New Democrat Update - January 2000
SPRINGING INTO ACTION

After a lot of hard work over the last six months, New Democrat state legislators are pushing an aggressive agenda this session that promotes opportunity for all Coloradans, demands responsibility from every citizen and rebuilds our communities.  Moving beyond the old, tired debates of the left and right, these lawmakers are advocating a positive, progressive agenda that will reclaim the future for our children and make government represent the interests of the middle class and those less fortunate.  

The agenda is as follows:     
Government regulations too often are designed for large corporations and do not consider the unique characteristics of small businesses - Colorado's true engines of economic opportunity.  To improve the state's business climate and keep the economy prosperous, State Rep. Dan Grossman is working to require all agencies to analyze how regulations affect the ability of small companies to invent, produce, compete and generate jobs.  Regulators are encouraged to focus on outcomes, rather than prescriptive means, incentives rather than mandates.

Over the last 100 years, Colorado's tax code has been riddled with special interest loopholes that are unfair, burden the economy and unfairly shift the tax burden to others.  Grossman has another proposal that will close these loopholes and plow the savings into sales tax relief - countering a highly regressive levy on Colorado's working poor and middle class taxpayers. Outdated and ineffective breaks should no longer favor those who already have it made.

Speaking of levies, the state's economic boom has sent residential property values and taxes through the roof.  While the good times are great, the very people who built up our state and created our prosperity in the first place - Colorado's senior citizens - are now paying a heavy price.  State Sen. Terry Phillips wants to use the state's surplus revenue to reduce property taxes on senior citizens.  Such targeted tax relief will stop retirees and others from being forced to pick between moving out of their homes or paying for basic living expenses like health care.

State Rep. Suzanne Williams is working to put character education and values back in the public schools.  As part of teaching skills and knowledge, schools have an obligation to help parents build character by emphasizing broadly-shared community values, including civility, individual responsibility, honesty and the courage to stand up to peer pressure.  Integrating character into the curriculum allows learning to take place in a disciplined environment, and just as important, help today's students become tomorrow's productive employees and responsible citizens.   

State Reps. Tom Plant's and Paul Zimmerman's “Livable Communities” initiative gives Colorado's local governments the tools they need to manage growth and shape their destinies.  The agenda includes empowering local communities to develop enforceable plans for their futures and the responsibility for deciding whether to make growth pay its own way through impact fees on new development.  

With an eye toward making Colorado the safest state in the nation, State Rep. Bob Hagedorn has a tough and smart anticrime proposal that will protect law-abiding citizens and help residents to make their neighborhoods safer.  Preventing crime and punishing criminals, “Targeting the Trouble” works with local communities to systematically target high-crime areas, putting cops “on the beat” and assigning prosecutors and probation officers to neighborhoods.

Grossman complements this strategy by ensuring that Colorado's local law enforcement officers have access to the DNA fingerprints of violent felons.  In addition to catching more offenders faster, this tool will make it possible to establish even more links between crime scenes across the state and nation, preventing many future crimes from being committed in the first place.

These initiatives represent pragmatic solutions to some of our greatest challenges.  Coloradans of all political stripes can and should support these ideas, building a better and stronger Colorado for the 21st century.

CORNERSTONE BUILDING

Democrats in the House and Senate have also unveiled the “Community Cornerstone,” a legislative agenda rooted in mainstream values.  Its emphasis on values, community and advancing the public interest over the special interests is music to the ears of New Democrats.  

These two sentences from the preamble are especially appealing:

“As Democrats, we also recognize that the last century's solutions of state-driven mandates and heavy-handed government will not work in today's world.  We recognize that to address today's problems, we need to empower Colorado's communities to adapt and innovate.”

In addition to including the already-mentioned proposals on character education, smart growth and crime, Community Cornerstone has innovative ideas on public education and health care.  On both fronts, New Democrats have cause to celebrate.

Cornerstone's public education plan promotes more teacher training, early childhood education, parental involvement and resources to make up for funding cuts over the last decade.  To ensure these initiatives are achieving the desired results, New Democrats should encourage the rest of the legislature to also support Governor Owens’ call for school report cards and annualized testing of students in grades 3 through 10.  

That package of adequate funding and more meaningful accountability will stop those who want to abandon public education through private school vouchers.  Strangely enough, the right believes that removing the most motivated students and parents will somehow increase the drive to improve schools for everyone else.

Cornerstone's health care agenda emphasizes equipping consumers with better information, helping to create a marketplace that demands high quality and affordability.  By avoiding excessive regulation and litigation, this sound public policy preempts the political charge that Democrats merely want to empower bureaucrats and enrich trial lawyers at the expense of patients.
Opinion polls suggest that most Americans are relatively satisfied with their own plans but the explosive growth of enrollment in managed care plans over the past decade has generated serious stresses and strains.  While some patients have been denied the care they need, the more fundamental problem is the uncertain quality of care.  Helping Coloradans making better choices is critical to true health care reform.

The Democratic House and Senate Caucuses are off to a great start.  New Democrats have every reason to believe the reform of our party's policy agenda will continue making progress in the right direction.

LEADING INTO THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Colorado DLC President Jim Gibson was recently recognized by the Denver Post as a leader to watch in the 21st century.