One Republican's outburst distracts the media from larger issue

Face The State Staff Opinion

State Rep. Don Marostica, R-Loveland, has angered his Republican colleagues by signing on as the co-sponsor of a Senate Bill 288, a measure that will eliminate the Arveschoug-Bird Amendment, which caps general fund growth at 6 percent each year. When Marostica learned that Independence Institute President Jon Caldara and former treasurer Mark Hillman were exerting pressure to kill his bill, he told the Rocky Mountain News Thursday: "They're has-beens. They're losers."

On a slow news day, Marostica's comment made big headlines. A day later, the Rocky reported that Marostica’s gaffe earned him two meetings with House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, and one with Colorado GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams. He now has to call Caldara and Hillman to apologize.

After all that, it is easy to forget how this even started. The real issue at hand is that Marostica is working with Sen. John Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, to eliminate Arveschoug-Bird. May said the move undermines the caucus and puts transportation dollars at risk. He is absolutely right.

Senate Bill 1 from 1997 dictates that if revenue increases by more than 6 percent, the overflow goes to transportation and capitol construction. Those will be the real losers if Marostica and Morse's bill is passed. Transportation in Colorado is already in dire straits, even with Senate Bill 1 in place.

For months now, Republicans have been urging Democrats to do more with the money it has and get creative with transportation funding. Eliminating the 6 percent cap wouldn't get rid of the transportation fund created by Senate Bill 1, but lawmakers would no longer be obligated to fill it. The original intent of Arveschoug-Bird was to restrain government growth. While eliminating the cap wouldn't raise taxes or increase revenues, it would take money previously devoted to transportation and transfer such funds to entitlement programs, effectively growing them.

Democrats argue that Arveschoug-Bird's limit causes the budget to shrink during recessions, making recovery more difficult. But maybe that's a good thing. Recessions are a check on all of us. Government should always be spending frugally, especially in times of prosperity. That way it won't be blind-sighted by a $900 million budget shortfall as it has been the last few months. The 6 percent cap on general fund growth is a check on government when it can't be trusted to be a check on itself. Republicans understand that.

While Marostica's remark about Hillman and Caldara made the headlines, the real news was about the negative impact his bill will have on Colorado.