Dave Chandler

Jeffco Commissioners' Monkey-Business With Our Taxes

There is absolutely nothing 'conservative' or 'fiscally responsible or 'representative' in what the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners have been doing to our public library system. As the letter below very concisely conveys, the county commissioners are subverting the will of the people.

What is it about elected politicians these days that when the electorate speaks and makes a decision, the politicos still think they can ignore the will of the people and just do what they want?

The best remedy to the "we know best" shenanigans of these county commissioners is to remove them from the funding process, remove them as a layer of government between the people and the operation of our libraries -- and establish a library district in Jefferson County.

Of course, these commissioners will fight tooth-and-nail against any diminution of their power and control ... it is what elected politicians tend to do regardless of political party.

A healthy library system is an asset to a community that is incalculable. A well-supported library bespeaks of citizen involvement, of prosperity, of dedication to education.

If you haven't already, go to Save Jeffco Libraries and offer your support.

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Published in YourHub.com for Arvada, Wheat Ridge and Westminster on Thursday, January 5, 2012:

In a recent YourHub letter, Pam Nissler, executive director of the Jefferson County Public Library, explained the library’s serious revenue decline and urged us all to donate to the Library Foundation. We agree. But that’s not the whole story.

Nissler said the library has experienced a $3.4 million decline in revenue since 2008. The interesting question is why? Most of that decline was not caused by tough economic times, but by the Jefferson County Commissioners diverting property tax revenues out of a mill levy voters approved for library services only. In order to increase taxes in Social Services (a good cause but an increase voters did NOT approve), the county took that money out of the taxpayer-approved library levy.

Let’s be clear about the real reason for these library service cuts, layoffs, and reduction in hours: they are paying for the Commissioners’ monkey-business with our taxes. If the library operated as an independent library district like Arapahoe, Douglas, and most other front-range counties, these cuts would not have been necessary. It’s time to get county government out of the library’s business.

By all means, donate to the Library Foundation. It helps fund important programs. But let’s also ensure that the tax money we approved for library services actually gets to the library! Visit www.savejeffcolibraries.org to see what you can do to help.

Tom and Alice Atkins
Founders, Save Jeffco Libraries
Tom is a former chairman of the Jefferson County Public Library Board of Trustees

'No' on Proposition 103

I will vote 'no' on Proposition 103.

First of all, I always have problems with increases in the regressive sales tax. Especially in these stressful economic times, those on fixed and limited incomes simply cannot afford higher taxes.

But even more is this true when a portion of that tax hike will ultimately be used for the gain of private developers. I refer to a very insightful letter-to-the-editor that appeared in today's (October 4, 2011) Denver Post.

It doesn't makes sense to raise taxes to fund education, when a portion of that revenue can then be funnelled through the backdoor for non-educational corporate welfare. Clearly a broader and more comprehensive approach to Colorado's tax system and education funding needs to be undertaken to ensure that situations like those described in the letter cannot happen.

Proposition 103 is a bandage approach that doesn't solve our fundamental taxation, budget and government revenue problems.

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State voters have no say on “backfill” of taxes
Denver Post, Wednesday, October 4, 2011

Re: “Taxes if Gaylord didn’t have deal: over $500 million; Project supporters say jobs and other revenue offset property-tax subsidies,” Sept. 25 news story.

Your article on all the tax subsidies going to the Gaylord project was detailed and well-written. However, it missed a really key point.

The article noted that the biggest “sacrifice” of tax money is by the Brighton 27J School District — $273 million. But the school district won’t really feel the pain from that loss, because it will get the money back from taxpayers across the state.

State law says pupils across the state must be funded at an equal level. To accomplish this, the state will have to “backfill” the forgone tax subsidy to the Brighton district. That $273 million will come directly out of the general fund — directly out of the pockets of taxpayers across the state who got no vote on this project. Talk about taxation without representation!

Developers have been subsidized in this manner across Colorado for decades. Backfilling school districts cost state taxpayers around $71 million in 2010. I would urge The Post to focus its next Gaylord article on this issue.

Stephanie Thomas, Denver
The writer is an advocate for the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

More Corporate Welfare?

If you think that the politicians in Washington, D.C. are out-of-touch with real America, well, you can look right here at local politicians for good examples, too.

In spite of a lingering recession that has left many Denver area folks with stagnant incomes, elected officials and corporate hucksters are planning new empires to build with subsidy funds extracted from Colorado taxpayers.

