Term-limited House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is busy preparing his post-legislative career. Face The State had an interesting report on Friday about the future of Democrat Andrew Romanoff.
If Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman prevails in his November bid to replace retiring Congressman Tom Tancredo, as he's expected to do, Gov. Bill Ritter will have the opportunity to appoint Coffman's replacement. Speculation has long prevailed that Ritter would pick Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, but an insider speaking off the record to Face The State now says that Ritter's selection of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is a "done deal."
While Gordon, an attorney, has long held an interest in election law and only narrowly lost to Coffman in their 2006 Secretary of State contest, Romanoff is seen as a "choice for the future of the [Democrat] party," according to the source. After being term-limited from his Denver House seat earlier this this year, Romanoff is working on finishing his law degree at the University of Denver, where he is currently enrolled in an election law course.
Why would Governor Bill Ritter choose Andrew Romanoff as Secretary of State? In addition to Romanoff's compliance on Bill Ritter's illegal property tax freeze, Romanoff is busy campaigning for the TABOR-gutting Initiative 126--Colorado SAFE.
Over the last few years, Romanoff has staked strong positions relating to Colorado's initiative and referendum process, opposing 2006's failed Petition Rights Amendment, a ballot initiative that would have expanded greater petition access to citizens. After a tax increase proposal he championed during this year's legislative session failed to garner adequate support from his fellow lawmakers, however, Romanoff utilized the initiative process himself, hitting the streets with petitions in support of his proposal to repeal the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. Earlier this month, Romanoff's Initiative 126 campaign submitted more than 164,000 signatures to the Secretary of State's office. The signatures are currently being reviewed with a decision expected within the next week about whether the measure will be on this November's ballot.
Ritter and Romanoff really want this initiative to pass. As I wrote when Andrew Romanoff began his signature drive, "A hypothetical issue could arise where the government maxes out its contributions to the fund, transfers money to CDOT, and still spend general funds like a drunken sailor due to the removal of the spending limits."
This is the purpose of this initiative. Never again will the government return unused tax revenue to the taxpayers. Instead, all this money pours into the SAFE slush fund. As there is a balance limit, the legislature must spend all the money that falls into this pot. This frees up general funds for Governor Ritter and the legislature to use as play money to their political pet projects.
One way to gauge which politically favorable groups will receive additional taxpayer dollars is to look at Initiative 126's endorsement list. The rent-seekers include the AARP, the American Institute of Architects (Colorado), numerous health care foundations (dreaming of additional state health care funding), the Colorado Bankers Association (some member bank will get a very large government slush fund out of this), the Colorado Contractors Association (fishing for government construction contracts, no doubt), and the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association (hoping for government tourism dollars).
The TABOR timeout enacted via Amendment 23 will be gone in 2010 if this is passed. However, Colorado SAFE is merely a shell game to remove the restrictions on government spending and repay its political allies with further government contracts at taxpayer expense. Andrew Romanoff's legislative legacy is this initiative. If it succeeds, Governor Ritter will hand Romanoff the Secretary of State job on a silver platter.
It is interesting to note that this initiative will provide plenty of government plunder to the "winners" if Initiative 126 is successful. Unfortunately, the only "losers" will be the diffuse interests of the actual taxpayers of Colorado.
by Civil Sense
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