Initiative for Texas Information Bulletin # 13

Common Sense commentary by Paul Jacob
October 2002

"Superman or Ordinary People?"

Colorado's Governor Bill Owens is on a roll. The
Cato Institute gives him an A-plus rating.
National Review calls him the nation's best
governor.

While other states are facing multi-billion-dollar
budget deficits, Colorado's budget is balanced and
nearly a billion dollars was returned to the
taxpayers in tax rebates. Wow.

But as good as Governor Owens may be, Colorado's
success versus other states is not the result of a
superman governor, but of ordinary people: the
citizens of Colorado . . . with a little help from
the citizen initiative process.

Colorado is one of the 24 states where citizens
have the right of initiative and referendum, to
put measures on the ballot for a vote of the
people if they collect enough petition signatures.
So, Colorado voters passed a Taxpayer Bill of
Rights requiring any new tax increase to be
approved by voters. The initiative also limited
state spending to no more than the rate of
inflation plus population growth.

That's the real reason Colorado's state government
didn't spend like drunken sailors during the boom
years.

Compare California, where state spending has
nearly doubled in the last decade. Now, in a
slower-growth economy, California politicians are
trying to raise taxes and cover a huge deficit.

Spending other people's money is easy and fun.
That's why we have to put government on a regular
diet, the Colorado way. The citizen initiative
way.

This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.