The 'National Western Stock Show-Gaylord Entertainment' deal reeks of arrogance and a "we know best" attitude emanating from rarefied circles of Aurora and Denver insiders. Just like the empire builders in Arvada and Jefferson County governments and their tollway scheme, it all seems to be about helping certain, special developers through 'public-private' partnerships. You know what this ultimately means: you pay ... the corporations get the profits and local government officials get more tax revenue to funnel towards even more grand projects.

Generally speaking, I don't like taxpayer's money being used to pick winners-and-losers in the private sector ... I don't like subsidies to help 'big box' stores at the expense of small local shops, I don't like imminent domain used to grease the skids for special 'chosen' businesses; I don't like entire transportation plans and government resources skewed towards the benefit of one particular developer, and so on and so forth.

Perhaps the National Western Stock Show does need to be moved to a new location. However, the report in the July 1, 2011, Denver Post about Aurora and Denver governments seeking a state subsidy for this deal and even more recent Post articles on this topic, should cause average citizens in Aurora and Denver (and now apparently all Colorado taxpayers) to be suspicious of the manner and tone in which this 'deal' has suddenly risen to the top of the agenda.

Who is helping whom, why ... and who pays?

If a grandiose project like the Stock Show-Gaylord deal is seen to be ultimately so profitable, why must taxpayers be put on the hook for subsidies? Isn't this just the latest example of 'corporate welfare'?

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Aurora, Denver Apply for $91.5 Million in Colo. Subsidies to Build Huge Complex | Denver Post

Aurora and Denver on Thursday applied for $91.5 million in state subsidies to build a huge hotel and stock-show facility in Aurora.

The application was submitted on behalf of a complex that would host a Gaylord Entertainment hotel and conference center alongside the relocated National Western Stock Show. It calls for the bulk of the incentives to go toward the Gaylord portion of the deal. ... MORE!

A Little for Andrew Romanoff

Since leaving the Green Party of Colorado this past April, I have cherished the political liberty that being an 'unaffiliated' voter has given me -- and today I exercised that freedom.

This day, at the Jeffco motor vehicles office in Arvada, I voted for Andrew Romanoff for the Democratic Party nomination for United States Senate.

Be assured, I will re-register as 'unaffiliated' immediately after the August 10 primary election ... a reminder is already written on my calendar.

However, in these times when the corruption of our government and politics is ubiquitous because of the corroding influence of corporate and special interest money, those few running for public office who eschew the current 'system' should be rewarded and encouraged.

That is the main reason I decided to give my single vote to Romanoff ... it ain't much, but it's all I've got to give. My small action keeps me in accord with one of my favorite sentiments expressed in a quotation attributed to Edmund Burke: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."

Those who read my commentaries here on this blog and at my other web site, www.Earthside.com, know that I have a rather less than sanguine view of the state of our nation -- the rise of mega-transnational corporations and their effective capture of our governments and political institutions causes me great apprehension and angst for the future of this Republic.

So, when I see that Andrew Romanoff's campaign is not taking Political Action Committee money, well, that's a positive sign. Furthermore, I, in particular, am also encouraged by this report in the Denver Post on education:

While Bennet says he supports the controversial teacher evaluation bill passed by the Colorado legislature this year, Romanoff said at a teacher rally, "It's not the package I would have produced" as speaker of the House.

"A lot of teachers have suffered from reform fatigue," said Romanoff, who counts himself among them as a longtime college instructor. Educators already know what works in the classroom, Romanoff said, and don't need a more complex federal framework.

And, let me be frank, too ... it is admirable that Romanoff had the fortitude to run for this nomination in the first place, even while Gov. Ritter and the Washington Democratic Party establishment continue to slouch towards further irrelevancy by supporting the pretentious Senatorship and campaign of Michael Bennet.

For other voters who are 'unaffiliated', there is time left for you, too, to lend the support of a cast ballot for Mr. Romanoff. Call your county or elections clerk and find out how.

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A new ad.

McInnis's Watergate

It is a "cover-up" in broad daylight.

And ... you know what the conventional wisdom says, "It's not the crime that brings down the politician, it's the cover-up."

The letter that the Scott McInnis gubernatorial campaign sent to Rolly Fischer for his signature reads like it could have been concocted by President Nixon in his attempts to make John Mitchell the fall guy for the whole Watergate scandal.

The plagiarism charge is serious, however, that wrongdoing took place before the McInnis 2010 candidacy, making this part of the scandal mostly a matter of Scott McInnis's integrity or lack thereof. Perhaps McInnis might have been able to survive this ignominy, he is a politician after all and expectations are low.

