CALDARE | Polis magic tricks cost you | Opinion

The key to most magic tricks is the wrong direction. Do something flashy with one hand so people don’t stare at the other hand holding the coin.

Our governor is the greatest magician I’ve ever seen, and I’ve worked as a stagehand for David Copperfield and Penn & Teller.

Magicians are liars. They say they saw a woman in half, but that’s really not the case.

Last week’s magic trick was the classic Jared Polis. He decided to bravely take on the all-powerful Environmental Protection Agency to free Colorado from the unfair shackles of its onerous ozone regulations, so gas prices don’t explode another 30 cents. the gallon.

Colorado is, again, non-compliant with EPA air quality regulations. It really has less to do with our behavior and more to do with the pollutants that are blown into our very high altitude state.

That’s why previous governors, like Democrat John Hickenlooper, would sign a simple letter to the EPA always asking for and easily receiving a waiver. If they didn’t, the EPA would demand that a very expensive gasoline blend be created just for us, hence the massive increase in gasoline prices.

But not only did the magician Polis refuse to seek a waiver from the EPA, he rescinded Hickenlooper’s waiver request the day before it was granted.

In its March 2019 letter to the EPA, Polis wrote, “We believe the interests of our citizens are best served by moving forward aggressively and without delay in our efforts to reduce ground-level ozone concentrations. …”.

In other words, he told the EPA, “Let’s go boys! Force us to reformulate gasoline and defraud consumers. Environmental activists I can’t face will be thrilled.

Now the magician is misleading voters with his other hand, the one he wants you to watch.

Less than two months from his election, he now begs the EPA, even threatening to sue, not to force us to reformulate gasoline. Of course, he knows very well that it’s all smoke and mirrors and will do nothing.

In other words, he knows that the lady is not really going to be sawn in half.

In his September 2022 plea to the EPA, he wrote, “With a potential reclassification of ozone to severe non-compliance, I strongly object to the associated requirement that reformulated gasoline (RFG) be deployed …”

He is therefore deeply opposed to what he is ONLY responsible for. What will be his next illusion?

Support or oppose the biggest government growth push in Colorado history that Polis has created, we should all be pushed back and speak out against the games and misleading lies that Polis is using to tell voters it doesn’t what he clearly does.

Unfortunately, as Polis watches the White House, he chose to channel Bill Clinton, not Harry Truman.

An over-skilled Clinton wiggled his finger and lied: “I didn’t have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. If only he had told the truth, history would honor him more today, and voters would likely have forgiven him and celebrated his honesty back then.

In contrast, the sign on Truman’s desk read, “The buck stops here.” In other words, “I am responsible for my decisions and the actions of my administration”.

Imagine if Polis didn’t always try to play both sides and take full and proud responsibility for his actions.

What if he said, “It’s my decision and my only decision that will cause gasoline prices to increase by 30 cents or more a gallon.” And while difficult, I believe it’s crucial, and here’s why…”?

It would not only be courageous honesty, but it would also be real leadership, the leadership to which voters aspire.

Imagine if the letter Polis attached to your $750 TABOR refund check, it wrote, “I am constitutionally bound by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights to provide you with this refund. Yes, I worked to end all TABOR refunds with Prop CC, but voters disagreed with me. You should know that check would have been much bigger if I hadn’t signed numerous bills to increase state revenue with new fees without voter consent. But here’s why I thought these actions were unquestionably necessary…”

Great illusionists like Nixon and Clinton ruled the nation. But given the high stakes of our troubled times, is Polis the magician we want?

Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute of Denver and hosts “The Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara” on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears on Sundays in Colorado Politics.