Outgoing Rep. Doug Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, may be bitter, but he’s right.
In a Wednesday e-mail to reporters and a group of fellow state lawmakers, Bruce calls out the Denver Post editorial board for lying about his baby, better known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. Bruce criticizes a recent editorial for wrongly characterizing TABOR when it says, “the state is forbidden from tucking away revenue surpluses during good years.”
BruceState of Colo.
Bruce disputes the Post’s claim and asks editors to show him specifically where TABOR prohibits the state from saving money. If they can, he writes, “I will eat the text in your office, with TV cameras rolling.” If they can’t, he asks the Post’s editorial board to print a signed apology in the paper and resign. (PDF)
The Post also criticizes “automatic formulas cemented into the state constitution.” To which Bruce questions why the paper only attacks TABOR and not the tobacco tax increase also cemented into the state constitution? He goes on to explain how “TABOR encourages saving; it does not penalize or ban it.”
If you can get past the image of Bruce choking down newsprint, he makes some solid points. The Post’s editorial, however, is a symptom of a larger problem: blaming TABOR, not excessive government spending, for Colorado’s fiscal mess.
Colorado is experiencing $100 million budget shortfall, a figure expected to grow after the new projections are released Friday, and TABOR is once again getting blamed. Never mind Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter thinks he can miraculously grow next year’s budget despite dire revenue forecasts. And never mind Democrat lawmakers who ignored early signs of a recession.
Blaming TABOR is not a new strategy. In 2005, when lawmakers were campaigning for Referendum C, a $6 billion tax increase, they told voters supporting the measure would “fix a glitch in TABOR.” Ref. C passed with 52 percent of the vote. Three years later the state is claiming it needs even more money and taxpayers are left asking, “what happened to all that Ref. C money?”
Three years later, term-limited House Speaker Andrew Romanoff tried to play on anti-TABOR sentiments in selling his ill-fated Amendment 59, which would have permanently diverted TABOR refunds into a “savings account for education.” Romanoff’s measure was unsuccessful and voted down by 54 percent.
There is some other stuff in Bruce’s e-mail about how he think legislators “framed [him] repeatedly” last year, and we’ll let you make up your own mind about that.
Bottom line: regardless or your personal feelings about Doug Bruce, TABOR is not the problem.