Daily Kos user “sandlapper” has a diary that has been “rescued” (i.e. showcased on the front page of DKos) attacking Howard Rich’s “reach into our states and into our lives” (Roe v. Wade, anyone?) in his work in getting TABOR (the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights) on ballots in states around the nation. The first thing that struck me was: “Holy cow, you mean national Democratic activists have an issue with a conservative policy activist mounting a nationwide effort, yet the DKos involvement in Connecticut, et al is somehow ok with them?” (I also had thoughts like, maybe I should walk the dog, and I want to take my socks off, but I digress).

So what’s sandlapper’s beef with Howard Rich? Here’s an excerpt from his screed:

Howard Rich poured money into 12 states this year to get his Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the ballot. Grassroots initiative? Yeah, right. His ESTIMATED contribution - because he’s hidden behind shell groups and his own mask, Americans for Limited Government - and ANOTHER organization he runs, called U.S Term Limits - is $7.3 million.

TABOR is one of two ballot initiatives that qualified for the November ballot in Oregon, and 85 percent of the funds to pay signature gatherers came from? Give you one guess. Howard Rich.

Nation-wide efforts of Daily Kos? Who cares! MoveOn.org? George Soros? Hey, as long as they are progressives they can pour their money into any issue whatsoever! Sandlapper also imitates Emeril (Bam!) for added theatric effects and describe the effort to do the sinister act of protecting taxpayer revenues as “Conspiracy, not coincidence. Agenda, not mere generosity.”

So what does this “conspiracy” entail? The National Conferance of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan nationwide network aiding legislators and their staffs in policy and issues, has a nice rundown of the TABOR law in Colorado. Here are the highlights:

1. TABOR is a set of constitutional provisions Colorado voters adopted in 1992 to limit revenue growth for state and local governments in Colorado and to require that any tax increase in any state or local government (counties, cities, towns, school districts and special districts) must be approved by the voters of the affected government.
2. TABOR is principally a revenue limit, not a spending limit. It limits revenue the state government can retain from all sources except federal funds in a year to the previous year’s allowed collections (not actual collections) plus a percentage adjustment equal to the percentage growth in population plus the inflation rate. Any revenues received in excess of this limit must be refunded to the voters. In this paragraph, allowed collections means the amount that the Tabor Amendment allowed state government to retain in the previous year.

More info: The voters may allow the states to keep excess revenues, the voters may vote to exempt the legislature from provisions of TABOR for a certain number of years, and the voters have approved an amendment to allow the legislature to keep as much of revenue excesses as desirable for K-12 education. Life sucks when the big bad voters can have such control over their hard earned tax dollars, doesn’t it, Kos readers?

So here’s what sandlapper and the rest of the “people powered movement” (because if they say it it MUST be true!) are telling us: liberals can coordinate national efforts for their causes, but for conservatives to do so must be a “conspiracy.” Markos Moulitsas (the man who said “screw ‘em” when several American workers in Iraq died) must not be questioned, but Howard Rich is an eeeevil conservative activist who must be stopped at all accounts. Moreover, allowing voters to have some control over their state’s purse strings will bring about chaos, liberal betwetting, and the injury of puppies.

I’m so glad that they decided to “rescue” this diary. It provides a laughable look into the blatant hypocrisy of the left and their outright disgust for taxpayer control of money. Maybe Howard Dean can “rescue” his party with his 50 state strategy.

In other news: Joe Lieberman is now an Independent, the Democratic Party feels it must sacrifice any semblance of support for national security for their own electoral hopes, and remember guys - there is no war on terror! The foiled terrorist plot in the UK today was just a coincidence. Or wait, was it a conspiracy? An agenda maybe?