Jobs and the Economy

The issue most important to our citizens in Colorado and across America is jobs and the economy.  Colorado has suffered from an anti business legislature and governor during the Ritter administration. This occurred after enjoying years of a favorable position relative to most other states as a result of taxing limitations under TABOR.  The numerous increases in business taxes and the business personal property tax are now hurting Colorado’s competitiveness.  While private salary payrolls are shrinking, the public sector has grown.

Colorado faces competition from 49 other states and from abroad.  Our state must institute pro entrepreneurial policies that inspire innovation and ingenuity.  These policies must overcome the atmosphere of uncertainty that has been created by the Obama administration and echoed in Colorado by the Ritter administration with the full support of a majority Democrat legislature including my opponent.

Jobs and the economy are subject to the impacts of state taxes and regulatory structures. My visits with hundreds of businesses have revealed an abundance of unnecessary and burdensome red tape and regulation. Colorado is going in the wrong direction. Our state’s regulations and inspection process for our businesses need major overhaul.  

Colorado can model solutions after other successful states. The path back to prosperity lies in the power of free enterprise.  States that reward individual initiative with business friendly legislation are dramatically more successful in maintaining quality of life and low overall taxation.  States that strive to pick winners and losers through taxes and regulation always punish the small businesses.

The Budget and Taxes

Colorado is in desperate need of major tax and spending reform. While TABOR (Taxpayer Bill of Rights) has constrained total revenue growth, the Governor and the legislature have been fighting a battle to circumvent and defeat its intent.  The mil levy freeze, removal of the general fund limit, vehicle registration increases, and removal of long standing tax credits have all raised taxes without voter approval as required by the state constitution. The voters are not satisfied that the legislature will solve the problems and have placed three initiatives on the ballot for November to reduce property and income taxes and limit the government’s ability to borrow.

The stimulus bill made the cliff higher and steeper.  Transportation, education and health care have all been over funded relative to the state’s ability to pay and now the stimulus funds are running out. Government workers have become a protected class since much of the stimulus funding went to pay federal and state workers including teachers.

I support a move to consumption based taxes and away from income and property taxes as other successful states have done. I would limit revenue growth to inflation plus population growth in accordance with TABOR. I support a transparency initiative to put all state expenditures on line, a priority based budget and a zero base for budgeting to allow taxpayers to judge the value of every service that the state provides.

Energy

The United States must have a strategy which utilizes every available form of energy to move toward energy independence and maintain global competitiveness. America has vast reserves of energy supplies that are being withheld from use because of political agendas.  Unleashing these resources would lower energy costs, lower dependency on foreign sources and increase domestic employment.  I support developing our domestic resources in order to increase our economic and political security. Energy production should include nuclear power, oil, natural gas, coal, wind turbines, solar, hydroelectric, geo thermal and other new technologies that emerge.

The coal industry has fueled American prosperity for 150 years.  Coal currently provides 75% of Colorado’s electricity and will be our major source of power for years to come.  We should provide certainty to the future of coal mining and the miner’s jobs instead of demonizing the industry.  We should also support our natural gas industry in Colorado instead of instituting the most restrictive rules in the country.

We cannot allow politicized “science” to lead to massive government control of the economy. I believe the free market can best determine how and when new energy sources are brought to market.  Subsidized and centrally mandated development of a “new green economy” based primarily on wind and solar defeats the working of the free market and costs jobs. Centrally directed economies have never been successful.

Colorado’s voter approved renewable energy mandate of 10% from the voters is enough. New renewable projects should be economically viable and privately funded.  Phasing of more aggressive renewable goals should coincide with the lower production costs of solar promised in the next decade and the implementation of nuclear power plants and not result from artificially higher energy prices or tax subsidies. Colorado cannot afford to finance nor should it direct the creation of an alternative energy economy.  The Governor’s Energy Office should be eliminated or redirected and recent mandates of 30% should be repealed.

Public Lands

Colorado’s Senate District 5 is 70% federally owned land.  Towns and small communities are surrounded by National Forests, National Parks, and BLM managed land. In addition there are a myriad of water projects, state parks and conservation easement lands in the districts.  Communities often have little control over their own economic destiny or recreational choices.  There is constant pressure from environmental activists to create new set asides or convert more area to wilderness.

