COST (Colorado Spending Transparency) just published the following post:

“..we are a board very concerned about transparency and oversight — about letting our constituency know what it is we are doing,” Greeley Evans District 6 school board member Judy Kron said at a meeting last night.

Really?

Perhaps Kron should read COST.  Then she would know that her fellow school board member Bob Stack testified against school spending transparency just a few months ago.

The Greeley school board voted last night to ask taxpayers to shell out an additional $16 million for textbooks, academic programs and buses.  The question will be on the ballot in November.

While the school board won’t provide taxpayers with detailed spending information, the board did approve a resolution to create an “accountability committee” charged with monitoring and reporting how the additional tax dollars are spent.

According to the Greeley Tribune print edition, Kron went on to say:

It would be very nice if we could say ‘trust us,’ and you would do so.  This isn’t an age of elected officials being trusted just because we are elected officials. So we want to do all we can to assure you that we will spend the dollars as you have asked us to.

Point of clarification — the school board is the one doing the asking, not taxpayers.

Perhaps the school board and school district should have been a bit more serious about transparency and accountability BEFORE asking for more money. 

I’ll pass along COST’s advice to District 6 taxpayers:  No taxation without information.

The legislation has passed.  All that’s left is the ceremonial signature from Governor Bill Ritter with all the concerned parties in attendance.  I’m told it is common courtesy to invite the primary bill sponsor to a cermonial signing unless, of course, you are the incredibly effective freshman legislator from Loveland named BJ Nikkel. 

If you have listened to my show you know that I am a huge fan of State Rep BJ Nikkel.  Without her, there is no Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act.  She embodies what voters want from their elected officials.  She works tirelessly on behalf of her constiuents.   Rep Nikkel’s problem is that she is a Republican and a thorn in the side of Colorado’s weak Governor.

Ritter’s office paid her back by not inviting her to the signing ceremony for her bill (HB 1290) concerning tuition assistance for members of the Colorado National Guard.  In fact, they didn’t even let her know when it was.  Ritter signed the legislation, along with several others, in El Paso County on Monday, May 11.  Others legislators — mostly Democrats and Don Marostica — got the invitation.  According to a press release Ritter praised Democrat legislators:

‘Reps. Apuan and Merrifield and Sen. Morse played a key role in leading Colorado forward during the 2009 legislative session….These three lawmakers worked hard on all of those issues for their El Paso County constituents. All of Colorado also will benefit from the bills I am signing into law here in Colorado Springs today, including measures to increase bicycle safety, help National Guard members go to college, improve civil rights and assist local schools.’

While Ritter praised the “hard work” of legislators including Rep Dennis Apuan, who was a co-sponsor of Nikkel’s legislation, sources tell me that Apuan did nothing to promote the National Guard tuition assistance legislation.  Nikkel did all the heavy lifting.  In fact, a source told me that Nikkel was forced to put Apuan on the bill so that she could get her fifth bill for this session.  Each legislator is allowed five bill titles.  But because Nikkel was appointed to the vacany in HD 49 after Kevin Lundberg moved to the Senate,  House leadership was only going to allow her four bills unless….she included Apuan on HB 1290. 

Why is it important to have Apuan as a co-sponsor on legislation for the National Guard? Good question.  Apparently, Apuan, whose district includes Fort Carson, has a history of protesting the military, and Democrats want to soften his anti-military reputation.  Representative Mark Waller (R-Colorado Springs), a former military member, told Face the State in March:

Essentially the Democrats have Rep. Apuan carrying a lot of military bills, and I believe it is for political reasons…The Democrats are trying to bolster his credentials with the military. If Rep. Apuan wants to use the military for political gain, then he needs to be called on his record.

Ritter has yet to sign Nikkel’s Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act, which passed at the end of the session.  I called her to find out when he intends to do so.  The legislator known among her colleague as “Miss Transparency” has no idea.  Not that she hasn’t asked.  The Governor’s office won’t tell her.  So much for transparency from the Executive Branch.  They even keep bill signings secret.

State Representative Jim Reisberg is one of the primary sponsors of HB 1293 the Healthcare provider “fee”.   According to a new report from Independence Institute Health Care Policy Center Linda Gorman, the bill adds as much as a 5.5 percent tax to every patients’ hospital bill and could cost Colorado citizens nearly $600 million per year in increased health care costs.

HB 1293 is another example of the Colorado General Assembly’s wanton disregard for the Colorado constitution and the will of voters.  Calling this a “fee” is disingenious as best and unconstitutional at worst.  Yet given the state Supreme Court’s open hostility toward the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, all Colorado taxpayers can do is swallow another bitter tax pill.

To add insult to injury, the legislation forbids hospitals from telling patients how much they are paying.  On page 9 of the 41-page bill is this chilling line:  A HOSPITAL SHALL NOT INCLUDE ANY AMOUNT OF THE PROVIDER  FEE AS A SEPERATE LINE ITEM IN ITS BILLING STATEMENTS.

Should any Colorado resident or media outlet want to know how the tax masquerading as a fee is calculated, well they are out of luck because the legislation forbids that too. Reisberg’s bill reads:

The State Board, in consultation with the Advisory Board,  shall promulgate rules on reports that hospitals shall be required to submit for the state department to calculate the amount of the provider fee.  Notwithstanding the provisions of part 2 of article 72 of title 24, C.R.S., information provided to the State Department pursuant to the section shall be considered confidential and shall not be deemed a public record.

