Jeff Crank's Recommendations for Contested Races/Ballot Questions 2014

El Paso County 2014 General Election Ballot

Every election I get countless emails from listeners asking about my endorsements and recommendations on voting.  Your vote belongs to you – and you alone – and it is certainly not up to me to tell you how you should vote, but here is how I am casting my vote this year.  These are my endorsements and recommendations.

U.S. Senator – Cory Gardner

U.S. Representative – Doug Lamborn

Governor/Lieutenant Governor – Bob Beauprez/Jill Repella

Secretary of State – Wayne Williams

State Treasurer – Walker Stapleton

Attorney General – Cynthia Coffman

State Senate District 2 – Kevin J. Grantham

State Senate District 11 – Bernie Herpin

State Representative District 14 – Dan Nordberg

State Representative District 15 – Gordon Klingenschmitt

State Representative District 16 – Janak Joshi

State Representative District 17 – Kit Roupe

State Representative District 18 – Michael Schlierf

County Commissioner District 1 – Darryl Glenn

County Commissioner District 5 – Peggy Littleton

I make no recommendations about retention of judges as all were recommended to be retained by the Judicial Performance Commission.

Amendment 68, Racetrack Gambling – No

Proposition 104, Open union negotiations – Yes

Proposition 105, Food labeling – No

El Paso County Issue 1A, Tax retention for Open Space – No

El Paso County Issue 1B, Increase on Property Tax Bill for Stormwater – No

El Paso County Issue 1C, Term Limits for Sheriff – Yes

El Paso Ballot Question 1B: A Dishonest Tax Increase

By Jeff Crank

El Paso County Ballot Question 1B is nothing more than a dishonest attempt to fool voters.  Its shameful deception rises to the level of the misleading term-limits language of a few years ago.  If you remember the term limits language which implied that a yes vote “limited” terms when it actually extended them then question 1B this year might ring a bell.  1B imposes a tax of $92.40 per year on the average household in El Paso County for the next 20 years and beyond.  That is a minimum tax increase of $1,848 per property- and likely much higher.  However, you wouldn’t know these facts just by reading the ballot language.

Pretty harsh to say it is deceptive, but the facts leave little doubt.  First, the language calls the tax a “fee”.  Why? If they called it a tax, the Colorado Constitution would require the ballot language to start out by saying “shall taxes be increased by $39,275,650 for 2016 and each year after for 20 years.”  By cleverly calling the tax a “fee”, they can now start the language with “Are you in favor of funding emergency needs caused by flooding…”.  It was worded this way to enhance the ability to get it passed but it is nothing more than a way to trick you into believing that the money coming out of your pocket is a “fee” and not actually a tax.  After all, it is on your property TAX bill.

The sleight of hand continues.  Rather than being honest about how much you’re going to pay each year, they broke the amount down per month.  They could have simply said that it would cost the average homeowner $1,848 over the next twenty years.  Instead, they broke the amount down by month – to $7.70 per month.  Why not just give us the full monty and break it down to the day, hour or second? By the way, if you do the math, it is just over a penny per hour tax increase.

Question 1B also creates a brand new government bureaucracy and then exempts it from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights provisions of the Colorado Constitution.  In other words, it creates a bureaucracy and then allows that bureaucracy to vote to extend the tax (that they call a fee) without ever going to the citizens for a vote of the people.

As Mayor Steve Bach, who strongly opposes 1B, stated, “the new $92.40 storm water fee is about the same amount the average residential property owner now pays for all City services combined.”  That’s right, you’ll pay as much property tax for storm water as you do for police, fire, snow removal, street repair, parks, arts, etc.  Imagine this new unaccountable bureaucracy getting as much property tax as the city of Colorado Springs, never having to face an election and having the ability to increase the tax at their whim and without voter approval.

If this tax increase of $785 million over twenty years weren’t offensive enough the audacity of the language should convince any citizen to vote no.  The drafters of the language trying to pull the wool over voters eyes by calling a tax a “fee”; reducing the yearly tax amount to make it appear smaller; and thumbing their nose at the voters by taking away the right to vote on tax increases make this as deceptive and misleading as any ballot language we’ve ever seen.

Our storm water problem is real and it should be addressed but Question 1B is not the answer.  I hope you’ll join Mayor Steve Bach, myself and many other community leaders in voting no.

Donuts from Amy's Donuts. Wow!