< PREVIOUS ] [ 1991 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
There are many things our legislature did not accomplish during its first session. For instance, they didn't really straighten out workmen's compensation.
They'll need a special session devoted to finding a way to give United Airlines the keys to the state treasury, so that, as usual, the Front Range metropolitan area can benefit at the expense of the entire state.
Doubtless there are many people in Durango and Julesberg who make $18,000 a year, and these citizens will be thrilled to pay more taxes, so that some people in greater Denver can make $45,000 a year fixing airplanes. This method of economic development is apparently an extension of Reaganism -- tax the poor so that the rich will have more money.
One of the most significant legislative non-accomplishments of 1991 was drawing up new congressional districts in the wake of the 1990 census, which will also take a special session.
I'm not sure how they do this. If you look at the current boundaries -- Cañon City isn't a big town, yet it's in two congressional districts -- you'd get the idea that somebody spilled spaghetti on a Colorado map.
Another theory is that they get the legal address of each incumbent representative. From there, they add census tracts, expanding outward. When they've got enough people, they check the voter registration. If each district with a Democratic incumbent has a safe Democratic majority, and the same is true of Republicans, then the job is done.
But if there is the slightest chance that the House race might be competitive -- that is, that the incumbent is not a dead certainty for re-election -- then they go back to the map. Politicians, of whatever party, are very protective of each other's jobs.
My favorite theory is that powerful legislators hold an understandable grudge against rural Colorado for sending such luminaries as Bev Bledsoe and Ken Chlouber to the General Assembly.
So they make sure that every congressional district includes a big city, and it's best if the city's interests are opposed to those of the hinterlands.
Thus can Colorado Springs safely propose to dam the Arkansas River at Elephant Rock near Buena Vista. If people hereabouts want to fight this outrage, we can't exactly turn to our congressman -- he's Joel Hefley, and he's from Colorado Springs.
If my theory is correct, then the new congressional districts will be drawn so that each district includes a chunk of the metro area and hold a majority with urban interests. There will be no Coloradan in Washington to fight against Elephant Rock, Union Park and the United (Airlines) Fund. And thus can Colorado's real economic development goal -- the elevation of metropolitan real estate prices -- proceed unhindered.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1991 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >