Denver Post again noted cost to taxpayers of mill levy lawsuit, but not Independence Institute's role in it

Summary: Reporting on the state House of Representatives giving preliminary approval to Colorado's 2008-09 budget, an online Denver Post article stated that a failed amendment "would have taken $150,000 from Gov. Bill Ritter's office for legal costs to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a mill levy freeze." But, just as it had in an article two days earlier, the Post omitted mention that Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, created and promoted the lawsuit.

Reporting on preliminary approval of Colorado's 2008-09 budget (HB 08-1375) by the state House of Representatives, an online March 27 Denver Post article noted that a failed amendment introduced by Rep. David Balmer (R-Centennial) "would have taken $150,000 from Gov. Bill Ritter's office for legal costs to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a mill levy freeze that opponents say was effectively a tax increase." However, similar to its March 25 article that mentioned the lawsuit, the Post again omitted the role of the "free market" Independence Institute and its president, Jon Caldara, in creating and promoting the lawsuit, as Colorado Media Matters noted.

From the March 27 online Denver Post article "House gives initial OK to state's $17.6 billion budget," by Tim Hoover:

The House gave preliminary approval to the state's $17.6 billion budget Wednesday night as lawmakers battled to get money for pet programs.

Democratic House leaders portrayed the budget as a prudent spending plan that boosts funding for early childhood education, schools and health care.

"Our goal is to invest in our children's future," said Rep. Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, the chairman of the Joint Budget Committee.

Republicans, though, zeroed in on the 1,334 new state employees who would be hired under the budget.

Rep. Douglas Bruce, R-Colorado Springs, said the spending plan represented the "steady march of this government toward socialism."

[...]

Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, offered an amendment, which was defeated, that would have taken $150,000 from Gov. Bill Ritter's office for legal costs to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging a mill levy freeze that opponents say was effectively a tax increase.

"The governor does not have to be involved in this lawsuit, should not be involved in this lawsuit, in my opinion," Balmer said.

Balmer's amendment would have diverted the $150,000 to the Colorado State Forest Service to fight wildfires.

The House must approve the budget once more before it can move to the Senate.

Despite the newspaper's previous reporting, the Post again failed to mention the role of the Independence Institute in pushing the lawsuit challenging the legality of the mill levy freeze.

Enacted into law in May 2007 with the support of Ritter, Senate Bill 199 froze mill levy, or property tax, rates in order to redistribute sources of education funding between the state and individual school districts. Shortly after Ritter signed the measure into law, Caldara likened it to "fiscal date rape" of taxpayers, as Colorado Media Matters noted. On December 13, 2007, Caldara filed a lawsuit against the state that, according to the Rocky Mountain News, "asks a Denver District Court to strike down the new law, arguing it amounts to a tax policy change and should have gone to the voters as required by the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights [TABOR]."

As the Post reported on December 14, 2007, the rate freeze is applicable only in the 175 (of 178) Colorado school districts that voted to waive restrictions on retaining and spending revenues mandated by the TABOR provisions of the Colorado Constitution. The Post also noted that Caldara was a principal organizer of the lawsuit:

Independence Institute president Jon Caldara, who helped put together the lawsuit, said the rate freeze amounts to a tax increase because it will require many homeowners to pay more in property tax than they would have under the old rules. Colorado's constitution requires voter approval of tax increases.

"It has to do with respecting the taxpayers of Colorado and asking them first," Caldara said Thursday.

But state officials who backed the freeze -- which Gov. Bill Ritter has said will raise money for education -- said the plan is not a tax increase because it does not raise tax rates, but rather holds them where they are. The freeze will generate more than $114 million extra in property taxes, according to latest estimates, but some school districts will see lower tax rates.

Colorado Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, and here) Caldara's repeated dissemination of misinformation about the mill levy freeze through the Colorado media.

—C.H.