CO-04 (Special Election)
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(R) Greg Lopez
(R) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%↓
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
90%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
90%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
(R) Ron Hanks
40%
30%
20%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(R) Deborah Flora
(R) J. Sonnenberg
30%↑
15%↑
10%↓
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Dave Williams
(R) Jeff Crank
50%↓
50%↑
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
90%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) Brittany Pettersen
85%↑
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
(R) Janak Joshi
60%↑
35%↓
30%↑
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
December 28, 2009 06:43 PM UTC
48 Comments
Then close the roads.
Let’s repeal FASTER without any alternate funding source like McInnis wants to do, then let’s close the roads and the bridges too.
Would Sen. Brophy like to comment on that?
The all-purpose answer in a state that hates taxes and loves spending.
Add this to the mile long list of budget items the GOP whines about cutting, while promising to cut the budget even more because they like cutting budgets. Greg Brophy is a more than a hypocrite, it’s all just a game to these guys.
At least Fender asked him for an alternative, which of course he didn’t have. I think she’s starting to get wise to GOP bullshit.
Does he support the three initatives placed on the ballot to cut another $2 billion out of the state budget? Does he support the repeal of FASTER?
If he supports those initatives and the repeal of FASTER, and I suspect he does, then he can’t complain about this policy at all.
The Republican Party is incredible. Always cut taxes as much as possible and then complain when services are reduced. They can’t have it “both ways.”
“Both Ways Bob” , their last candidate for Gov.
Legislators — and the governor — have no one to blame but themselves. As long as they keep handing out tax breaks to NASCAR developers and other well-lobbied special interests (especially when TABOR makes such tax breaks even more painful for the rest of us), the state will be harder-pressed to pay for basic services such as those that Sen. Brophy’s constituents want.
Lawmakers of both parties should find the political courage to repeal tax breaks and put a permanent TABOR solution on the ballot, then go out and campaign hard for its passage. Until they take those actions, they can stop bitching. As my grandma used to say, “You made your bed, now you sleep in it.”
But I don’t think that gives Brophy a free pass to be a total hypocrite.
That’s why Brophy and any other lawmaker of either party who starts complaining about state budget cuts needs to step up and propose a solid alternative. The shouldn’t even open their yaps unless they can contribute an idea for a budget solution — and it needs to be something more than the lame old standby of “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”
is the land conservation easement fiasco put in place under the previous administration while Brophy was in the majority party. There are large numbers of eastern plains farmers and ranchers that are today facing foreclosure of their properties because of the unregulated free-for-all that Brophy helped design via legislation. This program cost the state treasury tens of millions and may soon earn the title of being the most fraudulent, costly land conservation program in all of the US. Senator Brophy, what say you?
This is going to make tax credits promoting the likes of NASCAR look like loose change on the sidewalk.
I am very interested
it’s easy to follow the debacle from here:
http://www.snare-trap-survive….
I am familiar with conservation easements, both the pro and con, but that blog posting doesn’t really contain any facts.
http://www.denverpost.com/sear…
So how does this lead to people losing their land unless they underpaid their taxes because they employed private appraisers who undervalued the land in an effort to gain the maximum tax credit, one in excess of the value of the land?
Conservation easements are a great idea and help keep ag land taxes low–if you don’t get greedy and engage in tax fraud.
How, absent tax fraud, does this harm a land owner? If you are saying that it is unfortunate the land owners relied on a bad appraisal by the private sector appraiser they chose, I agree, but I suspect the land owner wanted the highest appraised value not the most honest one.
To give to these bozos who are constantly pushing for lower taxes, fewer services, and don’t you dare cut anything my constituents find useful. Then every-time we see a story like this, we can make a big event out of awarding the trophy to that person and get a follow-on news store about how they’re this week’s The Biggest Hypocrite.
How would we pick a winner?
I think the Brass Calf would be a good name for the award: the winner is too cheap to deserve a golden one.
How about having the award every month or quarter, though? Or, we could have the brass calf weekly winners face a vote every quarter for biggest ass. Then, the annual award can be the golden calf, or a horse’s ass, whichever.
How about you guys officially unveil the “Pols Brass Steer Award” (it has no balls)? And make the first award of it to Brophy? That should be good for a Denver Post article 🙂
To make it sound even cheaper 🙂
Repeal TABOR.
then plow all the roads.
the gop has no clue that “you can’t spend a dollar twice”
…Brophy lives inside the Wray city limits and the side streets in the city were left, for the most part, unplowed during this last storm. People who depend on services from every level of government understand there aren’t enough dollars to give us the services we’ve become accustomed to — we are pretty pragmatic and simply “adjust” to the present reality.
Brophy lives in one of the most fringe geographic areas of the state — which is both a curse and a blessing. In this situation it’s a curse. We have miles and miles of highway serving less than 3% of the population of the state; we need an inordinate amount of dollars per capita to keep the system usable and passable.
Until he answers the questions regarding his support for the three ballot initiatives and how he’s going to make things better tomorrow with less money…this is a yawner. We can all do the math — and Brophy’s equation just doesn’t add up.
In a lot of Western counties, the biggest employer is the gummint.
While land acquisition costs are surely lower to attain road right of ways, the construction costs are much higher AND the roads carry far less traffic after completion.
And we’ve had so many displays in the last decade of how senators from little bitty states with almost no populations control the legislative process.
But it’s the Heartland, right?
The House has proportional representation, and the two bodies get to fight about their differences in conference committees. Not a bad system.
I would guess that the greatest population difference between the states in 1789 was noting like today, hence more distortion.
