Last night the publicity surrounding Rollie Heath's tax hike buffoonery was raised to new heights. It's no longer only readers of this site or a variety of newspaper editorials that get a chance to understand how reckless Rollie and his Tax Hike Team have been in pushing their initiative. The wide world of evening newscast viewers now know how inappropriate and, in this case illegal, the Tax Hike Team's actions have been.
You can watch the entire interview by clicking here.
Channel 7 interviewed Stacy Petty, the mother who received the tax hike propaganda in her mailbox as part of the back-to-school packet for her children. It is another piece of great reporting by the team at Channel 7 who have come to be defined lately as one of the toughest teams in news in Colorado.
The comparison between Petty's interview and the legal counsel from school district Brighton 27J couldn't be more clear. Petty simply explains she thought the packet was inappropriate and was not pleased to find education dollars being spent to push a political agenda. She makes it clear that's how the packet was intended, as voter registration forms in English and Spanish were included right behind the Rollie Heath tax hike propaganda.
The lawyer, Janet Wyatt, on the other hand makes the district look even worse, saying to Channel 7:
"We would say that it may not have been the best decision that was made to include it and not include the opposing side," said Wyatt. "His wording did not encourage voters to vote a certain way."
This is some of the worst union hackery we've seen in a while. Does she think schools would be justified in sending propaganda as long as they sent both sides? Should they be writing their own blue books as well?
Channel 7 makes clear the lawyer's statement that the propaganda didn't "encourage voters to vote a certain way" doesn't even pass the straight face test. You can read the full piece of propaganda at Complete Colorado by clicking here. It is pretty obvious what its intentions are.
This scandal merely marks "the scandal before the end." As we have been hearing from inside sources, this initiative is likely to fail before it even makes the ballot. The fact that it is getting high school principals investigated and Douglas County teachers reprimanded is notable.
When was the last time you remember this much bad publicity for a ballot initiative before it even made the ballot?
Rollie has done more than just damage this initiative. The botched roll out and overall buffoonery of the team leading this tax hike has muddied the image of tax hike proponents in general. We've heard Hickenlooper has been pondering throwing his considerable political weight behind a tax hike in 2012, but under the circumstances he may be forced to reconsider.
I’m glad someone finally picked up something CompleteColorado initiates. I was beginning to think CompleteColorado was the only source I could trust.