Just when the right thought it would get a fair shot with The Denver Post editorial board, it would seem that the stench of Curtis Hubbard, the former editorial board editor turned Hick sycophant operative, remains. First, the editorial board came out in favor of Amendment 66, which would saddle Colorado’s families with the largest tax hike in the state’s history at a time when they’re just now recovering. The actual editorial written by the board was so reminiscent of Hickenlooper’s waffling that we swore that the embattled Democratic Governor (or his staff) wrote it.
Today, the editorial board dismissed the lawsuit that the opponents of Amendment 66 filed challenging over 39,000 additional signatures calling some of the rule breaking by the petition gatherers “nitpicky”. The article also noted:
“Other signatures should be thrown out, the suit alleges, because some circulators didn’t include their permanent address on affidavits or, for those who were from other states, their temporary Colorado addresses.
The lawsuit argues there must be “strict compliance” with various rules the petition gatherers allegedly broke and that even if courts say the standard is just “substantial compliance” with the law, Amendment 66 organizers didn’t even meet that standard.”
Substantial compliance with the law isn’t nitpicky. Why even have rules or laws if the left isn’t going to comply? It’s fairly astounding that the line-by-line signature check by the Secretary of State’s office found just a 54% of signatures were valid. It would be one thing if the pro-66 folks seemed to be cognizant and respectful of Colorado’s laws governing the petition process, but quite frankly, this group has taken shortcuts at every opportunity.
We’re amending the Colorado constitution with a massive tax increase. Shouldn’t we be absolutely sure that the process has been thoroughly followed? This is kind of a big deal. Further, this group has taken millions and millions of dollars from left-leaning organizations. We’re frankly surprised that the donors would be ok with this group not serving as good stewards of donors’ contributions.
There are a lot of reasons that a lack of compliance should concern stakeholders in this effort, but with Curtis Hubbard and the lackeys from Colorado Commits to Kids serving as the de facto Post editorial board feeding the editorial board talking points, we’re not sure that those concerns will reach stakeholders.
I'm running for our local School Board, and when I turned my petition in, the signatures and names were verified right then and there. It was (and should be a PASS or FAIL review. Had I not presented enough VALID addresses and signatures, my petition to be included on the ballot would have been dismissed. 100% agree that without meeting the requirements initially, this amendment to our constitution (not something to be taken lightly) should not even be considered.
The success of the student has just as much to do with the choices that the student makes and decisions made by the parents in making an education something important in the life of the child. Since the school system itself is only 1 part out of three, it doesn't make sense to keep throwing money at the school system where money seems to just disappear with no appreciable change in outcomes.
Until someone can produce accurate, highly detailed listings of where every penny of taxes already collected in the name of education has gone, and can prove a correlation between spending money on schools and student performance then there's not a chance I'll vote for this.