Colorado Springs Gazette editorial

John Morse, a freshman lawmaker who represents the Springs area’s Senate District 11 at the Capitol, has managed to become a patron saint of unpopular causes after only his first term in the Statehouse. For example, he championed the bureaucracy over the citizenry by criticizing (and, at first, voting against) a bill to lower copying fees for public documents. Morse was among a handful of lawmakers in either party to oppose, vehemently, a bill letting grocery chains offer gasoline discounts to motorists. Fortunately, both measures became law anyway, winning bipartisan support.

Most recently, Morse penned a letter to The Gazette chiding the taxpaying public for thinking it knows how to spend its money better than the government does. Morse, a Democrat, was taking exception to an earlier missive on our pages from the Senate’s top Republican, Colorado Springs’ Andy McElhany. The veteran McElhany had written to criticize the way lawmakers in both parties had diverted highway funding over the years in order to grow other government programs.

Morse begged to differ, suggesting the real reason highways have been shortchanged is, “tax cuts, TABOR refunds and a recession.” To be sure, those have played a role in overall budget constraints; whether they — or spendthrift lawmakers — are to blame for the transportation backlog is another debate. What troubled us most about Morse’s latest outburst, though, was this sarcastic slap: “But you can spend your money better than the government, right? You have been told that for years, perhaps to the point you believe it. OK, take your $30 per year in tax savings and pave the road in front of your house.”

Ouch. In one fell swoop, he was telling anyone and everyone — and presumably a lot of his own constituents — that they are both gullible and stingy.

No one we know of is suggesting that people should pave their own roads. Quite the contrary, McElhany just wants his fellow lawmakers to leave more money in the till to attend to that task.

At the risk of oversimplifying matters, it seems like Morse blames the people who give government its funding; McElhany blames those who spend it. Human nature being what it is, we would say McElhany is much closer to the mark.