Independence Institute's Caldara again used public broadcasting to dispense mill levy misinformation

Summary: Independence Institute President Jon Caldara used his position as host of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking to repeat his misleading claim that the Colorado Children's Amendment "didn't give a penny to kids." Colorado Media Matters repeatedly has pointed out that a legislative analysis and the text of the law state that the measure would increase spending on preschool education and minimum per pupil funding.

On the June 19 broadcast of public television KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking, host and Independence Institute President Jon Caldara repeated his assertion that the 2007 Colorado Children's Amendment (SB 199) "didn't give a penny to kids. It gave all the money to the General Assembly" to spend "any way [they] want." In fact, as Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly (here, here, here, and here) when Caldara made similar claims on a previous Independent Thinking broadcast, on his Newsradio 850 KOA radio program, and in a June 15 guest commentary in The Denver Post, the bill's fiscal note, prepared by the nonpartisan Colorado Legislative Council Staff, estimated that because of initiatives mandated by the legislation, SB 199 would increase spending on preschool education by $6.7 million in FY 2007-08 and by $19.1 million in FY 2008-09. Additionally, the law phases in an increase in minimum per pupil state funding above levels mandated by the Colorado Constitution at an additional combined cost for FY 2007-08 and FY 2008-09 of $19.6 million.

During the broadcast, Caldara discussed a May 30 ruling in favor of a lawsuit that he filed, challenging the constitutionality of the mill levy freeze contained in SB 199, with his guests: state Rep. Frank McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) and attorney Richard A. Westfall, who represented the plaintiffs in Caldara's lawsuit. After Caldara labeled SB 199 a "bait-and-switch" measure, he stated, "Senate Bill 199, which is causing massive tax increases, depending on what school district you're in on your property, and it's for the kids ... But it doesn't go to the kids. This year you [the Colorado General Assembly] had $118 million more that you could play with for the kids, for not the kids, for tourists, for roads, for prisons, for health care, for whatever you wanted to. It wasn't for the kids." Caldara then asked McNulty, "Am I misrepresenting that at all?" and McNulty replied, "You hit the nail on the head."

As the Post reported on June 1, Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) spokesman "said the state will appeal the ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court and also ask for a stay of the ruling so that the state can continue to collect revenue from the mill-levy freeze in the next fiscal year."

From the June 19 broadcast of KBDI Channel 12's Independent Thinking:

CALDARA: I remember last year -- 2007 -- and the governor sits on the west steps of the Capitol, surrounded by kids as theatrical props, and claims that we have passed something that includes the Children's Amendment.

FRANK McNULTY: Mmm-hmm.

CALDARA: This was Senate Bill 199. Senate Bill 199 did something that sounded great; it would freeze our property tax mill levy, and really what it did was gonna bring in lots of money. What really bothered me about this was two things: One, it didn't give a penny to kids. It gave all the money to the General Assembly -- you guys, and you guys can spend it any way you want.

McNULTY: Right.

CALDARA: And, furthermore, it raised taxes without asking.

[...]

McNULTY: And you raise an interesting point about the general fund, because I even ran an amendment at one point during the process that says, "OK, if you say that this is about education, then let's lock this money up that the state is going to receive and make sure that we put it towards education." And oddly enough, that failed on a party-line vote, with Republicans voting for it and Democrats voting against it. But that's sort of the dynamic we have down there.

CALDARA: That's what I loved about this bait-and-switch of the so-called Children's Amendment.

McNULTY: Yeah.

CALDARA: Senate Bill 199, which is causing massive tax increases, depending on what school district you're in on your property, and it's for the kids. He was standing there with the kids. But it doesn't go to the kids. This year you had $118 million more that you could play with for the kids, for not the kids, for tourists, for roads, for prisons, for health care, for whatever you wanted to. It wasn't for the kids.

McNULTY: No.

CALDARA: Am I misrepresenting that at all?

McNULTY: You hit the nail on the head.

—C.K.