By Andrew Ripemoff
And Now, Your Natural Resources News Update: Last Friday, in another example of its determination to reduce energy jobs and stop economic growth, the Colorado House gave initial approval to a measure that would toughen the rules for a type of mining operation known as "leach mining."
Speaking of leeches, let’s talk about legislative Democrats.
They recently announced the state’s revenue projections will be reduced over $700 million over the next four years. This shocking number means programs will have to be cut, and less money will be spent on government assistance programs, resulting in fewer public services. Do you realize how this makes us hard-working taxpayers feel?
It makes us feel great!
I’m serious. It warms my heart to know that Bernie Buescher, Andrew Romanoff, and other tax-and-spend liberals won’t have an extra $700 million to waste. Instead, they’ll just have to scrimp by limiting their waste to opportunities existing within the paltry $17.6 billion dollar budget just passed by the House.
You’ve heard about that, right? It’s House Bill 1175, otherwise known as the "Long Bill" - an excessive, tax-wasting monstrosity of a budget that is to government efficiency what Michael Moore is to anorexia.
But at least there are SOME worthy expenditures in the plan - money that Democrats have put aside to help the truly needy. And by "truly needy," I am referring to executive bureaucrats. You may not have known it, but you gave the higher-ups in the state’s health care bureaucracy a very generous $676,000 pay raise. (That was really nice of you). Then there’s the millions spent on hiring 1,334 new union bureaucrats. (They don’t work for free you know). Don’t forget the $150,000 gift you gave to an attorney! Governor Ritter is using your money to pay a lawyer to defend his property tax increase.
Isn’t that genius? Not only did he shove an unconstitutional tax increase down our throats, but when he has to hire an expensive attorney to defend it, we get to pay for the legal fees. The lawyer’s name is Mark Grueskin, and you will be completely shocked when I tell you he has donated thousands to Democrat candidates.
But I’m sure Grueskin is not just a partisan hired hand. He’ll represent all of us right? Must be. He told the Rocky Mountain News, (6/13/06): "I just have such a dramatic reaction to political parties trying to decide what’s best for voters - which is why I don’t represent parties anymore."
Nice thought, but Mr. Grueskin and his firm recently got hired by the Democratic National Convention Committee.
David Balmer, a Republican state Representative, tried to save us from having to fund Grueskin's anti-taxpayer advise by proposing an amendment that would stop the $150,000 transfer, with the money to instead by used to fight forest fires. This makes sense, so naturally, house Dems voted it down.
If there happens to be a rash of huge wildfires in Colorado this summer, maybe we can count on Ritter's lawyer friends to grab some fire extinguishers and help us out.
But why was this entire budget so huge and inefficient in the first place? Everyone, all together now, one...two...three...
"It’s for the children!"
Good job, that sounded great! Just like what Joint Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Buescher told the Denver Post on March 27th: "Our goal is to invest in our children’s future." Actually, this is true.
Especially if your children are in jail.
Buescher’s bloated budget committee threw in $700,000 of your money to help inmates get their GEDs. Those Dems may want to get rid of CSAP testing in public schools, but hey, at least our convicts to be educated!
And, in what is becoming a yearly ritual, they failed to establish an additional rainy day fund. Speaker Romanoff though, had a pretty good excuse. The Colorado Springs Gazette said that according to Romanoff, while lawmakers may not be setting aside money for savings this year, they have a goal of "putting a structure into place to start saving."
This sounds good. I wish I thought of that line when I was a kid.
ME (at 9 years old): "Dad, I need $50."DAD: "What happened to the allowance I gave you the other day? Before I give you any more money, I want you to learn how to save."
ME: "It’s okay Dad, I’m putting a structure into place to start saving."
Yet regardless of how miserable this 2008 state budget is, Dems naturally put some lipstick on the pig and called her a beauty queen. They held on odd press conference at the Capitol where they used props - the props being cute little girls who held up signs that read: "2008 Budget Winner."
When asked how, exactly, she was a budget winner, six-year-old Tabitha Johnson told a reporter, "I’m here today because I believe that the fiscal priorities embodied in this $17.6 billion budget represent a bold, forward thinking economic plan by Speaker Romanoff and legislative Democrats."
She went on to add, "Plus my mom said that afterward, we could go to Chuck E. Cheese."
So it looks like six-year-old girls, DNCC lawyers, and inmates are the big winners in this year’s budget battle. The rest of us? Well. we just hope the next elections bring some fiscal responsibility to state government. For Ritter underestimates the patience of the average voter.
And if he keeps up these tax increases and pattern of wasteful spending, I predict his future budget won’t be called the "Long Bill."
More like the "So Long, Bill!"
