McInnis needs to flesh out Republican Party's platform

Article Last Updated; Wednesday, November 25, 2009 12:00AM

In settling on former congressman Scott McInnis as their all-but-official gubernatorial nominee, Colorado Republicans have opted for maturity and experience. It is a solid combination.

And with its “Platform for Prosperity" announced Monday, the party has laid out the positions it wants to stress in the coming campaign. It now falls to McInnis to explain what those promises and assertions mean.

Any such manifesto at this stage of the electoral cycle is bound to consist largely of vague platitudes promising good things. But beyond that the Republican platform offers some promises that appear to be contradictory, if not impossible.

It is only natural that the platform endorses job creation, defends home schooling, calls for denying funding for any organization that provides abortion, promises to support gun rights, end fraud and waste, and combat illegal immigration. That is a Republican definition of good government.

And it is understandable that it promises support for health-care reforms such as allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, which reflect federal laws not up to the governor at all. It is, after all, a campaign document.

But when it comes to money, McInnis needs to be more specific in the coming months. How, for example, can the platform promise to invest more on roads, bridges and water systems, as well as on higher education and work-force training, and create a rainy day fund - while at the same time promising not to raise taxes or increase fees?

The math is inexorable. The economic downturn has left Colorado with a stark choice. We can increase state government's revenue or we can further reduce the services it provides. And at the point where things are now, that means serious cuts to education, prisons, transportation and other core functions of state government.

McInnis - and Gov. Bill Ritter - need to be clear about that and what their choices would be. Spending more without raising taxes is not one of the options available to them.