Tom Tancredo posts his platform for jobs, modernizing government, securing Colorado

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 11:31 am, July 29, 2010

Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo has posted a modestly ambitious plan for making Colorado a strong and prosperous place to run a business and raise a family.
His four-point agenda for Creating Jobs looks like a good conservative, pro-business, pro-worker platform. Unlike Scott McInnis, Tancredo is intellectually honest about how little power a Colorado governor has when it comes to creating jobs. That is, a governor has no power over the nation’s fiscal or monetary policies or its labor laws, environmental laws or international trade agreements. The plan with my comments in italics:

Restore the business sales tax exemptions that were eliminated by the Ritter “Dirty Dozen” Tax hikes, the Senior Homestead Exemption, and roll back the mill levy freeze.
Repeal the job-killing Business Personal Property Tax. This probably would bring more than enough new jobs to Colorado  to cover the lost tax revenues, and it would encourage much more capital investments in the state.
Revisit and revise harmful Ritter-era regulations, including the restrictive new oil and gas regulations. Colorado’s regulations favor huge companies that have staff who deal with such regulations. The Ritter regulations are anti small business and small employer. They discriminate against small, Colorado-based exploration and production companies and drive them to other states.
Protect American workers (and help honest employers ensure that their employees are legally in the country) through the use of a mandatory workplace verification system such as E-Verify. Every honest employer is for this plan. Employers who exploit underpaid illegals and the lawyers, educators, health workers and social workers who profit from helping illegals oppose fixing the system. Illegal immigrants distort American labor markets in favor of unscrupulous employers and against under paid American workers.

His four point agenda for Modernizing Government (instead of Fiscal Conservatism as posted yesterday) looks conservative, but not all independents will go for it. My comments are in italics:

Build a “zero- based” budget. Lots of politicians have proposed this over the years. I don’t know that any legislatures ever went along. Colorado has a weak governor form of government, and I doubt this is doable.
Restore the limit on state spending. This is a really broad statement. Would this be done in cooperation with the General Assembly or by ballot initiative?
Achieve cost savings by contracting with the private sector, where appropriate, to carry out certain state services. This makes a lot of sense provided that the state retains the powers and hires the talent needed to ensure that private contractors improve the quality of state services while containing or reducing expenses. Today, we contract out road building and other construction services in ways that encourage over building. Contractors are major contributors to Colorado’s political campaigns, and they contribute to the candidates who they think will spend the most money on their services and will hire them.
Refuse federal dollars that come with unsustainable, long-term state spending commitments or harmful federal mandates. Nice and idealistic but a not totally practical plan. If we don’t take our dollars from the Fed, New York, Illinois and other unionized and nearly bankrupt states get them. Tancredo needs to explain which dollars he would take and which he wouldn’t. The General Assembly may not go along.

Securing Colorado is the agenda everyone’s waiting to see. It looks great to me. I think it will appeal to most conservatives who aren’t trying to exploit illegal immigrants’ low wage demands, and a lot of independents will like the plan. Republicans who want to see this plan implemented must help the GOP take back the legislature and elect Tancredo. The plan:

Implement tough new Arizona-style interior and employer enforcement laws.
Withhold state funds from local governments that enact so-called “sanctuary policies”
Oppose providing taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition benefits to illegal immigrants.
Audit state and local government compliance with state immigration laws.

LINKs:
Tom Tancredo for Governor.

Scott McInnis, John Hickenlooper punt on Colorado’s budget problems

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 7:58 am, June 22, 2010

Can Republican Scott McInnis and Democrat John Hickenlooper continue to punt when asked how they’ll balance Colorado’s budget?
That’s what they’re doing, according to a story by Tim Hoover. And they’ll both get away with it unless one of them shows he’s serious about being governor and stops blowing off Colorado’s voters.
They’re both being irresponsible. Neither has studied the budget or really knows what to do. McInnis says he’ll restore the struggling Colorado economy. That is just nonsense. No governor, no President and no politician is going to fix the economy and thereby increase tax collections. The politicians, in fact, are doing all they can to kill jobs, especially the Obama Democrats. Hickenlooper obviously wants to increase taxes and spending, but he won’t admit it.
At this point, Colorado voters are in for a frustrating gubernatorial campaign. Neither candidate has done or is willing to do his homework and talk straight about the state’s budget.
Who will voters trust? Why will they trust either of these guys? The governor’s race is shaping up to be a personality contest, and that will be tough for McInnis.

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