How important is it to you to know who Polis would smoke marijuana with? Protecting the Dolores means locals should have a say. Pulling the reins on government spending, part 2.
Remember folks our media is vital to the functioning of our government!
I mean, after all, how would we know who it is our governor would enjoy smoking marijuana with! I mean, we could be holding his feet to the fire for his decisions, for his policy. We could be asking hard questions that make people aware of what he's doing in this state.
Reporters could be lighting up their social media with important information like that.
Like as not, though, what we get (along with a sermon about how important reporters are and how critical it is that they have access to Twitter so they can disseminate important info) are nuggets like that in the attached screenshot.
Yes, the vital knowledge by Sun reporter Jesse Aaron Paul that our governor (if he ever smokes weed) would like to do so with Dolly Parton.
Put this on the list with other zany and equally important notes like that our governor wears blue tennies and sometimes makes references to geeky things. He's just regular people.
Thank goodness our media is on the front lines. Without them we would be in a crack because democracy really does die in darkness.
"... again and again, study after study has carried the same message: Protect the Dolores"
I don't know that I disagree, but I think the that it matters HOW you do it.
The partial quote at the top comes from the op ed linked at bottom. I wanted to share it with you in my continued push to read widely (and encourage you to do same).
I'll leave it to you to read the op ed and come to your own mind about it, but I will say this. I don't think that the author quite captures a full picture of what the disagreement about the Dolores entails.
I can't speak for everyone, but the folks I have read about or messaged with are not calling to NOT protect the river or the canyon, what they are calling for is that the decision involve the locals.
They are calling for the decision to be more than just the result of environmentalists who have the President's ear getting their way over what might be best for those that, you know, actually live there.
This is most certainly what I am advocating for. I have no desire to put aside the welfare of the canyon or the river, but I want the people that live there to have a voice. I want those that will have to live with the consequences to have a role in shaping policy.
Having said that, I present you with another facet of the story.
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/study-after-study-same-message-protect-the-dolores/
Pulling the reins on government spending part 2
I posted early last week about pulling the reins in on government spending, see the first link below for context if you want it, and now I'm back with another couple of items for your consideration.
As with the earlier post, what you're seeing is government bureaucrats and others (with the aid of the press) working against ballot measures that would reduce your property taxes. A look over the Sun article linked second below will give you some of that context, start with the heading "The $2B to $3B elephant in the room".**
In an effort to help tip the scales back toward center here, in an effort to push back, I want to present you some important things to remember.
The first is from that same Sun article I reference above.
Remember how the Feds dumped pandemic surplus money into the economy? Some of that came to the states. The Colorado Democrats used that money to set up a whole variety of social programs and do things like give people money to stop their being evicted (see the third link below for an update on that program). Thing is the money isn't all spent, and, if it isn't spent, it goes away soon.
So, rather than let these things expire, our state chose to put your state tax money into their "pandemic" relief plans and then use the Federal money to fund the state while they still could. The bill that allowed this is linked fourth below. I'm not sure if it would help, but I diagrammed (approximately) the process in screenshot 1.
You can see how now the state is reversing its usual role by doling out federal dollars to some state programs and then keeping the pandemic stuff alive by sending state dollars to the COVID programs.
The other thing I want you to be cognizant of as you read about the terror that lowering property taxes would induce here is in the fifth link below. One of the things that the legislature voted in on its last days and that Polis signed was a measure that takes TABOR surplus and shunts it over to low-income families.
The reason these are relevant in this discussion is that they point to a mindset among politicians. Note, I didn't say Democrats as I usually do because the budget switcheroo I reference above is bipartisan, and frankly, this kind of attitude transcends party.
Rather than the fiscally-responsible step of cutting expenses as the Fed-fueled party wound down, of cutting expenses in anticipation of a rebate they owe us due to an accounting errors, of giving those that paid taxes some of their money back, our legislators give us lip service about relief and disingenuous calls to "think about the children" when we start pushing for them to cut back.
No, you don't need your money, we're clearly much better able to manage it than you and those people over there that we deem more worthy should get some of it.
No, we don't have to share your burden, we just have to feign sympathy while doing business as usual.
**If you wonder whether or not it's fair to say the press are involved here, after all they do provide some quotes from those in favor of the ballot measures, what I would point you to is the amount of text and time spent on the state's view of the measures and also a dearth of writing about ways the government could still effectively meet its obligations if the measures pass. Both of these point to advocacy on the part of the Sun here.
https://coloradosun.com/2024/06/21/colorado-june-revenue-forecast-initiative-108/
https://coloradosun.com/2024/06/25/emergency-rental-assistance-colorado/
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1466
https://www.cpr.org/2024/06/10/colorados-new-tax-credits-for-families/
Related:
The interview below from the Ross Kaminsky show provides another bit of counterpoint to the notion that voting to lower your property taxes will turn this state into a hellscape.
https://koacolorado.iheart.com/featured/ross-kaminsky/content/2024-06-25-tim-foster-frmr-state-house-majority-leader-property-tax-reducing-measures/