Bipartisan Polarization and Voter's views on Proposition CC

Megan King

Colorado Proposition CC and TABOR

In the article, “Colorado Prop CC: Effort to end TABOR refunds fails” by Alex Burness analyzes the process and result of proposition CC on the past election. Proposition CC was a policy that the Democrats tried to pass for budget reforms, which was only denied by eleven percent of the voters (Burness). For those people in the back that may not have payed attention to the election, may ask what was Proposition CC? Well Proposition CC would let the, “state keep any tax revenues above the state spending cap” which the Democrats told taxpayers they would be refunded but not many believed that would happen (Burness). No one could guess on how much of the refund that voters would be missing out on which ties into TABOR because Colorado voters have a “yay” or “nay” in tax hikes which hasn’t had voter support in 27 years (Burness). Other challenges that the Colorado General Assembly has to tackle are the discrepancies in education including public schools and higher education, which many of Colorado voters should be aware of but they just didn’t support that type of action plan. Not to mention the money that was involved just on ads to vote “yes” or “no” campaigns for CC costed millions and millions of dollars. Therefore, the trade offs that the voters resulted in that the government was going to get more money and ruin the trust between elected officials and the voters which is crucial for the interpretation and implications of policies.

With CC, the Republicans and voters thought that there was going to be a disadvantage particularly in the refunds which the language regarding the refunds was unclear which was the main reason of why CC didn’t go over well (Burness). In the article, “Lobbying as a Legislative subsidy” by Hall and Deardorff articulates that political information, money, and the influence of power is the way to gain access to legislators. In context with CC, all the campaigns for either voting “yes” or “no” would be accessed by lobbyists who would have personal contact with either the Democrats who want them to gain the public's favor on the bill or the Republicans view of getting it shot down. In another article, “The Legislative Show and the Legislature in Law” by (JOHN) Straayer demonstrates in depth perceptions of how the Colorado General Assembly and lobbyists are a revolving door. Lobbyists are waiting in the “lobby” right outside of the House and Senate doors and ready to get to business with present or future policy negotiations. The capital does have members visit that try to express their concerns about the effectiveness of policies and procedures done by the people they voted into office however; ideology is a big peace in how negotiations and support are viewed because of the rising bipartisanship in government. Lobbyists have to be as informative and cost effective as the Representatives that they meet and support.

Raising taxes is a very unfavorable policy proposal in general, which is another reason why CC did not pass. The governor’s office predicted that if CC passed, it would add another sixteen million from K-12 and university level schooling (Frank). Democrats will just have to find another policy to include increase funding in education and transportation, which are the lowest tax rates in Colorado. In terms of representation, the Democrat governor will have a hard time with re-election since Proposition CC, which he supported, not only didn’t go through but was unfavorable in the eyes of the public. The fact that the policy was unfavorable might result in the governor losing a couple of votes because not only does policy outcomes influence voter outcomes especially when analyzing if the governor’s political and policy activities were efficient enough. There also might be a new consensus in trying to get better voter turnout in non-Presidential election years, which is very common, and trying to get people better involved in what policies are involved on ballots (Frank).

In conclusion, Proposition CC, the Colorado General Assembly, all of the lobbyists involved as well as the voters all impact policy turnout and policy implications. TABOR, the CO Bill of Rights, and voter rights all deal with the impacts of how certain policy topics like Proposition CC which dealt with taxes have to be voted on, not just passed through the Colorado General Assembly Houses. Proposition CC was the Democratic Governors policies which much of the Colorado population did not agree with the language, representation, and taxation process if the policy were to be implemented. The image that I chose is to implement how close Prop CC really came to becoming a law despite all the backlash it got from voters.