But the "it was all my fault" confession that the McInnis campaign wanted Fischer to sign elevates the controversy to a big-time political scandal. The letter demonstrates that the McInnis campaign wanted to cover-up the plagiarism by getting Rolly Fischer to take the fall, thereby absolving Mr. McInnis completely.

However, in his channel 7 interview, Fischer refused to take the knife for Scott and the McInnis attempt at cover-up instead blew sky high.

Consequently, the Scott McInnis quest for the Republican nomination for the Colorado governorship in 2010 is over ... whether he gets out now or later, is defeated in the primary, or goes down in brilliant hot flames in the November election.

If there is one thing that lefties, righties and independents agree on in politics this year, it is that we are all sick and tired of politicians who have this notion that somehow they are a breed apart from the rest of us. In other words, McInnis has committed the most unforgivable political transgression on the 2010 election stage: he done wrong and still is arrogant enough to try and tell us, the voters, that his revealed corruption is a "non-issue."

Scott McInnis and his campaign have shown us in a most disturbing manner that they are beneath the floor of what citizens will tolerate from politicians or elected officials. He certainly doesn't deserve to be Colorado's governor.

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Here is the McInnis authored letter that Rolly Fischer was asked to sign (as provided by 7News):

Dear Scott:

I am writing to express my sincere apology for failing to provide appropriate attribution for the research I provided for the water articles we collaborated on. While my mistake was not intentional, it is nonetheless clear that this material needed footnotes.

This mistake was solely my own and I recognize that my work fell short of the expectations you had when you included me in this project.

Again, please accept my deep apology.

Sincerely,

Rolly Fischer

Watch the Rolly Fisher interview at this link:

Researcher Says Scott McInnis Lied | Tom Burke and Arthur Kane and John Ferrugia/7News

Why I Call Them 'Dimocrats'

The 'Dimocrats' deserve to lose their majorities in the Colorado legislature ... and the governorship, too.

Last month, the Dimocrat majority in the legislature and the Dimocrat governor of this state enacted into law a provision that now places an even greater tax burden on our recession-stressed citizens and small businesses.

The state government is attempting to collect a regressive sales tax on internet purchases. While the prison system still grows and corporate welfare continues, while the state puts-up more cash to appease the 'No Child Left Behind' schooling scheme -- the politicians want to 'balance' the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, least able to pay, by raising the sales tax on a variety of items.

Below is the text of a message sent to us today by Amazon, the internet book seller. It means that this small revenue source for www.DaveChandler.us is gone. It means that your contribution to keep DaveChandler.us functioning is even more important. I'll keep the "Recommended Reading" list in the column to the right, but be aware that DaveChandler.us will no longer receive any remuneration for the advertising or sales for Amazon products because of the Dimocrat-controlled state government of Colorado. And be aware, there are charitable and non-profit organizations in this state that raised funds through Amazon Associates Program that will also be negatively effected by this new law.

This development should serve as a reminder of the fraud of the Dimocrat Party as a 'progressive' political "party of the people." There is nothing progressive about sales taxes and there is nothing for the people in making us pay more to enable the corporatized government that we witness now at all levels, local to national.

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Dear Colorado-based Amazon Associate:

We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to inform you that the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers. The regulations are burdensome and no other state has similar rules. The new regulations do not require online retailers to collect sales tax. Instead, they are clearly intended to increase the compliance burden to a point where online retailers will be induced to "voluntarily" collect Colorado sales tax -- a course we won't take.

We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other states.

There is a right way for Colorado to pursue its revenue goals, but this new law is a wrong way. As we repeatedly communicated to Colorado legislators, including those who sponsored and supported the new law, we are not opposed to collecting sales tax within a constitutionally-permissible system applied even-handedly. The US Supreme Court has defined what would be constitutional, and if Colorado would repeal the current law or follow the constitutional approach to collection, we would welcome the opportunity to reinstate Colorado-based Associates.

You may express your views of Colorado's new law to members of the General Assembly and to Governor Ritter, who signed the bill.

Your Associates account has been closed as of March 8, 2010, and we will no longer pay advertising fees for customers you refer to Amazon.com after that date. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to March 8, 2010, will be processed and paid in accordance with our regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of March 8, any final payments will be paid by May 31, 2010.

We have enjoyed working with you and other Colorado-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program, and wish you all the best in your future.

