OPINION: Rescinding an endorsement

The Gazette endorsed Democrat Chris Romer's Senate bill to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state schools. The editorial board believes immigrants in high school, and their parents, pay taxes for state schools regardless of civil residency disputes with the federal government.

Today, however, The Gazette rescinds its support and encourages legislators to oppose it.

It's the wrong sponsor, at the wrong time, and the bill has been tainted with sleaze.

The bill lost all credibility Wednesday, when Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Romer took Colorado politics into the sewer by thwarting orderly process and common human decency.

The bill was scheduled for debate in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday, where it was likely to fail on a 5-5 vote. One opponent was GOP Sen. Ted Harvey, who was called away Tuesday to help his father-in-law, an Alzheimer's patient in Florida who needed immediate family attention.

Rather than support a colleague with a family emergency, Tapia bumped the hearing to 7 a.m. Wednesday, Romer played along by testifying, and the bill passed in committee. The Gazette could no more support this bill than it could back a criminal conviction based on illegally obtained evidence.

Fair process trumps a political win. And human beings, including Harvey and his family, should come first. Shame on Tapia for gaming the system on the back of an Alzheimer's patient. And shame on those who voted for it, rather than placing decency and fair process ahead political expedience. They include: Sens. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins; Mary Hodge, D-Brighton; Paul Sandoval, D-Denver; and Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora.

Each engaged in the politics of sleaze.