ballot issues. We almost had 16 on the ballot this year, but 14 is still a modern-day record. And one of those initiatives (Amendment 38) would make it even easier to load future ballots with more issues questions. To further confuse matters, there are two conflicting initiative-referendum pairs: on same-sex unions and school budgeting.
6. Government-bashing initiatives. Another example from the political right (in addition to 38) is Amendment 40, which would subject judges to term limits, thus making the judicial branch as rudderless as the already term-limited legislature. From the left comes Amendment 41, which would clog the Constitution with conflict-of-interest rules instead of waiting to see if a legislature controlled by Democrats will deal with the problems.
7. Hickenlooper’s first hiccup? Mayor John Hickenlooper’s golden touch is at risk. Virtually everything he has backed in the past has succeeded, even controversial issues such as light rail and Referendum C. But the preschool tax, Referendum 1A, may reach a little too far even for Denver’s liberal-leaning electorate.
8. The all-negative campaign. Marilyn Musgrave’s effort to keep her 4th Congressional District seat until recently consisted exclusively of attacking Democratic challenger Angie Paccione. A (sort of) pro-Musgrave ad finally aired this week, but other than saying she’s supportive of veterans, it continued to focus mainly on reasons to vote against Paccione instead of reasons to vote for Musgrave.
9. Anti-open mindedness. The Ed Perlmutter campaign in the closely divided 7th District found a 1994 opinion piece by Rick O’Donnell in which the Republican candidate said Social Security was a failure and should be abolished. Since then O’Donnell has said he no longer thinks what he did when he was young and “thought I knew it all.” He even apologized. But the attacks continue. Wouldn’t we all be better off if politicians would admit their mistakes?
10. Ignorance of the law. No excuse. On the other hand, the O’Donnell campaign has an ad saying Perlmutter, as a state legislator, “raised your taxes eight times.” That’s impossible. Colorado is the only state where the legislature can’t raise any tax without voter approval. But the anti-tax message is a big part of the GOP mantra nationally, and the template is applied even in cases where it doesn’t fit. To be charitable, let’s assume ignorance instead of lying.
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