Best Regards,

The Amazon Associates Team

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Time to End Colorado Democrats' Majorities?

I favor voting for third party candidates when possible -- we need to break the corporate political parties duopoly power over government. More choice will mean greater representative democracy and empowerment of the people.

However, this November, in the event there isn't a third party candidate in your Colorado state senate or house district, it maybe time to give the Repuglicans a crack at rolling back the more egregious moves by the Dimocrats to take more of our money -- during a recession -- and passing more oppressive laws.

Two years ago I stated my opposition to any more taxes being levied against working class Coloradoans (Time for Colorado to Say "No New Taxes!) ... I haven't changed my mind.

At the Colorado Independent in a news item titled "End of an Era: Colorado Moves to Tax Online Purchases", it is reported that:

Under the new law, the companies selling the product will be required to either charge state sales tax with the initial purchase or inform Colorado customers by mail – both at the time of the sale and at the end of the year – that they owe the state taxes on their purchases. It also requires out-of-state-companies, as a safeguard, to give the state a list of their Colorado customers and total purchases at the end of each year to the state Department of Revenue can collect taxes from those who haven’t paid.

The sales tax is regressive -- period. Dimocrats and Repuglicans, both, should be working on ways to eliminate it completely. I favor a progressive state income tax, for instance. But the idea of the state government tracking down all of our internet purchases is a bureaucratic intrusion too far, in my opinion.

I don't like raising taxes on my diet soft drinks, either. And, frankly, I don't like the direction of the medical marijuana "regulation" legislation that the state Dimocrats are talking about.

Unless the increasing out-of-touch Colorado state Dimocrats rediscover their alleged "common man" roots, perhaps the time has come for them to be in the state legislative minority again for awhile.

Colorado Democrats Nickle-and-Diming Working People

When you pay more to the state government than you did before it's a tax increase. It's a tax increase no matter what Gov. Ritter and the Democrats might say.

The Denver Post reports today that the Colorado state house has given its first approval to eight sales tax exemption repeals -- five of these will cause you to pay more for everyday purchases. And, one of them directly contradicts Ritter's most prominent policy position.

From the Denver Post's list, here are the five tax increases that you will pay:

• Remove the sales-tax exemption for candy and soda, $18 million;
• Repeal a regulation exempting downloaded software from sales tax, up to $20.4 million;
• Eliminate the sales-tax exemption on out-of-state retail sales made through in-state websites, up to $5 million.
• Repeal the sales-tax exemption on nonessential food items such as paper bags, napkins and plastic forks, up to $2.1 million.
• Limit a tax credit for alternative fuel vehicles, up to $2.7 million

If these provisions are passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor, when you buy a diet cola later this year, you'll pay more to the state government than you do now -- that's a tax increase.

If you download a new computer game, you'll pay more to the state government than you do now -- that's a tax increase.

If you want to buy a book from Amazon by clicking through this web site, you'll pay more to the state government than you do now -- that's a tax increase.

If your neighborhood holds a summer block party and you want to use paper plate and napkins, you'll pay more to the state government than you do now -- that's a tax increase.

If you heed Gov. Ritter's exhortations for the "green economy" and decide to purchase a flex-fuel truck in which to haul your used cans and paper and plastic to the recycling center, you'll pay more to the state government than you do now -- that's a tax increase.

By themselves, these tax increase may not look like much of a burden, but the reprehensible thing about the sales tax is that it hurts most those least able to pay -- like Colorado's working class folks already under the strain of the lingering recession. The Democrats like to posture that they represent and advocate for the "little guy." But why then are they trying to nickle-and-dime us to the poor house?

There is more in state government that could be cut. If the CSAP school testing scheme were eliminated, that would save as much as the five items listed above. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that if a rigorous analysis were done we would find that we would be better off if the state got out of this so-called 'Race to the Top' competition that will impose mandates on our schools for years to come.

Mostly, if we had bold, innovative leadership and representation in the state capitol building, we would see proposals to get rid of the sales tax in Colorado entirely. We would all be better off if this regressive revenue source was replaced by a state progressive income tax. Let those individuals and corporations (since the Supreme Court has just reaffirmed that they are 'persons', too) who are most able to pay then provide more for the infrastructure and services from which they benefit most.

'Big Brother' in the Colorado Legislature

Yet another example of 'big brother' knows best from a Republican in the Colorado legislature.

Privacy? Innocent until proven guilty? Forget it, the state government wants to keep a record of even your DNA, even if you are not guilty of any crime.

