Wanted: Strong, credible Republicans to lead the charge against Armageddon amendments.
Disclaimer: You may get kicked in the teeth by a few party-mates for years to come. Weak-kneed Republicans need not apply.
With a stiff, anti-government, anti-tax breeze blowing through Colorado this fall, it’s possible that one, or perhaps all three, of the Armageddon amendments — that is, Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 — could pass. The trio of devastating measures is designed to gut, not cut, state and local government.
But a massive coalition of business and civic leaders has formed to beat back the beasts, and with nearly $6 million raised, their ads soon will flood the airwaves.
Their cause would get a much-needed boost, however, if there was a credible Republican at the top of the November ticket who could make the fiscally conservative case for shooting down the proposals.
A similar coalition was amassed in 2005 to help pass Referendum C, which allowed state government to keep revenue it already was collecting. Jon Caldara and others on the right derided it as a massive tax hike, so it took the conservative credentials of former Republican Gov. Bill Owens to make the case for Ref C to independent and GOP voters. It worked.
But he’s been dogged about it ever since on blogs and in some conservative circles.
Just this past summer, Owens’ lieutenant governor, Jane Norton, was forced back on her high heels as Senate candidate Ken Buck jabbed at her for supporting it. It was one of the reasons she lost the primary.
Even Tambor Williams, to burnish her conservative credentials, now basically claims she was forced into supporting Ref C as a member of Owens’ Cabinet.
Ref C, and Owens’ role in it, continues to be an unnecessarily divisive line in the sand among Republicans, and I think it’s partly because some of them suffer from short-term memory loss.
Let’s recall the facts.
Owens was a tax-cutter. During his first term, he permanently reduced a series of taxes that allowed Coloradans to keep an extra $500 million a year.
Referendum C ended up giving the state an extra $3.6 billion.
Owens’ tax cuts now total more than that amount.
Now, a debate could be had over whether those tax cuts should be rescinded, but there should be no debate as to whether Ref C was some sort of giant tax increase that only squishy liberals could love.
Ref C saved the state from heading off a cliff. Passing it was the right thing to do.
So who will step up on the right to fight these amendments, knowing they’ll be pilloried for years to come as a tax-loving liberal?
Scott McInnis was against the measures, but he lost his bully pulpit when he lost his primary race to Dan Maes.
Opponents say half of the state’s Republican county commissioners will fight the measures, along with a growing number of GOP state lawmakers, including conservative state Sens. Greg Brophy and Josh Penry.
Public service requires that our leaders, at times, do not what’s politically expedient, but what’s right.
Ronald Reagan, a conservative hero, understood that. He raised taxes three times as president. He was never comfortable doing it, but if he thought it was best for the country, he did it. (Interestingly, Reagan couldn’t make it through a GOP primary today, with all these purity litmus tests.)
Owens, I’m confident, will again step up and do what’s right for Colorado — regardless of the possible political consequences. Hopefully, other conservatives will follow suit.
Colorado’s future ought to be more important to our past and present leaders than any future political smears delivered by so-called conservatives.
Editorial page editor Dan Haley can be reached at dhaley@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter at .
