TABOR: Participatory democracy in a free republic

      I’ve lived in Colorado 84 years and have never seen anything quite like the persecution of Douglas Bruce for authoring the 1992 voter-adopted TABOR amendment to the Colorado Constitution. Despite some adjustments, judicial I presume, such as allowing the use of Certificates of Participation to increase debt without a vote of the people, TABOR’s core values remain intact. I do not know of any tax-supported institution in Colorado that has had to shut its doors because of TABOR. Now, however, in a rather curious dovetailing of related events, a lawsuit has been filed to repeal TABOR, claiming of all things that its inception via the initiative process is a violation of our representative form of government and therefore unconstitutional.

      Partly through his own arrogance, Bruce was targeted for abuse not only by government insiders who vehemently oppose TABOR because it stifles their appetite to tax-and-spend, but also by their counterparts in the media and think tanks who cry anti-government and see nothing wrong with running-up huge public debts (a la Washington, D.C.).

     He likely was wrong in kicking a news photographer in the shins. However, as a former long-time newspaperman myself, I wonder just how necessary it was for the cameraman to be that close to his subject in the first place.

     That Bruce’s political enemies finally succeeded in putting him in jail  may be seen by some as a triumph. But to others, including myself, his brave, one-man act of forcing Colorado and its political subdivisions to avoid the same financial insolvency that several other sans TABOR states now grimly face is the real victory.

     For those who claim they can’t possibly live under TABOR, submit your own repeal initiative and we’ll vote on it. Are we not capable of governing ourselves?

LAWSUIT TO REPEAL TABOR FILED IN FEDERAL COURT--

     The year 1992 was eventful not only for Douglas Bruce but also for an attorney now seeking to overturn TABOR. In its 2/16/12 edition, The Denver Post reported that one of the lead attorneys arguing for repeal is former Colorado Congressman David Skaggs (D) of Boulder. Readers might recall that he was caught up in the 1992 House bank scandal.  According to a Washington Post article dated 4/17/92, Skaggs led the Colorado delegation in overdrafts by far, with 57. Wayne Allard (R) had none, Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D) none, Joel Hefley (R) 3, Patricia Schroeder (D) 5 and Dan Schaefer (R) 6.