Today's Opinions

Too much ink has been spilled analyzing the presidential election, so I’ll keep this part of my column brief. Folks were ready for change — and after eight years of George Bush’s rudderless big government-ism, I can’t say I blame them. Republicans across the nation took a hit, and rightfully so.

But what happened at the local level defied expectations, and was in many ways a setback for Democrats too.

The things we, the people of Colorado, do to our state constitution are pretty remarkable. Most informed voters know and understand how the conflicting provisions of TABOR, which restricts government collections and expenditures; Amendment 23, which mandates increased spending for K-12 education regardless of the condition of the state treasury or impact on other state programs; and the Gallagher amendment, which creates ever disparate property tax treatment of residential and commercial property ties elected officials’ hands and makes it difficult to deliver government services.

Colorado is now a one-party state. The election of 2008 definitively put Democrats in the driver’s seat at both the state and federal levels.

In addition to their control of the state House, state Senate and governor’s mansion, this year Democrats added wins in the U.S. Senate race (Mark Udall) and 4th Congressional District (Betsy Markey). Of Colorado’s nine seats in the U.S. House and Senate, only Congressman Doug Lamborn and Congressman-elect Mike Coffman have “R”s next to their names.