Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo said that if he is elected governor in November, he will ask voters and the legislature to make major changes in the state’s constitution and laws that would put the emphasis on reducing spending rather than on figuring out how to increase taxes and spending.

Tancredo said he would ask voters to reconsider Amendment 23. The amendment requires the state to increase spending on education by the rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index plus 1%. At the same time, the Gallagher Amendment restricts increases in property taxes, which are used to fund education. That conflict in the state’s constitution forces the government to fund increased spending on education from the general fund, Tancredo said in a speech before the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce in Centennial.

In a very detailed presentation that neither Dan Maes nor Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper could even come close to making, Tancredo outlined the structural problems and government mandates that make fixing Colorado’s budget problems so difficult. He stressed that solving those problems would have to be done one step at a time by the legislature and by presenting initiatives to Colorado’s voters.

“In Colorado, mandated spending eats up most of the budget,” Tancredo warned, adding, “Unless you attack mandated programs that are built into the Colorado budget will you will not change the course that we are on.”

And he made it clear that he doesn’t believe the government should spend and tax more.

Tancredo recalled that in the midst of a deep recession, unions representing teachers and other government employees have  demanded big increases in wages and benefits. 

He asked the business owners in the audience if any had raised their employees’ wages and benefits 10% since the recession began. None raised their hands.

“We can’t afford [big wage and benefit increases], but the government can and does,” Tancredo said, adding,

“We have to attack public employee unions. It is not going to be pretty. We have to make people aware of the power of unions in Colorado.”

I’ve heard Tancredo speak four times since he entered the gubernatorial race a on July 29. In his first three appearances, Tancredo was just Tom. He told his usual stories and established rapport with his mostly friendly audiences.

Today’s speech was much different. After a couple of comments about the situation he finds himself in, Tancredo launched into his frank and thoughtful discussion about how he would fix the state’s financial problems. Noting that politicians like to say things that make a particular audience like them, Tancredo said that won’t be his “modus operandi.” He reiterated his promise that he always makes. He is running for governor to fix its budget, not because he wants to be governor.

His opponents obviously are running for governor because they want to be governor. That’s especially true of Dan Maes, the GOP’s troubled candidate. It’s less true of Obama Democrat John Hickenlooper who talks about working with employers to bring more employers and jobs to Colorado.

Interestingly, unlike his opponents, Tancredo didn’t talk about creating jobs in Colorado. He knows governors have no control over the continuing and possibly deepening recession. And governors can’t create jobs. Only the private sector can create jobs.

In the last talk I heard Tancredo make before the Jefferson County Republican Mens Club in Golden on Aug. 9, Tancredo talked about illegal immigration and the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. In his speech today, which he delivered without notes, he mentioned neither. But he discussed both when asked by the audience of about 50 business owners.