Two simple questions for Colorado:

1. Do we want soaring property taxes to exacerbate the housing crisis?

2. Do we want first-degree murder suspects roaming our streets?

Based on national trends, we’re guessing the answer to both is a resounding “no” – even in Colorful Colorado.

This gives Gov. Jared Polis an easy answer to another question: should he call a special session of the Colorado Legislature this summer to address these dilemmas?

Yes.

Though it is not their objective, Senate Republicans would do Polis a favor by convincing him to host a special session-vote controlled by his party. Things are not going in Colorado’s direction. Only outcomes will determine the governor’s potentially bright political future and legacy in a national party lacking marquee figures.

Colorado, the envy of the country for much of the past 30 years, has seen better days.

Under the one-party leadership of all of state government, we have seen an unprecedented crime spree, soaring taxes disguised as “fees,” escalation of a deadly opioid crisis, increasing youth violence, more homelessness and all the other problems associated with cities and states governed by progressive Democrats with big ideas about defunding cops and tolerating crime.

Metadata compiled by real estate companies Rent.com and Redfin find Colorado with the fifth highest “negative lead” rates in the country. Consumers drive negative leads when they search for properties out-of-state.

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Only ultra-liberal Illinois, Maine, New York and Vermont have higher negative lead rates than Colorado’s. Redfin reports more people considered leaving Denver in late 2022 than any city other than Hartford, Conn.

All over the news we hear about an exodus from Democratic to Republican States. To escape escalating crime, taxes, fees, drugs and other undesirable elements of urban chaos, people are moving to Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and other southern and midwestern states with more conventional views of drugs, violence, crime and prosperity.

This explains why Florida has shifted from swing-state status to solidly red in less than a decade. It explains why historically purple Colorado has gone blue as rural and working-class families leave.

Natives and other old timers would like people to stop moving here and would welcome an exodus. Yet, no one thinks we should control Colorado’s growth by making the state undesirable and dangerous for those who live here.

We recently asked Polis about “far-left radicals” and “extremists” in the Democratic Party, of which he is Colorado’s highest-ranking member. Polis offered a reasonable answer, saying the legislature reflects the diverse views of a diverse Colorado.

He’s right, of course. Our legislature will always contain spectacles of extremism on the right and left who too often propose and pass bad ideas other states would not consider.

Whether we talk mouse protection, growth limits or construction defects laws, an assortment of bad legislative regulations have caused Colorado’s housing crisis. The legislature needs to fix the problem with a real solution to soaring housing costs and the associated taxes.

Instead, Polis wants voters to decide by voting for Proposition HH, the most deceptively worded tax hike in Colorado history. It is a joke and by the time November gets here anyone who can read should know this for a scam.

Prop HH asks voters to “reduce” property taxes by allowing the state to keep tax refunds otherwise required by the Colorado Constitution’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. This is smoke-and-mirrors fun-house policy on display.

Republicans also want a special session to ensure we have an immediate and foolproof response to a decision last month by the Colorado Supreme Court. Polis and the legislature eliminated capital punishment three years ago, and the state’s highest court ruled last month that suspects accused of crimes formerly subject to the death penalty are now eligible to be released on bail – including those charged with first-degree murder. Fear the day a mass killer with cash comes under the supervision of Billy Bob’s AAA Discount Bail Bonds.

Colorado was family friendly, business friendly, affordable, safe and enviable. That has changed and the problems are urgent. Gov. Polis should rise to the occasion and be the leader we need. He should convene a special session, lead us out of these problems and show other blue states how to stop harming minorities, the working class, the poor and others damaged by rising costs and danger.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board