State Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, is running for re-election against Republican challenger Lang Sias.
Compass Colorado attacks her legislative record and time on the State Board of Education in a new ad.
Claim 1 — “Evie Hudak took money from our classrooms for her fancy limousines and 5-star luxury resorts.”
The facts: This claim attacks Hudak over expenses incurred while she served on the State Board of Education.
While board members’ expenses were paid to attend conferences held at several five-star hotels, the “fancy limousines” charge against Hudak, unlike the vehicle she rode in, is a bit of a stretch. She once took a car service, paid for it out of her own pocket and then was reimbursed at the taxicab rate. The vehicle was a Lincoln Town Car — a nice sedan but not exactly a “fancy limousine.”
Claim 2 — “Evie Hudak raised taxes on small businesses, middle class families, hospitals, and even senior citizens.”
The facts: The ad refers to several things, including a package of bills in 2010 passed by a Democratic-controlled legislature that eliminated, scaled back or suspended a number of tax credits, exemptions and breaks businesses received. Hudak did support it.
The ad also refers to a 2009 fee imposed on hospitals in an attempt to draw down federal matching money to fund a Medicaid eligibility expansion. Hudak supported this fee.
Finally, the ad refers to Hudak’s support to suspend the Senior Homestead property-tax exemption.
While lawmakers are barred by the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights from raising taxes without a vote of the people, a 2009 court ruling said lawmakers could also eliminate tax exemptions and credits without having to ask for voter approval. So is that “increasing taxes”? Republicans say yes.
Even so, when Republicans were in the majority in the House and the Senate, they voted to suspend the Senior Homestead Exemption — “raising taxes on seniors” as they call it now when Democrats do it. And even as recently as last year, after they had regained the majority in the House, a handful of Republicans, including the GOP’s House speaker, joined Democrats in suspending a sales-tax exemption on cigarettes.
Claim 3 — “Hudak’s next target? Increasing gas taxes on us all.”
The facts: This claim is based on a tweet Hudak sent out last December in which she retweeted a Huffington Post item about a report that said decades of never-increasing gasoline taxes were costing states millions of dollars. Hudak prefaced the retweet with, “This is big budget problem.” She did not specifically call for increasing fuel taxes.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626, thoover@denverpost.com or
