TABOR is alive and well, asserts AFP-Colorado state director
When the Denver Post editorialized that it was a good thing that the state legislature had made an end-run around the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, Americans for Prosperity-Colorado State Director Jesse Mallory struck back.
He pointed out that the newspaper got it wrong — twice.
“First, despite what the newspaper claims, it’s not a good thing that state lawmakers have done everything they can to kill Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which requires voter approval before state and local legislative bodies can impose or raise taxes,” he wrote in Complete Colorado.
And, he reminded the editorial board, “aside from being wrong when it praises lawmakers for ignoring their sworn oath to uphold the Constitution, the Post is wrong in another way. TABOR isn’t dead, practically or otherwise.”
He also criticized the notion that “lawmakers are now willing to work around” the state’s constitution, questioning whether that would be the paper’s position on other constitutional guarantees.
“When governments have acted to squelch First Amendment protections, for example, the Post did not rush into print with an editorial praising officials’ willingness to ‘work around’ the freedom of the press,” Mallory wrote, while noting that it would have been wrong to do so.
Coloradans have repeatedly shown they are committed to TABOR, and neither the Denver Post nor the state legislator will get the last word. That belongs to the people of Colorado.
Read more of Jesse Mallory’s response to the Post’s editorial here.
