Don Johnson, Businessword.com: Is Ken Buck really a fiscal conservative? If he's elected to the U.S. Senate, will the Weld County District Attorney (DA) put his votes where his mouth is?

The answer seems obvious. If elected, Ken Buck would be one of the most fiscally conservative members of the U.S. Senate. After reviewing some 40 pages of budget data for the last five years and bureaucratic memos that he has written to his county commissioners and others when seeking additional funding, it seems clear that Buck has tried to contain his budget. It's also clear that DAs' budgets are strongly affected by forces beyond their control, including population growth, inflation, state legislation, tax revenue projections and the priorities of the county's board of commissioners who approve all budgets.

A fact sheet provided by Buck's office says that from 2005 to 2010, the DA's total proposed budget increased 40.47%. For 2010, the proposed budget is down 0.72% from 2009. From 2005 to 2008, the actual budget for the DA's office (DA and victims witness) increased 27.08%.


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