September 03, 2024 12:28 PM UTC

Property Tax Fracas: The Petty Tyranny Of Two Crazy Guys And A Checkbook

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• by: Colorado Pols

Jesse Paul and Brian Eason of the Colorado Sun report today on the aftermath of last week’s special session of the Colorado General Assembly, called by Gov. Jared Polis to pass legislation on property taxes intended to mollify backers of a pair of highly irresponsible ballot measures that would have, if passed, posed a serious risk to the ongoing fiscal solvency of school districts and local governments across the state. The compromise legislation passed with strong support, since it represents only a small concession on property taxes compared with the massive long-term cuts passage of Initiatives 50 and 108 would have forced.

But with the dust settling, Democratic lawmakers remain displeased with the high-stakes gambling over the state’s future that proponents of these ballot measures were willing to engage in, and we can’t say with certainty that the brinksmanship by conservatives will have the same effect next time:

Want to get state lawmakers’ attention? All you need is a few million dollars and an idea big enough to shake up Colorado’s policy landscape…

The threat of the measures’ possible effect on state and local finances — particularly K-12 schools and fire districts — was enough to force Gov. Jared Polis and the legislature to the negotiating table. But while it was widely accepted that both initiatives faced unlikely odds of passing, Democrats weren’t willing to risk the long-shot chance they might succeed. The special session — and another $255 million in tax cuts — moved forward a deal in which the measures would be removed from the ballot later this week…

[T]he Democratic majority in the legislature has had enough. They argue the ballot measures are so potent because of money, not because of the appeal of the ideas behind them. [Pols emphasis]

“I am a firm supporter of every citizen’s desire to bring forward an initiative,” House Speaker Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, said last week as the special session got underway. “I think we want to protect that right. But we have now seen, several times, where wealthy interest groups have been able to put something on the ballot for consideration that is then weaponized against the legislature. That has to end. We need to find a different approach.”

Going into last week’s special session, the Democratic majority in the General Assembly was split between members who wanted to minimize the risk to local governments by keeping Initiatives 50 and 108 off the ballot, versus other members spoiling for a straight fight and feeling confident that these measures would have been defeated at the polls in November. On the other side, notable internal dissent among conservatives over the destructive effects of these ballot measures signaled serious misgivings early on over their prospects. If 50 and 108 had gone down in flames at the polls, it would have undermined one of the only remaining bits of leverage conservatives still have in Colorado politics, our relatively easy access to the ballot for statewide initiatives even after “raising the bar” a few years ago.

Needless to say, that’s not how conservatives like GOP maxi-consultant Josh Penry are spinning it:

“The citizen’s initiative process is a vital check on the power of the governing class, and it has never been more important than it is now,” Josh Penry, a Republican campaign strategist who is a veteran of Colorado’s ballot measure battles, said in a statement. “Our initiatives were the lever that forced elected officials back to the bargaining table to responsibly finish their job. The system worked exactly like it is supposed to.”

Penry, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of getting to know him through his many, many losing campaigns in Colorado politics over the years, is the type of guy who never concedes defeat even when he finishes dead last. The reality is, neither side wanted to risk the consequences of these irresponsible ballot measures, and that’s why conservatives settled for a relatively small concession compared to the massive revenue reductions these measures would have resulted in. It’s also conservatives who blinked first, crawling back to a deal they could easily have negotiated last May–but Gov. Jared Polis made the politically less satisfying choice to allow them a face-saving compromise they would proceed to shamelessly take credit for at Democrats’ expense.

As for the “different approach” that changes this paradigm of special interests extorting concessions from lawmakers with threat of even more draconian ballot measures? That could be as simple as not letting wealthy donors behind these bad ideas off the hook next time, and taking the next round of fiscally irresponsible measures on the old-fashioned way. We accept the argument that minimizing the risk to innocent stakeholders like schools and emergency services was the responsible choice for the moment.

But this episode did not leave the bad actors in a position of strength. This is, at the end of the day, a game played by the weak to harass the strong.