Don't eat in El Paso County

The home of TABOR is finding that there are, in fact, consequences for gutting the budget of your government to the point that it cannot provide basic public services. The Denver Post reports,

As property-tax rates tumble and sales-tax revenue evaporates, residents in the backyard of Douglas Bruce — the state's leading evangelist of small government and small taxes — are learning just how small government can get. So far, voters have shown no inclination to part with any more tax dollars.

Now, local leaders are warning that with no fat left to cut, basic services such as law enforcement, courts, public health and child-abuse investigations are all in jeopardy...

• For years, the health department has lacked the staff to inspect restaurants and other food providers twice a year, as required by state law. Department director Kandi Buckland said it's no coincidence that "in 2008, preliminary data showed El Paso County had the largest number of food-borne illness" in the state.

• The health department has stopped inspecting day-care centers and won't inspect swimming pools this summer. That might make swimmers queasy, considering that last year, the department closed 80 pools — including six contaminated with E. coli.

• The Sheriff's Office has the same number of patrol deputies it had in 1998, when there were 70,000 fewer residents. In some parts of the county, it takes deputies 22 minutes — more than double the ideal time — to arrive when someone calls 911.

I occasionally find myself in Colorado Springs for business and when I do I simply do not eat a meal in a restaurant there. A month or so ago I was at a business lunch and was the only one at the table who declined to eat. I thought it would be impolite to tell folks why I wasn't eating but the fact of the matter is I'm not eating in a restaurant that hasn't been inspected.

I would be horrified if I had small children in daycare and found out that EPC health inspectors are no longer inspecting those facilities.

The Doug Bruce, Jon Caldera anti0tax jihadists who are the intellectual leaders of the state GOP see no legitimate function for government. Not public safety, not basic public health. Nothing.

It should be a wake up call to any moderates and independents who think that the far-right can be reasoned with. Left to their own devices they would turn all of Colorado into El Paso County. They simply must be stopped.

HT Square State