A special session of the Colorado Legislature would reward bullies

The whole heft of Colorado state government seems to be no match against corporate bullies when they decide to throw their weight around.

We’re reminded of this imbalance almost every legislative session or election, and the latest sign of it emerged this week when CPR reported Gov. Jared Polis might call a special session of the Legislature to pass more property tax cuts, even though lawmakers already passed substantial cuts only three months ago.

Though those cuts were part of a bipartisan bargain that was widely praised, they were partly the result of strong-arm tactics by conservative special interests. Yet those groups aren’t satisfied, and an appeasement mentality among state officials has taught the groups how readily their ransom demands will be met.

They abuse the citizen initiative process to extract concessions, and they scoff at compromise. Elected officials at the Capitol should not tolerate this perversion of lawmaking, where shadowy political operatives and profit-minded business executives are permitted to co-opt state government as a subsidiary. They must reclaim their authority, and if the governor calls a special session of the General Assembly, members should decline to participate.

Coloradans in recent years have seen their property taxes increase with rising home values. A pair of deep-pocketed groups, Advance Colorado and Colorado Concern, exploited this problem to back ballot measures that would impose draconian tax cuts. Facing the prospect of financial devastation to education, fire protection and other local services across the state, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle produced a celebrated legislative achievement, a bill that enacted a revenue cap and an assessment rate cut. Crucially, the bill also ensured local services could be maintained.

The people won. But outside meddlers wanted more.

Advance Colorado and Colorado Concern have continued to pursue Initiative 50, a severe cap on property tax revenues, and Initiative 108, a bluntforce cut of assessment rates. These measures “will destroy funding at the state level, and local governance,” Scott Wasserman, former president of the Bell Policy Center, told Newsline in May.

Instead of standing up for communities that would be harmed, elected state officials are bending to the will of bad actors. Polis and top state lawmakers are “considering a deal that could result in lawmakers returning to the Capitol and passing another round of property tax rate cuts this month, in exchange for the groups pulling the November ballot measures,” CPR reported.

This is like negotiating with hostage-takers. And the same principles advise against doing it — they’ll learn that the practice works, and the hostage-taking will never end. Those who could be most hurt by the ballot measures understand this.

“We have little faith that an agreement will prevent the proponents from future proposals to cut taxes even more deeply,” Ann Terry, CEO of the Colorado Special District Association, wrote in a letter to lawmakers, according to Colorado Politics.

In fact, the property-tax drama at the Legislature this year closely resembled a similar game of chicken in 2022, when Colorado Concern used the threat of a property-tax ballot measure to push the whole state Capitol around.

Advance Colorado is a conservative “dark money” nonprofit, and there’s no transparency on the motivations of its anonymous supporters. Colorado Concern represents top business executives and was founded by Larry Mizel, a high-profile fundraiser for former President Donald Trump. It’s very hard for them to claim to be acting on behalf of the people.

The citizen initiative process is supposed to give Coloradans a way to bypass representative institutions when they become unresponsive to the people’s preferences. But groups like Advance and Concern turn this ideal on its head. They leverage ballot measures to overrule responsive government policy that their supporters happen to dislike. Since it can cost up to $2 million to gather enough petition signatures for a ballot measure, private wealth has an overwhelming advantage over individual citizens, who are mostly priced out of the process. And conservatives understand that bad-faith tax cuts are easy to sell at the ballot box while the actual business of governing involves tradeoffs and thoughtful analysis.

Lawmakers should stop letting themselves be usurped. If Polis calls a special session, they must meet, but they don’t have to go along with it. Under the Colorado Constitution, they can simply adjourn without taking up any property tax issues.

That might not avert the placement of policy bombs on the ballot. But at least lawmakers can say they refused to be manipulated under threat of destruction.