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Marostica sorry for calling GOP leaders 'losers' and 'has-beens'

By Ed Sealover, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 19, 2009 at 7:26 p.m.
Updated February 19, 2009 at 7:26 p.m.

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Don Marostica

Photo by Dennis Schroeder © The Rocky

Don Marostica

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Rep. Don Marostica will apologize to Republican leaders he called "losers" and "has-beens" but will push forward with a spending bill that has turned some in his caucus against him.

The Loveland Republican appeared at a Thursday news conference with Sen. John Morse to announce the duo's sponsorship of Senate Bill 228, which would repeal Colorado's 6 percent general-fund spending limit.

Known as Arveschoug-Bird, it restrains the growth of budgets for departments such as higher education and human services.

Marostica's appearance at the news conference came one day after he was pulled into two meetings with House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, to discuss GOP opposition to the bill.

Upon learning that prominent Republicans — including Independence Institute President Jon Caldara, former Senate president John Andrews and former treasurer Mark Hillman — were exerting pressure to kill it, he told the Rocky Mountain News: "They're has-beens. They're losers."

That remark earned the second-term legislator a meeting with state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams at which Marostica got their phone numbers and agreed to apologize. But despite rumors of a push to strip Marostica of his post on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, party leaders did not punish him.

"They're still fellow Republican Party members," Marostica said of Caldara and the others after the meeting. "We've got to agree to disagree and move on."

Now he and Morse, D-Colorado Springs, must rally support to repeal the limit, an action the Office of Legislative Legal Services has said could only be done by a vote of the people. The issue is whether the 1991 law was wrapped into the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights when the constitutional amendment was passed.

The limit is particularly hard in times like now because essential services that are cut during a recession won't get a big infusion of money to restore them when the economy recovers, Morse said.

Sen. Al White, R-Hayden, predicted that with the current infusion of government money into the economy, the country would see hyperinflation, with rates rising 15 to 18 percent, in the next three to five years. Because the state constitution requires education spending to rise annually by the rate of inflation plus enrollment growth, the 6 percent general-fund growth limit essentially would mandate that all other services get cut, he said.

White withdrew his co-sponsorship of the bill earlier this week, however, leaving Marostica as the only Republican backing it.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, said the 6 percent growth limit has kept spending in check and allowed Colorado to avoid a huge deficit. He is also concerned that eliminating the cap will cut transportation funding, since money over the cap is directed now to roads and capital construction.

Comments

  • February 19, 2009

    7:37 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    sawzallartist writes:

    I love the thought of Caldera and his ilk considered leaders of the modern gop.....

    Darkest before dawn....lets hope enough gop types believe in a round earth so they can catch up and we have a two party system again.

  • February 19, 2009

    7:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    The_Punnisher writes:

    My only comment:

    Don't you wish that we still had a DUELING tradition in this country?

  • February 19, 2009

    7:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    sawzallartist writes:

    Punisher

    now you are channeling Zell Miller

  • February 19, 2009

    7:58 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    The_Punnisher writes:

    I thought that the only person who was a sawzallartist was the former spokesperson for Millwaukee Tools:

    " Sawzall, for those MAN-SIZED jobs"

    -Jeffrey Dahmer

    Actually, I'm channeling the Founding Fathers. They are rather upset at what has been done to the Constitution and the Judiciary..

  • February 19, 2009

    8:21 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

    There might be inflation but the CPI will never admit it.

    Marostica should leave the party, he is more and more a Democrat everyday. Take Al White with you. The Dems want you back.

  • February 19, 2009

    9:15 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    fifty writes:

    Nothing like having to apologize for truthful free speech.

  • February 19, 2009

    9:15 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    wisdomwriter writes:

    Caldara who? John "grumpy old man" Andrews? Mark Taxman? Please spare me the noise these three make. I am Republican and could not agree more with Marostica's assessment.

  • February 19, 2009

    10:56 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    NotSoros writes:

    Let see, $400,000,000 out of a $16,000,000,000 budget is about 2.5%. That comes to about $100 per resident out of a $4000 tax bill (there are about 4,000,000 residents in Colorado. There will be an additional federal taxpayer bill of $10,000,000 per taxpayer to pay for the "stimulus" at nearly $1,000,000,000,000 covered by roughly 100,000,000 US taxpayers.

    Bigger, more intrusive government is not the solution. There was more spending and government growth under Bush. It didn't work. Now we have even more and even bigger government coming and no looser, has-been Republicans should participate.

  • February 20, 2009

    10:19 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SlouchingTowardBoulder writes:

    "Upon learning that prominent Republicans — including Independence Institute President Jon Caldara"

    Caldara is not and never has been a Republican. He has repeatedly stated that he is a Libertarian through and through.

    Poor reporting here.

  • February 20, 2009

    10:41 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    enough321 writes:

    Apologized? Another flip-flopping Republican.

    Maybe he should have called them a couple of d*ck wadhams.

  • February 20, 2009

    12:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Igetthebill writes:

    All this talk about spending more and even removing the 6% spending limit currently in our Colorado law, duly passed by the people. More trillions of dollars spent by the federal government with no regard to where it comes from.

    Well, I know where it comes from!! It comes from me and every other taxpayer in the country and our children and grandchildren, etc.

    We hear comments from both parties on how to spend the money and which party is the best and which party is "the most for the people".

    Well, where is the party of "none of the above?" How about no more bailouts, no more spending limit removal, no more foriegn aid until our country is solvent, no more economic bailouts for stupidity, and so many other things that WE the taxpayer can't afford. How about food on the working mans' table, how about a GOOD quality public education, not a system that is designed for the aid and comfort of the administration and teachers but designed for the education of our children. How about no more "nanny" legislation. How about personal responsibility not government welfare at we the taxpayers expense!!!!!

    Where has common sense and fiscal responsibility gone in our government? Have all the elected officials gone mad?

  • February 20, 2009

    5:41 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Lowtaxequalsfreedom writes:

    Any politician who wants to lift the 6% cap is no Republican.

    If we do not have two distinct party's, one for larger gov one for smaller, then we have nothing at all!