Our View - Tuesday
Reality check
Poll results should give Ritter & Co. pause
Before he gets too carried away with himself, and imagines he's the governor of California or something, Bill Ritter ought to take a careful look at a statewide poll commissioned by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. It might help remind him that, despite the gains made by Democrats, this is still Colorado. Most voters remain wary of higher taxes. They don’t seem to think the health care system is in crisis. And there’s strong support for drilling on the Roan Plateau, if the revenues stay in the state, to benefit local communities or higher education.
Ritter’s performance ratings are relatively good, with 57 percent of voters saying they approve or strongly approve of the job he's doing, but Coloradans are becoming more pessimistic about where the state is headed, as well as their own economic circumstances. “We are a hesitant electorate right now,” pollster David Hill said. “(Colorado) is not going to look very enthusiastically on a tax increase on the 2008 ballot.”
While people aren't in open rebellion over their tax burdens — nearly half say the state's tax rates are “about right,” while 9 percent are tax masochists, who feel they pay too little — nearly 40 percent said taxes are “a little too high” or “much too high.” Nearly half the respondents continue to back TABOR spending limits, which will disappoint those civic and business leaders who are always itching to see the state escape the fiscal straightjacket.
The voters seem confused about whether Referendum C funds are being spent appropriately, which probably explains why only 31 percent would forego their TABOR refunds for an additional 5 years. This confusion and ambivalence could present a major problem for those proposing any new taxes, or tax increases, in 2008. The ease with which Ritter rammed through his first tax hike may have him thinking the rest will be a cinch. These poll results should give him pause.
Interestingly, only 20 percent rated health care as the most important problem facing the state. And cost, not access, seemed the crux of their concerns. All the hype about a “crisis,” and the work of a special commission looking at the state’s uninsured, seems to be raising public anxiety a bit, as intended. But only 12 percent of those polled actually called it a “crisis,” and 63 percent rated their own health coverage good or excellent.
These numbers can’t be of comfort to those angling for a major overhaul of the system in Colorado.
The economy ran a close second as the state’s most important problem, with 19 percent of respondents focused on that. Immigration ran next (at 13 percent), followed by education (at 10 percent). Taxes, development and water were each judged most important by 6 percent of those surveyed.
The environment ranked as the top concern of just 4 percent of voters. And remarkably strong support was voiced for drilling on the Roan Plateau, if the revenues would be put to good use in-state, which suggests that Ritter’s pandering to green extremists and public lands exclusionists on the issue has placed him outside the mainstream.
To our surprise, the poll found that 58 percent favored using tax dollars to attract new jobs and employers to the state. Support was strongest, however, for worker training programs, low-cost loans and upgrading basic infrastructure, with far fewer people backing direct incentives or marketing and promotional assistance.
It's just one poll, of course. And like all polls, it should be approached with a measure of skepticism. But we hope the results serve as a reality check for Ritter and legislators as they begin planning for next year’s session. If they had hoped to roll out the sort of high-tax, big-government, special interest-oriented agenda for which Democrats are famous — or infamous — they could find themselves facing a serious backlash.
Calderon following in Fox’s footsteps
Mexican President Felipe Calderón is supposed to be a little more conservative, and a little bit more in tune with the current political climate in the United States, than predecessor Vicente Fox. But he sounded quite a bit like Fox when he defended rampant migration, even by illegal means, at a conference of governors from Mexico and the U.S. last week.
Calderón called northward migration a “natural phenomenon (that is) socially and economically unavoidable.” Such statements may strike many Americans as hypocritical, when the Mexican army has standing orders to stop Guatemalans and other Latin Americans from crossing into Mexico, at gunpoint if necessary. But they indicate just how critical migration has become to the economies of both countries.
Migration is definitely a mixed blessing for Mexico. It has become a release valve for crushing poverty in a country that is rich in natural resources but unable to effectively harness them. Shutting off that valve could widen the social unrest that frequently erupts in Mexico’s south.
Calderón said his country has lost many of its most talented and hard-working residents. And some observers claim this draining-away of human capital has delayed the growth and evolution of Mexico’s economy, by removing those with the greatest potential to generate new wealth.
Still, most of those who have departed are sending a large portion of their foreign earnings home. The Bank of Mexico estimates such remittances climbed to $22 billion in 2006, which is more money than Mexico brings in from tourism or crude oil. The U.S. must significantly reduce illegal immigration, but refusing to admit more legal foreign workers could also further damage the Mexican economy. And an unstable Mexico likely would be at least as dangerous to the U.S. as our open borders have been.
