Right Back At Ya, "Party of No"

by: Colorado Pols

Wed Mar 11, 2009 at 16:47:12 PM MDT

The Senate on Tuesday postponed debating a bill to repeal a growth limit on the state budget as Democrats and Republicans discussed alternate approaches that might preserve funding for road construction...

The debate over the Arveschoug-Bird provision, which limits growth in the state's general fund to 6 percent a year, has quickly grown into one of the most partisan issues in this year's session.

Critics of the 1991 provision, named after its sponsors, point out that in years when revenues fall, it resets the limit on the general fund at the new, lower total. This "ratchet-down" effect has reduced the size of the general fund budget by more than $1 billion over the decade, opponents say.

Money collected above the limit goes to roads and other construction. Some lawmakers say the bill to repeal the 6 percent limit would sweep away automatic transfers.

After 10 hours of debate, the Senate last week gave initial approval to Senate Bill 228, the bill to repeal the limit. On Tuesday, Republicans asked that final debate be postponed, saying they wanted to talk about a compromise...

Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, proposed using an existing override provision in Arveschoug-Bird instead of repealing it.

Credit is due to Democratic leadership for agreeing to even discuss a deal. But pardon us for crapping in the punchbowl, what the hell kind of deal is this? Another temporary Referendum C-style "time-out" so Republican leadership can crow about killing long-term reform? What purpose would that serve other than to project weakness? Word as of a little earlier today is that this "compromise" is a laughable non-starter.

This latest move brings up two important points to consider: first, the reason for permanently repealing the Arveschoug-Bird limit. As we've said repeatedly, the limit was envisioned in 1991 as a way of rigidizing the annual budget process--taking power away from elected officials to set the budget in order to lock in what was considered the priority almost 20 years ago. It's no way to govern when times are good--certainly not during an economic crisis.

Second and perhaps more important to the "compromise" at hand is the simple fact that the Republican caucus in the Assembly has, with a few notable exceptions, rejected meaningful compromise this session. Republicans, led by Minority Leader Josh Penry, have approached almost every major issue with the goal of maximum political exploitation--not solutions. In the case of repealing Arveschoug-Bird, Republicans have put out a combination of rank falsehoods about the bill, and open threats to caucus members who dare to support it.

The problem for The No PartyRepublicans is, it's not working. There is no indication that all their hand-wringing and dragging debate into the wee hours of the morning has translated into an ounce of public support. Penry blew the primary argument from the right--that repealing Arveschoug-Bird will "gut" transportation funds--with his own bogus numbers. And the public, while maybe not fully cognizant of the details of Arveschoug-Bird, can certainly understand "ideologues tied our hands 20 years ago and it's time to untie them so we can deal with today's world."

Our answer to this is simple, and it's a word Penry knows very well (see title).