March 20, 2020

The issues on your ballot aren’t just questions about trains, taxes and spending. They are exhibits in a larger case: dishonesty, intimidation and political bullying have become standard operating procedure at the Colorado Capitol.

The message from lawmakers is increasingly simple: Vote however you like — we’ll make sure it turns out the way we like.

When voters might say no, they rewrite the question. When elected officials won’t cooperate, they replace them. When citizens organize an initiative, they sabotage it. And when the law becomes inconvenient, they exempt themselves from it.

The kings of Colorado

Consider the legislature’s devotion to “democracy.”

Lawmakers exempted themselves from Colorado’s open-meetings law. Why? Because transparency is vital — right up until we want to see what they’re doing.

They warn President Donald Trump threatens democracy, then strip authority from democratically elected officials. They removed two-thirds of the elected Regional Transportation District board so their own appointees could take over.

Nothing protects democracy quite like replacing the people voters chose.

Then there was Initiative 175, citizens petitioning to vote on road funding. So, lawmakers passed a bill to neutralize the initiative before ballots were even cast. Its supporters finally had to pull their now impotent citizens’ initiative.

The legislature didn’t defeat the measure. It kneecapped voters’ ability to even vote on it.

That same attitude is stamped all over this year’s ballot.

Take Issue 7A, the latest choo-choo tax.

Never mind taxpayers are still waiting, and paying, for rail promised in 1971. Never mind we’re still waiting, and paying, for the train to Longmont promised in 2004. Never mind public money is being used to promote the cuckoo CoCo choo-choo tax.

The truly impressive part is the “rail” voting district. Areas considered friendly to the tax — such as Boulder and Denver — were gerrymandered into the district. Less enthusiastic communities gerrymandered out.

Apparently, when you can’t win the vote, you choose the voters. Call it “curated democracy.”

Gunning for TABOR

Then there’s Proposition NN, which asks us to surrender our Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) tax refunds, naturally, “for education.” But after 10 years, the earmarks disappear and the money goes, well, we don’t know.

Unlike previous tax-refund grabs, Prop NN tinkers with the TABOR spending formula. This is a first in anti-taxpayer arrogance.

If excess revenue ever threatens to produce refunds again, NN gives lawmakers the power to change the spending formula, so those refunds disappear.

Your refund isn’t being stolen. It is being legislatively relocated.

The graduated income-tax proposal offers another clever trick: Its brackets aren’t indexed for inflation. As wages rise with inflation, taxpayers drift into higher brackets even when their real purchasing power hasn’t increased.

Their plan? Over time we will all be paying the top 8.4% income tax rate.

Why the relentless attack on TABOR? Because TABOR is inconvenient for people accustomed to taking.

Legislative leaders blame TABOR and Trump for Colorado’s budget squeeze. Yet their own analysts have identified the real problem: Legislators themselves treated temporary federal COVID money like permanent income and built continuing obligations around it (like Medicaid expansion to illegals).

Other states used one-time money for one-time expenses. Colorado behaved like someone who won a scratch ticket, leased a yacht and then blamed the bank when the bills arrived.

As voter-hating Sen. Jeff Bridges runs around leading literal cheerleading sessions against TABOR (really, check out the videos), he refuses to let people know his own Joint Budget Committee’s staff reported the budget problem was the legislature’s doing.

In January, legislative staff told them if temporary revenue had been spent on temporary needs, the state budget should have returned to balance.

That earned lawmakers what one news report called “a slice of humble pie.”

But why man up and take the blame when you can blame your spending orgy on TABOR.

Read the fine print

So when you examine this year’s ballot, look beyond the soothing language about education, transportation and fairness. Look at the fine print and what lawmakers have worked so hard not to tell you.

These measures reflect a Capitol culture that treats voters less like citizens to be persuaded and more like obstacles to be outmaneuvered.

Our democracy is being worked over in broad daylight by the people claiming to protect it.

Nice vote you’ve got there, Colorado.

Be a shame if something happened to it.