In other words, don’t ask any questions about how much you are paying or how the tax is calculated because it is none of your business.

According to the Tribune, Republicans tried to amend the bill to make it more transparent but failed.

Now I don’t want to be critical of the hardworking men and women of the Customs and Border Patrol Agency.  They have an impossible task — trying to keep out hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants — without all the necessary resources.  However, it seems that they are, at least somewhat, part of the problem.  According to a new investigative report from Independence Institute report and founder of Complete Colorado Todd Shepherd, Customs and Border Patrol has a difficult time keeping track of its own equipment.

The Customs and Border Patrol agency is tasked with tracking things as diverse as goods coming into the country, as well as the entry of persons (both legal and illegal) into the U.S. But according to documents obtained by the Independence Institute, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has a difficult time keeping possession of the very assets that enable them to do their job, items like computers, digital cameras, and night-vision goggles. This massive, 59 page document from the Department of Homeland Security details property that became “Lost, Stolen or Damaged” in the CBP’s control during the calendar year 2007. (The 2007 inventory is the most recently available from the Department of Homeland Security.)

A few of the missing items include:

Seems this is just another reason to embrace transparency in government – at least if we can’t get the items back maybe we will know where they go.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, State Representative Don Marostica “has gone rogue and will attempt to do away with a decades-old spending limit without any support from his party.”  

As if lifting the 6 percent spending limit isn’t bad enough, Marosita doesn’t even think voters should have a say in it.  Today, Marositca and Democrat Senator John Morse of Colorado Springs will introduce legislation “to remove the 6 percent general-fund spending limit, known as Arveschoug-Bird, that has been in place since 1991.”

Republican party leadership says that if Marostica goes forward, he does so at his own peril.  According to the Rocky, Marostica fired back “that legislative leaders are being influenced by ‘has- beens’ and ‘losers’ within the party and that he is going ahead with his efforts.”

Apparently when Marostica used the terms “losers” and “has-beens” he was referring to my boss Independence Institute President Jon Caldara and my friend and former state treasurer Mark Hillman.  

It’s my opinion that Marositca is off the reservation and has been for a while.  I was working with him on transparency.  At the end of December things began to change.  After the Governor gave Marostica credit for transparency, Marsotica pulled the legislation without telling the bill’s co-sponsor Senator Mike Kopp.

According to my sources, when newly appointed State Rep BJ Nikkel decided to bring back the legislation, Marostica threatened her politically, including to “severely embarrass” her both on the floor of the state house and in Northern Colorado.  Notice that Marostica was one of only a handful of republican state representatives that did not support Nikkel’s bi-partisan legislation.  Perhaps pride is more important than respect for taxpayers.

Marostica may want to be governor, but the best line I heard came from a prominent republican “Marostica is the only one who doesn’t know he could never win a primary.”

Here are some suggestions for things to do on Tuesday when President Obama signs legislation to “stimulate” all Americans:

West Steps of the Capitol from noon to 2 p.m.  Various groups will be there making their voices heard (since we didn’t get the promised opportunity to comment on the legislation before the votes were counted).  Transparency is a great buzz word until we get to the messiness of actually implementing it.

As I get updated information on tomorrow’s activities, I’ll post it to the Web site.

Also keep an eye on another great Web site:  The People’s Press Collective for updated information.

According to the Denver Post , “Speaker Terrance Carroll, a Denver Democrat, issued a memo Friday demanding “all lobbyists, governor’s staff, executive staff, visitors, Capitol staff and press” show some respect by use representatives’ proper titles.”

I agree with with Speaker Carroll.  As a society we have lost respect.   And I’m as guilty of it as the next person.  Yet,  I hate it when my kids’ friends think they can call me by my first name.   Unless I say specifically call me “Amy,” I expect them to call me Mrs. Cooke.   Some of my kids’ teachers have asked their students to call them by their first names.  That’s ridiculous.  I believe in respect for authority, age, rank and privledge. 

So I’m going to honor Speaker Carroll’s request and show lawmakers some “respect.”  As a taxpayer, I expect the same in return from the Colorado General Assembly.  I expect legislators to show me some “respect” by not wasting my hard earned money.  I expect legislators to show me some “respect” by showing me how they spend every dime of my money.  I expect legislators to show me some respect by not making it more expensive for me to do everyday things like drive my car.   Seriously, in the words of Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, “If we can’t fix 126 bridges, what in the world are we doing here?”  I’ll answer that, disrepecting me and my fellow taxpayers.

Please Speaker Carroll and all Colorado lawmakers, show me some respect.  Stop abusing my pocketbook.  Stop treating it as a trough for your pet programs and then forcing me, via state statute (CORA) , to shell out even more money  just to find out how government spent my money.  

The best response came from State Representative Cory Gardner (R-Yuma), “Does this mean the governor has to stop calling me jerk?”

My response is “Does this mean the Colorado General Assembly has to stop thinking of taxpayers as their meal tickets?”

I doubt it (to answer both responses), but I’m hoping for change.

The forces of evil tried to shut me up.  Eventually the righteous always triumphs over evil.   Anyways, I am back and look forward to regular blog posts once again.

You can get regular updates about my radio show, The Amy Oliver Show, at Twitter.  Visit www.twitter.com/AmyOliverShow.

Also, I’m a regular contributor to another blog Colorado Spending Transparency or COST.  As Director of the Independence Institute’s Colorado Transparency Project, I follow all aspects of transparency in government.

I’m glad to be back!