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Speaking from limited personal experience, Colorado's
highways seem to be in pretty good shape. The only problem
I've noticed recently is an electric Colorado Department of
Transportation sign just east of Salida. For a couple of
months, it said WATCH FOR OCKS ON ROAD.
We speculated that A) Somebody in CDOT doesn't know how
to spell ox,
and B) that the errant steer, the
ocks
we were supposed to watch for, had been on U.S.
50 for a long time.
Beyond that, I have no complaints. But Gov. Bill Ritter's blue-ribbon transportation panel took a long look at Colorado's roads and bridges, and concluded that we needed to spend an extra $500 million a year just to maintain our roads in decent condition, and a lot more than that to handle anticipated growth.
Where to get the money? Part of it might come from raising vehicle registration fees. A tax increase would require voter approval, but the legislature and governor can approve a fee increase all on their own.
But they did not. Gov. Ritter blamed Republicans.
As a Democrat, I tend to blame Republicans for everything from hard winters to the extinction of the passenger pigeon.
However, Democrats have a 40-25 majority in the state house of representatives, a 20-15 majority in the state senate, and 1-0 majority in the governor's office. They could have passed the fee increase without even consulting Republicans, but even so, it's the Republicans' fault that highway funding is coming up short.
Why? According to Ritter, since no Republicans would sign on, then Democrats would be tagged with increasing fees, and Republicans would use it as a campaign issue this fall.
Statehouse Democrats running for re-election would
have to go out and get beat over the head by a
Republican opponent saying that they unilaterally increased
fees for transportation funding without us having conducted
the necessary education campaign,
Ritter said.
Generally, Republicans support spending money on roads because roads encourage more gasoline consumption and thus enrich petroleum producers, and because roads enable land developers, another vital component of the party's financial base.
But in this case, statehouse Republicans had nothing to
gain by supporting the fee increase. If any had, it would
have just provided some political cover for timid
Democrats, who could then claim bi-partisan support.
Without that, Democrats would have to take some
responsibility -- which they were afraid to do.
What, exactly, are Colorado Democrats scared of? That
Dick Wadhams will roam our state, blasting away at
free-spending stealth-taxing Boulder-liberal wastrels
that will squander your hard-earned dollars on
Boulder-liberal pie-in-the-sky notions like strong bridges
that don't collapse, smooth highways without chuckholes,
even free-flowing rush hours without lanes closed for
repairs. Common-sense Colorado-values Republicans stand
squarely against that Boulder-liberal stuff.
Face it. If you believe something is necessary, you support it and make your case to the public. Gov. Roy Romer believed Denver needed a new airport, and he pestered Adams County voters at breakfast for months. Gov. Bill Owens believed in T-REX, swallowed some light rail to increase support, and went out and sold it.
Presumably, Gov. Bill Ritter and statehouse Democrats
believe the Report to Colorado
from the
Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel which
explains how the state could suffer if more money is not
found for road repair and maintenance.
If they believe the report, they should act. If they believe the report is wrong, they should denounce it. But instead of doing either, they cower. So what good does it do for them to be in the majority?
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