Union of Taxpayers flunks state Dems

Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

This just in from the Department of No Surprises:

The Democrats in charge of state government have earned an F for their voting performance during the last legislative session from the conservative Colorado Union of Taxpayers.

Republicans, meanwhile, consistently rated higher when it came to voting the way the organization said they should on about 25 bills.

Former Rep. Penn Pfiffner, who heads the group, said the ratings show that the state's Democratic lawmakers are tax-and-spend power-grabbers who are not trying to actually solve problems.

Gov. Bill Ritter, for example, sided against taxpayers' interests 23 out of 25 times, earning an "8 percent" rating, Pfiffner said. Ritter's Republican predecessor, Bill Owens, earned a 50 percent rating last year.

"As governor, he teamed with the Democrat-controlled legislature to create and pass laws which move toward socialized medicine, transfer dollars from one group to another, and put government more 'in your face' than ever before," according to the group's annual report. "He did, at least, veto the union 'payback' bill; but has been working since to make it up to them."

Also predictably, Democrats rolled their eyes Monday at the group's 31st annual ratings.

"We could have stood on our heads, danced and sang, been very entertaining and still gotten F ratings," Ritter's spokesman Evan Dreyer said. "This is clearly ultra-partisan, ultra-petty and ultra-out of touch."

The group gave "Taxpayer Champion" titles to Sen. David Schultheis and Reps. Bill Cadman and Kent Lambert, all Republicans from Colorado Springs, for voting with the group 100 percent of the time.

Tied for last place were 10 Democratic senators and 11 Democratic representatives, including House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. Each voted with the group only once out of 25 times.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059