In a headline that linked to a November 16 Denver Post article, the “news” website Face the State asserted that “Dems want $1.5 billion dollar tax increase” to fund transportation projects such as rail service to Vail and “along Front Range resurface.” In fact, the article to which the headline linked reported on Gov. Bill Ritter's (D) bipartisan Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel, which recommended a package of taxes and fees to raise the $1.5 billion. Additionally, in a November 13 “Staff Report,” Face the State repeatedly employed the well-established conservative tactic of using the noun “Democrat” as an adjective instead of the grammatically correct “Democratic.”

As Colorado Media Matters has documented repeatedly (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), while it describes itself as “a one-stop-shop for political news affecting Coloradans,” Face the State frequently publishes misleading headlines on its aggregated news articles, uses the noun “Democrat” ungrammatically as an adjective, and makes other distortions that advance conservative viewpoints and denigrate liberal positions and political figures.

Face the State's home page for November 16 featured the following misleading headline:

Dems want $1.5 billion dollar tax increase -- rail plan to Vail, along Front Range resurface

The Post article to which the Face the State headline linked reported on the November 15 recommendation of a “special state transportation finance panel”:

A special state transportation finance panel recommended to Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday that Colorado raise $1.5 billion a year for roads and transit from a package of five tax and fee increases.

The panel's preferred proposal for Ritter includes about $172 million a year for “strategic transit” projects, which include plans for long-distance passenger rail from metro Denver through the Interstate 70 mountain corridor and along the Interstate 25 corridor from Fort Collins to Pueblo.

In an October 26 article, the Post fully identified the group as the “Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel,” and noted that it “focused on crafting a mix of taxes and fees to raise at least $1.5 billion a year,” and that “Final recommendations will be made to Ritter on Nov. 15.” Colorado Media Matters previously noted the October 26 Post article when Face the State misleadingly suggested in a headline that the Ritter administration had proposed raising and spending "$2 billion a Year for Transportation."

The “Official State Web Portal” for Colorado, www.Colorado.gov, contains a page for the Transportation Finance and Implementation Panel that includes a link to listings of its meetings and a downloadable list of the panel's members, who include elected officials such as state legislators, county commissioners, and a mayor. Four of the elected officials serving on the panel are Republicans: state Rep. Glenn Vaad (Mead), state Sen. Steve Johnson (Fort Collins), Douglas County Commissioner Melanie Worley, and Aurora Mayor Ed Tauer. Five of the elected officials, including Colorado State Treasurer Cary Kennedy, are Democrats. The executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, Russell George, is an ex-officio member of the panel and formerly was a Republican member of the Colorado House of Representatives and executive director of the state Department of Natural Resources under former Gov. Bill Owens (R).

Additionally, in a November 13 staff report about the issue of drilling on the Roan Plateau, Face the State used the noun “Democrat” to qualify the words “lawmakers” and “agenda.” As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Republican Party officials, politicians, and their allies in the media frequently use “Democrat” instead of “Democratic” as a pejorative reference to things or people of, or relating to, the Democratic Party.

From the Face the State article “Energy Companies on Ritter: Guv Has the Power to Make or Break Value of Roan”:

According to Duane Zavadil, vice president of government and regulatory affairs for the Bill Berrett Corporation, development of the plateau could ultimately net Colorado more than $5 billion, including an initial $1 billion bonus payment, followed by an additional $4-5 billion in royalties and taxes over the course of development, which could last between 15 and 60 years.

"[The Roan] is the largest unleased block of lands of proven value in the lower 48 states," Zavadil said.

Zavadil's projections contrasts sharply with an analysis supported by Democrat lawmakers, who according to The Denver Post, have concluded that the state's share of revenue over 20 years would be no greater than $8.1 million.

[...]

Another energy executive, who asked to speak off the record due to the fact that he's “regulated by [Ritter's] guys every day”, alleges that Ritter's decision will ultimately be decided based on the Democrat agenda coming into the party's national convention in Denver next summer.