Clear The Bench Colorado editorial urging “NO” vote on four Colorado Supreme Court justices in Sunday Pueblo Chieftain

by CTBC Director | 7:07 am, March 1, 2010 | Comments Off

The Clear The Bench Colorado message is spreading around the state… Following the recent Denver Post front-page, above-the-fold coverage of the “tough vote” facing Colorado Supreme Court justices in the upcoming statewide elections this November and the resulting domination of the Post’s “letters” section the following week, Sunday’s Pueblo Chieftain published a guest editorial by Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold urging Colorado citizens to “vote against retention of four state Supreme Court justices” in the November elections. That editorial is published in its entirety below:

Clear The Bench

Vote against retention of four state Supreme Court justices By MATTHEW ARNOLD CLEAR THE BENCH COLORADO Clear the bench, Colorado! The most important four votes you can cast in 2010.  Yes, 2010 is shaping up to be a pivotal year — for our country as a whole, and for Colorado in particular.    Campaigns for governor, U.S. senator, Congress and the state legislature are already at a fever pitch. But the most important votes Colorado citizens will cast this year aren’t for any of those elected offices.   The most important votes Coloradans can cast this year are “NO” votes against the four Colorado Supreme Court justices asking to be retained in office. Did you know that 2010 is a year in which four Colorado Supreme Court justices must receive the approval of Colorado voters to stay in office? Did you know that they get 10-year terms?  Did you know that these four Colorado Supreme Court justices have done the following at the expense of democratic and representative government at the local and state level?

• Upheld the unconstitutional “mill levy tax freeze” property tax increase.
• Eliminated constitutional protections for tax credits and tax exemptions — leading to the “Dirty Dozen” tax increase bills recently passed by the Colorado Legislature.
• Enabled taxes to masquerade as “fees” —  leading to the massive FASTER car tax increase.
• Abused eminent domain laws, endangering property rights (your home or business).
• Usurped the legislative power to decide “proper” school funding levels.

   Thanks to rulings by the activist (Chief Justice Mary) Mullarkey Majority on Colorado’s Supreme Court, we’ve suffered all of these tax increases (property taxes, car taxes — er, registration “fees” —  and now the “Dirty Dozen” tax increase bills taxing everything from candy and soda, online software downloads, agricultural products like pesticides and animal drugs and hormones needed to ensure safe foods, energy used in producing every good or service in Colorado, Internet sales (they want to track — and tax — things you buy online), even doggy bags — all without a vote of the people, even though the people’s vote is required by Colorado’s constitutional Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) to approve what are, in effect, tax increases.    Did you know that the unconstitutional “Dirty Dozen” package is exploiting a few lines in last year’s “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” (property tax increase) ruling?    Last year, the Legislature found out about that part of the ruling on April 1 — only enough time for them to pass just one bill (the tobacco tax increase), just like a bad April Fool’s Day joke.    These tax “jokes” can’t be very funny to Pueblo residents, who are being hit hard by tax increases, particularly the energy tax (this year’s HB1190) and the car tax (last year’s SB108):    Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel in Pueblo, the state’s largest energy user aside from public utilities, said it may have to cut 30 to 120 jobs because of the energy tax.    The Car Tax has already hit many motorists with a $40-$50 increase (as much as triple or quadruple the previous year’s charge) in the first year alone (guess what, folks — two more years of increases to go!).    Our Constitution was written and adopted specifically to limit the scope and power of government — to restrain government, not to give the Colorado Supreme Court free rein over the rights of citizens.    Inform yourself on what the Constitution actually says — it’s your law, not theirs — and not nearly so complicated as they would have you believe.    “The ultimate touchstone of constitutionality is the Constitution itself and not what we have said about it.” — Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Graves v. New York, 1939.    Colorado Supreme Court justices are — and must be — accountable: to the law, to the Constitution, and ultimately, to the citizens of Colorado (”We The People“). Retention elections are the only mechanism by which the people of Colorado can hold our Supreme Court justices accountable.    Stand up for your constitutional rights and privileges. Don’t allow four justices of the Colorado Supreme Court to continue to rule them out of existence.    Vote “NO” on the four “unjust justices” of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez and Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) this fall. Election Day is Nov. 2.    Let’s clear the bench, Colorado! Yes, you can exercise your right to vote “NO” on the four ‘unjust justices’ of the Mullarkey Majority (Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your home and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, instead of suffering under rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!) and your contributions - and vote “NO” on retaining these unjust justices on the bench!

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