Third party a spoiler? Other parties driving voters away
Re: “Third-party candidate on state’s ballot could spoil Biden’s election,” June 17 commentary
Mark Udall misses the point of national interest in third-party candidacies. It is not about tilting an election to a Democratic or Republican candidate. It is borne out of disgust with both parties and their years-long inability to capably govern.
To assert that less than 10% of voters are “toss-up voters” ignores overwhelming evidence of shifts out of both major parties to non-partisanship — voters are desperate for new choices. Udall is doing the very thing voters are sick of — intransigently circling the wagons around his viewpoints. He contends a third-party candidacy would do nothing to solve our political challenges? Well, the two-party system has shown just how inept they are at the task. American voters are sick of politicians whose governing strategy is grounded in holding their breath until they get their way.
Luke Lands, Parker
For a third-party candidate to be more than a spoiler, the states must first implement Ranked Choice Voting. While I would love to be able to vote for something other than the two parties we have, I wouldn’t dare chance it if it might throw the election to Trump, much as a vote for Ralph Nader may have resulted in a George W. Bush victory and the disasters that followed. With Ranked Choice Voting, I could safely vote for a third-party candidate knowing that if they did not get more than 50 percent, my second choice would get my vote.
Kevin Erickson, Westminster
Agree with tax reduction, but not the math
Re: “De-Brucing, Gallagher repeal are the real culprits of Colorado’s property tax hike,” June 21 letter to the editor
A letter on Wednesday stated that “respectable estimates are pegging property tax increases at 40%. Given that, the same mill levy used last year would garner a 40% increase in tax revenue. If the mill levy were to be cut in half, the counties would still get 20% more”.
While I agree that a mill levy reduction for the 2024 taxes should be addressed, cutting the mill levy in half would actually produce less property tax revenue than last year, rather than 20% more, because of how the formula works.
Paraphrasing the Douglas County Assessor’s website, it states that the Assessor determines the “actual” (market) value (based on recent sales) for all real and personal property. Then, a percentage of that value is taken in order to derive the “assessed” value. For residential property, the assessment percentage is set at 6.765%. Then, the assessed value multiplied by the mill levy (mine is 9.2507%) produces the property tax.
Jim Malec, Roxborough Park
Work requirements for Congress
Maybe we should impose stricter work requirements for members of Congress. For starters, how about a minimum weekly hour requirement? Say 32 at the very least. Members of Congress can have two weeks of vacation a year along with six days of sick leave. And six paid holidays. Alright, they are federal employees so we’ll give them nine holidays. Any more time off will be time off without pay.
And how about some accountability as in pay for performance? Members of Congress who are highly effective i.e. bringing up legislation, passing bills, and showing up for votes will be paid more. Less effective members who are more interested in drama and theater will be paid less. Committee members will be expected to actually solve problems, not just grandstand. Congress should acknowledge that their job is to keep the government running. Upon failure to do this, i.e. government shutdowns or debt default, pay to all members stop and will not start again until the problem is solved. Lost pay is forfeited and not retroactively paid.
We expect recipients of SNAP and other programs to work, it is only fair that we expect others who feed at the public trough at taxpayer expense to expend a minimum effort also.
Brenda Johnson, Englewood
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