A spokeswoman for the oxymoronically named ColoradoCare has been bragging about the measure to the Denver Post, but would not divulge how close it has come to gathering the required 98,000 signatures by Oct. 23.

Here’s how the single payer scam would work: scrap Connect for Health Colorado and the hundreds of millions of tax dollars already spent, and do away with private insurance carriers.

Then, tax everything that moves or breathes to raise $25 billion a year and create a whole new government gulag to “administer the payment system and control the per-capita cost of health care by contracting with medical providers.”

And by controlling costs, that means controlling what health care we are allowed to receive. And how will that be controlled? Probably by bringing former Gov. Dick “Old People Have a Duty to Die” Lamm out of retirement to run the system.

Don’t be mad at us, Michael. You should stick to your own state.

Maximillian Potter, supposed Hickenlooper communication guru (and noted ham sandwich enthusiast) must believe any praise for liberal Gov. John Hickenlooper should be shared.  When Hickenlooper’s praises were sung in a New York Times op-ed this week, Potter made sure to tweet the link out.  Yet, he somehow failed to mention the most important part: it was written by Hick’s BFF and noted Colorado pariah Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg was last seen creeping in the shadows of Colorado politics last November, where, despite outspending opponents by a vast margin, his backing of a billion-dollar tax increase was defeated in a rout, losing by nearly a 2-to-1 one margin.  This shouldn’t be a surprise as only 3% of Americans believe taxes are too low.  Then again, what do we know, surely the nanny state can take better care of us than we can.  We kid.

Speaking of nanny-stating, before Bloomberg tried to convince us our taxes were too low, he was determined to take away our guns.  Surely he knew better, sitting all the way over there in New York City, whether Coloradans were safer with or without guns than we did.  Yet, much like his backing of the billion dollar tax, Coloradans soundly rejected Bloomberg’s opinion again.

Having seen that Coloradans view Bloomberg as wrong on taxes and guns, why would Potter think any words coming from Bloomberg’s mouth would be something Coloradans would welcome?  Unlike Potter, most Coloradans could care less about what is going on in New York City.  And, quite frankly, we’re tired of them trying to tell us how to run our state.  If we wanted to live in an over-regulated, too scared to frack, nanny-state dystopia, we’re sure we could use our independent western spirit to find a map and drive our asses there.  But, until that day comes, we’d rather Bloomberg learn a new trick, and finally keep his opinion to himself just once.

A new Cato Institute study, State Education Trends: Academic Performance and Spending over the Past 40 Years, uses adjusted state SAT score averages to track how educational performance trends compare to state spending over the last four decades.   The study’s conclusion is appalling:

The performance of 17-year-olds has been essentially stagnant across all subjects despite a near tripling of the inflation- adjusted cost of putting a child through the K–12 system.

Here is what that trend looks like in Colorado:

Conservatives have been beating this drum for a while, but it’s hard for parents to believe them when the school supply list never gets any shorter and fees keep increasing.

The truth is, too much of the money we send to our schools ends up in administration and not the classrooms.  We saw this debate play out last summer when Democrats tried to pass Amendment 66, a billion dollar tax increase for education.  While the measure failed miserably, it had more to do with the fact that voters were against the billion-dollar tax increase part rather than the spending more money on education part.

But lack of proper funding is clearly not the reason for stagnant results, and it’s time that the mainstream media start calling the Left out when they try to make that claim.

Opponents barely had two nickels to rub together.

Final results are still being tabulated but it’s all over but for the Fat Lady.

First 350K votes in on #Amendment66: 63 percent voting NO, 37 percent voting YES. #copolitics

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) November 6, 2013

With results like these, it’s virtually impossible for backers of the tax increase to make up the gap.

It looks like big money can’t buy a recall in Colorado or a tax increase.

UPDATE: The Associated Press calls it:

The Associated Press is calling it: Amendment 66 has failed. #copolitics #covote

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) November 6, 2013

Except the first $40 million goes to building schools.

Rather than admit his lie, Hick’s spokesman made a rather pathetic attempt to excuse away his flub. For some reason, the governor’s political team seems almost incapable of admitting mistakes.

And now the Denver Post editorial board is taking the governor to task, calling him “flat wrong”:

Sometimes politicians should just admit they misspoke rather than than try to explain a dubious statement away…

But instead of just saying as much, the governor’s spokesman offered this explanation:

“Public education is not the same as school construction. The governor didn’t say the money goes into the classroom. We know some of the money goes for school construction.”

Actually, funding for school construction is funding for public education. And not only that, Amendment 64 backers sold it last year in part on the basis that it funded schools.

As we pointed out yesterday, Hick’s flub has come back to bite him in more than one way. First he gets hit for lying to the public, and two he generated a round of stories about how Prop AA funds education. That is exactly what Hickenlooper and other supporters of the billion dollar income tax increase Amendment 66 hoped to avoid at the time when ballots were arriving in voters’ mailboxes.

Thanks, Hick, we opponents of Amendment 66 appreciate it.

While he may have announced his support for the tax increase behind closed doors, Americans for Prosperity Colorado want to make all Coloradans know about it.

Reports The Colorado Observer:

DENVER – A free-market group took aim at a union-backed plan to raise income taxes on Wednesday, referring to the proposal as the “HickHike,” and unveiling a new ad critical of Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper’s economic record.

The spot blasts Hickenlooper for his support of an across the board income tax hike, a controversial green energy mandate he signed into law that is expected to increase utility bills, and a much-maligned effort to create a new state logo that took over a year and cost taxpayers more than $1 million.

In addition to the ad, AFP Colorado also launched an online petition encouraging people to tell Governor Hickenlooper that they can’t afford a billion dollar tax hike.

