October 09, 2011 06:17 PM UTC

Sometimes They Need Reminding

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s a sign we saw by the side of the road near Colorado Springs yesterday. The caption reads, “This El Paso County project made possible with your tax dollars.” We didn’t actually see any construction going on around this sign yesterday when we took the photo, so we assume it was placed there to let residents know that work was about to begin.

Work “made possible with your tax dollars.”

Now, when we saw this sign, we couldn’t help but remember (yes, we do remember things like this while driving down the road) a piece of legislation introduced by Republican Rep. Dave Balmer back in 2010. You might recall the simple purpose of HB10-1079:

The bill prohibits the use of public moneys for any physical signage indicating that a project is being funded by the federal “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”

HB10-1079 didn’t get very far in the then-Democratic held Colorado House, but it was pretty obvious why Rep. Balmer had introduced it. Balmer, of course, cited the “waste” of spending money on signs simply to explain to the public the origin of the funds:

“They don’t understand why we’re spending money on signs instead of cement,” Balmer said. “This is a clear case of protecting the taxpayers’ money.”

But Balmer also “hinted” at the “political benefits” of signage identifying construction projects’ funding source, as Jessica Fender of the Denver paper reported back then. We said at the time that a sign showing taxpayers where in their community funds are being used inspires a personal recognition of value–something Republicans could not allow to happen with regard to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“teh stimulus”). Because if you see work being done on your street, and like it, it’s a lot harder for you to dismiss its funding source as “a failure.”

And look! In El Paso County, where the conservative taxpayers are ever skeptical, and always on guard against “waste”–why, they’re using “made possible with your tax dollars” signs! Because the voters and taxpayers in that area need a personal recognition of value, right? A connection between public money and the work done to benefit their community. Right?

Are there differences? Sure. But they’re smaller than El Paso County, or Rep. Balmer, will ever admit. In both cases, either conservative El Paso County using signs like these to appease voters or Rep. Balmer trying to stop Democrats from doing the same, their political value is obvious.

If anything, in El Paso County they need a lot more of these signs. On every street. In every park. On every cop car. Outside the health department. Call it an educational program…