I think it is a bad system. The Senate, thanks to a few senators often representing only a million people are holding good progressive legislation hostage.
I think the public is starting to get fed up. I’m seeing articles in the newspaper and on the internet (and here, of course)questioning if the Senate should be abolished or radically changed.
The initial House apportionment allotted at most 10 Representatives to a State (VA). Compare that to now, with CA holding 53 seats.
Still, the system was designed to overcome some element of mob rule (for rural vs. urban states), and for the issues the Senate tends to block, it is doing its job as designed, even after all these years.
IMHO, the Senate needs to fix its filibuster system. At present, the minority has to do virtually nothing aside from fronting 40 votes to block legislation. Prior to the last reform in the 1970s, the minority had to actually maintain their quorum or else the majority could end the debate. (2/3 of Senators present could end a debate; now it’s 60% of the total number of Senators, regardless of attendance.) Return it to the percentage of those present rule and it would largely fix itself.
Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s fix the House – stuck at 435 members despite the vast increase in population. We’re perhaps the least representative Representative Democracy in the world right now.
Both houses.
Whether your suggestions or something else, the Senate sorely needs fixing.
The House was fixed at 435 seats because it was just growing and growing with population. While we do suffer from being “least representative”, I don’t think adding more reps would do anything but create a need for bigger chambers and office spaces.
What would really help is implement The Nascar Sponsorship Model. You know, our legislators must wear logo stickers from companies and K street firms that have bought them off.
“Oh, so THAT’s why he voted for the bank bailout…….”
The sponsorship model might not actually fix a lot of what’s wrong with today’s political system, but it certainly would let the public know who is actually writing the laws.
If you added up the employment roles for county government, public schools and random federal government agencies it would be a sure bet that government is the largest employer in many rural counties. Yes, Virginia, Government does create employment. And no, Virginia, those employees don’t eat their paycheck: they pay mortgages, rent, utilities, buy food and gas and make deposits in the local banking system. Government is a critical part of every rural economy.
What would be an acceptable level of gax tax increase? How much money would it require to adequately maintain all of the current state roads?
I have not heard of any state legislator willing to carry a gas tax increase bill. Have there been any signs of interest in the legislature?
As an alternative to a gas tax, I could see a auto parts tax. An extra .3-.5% tax on all auto parts. I haven’t had a chance to research if its been done in other parts and what are the repercussions
Part of the problem is the perception that this is a non-starter, but I have yet to see any polling or election results to back that up. I do know, however, that we have had several highway bond issue votes over the last decade. Most of them have failed. My feeling is this indicates the public is unwilling to put further debt on government. We have been willing, though, to vote in sales tax increases to pay for schools, libraries, and open space. A dedicated tax for road maintenance – not new roads – may do well, but it’s just a guessing game right now.
But instead we got FASTER, which is bad legislation. But it was the only thing that could be done politically. Doesn’t make it right.
I proposed to a Democratic Senator and Representative at a meeting a couple weeks ago that the Dem caucus should bite the bullet and push for a ballot issue that would increase the gas tax. State gas tax is now 22 cents per gallon, hasn’t been raised in 30 years. My calculations are we would need an 8 to 9 cents per gallon increase to replace FASTER.
As you say, earmark this for maintenance only (not new roads) and make it revenue neutral per repeal of FASTER. I think the voters are smart enough to figure out roads and bridges have to be maintained and they don’t get maintained for free.
but not the only thing. That’s the point, really. Good for you for the suggestion and it’s good to know it would only require 8 to 9 cents. I happen to support increasing car fees but I also think we should have to pay for driving, too. I’d support either, but I can’t see why they can’t propose a five cent tax increase, and reduce the late fee fines.
Of course, I would push for a tax bill that would have an immediate 5 cent increase and would then increase one cent every six months for the next ten years…
They are nihlists.
Gardner, Brophy, Wadhams and the rest of their ilk do not believe in governing, public policy or any objective public good or public need. Any policy priority that they do identify is not an objective priority for the state or its residents but rather a subjective need that is prioritized only for the purpose of political opportunism.
Gardner, Brophy and Wadhams believe in nothing unless its provides a political opportunity. Once an issue serves that short term political utility it is once again discarded.
I’ve always wanted to call someone that.
They are on the opposite side of the poltical spectrum
I did a paper on it in college 40 years ago and it remains one of my favorite contradictions in terms! You’re a good man, dmindgo, or a good woman or whatever you are!
You had to have some place to dodge the draFT!
Because they do want to make sure they get full services for their groups. It’s more like a criminal syndicate where they take money from others to provide services for themselves.
The ultimate goal of people like Doug Bruce and his followers is not to provide services more cheaply — it is nothing less than demolishing the government altogether.
Give me a call
Steering the state towards financial ruin for more than a decade before Dems took over, while complaining that we need more state services. Why would anyone vote for these guys again?
When he was Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge refused to authorize additional spending for snow removal, reportedly saying, “God put it there; let Him take it away.”
It turns out Bill Ritter is as fiscally conservative as Calvin Coolidge!
I have news for the state spokesman, on the eastern plains every highway is a hospital route because people live along them all. So in that case they all will be plowed according to her.
I also beleive they will spend more money trying to clear the roads once they have let the snow be packed down by traffic all night, but what do I know I have only lived out here 45 years. I`m sure the yahoos in Denver at the DOT know so much more.
There are many residences considered to be off of vital routes, even here in the greater metro area.
If you want them all plowed, just let us know where the money’s supposed to come from.