Posted on 11/01/2005 6:27:36 PM PST by Pharmboy
DENVER (AP) - Colorado voters decided Tuesday whether to suspend the state's fiscally conservative Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to stave off potentially drastic cuts in such areas as college education and health care for the poor.
Polling ahead of the election suggest it would be a close vote, and the secretary of state was predicting a near-record turnout for an off-year.
In Greeley, voters at one library waited in line for 40 minutes to cast their ballots.
"My job depends on it. Without it, we're toast," said Laura Manuel, who works at Metropolitan State College in Denver and supported suspending the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. "People want a free lunch - they want roads and sidewalks but don't want to pay for it."
Referendum C would let the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion over five years that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the constitutional amendment generally considered the nation's strictest cap on government spending.
A second measure, Referendum D, would allow the state to borrow up to $2.1 billion for roads, school maintenance, pensions and other projects. Referendum D requires the approval of Referendum C.
The 1992 constitutional amendment, dubbed TABOR, has been celebrated by fiscal conservatives across the country.
Until this year, TABOR's supporters included Gov. Bill Owens, a lame-duck Republican who stunned his party by crafting the ballot measure with Democrats. Owens said he backed the measure because the state is facing a fiscal crisis.
Tuesday's vote was being closely watched by fiscal conservatives. Californians will vote on state spending limits Nov. 8, and other states including Kansas, Ohio, Maine, Nevada, Oklahoma and Arizona are considering similar moves.
Patricia Kropf, a retired dental office manager who lives in Denver, said she voted against the measure.
"We don't trust the government, and we don't know what they would do with the money," the 62-year-old Republican said.
Randy Wood, a 45-year-old PTA member with two daughters in Denver's public schools, said he voted in favor because he worries about more cuts in education after seeing music and the arts suffer.
The vote capped a bitter, $8 million campaign, and the polls suggested the balloting was too close to call.
Supporters of the two ballot measures argued that without the change, Colorado will be forced to close state parks and cut funding for health care and universities and community colleges.
Opponents branded the measures a tax grab by politicians too gutless to make tough decisions.
"We have some people running around saying the sky is falling. Others say this is the opportunity we have been waiting for, that we can do government with less," said Jon Caldara, leader of the opposition group Vote No; It's Your Dough.
Elsewhere on Tuesday:
-Denver voters decided whether to approve an annual $25 million property tax increase to fund a program that will link raises and incentives for public school teachers to student achievement. Experts said no other large district in the U.S. has tried such a dramatic overhaul.
-Denver voters decided whether to make it legal for adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. The city attorney's office said that if the measure passed, police would simply file marijuana possession charges under state law. Seattle, Oakland, Calif., and a few college towns already have laws making possession the lowest law enforcement priority. A similar measure was on the ballot in the ski resort town of Telluride.
It just never stops -- tax and spend without limit...
Ping
Of course these are the only areas that the politicians can think of to cut when the can't freely rob the taxpayers. They can always count on the "educators" and the professional poor to get stirred up.
If government would stop spending on college "education" and health care for the "poor" there wouldn't be any "crisis."
I'm still waiting to hear the results of the election. Our glorious leader Govenor Bill Owens stumped all over the state in support of keeping our tax refunds. So much for the Republican party being in favor of limited government. No discussion of limiting government spending has occured. Disgusting.
When a politicians says, "Education is number one with me" it means that education is their number one hostage when they want to squeeze more money from the taxpayers because they have been sooooo responsible aboust spending the money they already got from us.
No politician EVER has enough of your money to make them happy.
Here's a link for the election results in Colorado:
http://extras.denverpost.com/2005election/refer.html
Which one is C and which one is D?
"Referendum C" is C and "Referendum D" is D.
Along the top line of the table.
Referendum C would let the state keep an estimated $3.7 billion over five years that would otherwise be refunded to taxpayers under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, the constitutional amendment generally considered the nation's strictest cap on government spending.
A second measure, Referendum D, would allow the state to borrow up to $2.1 billion for roads, school maintenance, pensions and other projects. Referendum D requires the approval of Referendum C.
Government can NEVER do with less money. Every family in the USA is having to do with less with sky-rocketing gas and utility bills knocking a hole in family income, but greedy government just keep sucking up their 50% of everyone's paychecks. The dipwads on the President's tax reform committee were bemoaning the "loss" to the government of the Alternative Income Tax that is about to decimate the middle class, so they have to raise over a TRILLION dollars by taxing mortgages and health care plans! It's disgusting and immoral to run a country like this. Our forefathers would be so ashamed that we have allowed the IRS and the SCOTUS to ruin this nation.
How true.
Let me go into a little more detail as to what I have seen here in Colorado as to C and D. This has been an extremly well funded polital campaign to pass these measures. Everyone has their hand out for government money. 1000 non-profit organizations support it. Real estate developers, construction companies, colleges and universities, government unions, you name it and they are for it.
I have a friend who works for a paving company, and all the employees got a letter from the boss with their paycheck asking them to vote yes. My oldest sister who is a democrat got really mad at me when she found out I voted no. She says her grandchildren won't be able to go to college if this doesn't pass. Her husband works for the college.
We are doomed I tell ya. Stupidity and greed rule.
The other day I watched a highway department truck cruising down the side of the road. A large dump truck, with snow plow blade attatched, two highly paid employees inside. They went from road reflector to road reflector, one guy leaning out the window to clean the reflectors with a spray bottle and rag. What a crock. Government waste a fraud abound. Fat slobs sucking our hard earned tax dollars.
The Republican leaders are a disgrace.
But, if they spent, say, wisely on education, and they had been producing a better educated set of kids year after year, I wouldn't mind giving them a bit more (again, only if they were spending wisely). But it all goes down a rat hole.
Is this the live thread?
35% reported so far.
I searched this topic 5 ways til Sunday before posting, so this must be the only one...
I'm not from Colorado but the lottery is supposed to pay for parks in Colorado and they do have beautiful parks.
Cool! I'll put the link on the State board.
Excellent--thank you.
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