Don't forget to vote Tuesday in Denver. Here's the precinct finder from DenverGov. Here's the link to the Denver Election Commission website. You can also download voting addresses here.
Coyote Gulch will announce the Gulchie Awards for this election Tuesday morning. Please keep sending in your suggestions to the judges. Click on the link for the criteria for winning.
Former Speaker of the House, Lola Spradley, is urging voters to reject Referendums C and D, in a column in today's Denver Post [October 30, 2005, "Vote down C&D"]. She writes, "It is a tax increase when many families need the money for increased gasoline and utility bills and can use this money better than government. Only government could ask to keep more of your money and tell you it is not a tax increase."
Here's the last roundup on Tuesday's election from the Denver Post [October 30, 2005, "Tug of war awaits those still on fence"]. They write, "The drumbeat is mounting. The messages will be heard on doorsteps and radio, on voice mail and street corners: Vote on Tuesday. And more than that, 'Vote our way.' Both sides of the debate over Referendums C and D are mobilizing to make sure their supporters vote before 7 p.m. Tuesday and are trying, if still possible, to win the minds of the undecided. 'This is all a matter of turnout now. If 80 percent of our people come out and 90 percent of theirs do, they win,' Gov. Bill Owens said outside a campaign stop last week."
The Denver Post editorial staff asks voters to approve Referendums C and D yet another time [October 30, 2005, "C, D will calm fiscal hurricane"]. They write, "A storm has been brewing in Colorado over the past three years - ever since the 2001-02 recession reduced state revenues by 17 percent. Like other states, we adjusted to the circumstances by cutting services. There simply wasn't enough money to do more. As the economy recovered and revenues returned to regular levels, the other 49 states have been able to rebuild such programs as health care, education, highways and parks. Colorado, however, is stuck in a fiscal twilight zone. Revenues are growing again, but an oddball clause in the 1992 Taxpayer's Bill of Rights forbids a return to normal spending levels. Experts call this 'the ratchet effect,' or simply, 'the glitch.' No other state has anything like it. Referendums C and D on Tuesday's ballot give voters a chance to head off this bizarre - and completely unnecessary - budget crisis. Otherwise, Colorado soon will run short of the funds needed to keep a modern state running - the budget office anticipates a $365 million shortfall next year alone and hundreds of millions more in the years ahead. Residents will feel a painful pinch - funding will be at risk for public education, health and safety programs, roads and bridges, reservoirs and parks. State political leaders foresaw this calamity, and Republicans and Democrats buried the hatchet long enough to craft a solution. This is something of a political miracle, as if they saw a hurricane coming and passed a bill to have it stall harmlessly out at sea."
Here's a recap of the Denver Post endorsements.
Here's a short article about the effects of TABOR. Both sides in the Referendum C debate agree that TABOR has slowed the growth of government.
Fred Brown looks at the political heavyweights that have turned out for the debate over Referedums C and D in his column in today's Denver Post [October 20, 2005, "Heavyweights enter the ring"]. He writes, "There are 'A list' celebrities and 'B list' celebrities, but in Colorado, we've been overrun with 'C and D' celebrities. The nasty battle over the two referendums has embroiled a boatload of boldface names."
Category: Denver November 2005 Election
5:13:55 AM 
|
|
