Meet Cory Gardner (Buffoon - Yuma)

Cory Gardner is trying to balance Colorado's budget,

A state lawmaker says Colorado can no longer afford to shell out what could be more than $2 million annually for dues and memberships in various organizations.
"We need to take our cue from Colorado families, who are deciding whether or not they can afford cable," said Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma.
"Some of these memberships are very important, but the question is, 'Can we afford all these memberships?' " Gardner said. "I don't think so."
[...]

Gardner said he was was surprised that taxpayers ponied up dues of $24,699 to the Western States Art Federation.


"With higher education threatened, you'd think art would have to wait," he said.

I hope that Gardner continues on this little crusade. After years of listening to Republicans like Gardner decry generic waste in state government with no specifics the public can now see for themselves just how much waste their really is - almost none. When the Cory Gardner's of the world are left to arguing that we need to scrap a $25,000 line item in order to save a $660,000,000 departmental general fund expenditure the GOP's budget nihlism is on display for all to see. Gardner's position is utter non-sense, after all is said and done we will have had a $3 billion dollar total budget shortfall in the last 3 years. We are quite literally scrapping the bottom of the barrel of budget expenditures to try and find savings at this point, there's no more meaningful savings to be wrung out of this budget. None.

The Post article closes with this doozy from Cory Gardner,

"When it comes to a budget crisis, tough choices have to be made."

This is rich. What tough policy decision has Cory Garnder ever made? Name me one hard decision that he's ever made while in the state legislature. Cory Gardner's entire career has been spent in the minority where his contributions have never gone beyond partisan bomb throwing. He's an ideologue who's never once sacrificed his fealty to Grover Norquist in order to better his state. If Cory Gardner wants to talk about tough choices I look forward to hearing him discuss the obvious need to repeal our various tax credits to non-critical business interests and other reforms to our tax code. We're in a hole that cannot be filled by cuts alone, as Gardner's proposterous statements clearly demonstrate. We need to start looking at the revenue side of the ledger as well.

Of course that would require a real dedication to governing and tough choices - two things Cory Gardner has neither the inclination nor the aptitude for.

Pols has a post up today on similar posturing from Greg Brophy. If you can believe it Brophy is even more ridiculous than Gardner when it comes to budget nihlism.