Public involvement in land use decisions regarding public lands is chaotic. The process is often lengthy and bureaucratic.  Decisions are sometimes in the hands of a single land manager or rest with a Washington political appointee.  While professional environmental lobbyists use the process effectively, the public often feels left out.  Government agencies can be bypassed by lobbyists who take proposals directly to the political process and engage sympathetic congressmen. Government agencies who have the responsibility to manage fire and insect disease can be left with no real solution for roadless or wilderness areas.

I believe the public should have access to public lands.  The continuing well funded efforts by the “environmental” industry to restrict access damages both the economy of Colorado and the well being of the citizens who will never experience the majesty of Colorado outdoors. We need to responsibly utilize our Natural Resources and not continually lock more acreage up in Wilderness. We must find ways to involve local communities in decisions involving the use of public lands.  Arbitrary decisions made in Washington and influenced by moneyed special interests are not constitutional.

Education

While legislators on both sides of the aisle have continued to propose reform, others have focused on spending as a measure of educational quality.  Colorado has a history of leadership in education reform. In the face of severe State revenue shortfalls, education will be under pressure. Instead of more spending, we will be forced to pursue reform which improves the results of education.  Colorado is already a national leader in school choice.  Charter schools should be an even larger part of our strategy. Meaningful pay for teacher performance should be put in place. 

Most educators agree on how to measure the results of education. Measures include dropout rate, college entrance rates, third grade reading scores, eighth grade proficiency, and SAT scores. Colorado can improve these scores even in the face of the coming revenue crisis and should do so. 

Our spending status relative to other states is often misrepresented by my opponent. Colorado ranks in the broad middle of state spending measured as dollars per student and will probably maintain or improve that status as other states revenue issues worsen.  While addressing Colorado education with a broad brush, we have to recognize the unique character of our many school districts.  Local school board discretion and goal setting is vital to compensate for income and population differences.

Although we need to upgrade our school buildings, I believe what goes on inside the building is more important.  While competition with other states is not the most important measure, it does demonstrate our commitment to the next generation. But a more important measure is preparation for the Colorado workforce, the ability of our graduates to find employment using their learned skills.  Unlike my opponent, I support reform of the teacher tenure process to insure better education for our students.  Vouchers for private schools and home school should be considered if vouchers can be shown to enhance competition and lower costs.

The Size of Government

Our founding fathers designed a government of limited power.  Its function and size were be constrained by the constitution and the meaning behind the well crafted words of that document.  Since the progressive philosophy of government emerged early in the twentieth century and was implemented during the Franklin Roosevelt administration, we have experienced a massive growth of government’s functions, size and bureaucracy. Today we have a dangerously self perpetuating growth industry in Government.  We are close to a tipping point, and may be past it, when a majority of our citizens either work for some form of Government or depend on entitlement programs for their very existence.

A very troubling development since the 1950’s is the growth of public sector unions. Last year, 37.4 per cent of public sector employees were union members. This new unionism is very different from private sector unionism.  Whereas private sector unions are adversarial and strive to extract higher wages and benefits from employers, sometimes with disastrous results to the industry, public sector unions act in a collusive manner with government to expand programs, create more government jobs and raise taxes to pay for the expansion.   New York, New Jersey and California have strong public-sector unions and now face enormous budget deficits and pension liabilities. In these states, the public sector has become a parasite sucking the life out of the private-sector economy. Americans have been migrating out of these states and into states, where public-sector unions are weak and taxes are much lower.  In Colorado, our current governor’s first executive order was to unionize state employees.  The average State employee in Colorado now makes more than the average private sector employee.

For Colorado’s future, we must resist the growth of Government and roll back recent increases.  We cannot become subservient to the political influence of union funds collected from the taxpayer supplied salaries of state employees. We don’t need public sector unions. Federal laws passed since the 1950s now protect workers from racial and sex discrimination, safety hazards and pension failure. We must pull back from the tipping point of States like California that now have no way out of the cycle created by social programs and union influence.

A majority of state legislatures and Governors will resist big government control in the next two years.  I want Colorado to be a part of that resistance while we restore our own state’s prosperity.