News
RELEASE: YES On 4 Campaign Debunks Opponents' Lies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 27, 2009
AUGUSTA - The YES On 4 campaign set the record straight at a press conference in Augusta today, debunking the many lies opponents of a Maine Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) have spread throughout the campaign.
Question 4 on the November 3 ballot asks: "Do you want to change the existing formulas that limit state and local government spending and require voter approval by referendum for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes?"
Opponents' most repeated lie is that TABOR would force cuts in government spending. Another lie is that TABOR repeals the one-time $50,000 benefit paid to families of members of the public safety community who die in the line of duty. State Senator Carol Weston (Montville), chair of the Women for YES On Question 4 coalition, set the record straight.
"I heard a lot of information that I thought to be false, so I brought these issues up with the non-partisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review (OFPR) for their analysis," Weston said. "What they told me, in no uncertain terms, is that Question 4 never forces less spending than the previous year's budget cycle. Question 4 never requires a cut. That is a myth of the other side."
OFPR also made it clear to Weston that Question 4 preserves the $50,000 public safety benefit.
"OFPR assured me that Question 4 preserves the state's obligation to make this payment," Weston said. "All Question 4 does is compel the Legislature to name a new funding source for the payment. We would be required to do the same thing today because the current funding source has been raided to help fill a nearly $300 million budget hole caused by years of overspending. The benefit remains intact."
Steve Bowen, director of the Center for Education Excellence at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, also debunked lies of the other side.
"There have been statements made that Question 4 would slash education funding in Maine. Those statements are completely untrue," Bowen said. "The Legislature passed a law in 2007 requiring voter approval of all school budgets, enhancing citizen involvement in local education, but Question 4 has absolutely no impact on education. In fact, the word 'education' does not appear anywhere in the legislation. This is just another scare tactic by opponents of responsible reforms.
In response to the many lies about Colorado, which enacted a version of TABOR in 1992, the campaign played a five minute video featuring clips of former Colorado Governor Bill Owens, former Colorado Education Commissioner Dr. William Moloney, University of Colorado Economist Dr. Barry Poulson, and Wayne Laugesen, Editorial Editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette.
These Colorado experts debunked a series of opponents' myths about Colorado, including the false claim that Colorado had to cut its own spending. This allegation was corrected by Dr. Poulson.
"Since TABOR has passed, government spending has tripled in Colorado," Dr. Poulson said. "Government spending was increased every year since TABOR has passed, but government has grown at the same rate as our personal income."
In addition, Dr. Moloney debunked the opponents' myth that TABOR has devastated education in Colorado.
"Colorado schools were suffering before the TABOR amendment was passed in 1992," Dr. Moloney explained. "They have prospered and their revenues have surged since then, so those who would suggest that Colorado schools are in dire straight because of TABOR are absolutely contradicting the factual record."
The five minute video debunks even more lies spread about Colorado. That video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPK-1nw3sw.
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CONTACT:
David Crocker, Chairman
YES On 4 | TABOR NOW