How much is growth of gov't propping up CO's unemployment? Do we know whether or not your tax money is used by Ceasefire CO to further their political agenda/influence? Prop HH is bad for renters.
When I put Colorado's low unemployment with the article below, it makes me wonder.
How much of our low unemployment, how much of our economic growth is government?
Our government over the past few years has grown, and grown, and grown. FTE after FTE added to the payrolls.
Is this growth masking the beginnings of rot?
Knowing that government growth is all too often a one-way ratchet, what are we setting ourselves up for? What are passing to those that come after us?
How many of the new departments will fund themselves with their activities and how many will taxpayers get to fund?
https://www.thecentersquare.com/colorado/article_2bb613b4-3e05-11ee-93ea-3fcdcf13c082.html
Colorado Ceasefire gets grant money from CDPHE, is there any accountability to make sure it’s not spent on politics to spread Ceasefire’s influence?
I posted a bit back about my concern over guns and public health (in the context of the NM Governor's wrongheaded suspension of the 2nd Amendment).
I saw the story below recently and thought it would make a good followup.
There are copious amounts of history and detail in the article below but in brief the story is as follows:
The Democrats passed a bill recently that created an office in the Colorado Department of Health called the "Office of Gun Violence Prevention". It's linked second below.
Among other things, the office is tasked with administering grants to various organizations to (quoting the office's website): " ... conduct community-based gun violence intervention initiatives focused on interrupting cycles of gun violence, trauma, and retaliation that are evidence-informed and have demonstrated promise at reducing gun violence without contributing to mass incarceration."
One such organization is the gun control advocates Colorado Ceasefire. They're linked third below.
Colorado Ceasefire has been quite, quite active in spreading around campaign cash to Colorado Democrats. I excerpted a screenshot from the article so you could see their most recent giving (not shown here is $6000 given to rabid gun control advocate Senator Tom Sullivan).
The implication here made by the author is that Colorado Ceasefire has taken this taxpayer money--the grant from the Office of Gun Violence Prevention--to further their gun control efforts. That is, that you and I, whether we like their policy advocacy or not, get to support them.
I'm not saying this never happens. I'm not saying this couldn't happen. But, you'll have to pardon my being a stickler here, I think I'd like to know a bit more before I connect this final dot.
Is it tacky? Yes. It is swampy, backroom politics? Undoubtedly.
Is it a sure thing that they gave cash to politicians specifically so they could then get a "gift" back to enable them to further their mission? I'm not as sure.
It is still, however, enough of a concern to me that I want to learn more. After all, this is my tax money and I do not want it going to political causes I don't support, in the exact same way that someone who disagrees with my politics shouldn't have to pay to support that.
In order to learn more, I emailed the folks at the Office asking them the following:
1. Can you confirm a grant for Colorado Ceasefire to educate people around the state about ERPO's? Is this one time? Yearly?
2. Are there any stipulations in your grants that none of the money can be used for political purposes (say, for example, advocating for a given policy and/or given to a candidate)?
3. If there is such a stipulation, given Colorado Ceasefire's regular involvement in politics, what kind of accountability is built into the grant to ensure that none of the taxpayer dollars are put to political purposes?
As of this writing, I've not heard. When and if I do, I'll update.
https://freestatecolorado.com/ceasefire/
https://cdphe.colorado.gov/office-of-gun-violence-prevention
https://coloradoceasefire.org/
Prop HH is a bad deal for everyone, property owners, renters, seniors. Vote no.
Do you rent? Do you know someone who does?
Read or share the below with them because Prop HH is a losing proposition whether you're a property owner or not.
The conservative-leaning Common Sense Institute recently released a report about Prop HH and how renters would fare under it.
I attached a screenshot with the top lines of the report, but I can condense it even further. If you are a renter, you get no cut in property taxes because you pay none (and, let's be honest, any savings by the landlord is not likely to be passed along), but you will lose your TABOR refund just like everyone else.
In short, you'll lose thousands in projected TABOR refunds over 10 years and gain nothing in property tax savings.
https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/prop-hh-impact-on-renters/