Not surprisingly this legislation is sponsored by one of the more obvious Republican hypocrites in the State House -- the same guy who wanted to micromanage when all public schools in the entire state hold safety drills: Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction. Apparently Mr. King is for less government except for when he is for more government.

I'll take civil liberties and the Bill of Rights and local control whenever possible ... let's hope the rest of the state legislature does too in the end.

House Committee Backs DNA Tests in Felony Arrests | Denver Post

A House committee approved a measure Thursday that would require anyone arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample.

Senate Bill 241 passed by a vote of 8-3 in the House Judiciary Committee and now goes to the House Appropriations Committee.

Currently, only people who are convicted of crimes must submit DNA.

It's named Katie's Law after 22-year-old Katie Sepich, who was raped and murdered in New Mexico in 2003. Her killer was captured using DNA, and 15 states have passed such laws since her death.

Backers say testing people at the time of arrest will help catch criminals and save lives by running the DNA against evidence from other cases.

Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said the database would provide a powerful new tool that would allow authorities to solve crimes that would otherwise go unsolved. He called it the most important new investigative tool in decades.

"This is a big deal," King told the committee.

Opponents say the measure blurs the line between accusation and conviction and that DNA information from innocent people shouldn't be put in a criminal database.

"What we're presuming today is a presumption of guilt until proven innocent," said Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo.

Lawmakers said only 13 of the millions of DNA markers available will be recorded in the database for each person. People who aren't charged can ask for their record to be removed.

Under the bill, those who are found innocent also can have their records removed. [Editors Note: Name the times the government or a mega-corporation ever actually removed personal information.Ha!]

The testing would cost the state about $1.9 million a year.

Soft Tyranny in America

The quotation below from Alexis de Tocqueville expresses one of my great concerns about what is going on in our nation -- and my belief that we are not nearly as free as we (or others) would like us to think we are.

It has been my notion that tyranny in the U.S. will not have the look of uniformed, armed police on every corner, with a 'big brother' character overtly watching over your shoulder and then telling you what to do ... and you doing it out of fear of being suddenly hauled away to a re-education camp.

Tyranny in this country will (and already has in many respects) be in a form that is seemingly benign, utilitarian, just a "good business" practice, or something that must be done for 'the children' or for 'national security'.

Those who have read my opinions know that I identify corporatization and consumerism as the number one culprit in the tyranny that already oppresses us. When I talk about corporatization I don't just mean the mega-transnational corporations all by themselves, but the control they exert over governments to acquire more power and markets and money for themselves -- and more importantly -- the mindset, the 'group think' that perpetuates the corporate idea everywhere.

In schools, in churches, in local governments, at the state legislature, among Republicans and Dimocrats, everywhere in America these days is seen the philosophy of the corporation as the guiding force -- that is what de Tocqueville is describing in the quotation below ... it is the practice that is indeed making us less free all the time.

Government, of course, is ideally suited to be the enforcer of laws, rules and regulations that benefit the private corporation, especially in a country where we still cling to the idea that we are a functioning democracy. What could be truer to our concept of ourselves than that it is the "government of the people" that is enacting the very rules that oppress us. The past eight years of the Bush-Cheney regime are the prime example of how government is the tool of corporate power.

Sadly, we see the mindset of corporatization extending itself in the Obama administration particularly in the economic 'rescue' arena. (That's why it is so amusing to see 'conservatives' throwing the term socialist at Obama and the Dimocrat Congress these days -- it wasn't so long ago that 'conservative' Bush could virtually do no wrong and that anything and everything was justified because "we are at war".)

I call this use of government by big business corporations to impose more rules and regulations on us as 'soft' tyranny because it isn't so obvious and because liberals and conservatives can find certain oppressive measures that they like ... it isn't the iron glove smashing us, it is the fuzzy hand of "guidance" and "stability" and "tradition". Liberals like proposing cat-dog equality and conservatives like mandating 'patriotism'.

For corporations, all this micromanagement of our lives ultimately renders most folks as compliant and reinforces the idea that they and government is just doing what has to be done for us to live in a well-ordered society. (I also strongly maintain that overpopulation makes this task much easier for the corporations to justify, a prime reason I want strong immigration control and why I support family planning.)

Tocqueville in the words here describes the situation -- what we do about it is the point of most of my posts and commentaries.

After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the government then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence: it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

Alexis de Tocqueville - Democracy in America, Volume II (1840); Book Four, Chapter VI