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.

It’s no news flash that Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s bid for a second term to represent the 4th CD is in doubt.  However, if Markey wins re-election and Democrats retain control in the state house, they have plans to make sure Markey’s seat is never again in jeopardy.

David Thielen, a Boulder County Democrat and contributor to the Huffington Post, blogged during the county assembly and provided some insight as to their strategy courtesy of Democrat Congressman Jared Polis who spoke on Markey’s behalf:

Now going in to speaking for Betsy Markey - “the fighting 4^th Congressional District.” Talking about the tremendous impact and difference that Betsy has made (boy is that true!). Then discusses getting Betsy in this time, then with redistricting we can make her seat safe (I think Betsy can hold it without redistricting - but hey, every little bit helps)

In other words, the Democrats plan to change the boundaries of the 4th CD to Markey’s benefit. Republicans in the 4th CD, consider yourself warned. As I said at the Weld County GOP assembly when I spoke on behalf of Scott McInnis, the election of 2010 is the most important in a very long time.

While asking for his party’s nomination for  candidate  for Sheriff at the Weld County GOP caucus on Saturday, Sheriff John Cooke received three standing ovations.  It’s understandable why. Crime rates and response times are down in the nearly 4000 square miles that make up one of Colorado’s largest counties.

During his speech Cooke held up a copy of the Denver Post and told the delegates that he serves them and not those in Denver or at the state capitol. He referenced a an editorial that took him to task for saying he will encourage his deputies to use their discretion when enforcing the new enhanced emissions area, which requires nearly all Weld County residents to pay $25 to get an emission test when getting license plate tags renewed.

Cooke told the Post:

I’ll tell them [deputies] to use their best judgment and not necessarily write that ticket….It’s already affecting the poorest people in this community, and I would rather have the person going to work rather than trying to run around and come up with $800 to fix his car.

Older vehicles are most likely to fail, thus hurting those who can’t afford late model cars.  The new law will cost Weld County residents millions of dollars at a time when the County can least afford it.  Weld County still is grappling with the collapse of New Frontier Bank and the second highest unemployment rate in Colorado.

Cooke and others including Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway do not support the new law and argue it will hurt the least among us and that Weld County’s air already is clean.  Working with the oil and gas industry, which spent some $30 million, Weld County is in compliance — within the allowable limits for ozone pollution.  Denver merely wants our clean air so it can comply with new EPA standards. From the perspective of Weld County residents, Denver needs our clean air and we have to pay for it.

Memo to the Post editorial board: if you drive even one mile-per-hour over the speed limit and law enforcement sees you and doesn’t ticket you, that officer is using his “best judgment.”

As much as the delegates applauded Cooke for all of the above, his staunch support for the Second Amendment brought down the house. He believes it is the right of every individual to protect himself, his family and his property.  The loudest and longest standing ovation came when he said, “I haven’t and won’t put the name of any concealed weapons permit holder into a statewide data base.  It’s none of the state’s business…”

As a conservative, I was proud to be on the stage with him along with State Senator Scott Renfroe, Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner, Firestone Police Chief David Montgomery all of whom spoke on the Sheriff’s behalf.

As John’s wife, I understand why they cheer him. I love him too.

Delegates gave him what he asked for — their support and the nomination.

Thanks to Complete Colorado for leading with this story from CNN: 33 states out of money to fund jobless benefits.  Colorado is one of them having borrowed $186 million from the federal government.

So let’s get this straight — a state that is required to have a balanced budget borrows from the federal government, which is already over $12 trillion in debt.  Colorado’s unemployment rate is rising, but at 7.7 percent it is still lower than the national average of just under 10 percent.  Maybe the state just couldn’t cut those road trips to Beaver Run Resort.

Question is who will pay for it? For taxpayers it doesn’t matter if the money comes from the state or the federal government.  It still comes out of our pocket.

Once again, I want to extend a big huge thank you to State Rep John Kefalas!  As a mom I can’t imagine how I would “manage” raising my kids without the  Fort Collins Democrat to make my parenting life easier.

According to Colorado News Agency reporter Debi Brazzale, Kefalas’s legislation HB 1147 will make it a crime for anyone under the age of 18 to ride a bike, scooter, skateboard and even in-line skates without a helmet.

The proposed new law doesn’t carry any real punishment.  According to Kefalas the purpose of the law is to provide parents with another idol threat with no real consequence.  Brazzale quoted him, “We’re saying ‘It’s the law. You have to have a helmet if you’re a minor, but we’re not going to punish you.”  I’m sure my kids won’t see through that!

The bill passed the House Transportation Committee and is awaiting second reading.

I want to send a thank you card to State Rep John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins).

In a press release bragging about the House Health and Human Services Committee passing his “Transparency Trojan Horse” bill, a.k.a. HB 1330 The Health Care Cost Transparency Act, Kefalas said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”  In other words, Kefalas needs to measure the quality of my health care so that he can manage it for me and my family.  Thank Goodness!  I’ve been waiting for someone to take care of me and my children.  What a relief!

HB 1330, the All-Payer Database,  is dangerous because it creates a database with all your personal health care transactions.  It grants unlimited power to the state’s Executive Director of Health Care Policy and Financing to mandate the collection of any health care data, to conduct audits, to give the data to third parties without seeking permission and to impose unlimited fines for refusing to provide data to the database.

Just think…all your personal health care information forced to be made available to the state so it can “manage” it for you!

Independence Institute Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman warns the state may have access to individual information on physical functioning, medical treatment, supposed mental stability, marital problems, family structure, sexual habits, addictions, adherence to government health recommendations, and individual financial arrangements.

Remember it’s for your own good.  How else can the state “manage” your health care for you?

Also troubling, transparency means citizens get to see inside government, and NOT the other way around.  Funny, some Democrat lawmakers were so worried about privacy issues when Rep BJ Nikkel presented her Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act that required the state to provide detailed spending information.  No such concern from them with HB 1330.

Check out Linda Gorman’s excellent analysis of the “Trojan Horse Transparency.”  Also call John Kefalas and thank him for being willing to “manage” your health care.