One of the many assets of our current school board is their direct involvement with, and attention to, state level issues that impact our community. I have seen this personally as a parent and member of the district accountability committee.
As a downtown Salida commercial property owner I will be supporting the schools virtually regardless of the financial implications. Good schools are that important to me. But, it certainly makes it easier to swallow when I know that our school board and administration are looking out for me on issues which are essentially beyond their control.
They are watching this closely and wanted to let the community know. -bd
As a lawyer, Herb Fenster defended Interior Secretary Gale Norton in Indian trust litigation. He went to the mat with then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney over the sudden cancellation of a multibillion-dollar contract for the A-12 stealth fighter and won nearly $3.9 billion — the largest judgment ever entered against the government — for contractors who had worked on the craft. His close friends include William Swing, the former Episcopal bishop of California, and he occasionally debates with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia over what it means to be a “true originalist,” someone who interprets the U.S. Constitution in a way they believe its authors intended. The Boulder Republican’s next battlefield is Colorado’s tax-limiting Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. By the end of the month, Fenster will sue the state in federal court over TABOR. He said the fight is about education, which he believes is the most important task of a state government, but the argument will be constitutional.
FULL ARTICLE: The Denver Post
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Thank’s for the post Robin.
Yes! This could be exciting! I will stay tuned. Thanks Bill for your support.
FINALLY someone has enough sense to see the poverty budgets that our Colorado schools are operating on and is going to DO SOMETHING about it. The next thing will be to clear out the admin buildings of non productive staffers and get more teachers into the plethora of empty classrooms and reduce class size to a state mandated 22 students ( yeah we need a new law for that TOO ! ).
Colorado is one of the wealthiest states in the nation and has the lowest property taxes.
“He said the fight is about education…”
Nothing could be further from the truth. TABOR does NOT limit school funding, besides the requirement to ASK citizens before taking their money.
Fenster’s lawsuit lacks legal grounds and is, at best, a specious publicity stunt – at worst, it’s a bullying attempt to use the Federal courts to deprive you of your rights under the Colorado Constitution…
http://www.clearthebenchcolorado.org/2010/02/13/boulder-lawyer-exploits-federal-courts-to-assault-tabor-undermine-constitutional-rights-of-colorado-citizens/
Obviously the Clear the Bench post is off topic for this thread. It is difficult to see how a lawsuit in federal court is connected to an effort to vote against the retention of Colorado Supreme Court justices. The irony of the clear the bench movement is that the proponents want to vote off those justices off the bench for issuing rulings that conflict with their political agenda. The fault here lies with the unintended consequences and unaddressed issues inherent in Tabor and its progeny. The Court has to deal with these the best it can, and it points out the problems inherent in the initiative process as a whole. Without the chewing and grinding of the legislative process (as ugly as it it can be), the initiative is written wholly by one side with no possibility of amendment or modification.
A current example of this problem can be found in the Medical Marijuana Law, which is part of the constitution, but which was focused mostly on the right to the drug, and not the process for enforcing the law. Now the unintended consequences and unaddressed issues or overwhelming small communities struggling to deal with a poorly written initiative.
The same is true of TABOR. The way to deal with the failure of TABOR to be clear on certain points is not to “clear the bench” and try to install
justices who come from outer wingnuttia, but to clarify the law, through legislation and further initiative.
Don’t blame the Court because the law is poorly written and you don’t agree with their interpretation, fix the law so that there isn’t a need for judicial interpretation.
As to Mr. Fenster’s lawsuit, while I think the basic premise – that the decision of what when and who to tax is committed to the legislature by the US Constitution – is unique and interesting, I don’t have high hopes that it will prevail.
I think the more interesting conversation that Mr. Fenster and the Clear the Bench should be having is what can we do to help fund education in Colorado. Fund it in a way that allows for school districts such as our local one to make long term decisions knowing that the funding will be there to support them. Right now we are facing a 750,000 shortfall, ad while that is very painful for everyone in the community, the reality is that it looks like next year will be worse. We haven’t even started to contemplate that disaster.
Rather than trying to use the courts to get what we want, whether it be more funding for schools or interpretation of vague laws that agree with our political predisposition, let’s start talking about funding for schools so that we don’t need to go to court over it.
Bill –
I’m curious as to why you consider a comment linking a lawsuit in federal court to eliminate a section of the Colorado Constitution (TABOR) with the ongoing dismantling of that same section of the Colorado Constitution (TABOR) by certain members of the Colorado Supreme Court to be “off-topic”, since both items are clearly related.
As you mention, “the argument will be constitutional.”
You are also absolutely incorrect in stating that ” irony of the clear the bench movement is that the proponents want to vote off those justices off the bench for issuing rulings that conflict with their political agenda.”
The Clear The Bench Colorado movement is about rulings by the four justices subject to a vote this year that CONFLICT WITH THE CLEAR LETTER OF THE COLORADO CONSTITUTION. Period.
Unfortunately, many of the current judges seem to be the ones from “outer wingnuttia”, as you so eloquently put it, at least with regards to this section of the Colorado Constitution, towards which they have been unrelentingly hostile.
It is NOT the duty of the justices on the bench to rewrite the law, but rather to UPHOLD it. You are certainly free to espouse modification via legislation and/or the initiative process – but activist judges rewriting the Constitution from the bench is corrosive to the rule of law, and must be opposed.
The Constitution – either state or federal level – exists explicitly to LIMIT the power of government. It is the rulebook that “We The People” insist that our elected (and unelected, or appointed) officials play by – and when they don’t, they are subject to consequences (at the least, losing their jobs – through the electoral process).
We The People have that right – and that responsibility.
Vote “NO” on the unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority this year – Clear The Bench, Colorado!
Larger political agendas aside, after attending countless meetings about school issues with board members, administration, teachers and staff in recent years, I am convinced we have an amazing local team. They plan for the long haul, and statistically have left us in a significantly better financial situation than many other districts in Colorado.
Yes we are in a bad place this year, but our school board is planning and strategizing. As a parent, and community member I have been very impressed with the degree to which, locally, our school board is planning for tomorrows challenges —and opportunities.
Resolving the inequity of commercial property owner’s burden in this mix is another discussion.
Great discussion. It will be interesting to see where this goes. At the very least it will raise awareness and get people talking.