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If you had to characterize Colorado's political situation in one sentence, it would be simple: The voters don't trust the General Assembly, and the General Assembly doesn't trust the voters.
Just when this tradition started is difficult to determine, but it may have emerged about 20 years ago, when Colorado voters approved a state lottery. The money was supposed to go to parks, but the legislature moved some of it to prison construction.
It is difficult to establish a trusting relationship when you think you're buying a park, and you get a prison instead. So the next time around, when Colorado voters approved Lotto, the money was specifically earmarked for the Great Outdoors Colorado fund, where the legislature couldn't redirect it.
Voter mistrust of the legislature is evident when you look at TABOR, passed in 1992. It limits governmental spending to whatever was spent last year, plus an adjustment for population growth and inflation. And if revenues fall so that spending falls for year, that sets a new baseline. In other words, we don't trust the legislature to tax and spend in a responsible way, and so we erect some strict constitutional limitations.
More recently, there's Amendment 23, which guarantees
funding increases to public education. In essence, it's a
statement from Colorado voters to the legislature: We
don't trust you to fund schools properly, so we're telling
you what has to be done.
This is all in fine American tradition. There are some things we put beyond the powers of government -- that's why we have a Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. It deprives Congress of the power to establish a religion, limit political discourse or take property without paying for it.
Our state constitution has a bill of rights, too -- again, a list of actions forbidden to the legislature. But at some point, if we want schools and highways and prisons and libraries, we have to be sure that the government has the ability to fund them.
As for the legislature's distrust of the public, it
surfaced last week when HB-1195 was tabled
indefinitely
by the House Committee on State, Veteran
and Military Affairs.
That was the bill which would have made our 52 water conservancy districts operate like other special districts -- that is, with elected boards, rather than boards appointed by judges. Granted, it is possible to petition for a one-time election for a given seat on a conservancy district board, but it's such a complicated and expensive process that it has happened only five or six times.
The House committee voted 7-4 against the bill -- the vote was along party lines, with the Republican majority deciding that the current system works fine.
According to my spy at the hearing, the only committee member who explained his vote was Rep. Shawn Mitchell of Broomfield, who said he was against it because few people vote in fire-district elections, so why give Coloradans a chance to vote in water-district elections?
In other words, the majority in the legislature believes
that we cannot be trusted. The legislature doesn't trust
the public, and the public doesn't trust the legislature.
If you need another reason not to trust the legislature,
note that HB-1128 has not been tabled indefinitely
-- indeed, it's still alive and kicking.
That's the bill which would require all public offices
and schools to post In God We Trust, the official motto
of the United States of America.
And it's quite specific. The sign shall be engraved
on a plaque made of permanent, nonporous material such as
wood, plastic, stone, or metal plate, or a framed poster in
a glass-encased picture frame.
It must be 10 inches by
14 inches, so it can be easily read by the average
person from a distance of 20 feet.
That takes effect, though, only if a suitable sign has
been donated. If you're a resident taxpayer
and you
happen upon an office or classroom without the sign, you
can sue the responsible party to force compliance and
recover fees.
Presumably, if some concerned citizen sues and the responsible building administrator has not received a proper plaque donation, the administrator is off the hook -- but I can't be sure. Another possible complication is maintenance: suppose the administrator fails to clean and polish the plaque.
At any rate, we've got a drought and perhaps the worst financial crisis in the state's history, and this is what our General Assembly does. That may inspire something, but trust isn't what comes to mind.
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