PHOTO: Colorado Senate President Steve Fenberg, waving to his friends.
Not everyone who could, bothered to vote on November 7, here in Colorado. Some people did vote, however, and apparently, a lot of them were skeptical of Proposition HH, placed on the ballot by the Democrats in the state legislature, and approved by Governor Polis, also a Democrat.
Prop HH was defeated, rather dramatically.
An unhealthy skepticism, among the voters? Or plain old common sense?
I have my own opinion, naturally. Being myself a confirmed skeptic.
Prop HH would have reduced the property tax rate, but it also would have reduced our TABOR refunds. As has been written, “The Democrats giveth, and the Democrats taketh away.”
When the results rolled in on November 7, Senate President Steve Fenberg expressed some disappointment. He was quoted by Colorado Public Radio.
Prop. HH was a nuanced, balanced policy that appears to have fallen prey to a misinformation slogan campaign by the far right, who would prefer to cut property taxes on the backs of our schools and fire districts.
Senate President Fenberg needn’t be quite so glib about misinformation. If any misinformation campaign caused anyone to fall prey, it was probably the campaign funded by the supporters of Prop HH. I personally did some research into Prop HH — careful research — and I listened to both sides of the issue. Because I care deeply about taxes. You might not suspect that about me, but it’s true.
Did I listen carefully to the debate, with a properly skeptical attitude? I believe so. (I do my best to remain skeptical when listening to politicians.)
As far as I could tell, Senate President Fenberg didn’t want anyone to know what Prop HH would have done to our taxes and TABOR refunds over the long haul, and he consistently avoided talking about certain important details included in Prop HH.
People need to be skeptical when reading a humor article in the Daily Post. But not as skeptical as they need to be, when listening to a politician. If I had to choose between believing a humor columnist or a politician, I would always pick the humor columnist.
But there’s a time and a place for skepticism. For example, I’m sometimes skeptical about whether my lettuce is truly ‘organic’. I mean, it closely resembles the non-organic lettuce that costs half the price, except the organic lettuce looks like someone dropped the crate out of the truck and allowed the lettuce to roll around in the parking lot.
I could simply buy the non-organic lettuce and let it knock around in my trunk for a few days, and save a lot of money.
But what good does it do me, to be skeptical about lettuce? When I can be skeptical about taxes!
Yesterday, leaders of the House Minority Caucus (that is, the Republicans) responded to Governor Jared Polis announcing a Special Session on Property Tax Relief starting on November 17. House Minority Leader Mike Lynch was pleased, but also skeptical.
“While it’s disappointing that it took the overwhelming defeat of Prop. HH to get their attention, it’s certainly my hope that the Governor and Democrats will now agree to common sense reforms to Colorado’s property tax mess and not just a simple band-aid to a complex problem. Instead of addressing the concerns of homeowners a year ago we now have only days to correct a mess that was avoidable.”
This is, of course, a politician talking. Maybe even gloating a bit. So we’re entitled to be skeptical. But the voters were a lot more skeptical of Senate President Fenberg and his friends, than they were of House Minority Leader Mike Lynch and his friends, when faced with Prop HH on the ballot.
Assuming, as we must, that both sides were delivering misinformation, the Republican misinformation was much more believable than the Democrat misinformation.
When you’re dealing with a skeptical electorate, it helps to have believable misinformation.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.