Scandalous abuse of custodial funds and voter’s will
State government officials have shown increasing contempt for Colorado’s taxpayers and voters. Now is the time to yank the leash on our money-rabid government that continues to bite the hand that feeds it. Voting yes for Proposition 120 and Amendment 78 will take back control and send a strong message to those who see our dollars as their own.
If your property taxes have not jumped significantly — like double digits — you likely do not own property in Colorado. Everyone navigating this challenging and slowly recovering economy deserves tax relief. So, 193,000 Coloradans signed a petition to ask voters whether our exploding property taxes should be reduced by a mere 9%. Colorado’s constitution guarantees that lil’ ol’ we the people get to enact laws just like this independent of the legislature.
Enter Scrooge Mclegislature. In what can only be described as the most cynical, outrageous, deliberate and unprecedented act of contempt towards Colorado voters and taxpayers, our legislature — after the Proposition 120 ballot language had been approved — hastily passed a law to change the definition of certain words in the tax code in a disingenuous attempt to keep us from the full benefit of this proposed tax cut.
They did not stop there. Lawmakers also approved false information in the Blue Book, a voter guide sent to registered voters at our expense, stating that if passed, property tax relief would only go to commercial properties. Utter nonsense and they knew it when they approved it. When Proposition 120 passes, it will supersede the elitist-minded “your money is our money” shenanigans, because the courts, unlike the legislators, value the expressed will of voters. The law that gets passed last wins. That is Proposition 120.
Despite $12 billion in federal stimulus money plus a state budget that has taken so much extra money from us that our constitution requires the taxman to refund $3 billion back to us over the next three years, the sponsor of this unprecedented bill designed to thwart Colorado’s voters said passing 120 would be “a devastating blow.” Really?
The Democrat and Republican legislators supporting this historic stab at undermining the effect of our vote should be ashamed and removed from office at the ballot box.
Vote for Proposition 120, not just because it is good economic policy and deserved relief, but to send a strong message to the tone-deaf legislators that we will
not tolerate their contempt for our will.
Oh yeah, the top Democrat in the state, Gov. Jared Polis, supports it too. Yes, it is weird that he would sign the law to thwart it, but that is how a politician straddles the fence.
While I am not usually a fan of amending our Constitution, Amendment 78 is an exception and an immediate necessity. The secretary of state and attorney general have spent incredible sums of money with little oversight, as has recently been reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Secretary of State Jenna Griswold paid almost $2.8 million of CARES Act funds to a powerful Democratic lobbying group to publicize the voting by mail prominently featuring … Jenna Griswold. Those dollars could have been provided to local clerks and recorders, the true defenders of our election integrity, for any number of items designed to boost or secure our elections. Alas, Colorado was treated to ads featuring Jenna instead, because she alone dictated how those dollars were spent. That is wrong.
The Attorney General’s office has never had more attorneys or a larger (and quickly growing) pot of taxpayer money with which to operate. So why has Attorney General Phil Weiser spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on no-bid contracts with other law firms? Are our wellpaid attorneys not competent to represent Colorado? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that one such outside law firm, Shoemaker Ghisell + Schwartz LLC, contributed thousands of dollars to the Weiser for Colorado campaign.
In exchange, Wesier hired them to do work on Colorado’s case against Collegeamerica to the tune of nearly $150,000. Those funds (and Griswold’s) come from a “custodial fund,” meaning they are not appropriated or controlled by the legislature. There are millions of dollars in those funds and neither the legislature nor Coloradans have any ability to control how they are spent.
Here is how this bizarre and anti-democratic system works. Weiser files lawsuits against opioid manufacturers for the harm they caused to Colorado. Colorado is the client. Those cases are settled in our name for $400 million. Do the funds go to our treasury to be distributed as determined by the elected legislators our constitution empowers to appropriate funds? Nope. The attroney general dictates how they will be spent.
So, Weiser traveled the state playing the role of super legislator, determining how much of our settlement money he will give to certain communities. Imagine a scenario in which you settle a claim against a drunk driver who injured you and your hired attorney tells you how he will spend your settlement dollars. Once again, the question must be asked why the media has not asked Griswold and Weiser directly why they think it is OK to circumvent the legislature to spend these massive dollars as they see fit?
Amendment 78 will end these slush funds and return oversight and accountability to a process increasingly abused by runaway elected officials.
Colorado deserves a government that treats us with respect. Since we can no longer count on certain elected officials to treat Colorado taxpayers and voters with respect, we must pass Proposition 120 and Amendment 78 to at least discourage them from treating us with contempt.