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Entries Tagged as 'Capitol Review'

Another year of state budget brinksmanship?

June 29th, 2009 · No Comments

Grappling with declining state revenues makes for some very unpleasant budget choices, as Governor Ritter and the Democrat majorities in the state legislature learned over the past 12 months.
It’s fair to criticize those choices, including the governor last year denying for several months that a problem existed.  Yet anyone who has shouldered the responsibility of [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

Mr. President, first heal Medicare

June 22nd, 2009 · No Comments

America’s health care system certainly has its share of problems — of which most emanate from politicians’ tinkering, tempting frustrated consumers with promises of better benefits at someone else’s expense.
So the prospect of President Obama and Congress remaking American health care in their own image should scare the pants off anyone who looks not merely [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

Obama’s General Motors

June 8th, 2009 · No Comments

President Obama claims to “have no interest” in running General Motors.  He does so with a straight face — and the same monotonous cadence that he employs whether condemning North Korea for nuclear explosions or joking with Jay Leno.  But his actions, as well as his words, betray him.
The significance of the bankruptcy and restructuring [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

Obama gives rule of law only lip service

May 27th, 2009 · 1 Comment

President Obama says he seeks “empathy” in a Supreme Court justice.  His first nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, says a “wise Latina woman” would generally make better decisions because of “the richness of her experiences” than a white man.
Those views reveal the extent to which political and personal agendas have supplanted the rule of law in [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

Democrats’ arrogance adds to taxpayer insult

May 18th, 2009 · 3 Comments

If Democrats in the 2007 General Assembly were devious for passing Gov. Ritter’s infamous property tax hike without voter approval, the current crop plunges to new depths.
In an act of sheer arrogance, this year’s Democrat majority poked taxpayers in the eye just for spite.

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

Stealing is wrong — even if government does it

April 14th, 2009 · No Comments

We allow government to tax and spend, recognizing that forcibly taking the fruits of someone else’s labor would constitute theft if anyone else did it.
In turn, we expect our elected officials to remember that their responsibility is to represent taxpaying families and businesses — not to protect government at all costs.
Well, after three years of [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes

TABOR on life support

April 3rd, 2009 · No Comments

Seventeen years ago, Colorado voters frustrated by the excesses of an unresponsive government passed the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), a constitutional amendment designed to limit government spending and give voters to final word on tax hikes.
Initially, government officials largely adhered to TABOR’s strictures, ever mindful that the voters had spoken and expected those they [...]

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Supreme Court’s tax decision is Mullarkey

March 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments

Colorado’s constitution plainly says that state and local governments can’t raise taxes without permission from voters.  If only the Colorado Supreme Court could read plain language.
Instead, the court’s liberal majority ignores terms that should obviously protect taxpayers and instead emphasizes extraneous arguments that accommodate government.
This latest legal chicanery comes from the same playbook that turned [...]

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‘Big boy britches’ time for Obama

March 15th, 2009 · No Comments

“The country looks to the President on occasions like this to be reassuring to the nation. Some Presidents do it well, some Presidents don’t.”
That’s how ABC’s Peter Jennings assessed President George W. Bush’s performance on Sept. 11, 2001.  The criticism was superficial, shortsighted and unfair, given that President Bush’s finest moments came in rallying the [...]

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Drivers pay more, get less due to Dems’ doubletalk

March 6th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Beginning July 1, Colorado drivers will pay higher taxes — we’re told to call them “fees” — on every vehicle every year when we renew our license plates.
The increase of $29 to $51 per vehicle is projected to generate $250 million annually to repair unsafe roads and bridges, Gov. Bill Ritter said when he signed [...]

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Tags: Blog · Capitol Review · Notes