Author: Michael Fields
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‘Fee’ on deliveries a gut punch to Colorado
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Michael Fields Amazon recently announced this year’s Prime Day results, a 2-day sales event which ended last week; it was its “biggest” ever, with more than 300 million items purchased worldwide. Normally, Prime Day would be a great chance to score some deals, but this year there was a cloud hanging over this online holiday…
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POINT | Yes on 78; nix exec. branch slush funds
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Micheal Fields Most Coloradans would probably assume that all state spending is approved by the General Assembly. We all learned early on in school about “checks and balances” – and how the legislative branch has the “power of the purse.” And even if executive branch slush funds occur in other states, or at the federal…
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They bungled unemployment, will wreck health care
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Michael Fields Since the pandemic started, our state’s unemployment system has been a disaster. At the very time that unemployed Coloradans most needed the state government to show basic competency, it failed them. One Colorado Public Radio report even called what these people went through “unemployment purgatory” — where some Coloradans “have waited months for…
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Fields: Senator Bennet’s support of crony capitalism
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Even though it’s been almost a decade, our economy still hasn’t fully recovered. Too many people are still unemployed or underemployed, many small businesses have shut their doors, and a growing number of college graduates face mounting student debt along with bleak job prospects. One critical reason for this is an often misunderstood or overlooked…
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Fields: End the ‘Fatal Attraction’ to Hollywood handouts
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Films are fun and a great part of American pop culture. Creative talent expressed through film is one of America’s gifts to the world. And movies are even better with a stunning Colorado backdrop. Why wouldn’t they be? We live in a beautiful state that looks great on the big screen. Under pressure from powerful…
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Fields: Governor Hickenlooper, here’s our answer
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Amid Gov. John Hickenlooper’s flurry of activity to siphon funds from the hospital provider “fee” in order to feed a larger general fund, we’ve stood firm. Why? Because enterprising this fund would be an end run around our Taxpayer Bill of Rights and deny Coloradans the tax refunds we deserve to put back in our…
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Fields: TABOR, the hospital provider fee and protecting taxpayers
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As the legislative session ended earlier this year, Senate President Bill Cadman went on the radio and called a bill to exempt the hospital provider fee from the limits provided under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, the No. 1 bad idea of the session. Yesterday, Gov. Hickenlooper unveiled his proposed 2017 state budget.…
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Fields: Jeffco board reforms have put education on the right track
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Jefferson County has become a flashpoint in the national debate over education reform. But when going door-to-door talking to parents across the county, one thing is crystal clear: People are seeing the effects of the Jefferson County School Board reforms in recent years — and they like what they see. As a former middle school…
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Fields: Déjà vu: a preview of government-run health care
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Is Colorado ready for yet another round of government-run health care? I know I’m certainly not. In recent days, a campaign called ColoradoCare launched a ballot initiative for a single-payer health insurance system. It would give the state complete control over our health insurance and health care, basically by eliminating private insurance and making doctors…
