In an article about Democratic Governor Hickenlooper’s participation at The Daily Beast’s “Hero Summit” (we know, we just choked on our Diet Coke, too), Hickenlooper discussed the upcoming vote on a tax on marijuana, Proposition AA.  Here’s what Hick told ABC‘s Rick Klein and YahooNews‘ Olivier Knox.

“We have a healthy tax on the ballot this fall to really make sure we can regulate [marijuana] properly.  We don’t want to make a profit. We’re not going to take marijuana taxes and put it toward public education or anything like that.”

The only problem?  Actually, Proposition AA does benefit schools.  In addition to the 10% sales tax that the governor, apparently, is aware of, this proposal includes a 15% excise tax that would go toward school construction.  The first $40 million of the excise tax will go toward the Building Excellent Schools Today program, which provides grants for construction and renovation of schools.

Kelly Maher from Compass Colorado weighed in on Hick’s cluelessness about the ballot measure:

“The fact that Gov. Hickenlooper, our state’s chief executive, doesn’t even know what’s on the ballot is, frankly, shocking.  This is simply another facet of his poor leadership.  His statement should cause Coloradans to question whether he has a firm grasp of other critical ballot issues.  For example, does the governor fully understand the negative impact that Amendment 66, the billion dollar tax increase, will have on Coloradans?”

Even the AP‘s Kristen Wyatt noted the governor’s mistake.

Oddly, Hick seems to almost scoff at putting sin tax revenue toward public education.  So, that’s a ridiculous idea, but asking Coloradans, who are already struggling, for another billion dollars in tax revenue for public education is completely okay?  All to pay for unfunded teachers union promises and administrative bloat.  Maybe he doesn’t recognize the strain that this will put on Colorado’s families.

Once again, Governor Hickenlooper proves just how out of touch he really is with Colorado.