Cash-strapped Colorado school districts have ponied up nearly $245,000 in taxpayer dollars to fund a class action lawsuit to sue taxpayers for more money for K-12 education according to a recent Face the State article.

The Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) and the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) are championing the suit, Lobato v. Colorado. In January of this year a letter signed by both organizations (and linked to on Face the State) urged every school district to donate $1 per student to pay for legal expenses.

Greeley Evans School District 6, which suffered an electoral shellacking last November when it asked voters for an enormous mill levy override, acquiesced and gave $17,856 to the cause of demanding more from taxpayers.

The letter also reveals the true intent of the lawsuit: to get rid of the popular Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).  Talking points that accompanied the letter stated:

…this lawsuit is a powerful lever to move forward fixing the constitutional restrictions that prevent Colorado from adequately funding its public schools. This will be the catalyst for funding reform that has been needed for years.

“Constitutional restrictions” is a code phrase for TABOR.  What the education/industrial complex and those who make their living off it find most annoying is having to ask taxpayers for more money. They would rather just lobby the legislature, where they enjoy a lot of influence, to raise taxes.

Learn more on Monday, when Brad Jones, managing editor of Face the State joins me at 9:30 am on the Amy Oliver Show on News Talk 1310 KFKA.

Governor Bill Ritter spent more than $200,000 on TV, photographs and videos of himself, an Associated Press investigation revealed.   According to AP, “taxpayers paid that amount for photos of the Democratic governor signing bills and attending a lavish production for the state film commission.”

Evan Dreyer, the Governor’s spokesman, says Ritter is simply “meeting increased demand” from social networking sites such as facebook and twitter as well as Web sites that are demanding better quality.  As a result:

Ritter’s official state Web page features 31 pages of photos of the governor, and he invites people to download them as well as videos from his galleries. Some were taken by state employees, while others were paid for by taxpayers. Among them: A video of Ritter at the National Western Stock Show that cost $375, and $200 in taxpayer-paid photos of Ritter signing a job creation bill in May.

Is this expenditure going to bankrupt the state? No, but as my boss at the Independence Institute Jon Caldara said, “this shows an arrogance on Ritter’s part that it’s OK to do self-promotion at taxpayer expense.”

It’s been a while since I’ve written about  the economic “fiasco” we’ve come to know as New Frontier Bank.  The Denver Post published a lengthy, two-part investigative piece on the billion dollar failed bank.  (Part 1 and Part 2)

The Post investigation found:

• With government inspections looming, the bank’s loan officers rewrote terms of delinquent loans, disguising steady asset deterioration, according to a former board member and records.

• New Frontier Bank executives staved off an effort by the bank’s federal regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., to ban one of its high-performing loan officers accused of fraud at a previous bank. Later, that officer was convicted of theft for stealing deposits at New Frontier.

• The bank’s board authorized a $400,000 payment to one of its members whose used-car business was in financial trouble, sources said, despite a state law barring preferential treatment for bank insiders.

• After regulators told New Frontier in 2008 it needed to raise cash, bankers issued loans to at least a dozen borrowers who in turn agreed to buy stock in the bank. Such transactions can be illegal if coercion is proved.

Perhaps most important is this line:  “A federal probe into potential fraud at New Frontier is underway by the Justice Department.”  This is good news.  Taxpayers, northern Colorado residents and small businesses would like to know if we are the only ones who will have to pay the price for Colorado’s largest bank failure.

Now that’s funny.  I just wish it weren’t so darn serious!  Check out Face the State’s 2009 Legislative Superlatives.  The most misguided legislator — State Rep Andy Kerr — won the honor of “most likely to get a Che tattoo” for his work on behalf of National Popular Vote, a.k.a. the Koza Scheme, and his insistance that the United States is a democracy.  Most frightening is that Kerr teaches “Social Studies.” Maybe he should learn history first.

I’m sure Rep Kerr is a nice guy but his lack of basic knowledge of American civics somehow should disqualify him from holding elected office.  Fortunately for Coloradans, Kerr’s disastrous legislation to destroy the Electoral College was killed in the Senate. 

Apparently a lot of you called the Capitol and gave him and his Democrat colleagues the business.  According to FTS, “His [Kerr's] sponsorship of the National Popular Vote bill this session sure upset a lot of people. And we mean a lot of people.”

