Making Edsels Print E-mail
Monday, 18 June 2007

Legislative assembly line lacks quality control

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial 

06/15/07 

Gov. Ritter's Magical Mystery Bill-Signing Tour mercifully came to a close late last week, marking the official end of the 2007 legislative session. From our pro-liberty perspective, there wasn’t much to cheer. The final tally of 467 bills approved and only eight bills vetoed is an unsettling barometer of where the state is headed with Democrats in complete control. As believers that more law-making — or should it be called law-manufacturing? — almost invariably results in less personal and economic freedom, we regret this year’s lopsided tally. It actually made us nostalgic for the days when we had “Veto” Bill Owens to shoot down the silliest laws rolling off the legislative assembly line.
There's a place in the world for legislation, or God wouldn't have cursed the world with politicians. But if you think of each of the 467 approved measures as another law on the books, another rule to administer and enforce, something else to pay for and an incremental increase in state power, the scales tipped dangerously in favor of the state this session.

"New bills relate to growth in government," noted State Sen. Nancy Spence (R-Centennial). Ritter “indicated that he was going to govern from the center and the center, to me, doesn't mean growth in government."
Perhaps laws were approved that leave Coloradans more free, more independent and more economically empowered than they were before the session. Perhaps they owe less to the tax man as a result. We challenge readers to bring these bills to our attention. Most of the approved measures do the opposite.
Is Colorado better off as a result? Only if our quality of life is measured by the size and power of the state.
With Democrats in charge of the executive and legislative branches, and with checks and balances suspended, we didn't honestly expect Ritter to go nuts with the veto pen. But eight of 475 isn’t a batting average that will earn Ritter credibility as a centrist. With only a few exceptions, he came away looking like a rubber stamp for liberal legislators.
Ritter would have looked foolish not vetoing bills that dragged the state into regulating interior designers, athletic trainers and physical education teachers. Two tougher calls for Ritter, politically speaking, were his vetoes of HB-1072, which would have made it easier to establish union shops in Colorado, and HB-1313, which watered-down standards for proof of identity and citizenship when seeking a driver's license. At least in these cases, we saw glimmers of courage.
We could take the rest of this space listing bills Ritter should have vetoed. But they’re on the books now and Coloradans will have to live with the consequences.
We just worry about the implications for the state’s economy and business climate, for our liberties and our paychecks, if there’s no quality control inspector standing at the end of the legislative assembly line, with a more discerning eye for the Edsels that roll by.
 

Faces in the Crowd