August 07, 2017 03:15 PM UTC

A leading Colorado Republican says Democrats have secret plan to create "terrible" roads

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• by: Jason Salzman

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

UPDTATE 8-9-17: Neville responded via Twitter with a request to get the “story right.”

“It isn’t a ‘secret plan,'” tweeted Neville. “It is a deliberate plan that is out in the open.”

Neville did not respond to a request from the Colorado Times Recorder to provide a copy of the Democrats’ plan or to explain how he knows it’s deliberate and out in the open.

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UPDATE – Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran (D-Denver) responded today:

“Minority Leader Neville’s comments are absurd. Democrats led efforts to bring a sustainable, statewide transportation fix before voters this year to fix our outdated and overburdened transportation system, and to ensure that rural Colorado isn’t left behind, without cutting other key priorities like education. And when Republicans killed that bill in the Senate, it was Democrats who then fought to prioritize transportation funding in SB 267.

These allegations of a plan to undermine our transportation system are absolutely ridiculous, and it’s a shame that Rep. Neville would rather make excuses for his own party’s inaction on this critical issue than work with us toward viable solutions to our state’s very real needs. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing this finger pointing from Republicans in Washington who have been unable to govern effectively. But I’d expect more from state leaders like Rep. Neville.”

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State Rep. Patrick Neville (R-Franktown), the leader of State House Republicans, thinks Democrats have a secret “plan” to intentionally make Colorado’s roads “so terrible and so awful” that voters will approve a tax increase to fix them.

“And I personally think that this is a plan to make our roads so terrible and so awful that voters will vote for a tax increase,” Neville told KNUS guest host George Athanasopoulos this morning. “That’s what the Democrats want. And it’s part of a plan. And this is nothing new. It’s the same thing Governor Ritter did in the late nineties.” Aug. 7 hour 1 at 17 min 30 seconds here.

Now that’s a big story, but unfortunately I was unable to confirm Neville’s allegation in on-the-record or off-the-record interviews, on background, or via deep throat.

Neville did not immediately return a call seeking details about the alleged Democratic plan, including which Democrats are involved.

Neville’s comments came during a discussion of the budget squeeze faced by Colorado lawmakers.

Both Neville and Athanasopoulos contended that Democrats have de-prioritized transportation spending in favor of funding what they called non-essential programs, like RTD’s Bustang bus service, and Colorado’s “Medicaid expansion,” which is actually over 90-percent funded by the federal government, thanks to Obamacare, and is objectively not a significant drain on Colorado’s budget.