Tag: Mike Feeley

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) has been part of life in Colorado since 1992. Today TABOR was tested in court for the first time in Kerr v State of Colorado. Today's hearing--on a motion by the state to dismiss the suit--may be the end, or it may be the first step in a long hard road.

For somebody often awkward in his public speeches, prone to stutter-stepping his way through sentences, Governor-elect John Hickenlooper has superb skills as a salesman. Maybe it goes back to his days as a barkeep in Denver’s LoDo, bantering for a moment before moving onto the next table. Now he’ll be using those same skills as a street-savvy, business-friendly Democrat who will also become the most public face as state government faces the need to quickly cut $1.1 billion from the state budget.

This year will go down for many things, but one connecting string of stories stand out: Face it, if you ask most Coloradans what they remember most about the four-month long legislative session, their response is, sadly, predictable. Douglas Bruce kicked a photographer in the knee. And, as columnist Al Lewis noted, Douglas Bruce kicks like a little girl. That was just the beginning.

Let's review. What happened besides Rep. Douglas Bruce leveling his latest effrontery at Mexican migrant workers as "illiterate peasants?" Well, there was that mob...