You’ve Already Forgotten For Whom You Work

by Randy Ketner

An open letter to Senator Mark Udall, Senator Mike Bennet, and Congresswoman Betsy Markey.

Dear Senators and Congresswoman,

Two of you, while campaigning for office during the past year, promised to represent all of the people of Colorado in Washington, while the third was selected by Governor Bill Ritter to replace Senator Ken Salazar who also campaigned on the same pledge. With your first significant vote in Congress, you’ve mortgaged ours and our children’s future by supporting the largest spending bill in the history of our nation.

Enough has been said about the costs of this bill, and much debate still exists over whether it will actually help our economy. The basics are it’s going to cost $37,000 per person. Of greater concern to me and my fellow Coloradans, is how much is coming back? If we’re going to end up paying for this thing, did you even make sure we had a seat at the table?

The National Priorities Project states that in 2005, Colorado was 43rd in the nation in the ratio of the amount returned per dollar paid in taxes as compared to other states. Forty-third. Yet, with the largest spending bill in the history of our nation, you’ve relegated us to forty-eighth place.

Not only have you failed our nation with this ill-begotten payback to unions and campaign contributors spending bill, but you couldn’t even properly represent the people in Colorado by returning at least a fair share of our tax dollars to be spent back here at home. The likely reason for this is, we’ve as a whole been fiscally responsible in Colorado due to a functional Taxpayer Bill of Rights that has controlled spending as well as taxes. But then, I suppose you’re just following our President’s lead in believing that it’s the role of those that will work to support those that won’t.

You’re not even 90 days into your new jobs, and you’ve shown yourselves to be complete failures. The only way that I see that you can possibly redeem yourselves is to vote against the bill after it comes back from committee to resolve the differences between the Senate and House versions. At least then you could show yourselves to be honestly representing the people of Colorado. My guess is that you won’t do it though, because all of that talk about bipartisanship and representing all of the people of Colorado was just that. Talk.

The people of Colorado deserve better, and if this is how you’re going to continue to represent your constituents, you might want to think about looking for another job in a two years (or six, as the case may be). You’re going to need one.