September 18, 2009 05:26 PM UTC

Legitimizing Jon Caldara

• 6 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Most of us who have been following or involved with Colorado state government have at one point or another picked up a study or policy brief from the Bell Policy Center, a nonpartisan thinktank headed by the cerebral Wade Buchanan. The Bell has provided important facts about the long-term damage wrought by the state’s hodge-podge of conflictory spending mandates and restrictions, the timeliness of which helped pass key fiscal reforms such as 2005’s Referendum C.

The Bell Policy Center really is considered a nonpartisan entity, even though its dry conclusions often make Republicans uncomfortable. It’s safe to say they are no “liberal strike force” in the Progress Now vein, avoiding partisan appearances is very important to their credibility.

On the other side, there’s the Independence Institute headed by Jon Caldara–the guy who tried to blame the state’s budget crisis on “dildo art,” who told college students in 2005 that Referendum C would ‘mean the end of higher education in Colorado.’ He’s a principal organizer of the “Tea Party” and “townhaller” nutfests. He is, by any objective measure, not who you’d first think of as a serious participant in the sort of fiscal policy discussion Wade Buchanan engages in. And yet, as the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:

Colorado has done little to pave the way for an economic recovery, leaders of two Denver-area think tanks  agreed Wednesday at an economic forum in Colorado Springs that delved more into politics than economics.

Jon Caldara, president of the free-market advocate Independence Institute in Golden, and Wade Buchanan, president of the progressive-leaning Bell Policy Center in Denver, agreed that the state needs a “rainy day” fund to cushion sharp drops in tax revenue during economic downturns. The two  spoke during a panel discussion on “Economic Recovery in Colorado: Where Are We Going?” hosted by the Forum for Civic Advancement at Penrose House.

Colorado has failed to maintain a stable regulatory and tax climate or keep up with spending on infrastructure such as roads and other public improvements, Caldara said. He cited new oil and natural gas drilling regulations, a voter-passed minimum wage law and growth in fees charged by local and state governments as anti-business. He also criticized legislators’ repeal this year  of a state spending limit that protected spending on infrastructure.

Buchanan noted that Colorado has a low high-school graduation rate compared with the rest of the nation, sends a lower percentage of its high school graduates to college than many other states and hasn’t spent enough on roads to prevent many of them from deteriorating. That makes Colorado less attractive to businesses seeking a well-educated work force and needing an efficient transportation network to get their products to national markets, he said.

Rather than debate the finer points above, which we already have individually at one point or another, let’s compare day-planners. What did Buchanan and Caldara do after they appeared at Penrose House Wednesday?  

We imagine Buchanan hopping into his Prius (we assume he drives a Prius), throwing some classical music on the stereo to muse about policy on the drive back to Denver, maybe some Bluetooth speakerphone action for a conference call about policy. If you were the passenger you’d probably take the opportunity for a little shut-eye.

Here’s what Caldara had on his schedule, from the Gazette:

“Good morning, fellow racists!” Jon Caldara crowed Thursday as he opened Colorado Springs’ second anti-tax “Tea Party” in Acacia Park.

Caldara was kidding. The talk radio host and president of the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank in Golden, was referring to an accusation leveled by former President Jimmy Carter against defenders of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who yelled “You lie!” during President Barack Obama’s Sept. 9 health care address to Congress.

Caldara said he remembered being told that dissent was patriotic. “I’m amazed now,” he continued, “that we’ve come to prove that dissent is actually racism.”

The crowd of about 250, including one man carrying a “Joe Wilson for President” sign, got the joke…

Bottom line? The contribution to legitimate debate over the issues facing the state of Colorado by Wade Buchanan and the nonpartisan Bell Policy Center have been real and significant. Jon Caldara and his singularly bad-mannered Independence Institute? Not so much. It’s a bit of a intellectual mismatch, actually, though sharing a spotlight might make people less inclined to think so–confusion that solely benefits Jon Caldara.

Just saying, Buchanan may want to be aware of this.