Now-Governor Jared Polis spent the 2018 campaign promising loads of “free” stuff for Coloradans. After watching his first State of the State speech at the Capitol yesterday, it appears he wasn’t kidding, save for the actual price tag that accompanies all of his “free” stuff.
Polis, you’ll remember, enjoyed near-universal media immunity during last year’s campaign. Rather than describing his proposals for what they are (think “prohibitively costly,” “economically destructive,” or simply, “insane”), most Polis-related headlines described his plans as being “ambitious” or “bold.”
If applied to the home front, it looked something like this:
Husband (Polis): “Hey wife, I’m going to go max out all of our credit cards and buy a Rolls Royce.”
Wife or Partner (Media): “That is remarkably ambitious of you, babe. A bold decision that will likely impact our future.”
In that context, color us amused when, in the wake of Polis’ “YOU GET A FREE EDUCATION! YOU GET A FREE ROAD! YOU GET FREE RENEWABLE ENERGY!” screed, some of his cheerleaders in the media started asking questions (most, of course, preferred to stick with laudatory iterations of “ambitious”). This headline from KDVR is probably our favorite (emphases ours):
“Gov. Polis lays out bold agenda in State of the State, but how will he pay for it?”
That single headline is everything. It appears Polis will never stop receiving high-fives for promising to blow the roof off of Colorado with spending, but now that he’s actually in office, it may be worth asking, specifically, how it’s going to get done.
Spoiler alert: it’s going to get done with your money. Enjoy.