In a stinging defeat for teachers' unions, Colorado's liberal political network, and a brazen group of Democrat legislators who dared to ask for higher taxes in a record-breaking recession, Proposition 103 was soundly rejected by the voters tonight, losing statewide by almost 30% with almost half of the ballots in.
Now we guess we know why Governor John Chickenlooper Hickenlooper hid from taking a position. The Governor must have a pretty good pollster who told the state's CEO that this one was headed down in flames.
And down in flames is an exactly accurate description, as the initiative was resoundingly rejected by voters from liberal counties like Pueblo to conservative counties like Mesa. In Mesa county, which had the highest turnout of any major county going into election day, unofficial results on the clerk's website show the ballot measure losing with a whopping 75% NO vote.
In Jefferson County, one of the most pivotal to Barack Obama's chances next year, the unofficial results show voters rejecting higher taxes at a 2:1 ratio. That's what you might call a harbinger of doom for Obama's political lackies sitting in campaign headquarters in Chicago.
JeffCo was the site where Compass Colorado waged a spirited battle to defeat the measure. And it showed.
Tyler Q. Houlton, the President of Compass Colorado, had this to say about Prop 103's defeat:
Liberal special interest groups, and their allies in Colorado’s Legislature, simply do not understand that multi-billion dollar tax hikes lead to massive job loss and stifle economic recovery. Fortunately for our economy, Coloradans rejected this job-killing $2.9 billion tax hike that was never guaranteed to fund Colorado schools in the first place. The failure of Proposition 103 is a major set back for all left-leaning organizations that plan to force more tax hikes on next year’s ballot.
This is not the result Rollie Heath was looking for, nor was it one that gives any confidence to backers of Obama or the liberal political establishment who were hoping to run a bigger tax increase next year.
While Obama may be personally popular among Coloradans, his tax and spend agenda has been thoroughly rejected by citizens of the Centennial State.
Tonight's vote was a repudiation of state Senator Rollie Heath (D-Boulder), state Senator Evie Hudak (D-Westminster) and the liberal tax hike team who were too slow witted to get that a Great Recession is no time for a great big tax increase.
Good morning CPP, after reading your article “PROP 103 GOES DOWN IN FLAMES”, I see where you have mentioned “While Obama may be personally popular among Coloradans, his tax and spend agenda has been thoroughly rejected by citizens of the Centennial State.” I don’t know if a tax increase like Proposition 103 will really translate to an anti-BHO sentiment. Obviously the worst thing the president has going for him is the high unemployment rate the dismal state of our country’s economic health, coupled with the genuinely negative overtones his administration has toward cooperation with political rivals and lack of transparency, as is the case with Solyndra, “Fast and Furious”, and political donors entering and exiting the White House.
It will be interesting to see if the electorate’s position on Prop 103 translates to Red State/Blue State voting in 2012. But I believe at this juncture, with almost exactly a year to go, there are a lot of factors that can still change the dynamics of the 2012 race.