Finally, check out who is just to the right of Kerr on the FTS Superlatives page.  Coincidence that one of Kerr’s biggest critics is next to him under the title of “Hottest Radio Host?” I hope not.

Sources tell me that the second reading for HB 1299, a disastrous piece of legislation that will render Colorado politically impotent during presidential campaigns, will be Friday, March 13.  If this passes (and sources predict it will)  Colorado will only watch as California and New York annoint our next president. 

This is an absolute assault on the Constitution and must be stopped.   It seems people and news outlets recognize this as well. The Loveland Report Herald is trying to help with this op-ed.  My friend (and fill-in host) Ross Kaminsky posted his letter on Politics West.  Slapstick Politics says,  ”If Colorado is to have an objectively relevant say in the outcome in 2012 and every subsequent presidential election thereafter, HB 1299 and its insidious intentions must be defeated soundly.”   And the Grand Junction Sentinel calls this latest effort to get rid of the Electoral College “illogical.”

I just hope it is not too late.

Give the Greeley Tribune credit for taking a stand.  The editorial board is “upset” about Republican State Senator Scott Renfroe’s comments about homosexuality when he took to the Senate floor in opposition to Democrat  Senator Jennifer Viega’s bill that would require the state to cover same sex partners that have been in a committed relationship for “one year.” 

Renfroe cited the Old Testament and explained that in the eyes of God all sin is equal.  The Tribune  editorial board wrote that it “found his Bible reference abhorrent and even dangerous. Our state senator quoted the Old Testament as saying that homosexuals ’shall surely be put to death, their blood-guiltiness is upon them.’”  The ed board went on to explain that “this quote could be seen as a call for violence against our homosexual neighbors, and that is simply unacceptable.”

The Tribune then wrote that it hopes voters make Renfroe suffer the consequences of his “dangerous” speech.

As staunch supporters of the First Amendment, we believe Renfroe has every right to voice his opinion about any subject, including homosexuality. But freedom of speech has consequences, and we hope Renfroe realizes those during the next election.

We all have issues that are dealbreakers for us.  For me it’s taxes, onerous regulation, massive deficit spending that leaves my children drowning in debt, bailing out failing industries, being lapdogs for unions, rewarding bad behavior, promoting irresponsible behavior among others.  I guess this gay “  human rights issue” is it for the Tribune.   The newspaper may want Renfroe gone, but I doubt that voters in the 13th Senate District will oust him for that — no matter how much money Tim Gill is willing to pour into the race.  Although it will be interesting to see how much money Gill et al are willing to spend to defeat one Northern Colorado legislator.

On a side note, I’m opposed to the legislation because it would cost the state $116,000 at a time when the state faces a $1 billion budget shortfall over the next 18 months; it’s impossible to verify a “committed” relationship with the “intent for the relationship to last indefinitely”; and in this legislation an adult is identified as someone “18 years of age” but in other health care legislation a dependent child can be up to 30 years old.  It’s ridiculous.

I’m hoping the St. Louis Tea Party will go down in the annals of history as a pivotal moment when individual Americans realized that for our country to survive then Barack Obama’s policies must fail because they are an economic disaster.

Some 1500 people showed up at a “tea party” in the Gateway city, my hometown, and even more showed up in Greenville, SC.  There were nearly a dozen “tea parties” throughout the nation this weekend but you’d never know from the mainstream media.  Check out coverage from the Peoples Press Collective.  From there you can see photos from all over.

Let’s sing it together:  Hey Big Spender!  I doubt Bob Fosse ever dreamed of this version of his famous Broadway number.  Face the State has done it again with a hysterical (and brutally honest) assessment of how Colorado will fare under Barack Obama’s massive spending package.  Beware:  this cartoon depiction of Governor Bill Ritter is not easy on the eyes!

Despite all Obama’s attention to and courting of Colorado, the state ended up 49th in stimulus aid and tax relief according to the Rocky Mountain News.

How does my local paper respond? With all the strength of a wet newspaper.  It is “disappointed.” But it goes on to say, referring to the pessimism that hangs over the economy,  ”that’s not what we need. We need to believe, to hope, to dream and to see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Well I’ll admit it.  I’m pessimistic.  I don’t see a “light at the end of the tunnel.” I see nothing but economic stagnation, and I’m mad as hell!   Time to attend a tea party!