School Board Accountability, Second Amendment Rights, and TABOR Under Attack

On Friday, October 20, 2023, Kim Monson broadcasts remotely from western Wyoming to examine three critical issues facing Coloradans: the accountability crisis in Cherry Creek Schools, threats to hunting and Second Amendment rights, and the deceptive Prop HH ballot measure that would strip voters of their TABOR protections. Natural Rights and Self-Defense in Modern America Start listening at 50:37 – Hour 1 Cole extends the discussion to self-defense as a natural right, drawing parallels to hunting as an extension of the fundamental ability to feed and protect oneself. He criticizes New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order restricting legal gun owners, noting the irony of attempting to address criminal gun violence by disarming law-abiding citizens. Criminals, Cole emphasizes, already cannot legally possess firearms, making such measures ineffective while stripping constitutional protections from responsible gun owners. The “gaslighting” of gun control advocates, Cole argues, creates a cycle where ineffective laws fail to reduce crime, prompting calls for even more restrictions on legal gun ownership rather than enforcement against actual criminals: felons, fugitives, drug users, the criminally insane, and domestic violence offenders. “If it’s not you defending yourself, who’s going to do it for you? When people decide that someone else is going to protect them, when someone else fails, then what do they do?” Nephi Cole, NSSF Director of Government Relations Why Prop HH Fails Constitutional Muster Start listening at 78:16 – Hour 2 Bruce outlines multiple legal defects in Prop HH beyond its attempt to amend the Constitution through statute. Colorado’s Constitution requires constitutional amendments be voted on during general elections in even-numbered years, not special or odd-year elections. The state Title Board previously rejected identical language submitted for a citizen initiative, deeming the proposal “unintelligible.” Yet legislators placed this same confusing language on the ballot. The 48-page measure, Bruce notes, never specifies the dollar amount of the tax increase requested, violating TABOR’s requirement that voters be told exactly how much money is being sought. Property taxes fund local governments, not the state, making the legislature’s claimed authority over this issue questionable. Bruce urges voters to visit hh-no.com for detailed information and downloadable flyers explaining why this represents the largest attempted tax increase of any state in American history. “This is the largest tax increase in American history of any state. And they won’t even tell us what the amount is that they’re asking for. They can’t do it.” Douglas Bruce, TABOR Architect Cherry Creek Schools: Failing Students Despite $800 Million Budget Start listening at 17:49 – Hour 1 Steve McKenna, a Navy carrier pilot turned attorney running for Cherry Creek School Board District A, exposes the district’s troubling academic performance. Despite an $800 million annual budget serving 53,000 students across 67 schools, only 50% of students meet English language arts expectations and just 40% meet math standards. McKenna criticizes the current board for not even livestreaming their meetings and for failing to inform parents about serious incidents including assaults at Cherry Creek High School. The district’s five core values, McKenna notes, never mention academics. Instead, the board pivots to other priorities while test scores languish at levels t...