Referendum C and Legal Pot
State lawmakers are expected to push Referendum C over their summer break, according to the Rocky Mountain News [May 11, 2005, "Now, on to budget plan"]. From the article, "The governor and Democrats will pound the pavement in favor of Referendum C; fiscal conservatives will blast it. Referendum C, the signature measure of the session, will ask voters if the state can spend $3.1 billion in surplus tax collections during the next five years. The money normally would be refunded to taxpayers in the form of annual checks. Owens, Democrats and roughly half of Republican lawmakers say Colorado needs the money to save programs hit by years of budget cuts. Ridiculous, say many high-ranking Republicans who plan to campaign against the proposal. Give the state money to spend and it will, bloating its size so much that there never will be money to give back to the taxpayers, said House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton."
Al Knight has an opinion piece in today's Denver Post dealing with the Independence Institute and their push to derail Referendums C and D [May 11, 2005, "Golden think tank dives into a new fray"]. Knight writes, "For this year, Caldara and the institute are taking on the task of defending the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights at a time when the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Bill Owens have teamed up to undermine the value of one of its key provisions. Referendum C, which will be on the fall ballot, is the product of this alliance and, under its provisions, the state would be able to keep $3.1 billion that would otherwise be refunded to the state taxpayers."
Colorado Luis: "I'm sure there will be the usual combination of scare tactics and ridicule directed at this measure. I'd like to see it pass. As people repeatedly pointed out during the new jail debate, marijuana prohibition is a failed policy. Both major parties have been guilty of using macho tough-on-crime posturing instead of actual thinking on the drug issue. It has taken non-political leaders, like Colorado's U.S. District Judge John Kane, to vocally oppose our current drug policy."
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
5:54:26 AM 
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