Check out the ad below:

Now the tax hike campaign will have to have all 165,706 signatures they submitted reviewed line-by-line.

Based on the 5% random sample reviewed by Gessler’s office, the tax hike petition gatherers had a validity rate of 56% — a far, far cry from the 97% validity rate seen in the Giron recall.

This is especially embarrassing for the tax hike campaign considering they paid a Washington, DC firm — Fieldworks — over $500,000 to get this done.

Upon word breaking of the decision, conservative group Compass Colorado was out with a statement:

“It’s no surprise that an out-of-touch Washington, DC firm – paid over half a million dollars to date – struggled to properly collect signatures to put a billion dollar tax increase on the ballot in Colorado,” said Compass Colorado Executive Director Kelly Maher. “When you have East Coast and special interests entering the state to try to impose their will on Colorado’s families, the result will never be a good one.”

Maher continued: “The need for review is a huge indictment on the claimed momentum of their campaign. The people of Colorado do not want and cannot afford a billion dollar tax increase at a time when our recovery is fragile.”

Considering that the tax hikers only need a 50% validity rate to get on the ballot, as they turned in double the necessary signatures, this isn’t likely to keep the issue off the ballot, but it will provide headaches for the tax hikers and a round of embarrassing press.

Welcome to the big leagues, Curtis Hubbard.

The Aspen Daily News reports that the Aspen School Board is “struggling over” whether to support the tax increase because it would actually mean a loss of funding for Aspen schools, requiring the School Board to ask for another tax increase after the billion dollar statewide one passes.

Aspen School Board members are struggling over whether to support a proposed statewide income tax increase for education, because part of the new law would put a dent in state funds the local district receives to compensate for the area’s high cost of living…

The measure also would eliminate the existing school finance formula, which figures in cost of living in state distributions to local school districts. Aspen’s cost of living increase is one of the highest in Colorado, so the school district stands to lose millions over the long run if that metric is eliminated.

While exact dollar amounts are still being hammered out, Parker said the school board would likely come back to voters in two years to raise additional property taxes to make up for the loss funds if cost of living is eliminated from the state formula…

[Commissioner Rachel] Richards suggested to school board members that “maybe you could be neutral” on the tax increase.

Considering Aspen’s county — Pitkin — was one of only three out of 64 counties to support Prop 103 in 2011, this is not a good sign for tax hike proponents.

Someone tell Curtis Hubbard he’s got some calls to make.

All of which is to say the billion dollar tax increase is screwed.

To understand why, you simply have to look at the language voters will be reading when they receive their ballots.

Here’s the language voters saw about Prop 103 in 2011, which lost 63-37:

And, per Floyd Ciruli, here is the language that voters will see on their ballot this year:

It’s all really simple. If voters rejected an annual income tax increase of $536.1 million by a substantial 2-1 margin only two years ago, who in their right mind expects voters to pass double that amount?

Hick prefers only ribbon cuttings and bill signings be made public

In what may be the 2014 version of Mitt Romney’s 47% comments, Governor Hickenlooper recently said that he believes politicians should be able to operate through back room deals away from the glare of public scrutiny.

Hickenlooper’s remarks to Time Magazine underscore his entire leadership style — unwilling to take clear and decisive positions, the governor believes he should be able to keep his positions on public policy private as much as possible.

Reports Time’s Zeke Miller:

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a potential 2016 democratic candidate for president, has a creative — and controversial — idea for ending Washington, D.C.’s partisan gridlock: start legislating from behind closed doors and bring back the earmark.

After decades of fights for transparency in government, Hickenlooper told TIME that those well-intended initiatives are making government and lawmakers less effective. “We elect these people to make these difficult decisions, but now they are in the full light of video every time they make a decision,” Hickenlooper said at the National Governors Association meeting in Milwaukee, Wis. on Friday. “We elected these people, let them go back into a room like they always did.”

The article was first picked up by KDVR’s Eli Stokols, and the right has quickly piled on.

Conservative group Compass Colorado issued a press release blasting Hick for his pining for privacy in public affairs and tying it to Hickenlooper’s whispers of support for the billion dollar tax hike behind closed doors:

“Since Governor Hickenlooper announced his support for the billion dollar tax hike behind closed doors, it’s no surprise he advocates doing the public’s business in private,” said Compass Colorado Executive Director Kelly Maher. “Coloradans deserve better than leaders who think they can rule the state from smoke-filled rooms.”

Gubernatorial candidate Greg Brophy also took a swipe at Hickenlooper on Twitter:

Gov Hickenlooper calls for less transparency and more back room deals https://t.co/g9TmGdLM0U. Would that help hide his true political nature

— SenatorBrophy (@SenatorBrophy) August 7, 2013

Governor Hickenlooper may wish for a reprieve from public scrutiny, but thankfully he can’t sign an executive order suspending sunshine laws until the next governor.

UPDATE: The Colorado Republican Party is now fundraising off of Hickenlooper’s impolitic statement.

Dear Friend,

I can hardly believe it.

This week, Gov. Hickenlooper called for a return to the smoke filled rooms of yesterday, where politicians, special interests and lobbyists were able to work out deals that benefited themselves, but hurt the American people.

According to Time Magazine, Hickenlooper said:

“We elect these people to make these difficult decisions, but now they are in the full light of video every time they make a decision. We elected these people; let them go back into a room like they always did.”

If you’re like me, you know that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Open meetings requirements are designed to hold politicians like Hickenlooper accountable.

This is the type of radical, backward thinking that Hickenlooper has been pushing. Will you donate $25, $50 or $100 to ensure John Hickenlooper doesn’t have another term to get rid of Colorado’s Sunshine Law?