TABOR'S evil, ugly twin

Trying to save face and say they did something, Assembly Republicans twisted arms until 4:30 a.m. to get enough votes to pass, 50-48, a constitutional amendment that will look even uglier in the light of day than it did at 4:30 in the morning.

It is a terrible piece of work, which will probably become obvious in the next few days as the news media begin to read it and decipher its contents.

The authors themselves think it is so bad that it includes a special fixer-upper provision, allowing that section of the constitution to be amended with a simple legislative vote and referendum. To amend anything else in the constitution requires passage by two sessions of the legislature and then approval by the voters. Maybe they were thinking of the Colorado experience, where it turned out to be disastrous.

There are enough shaky, vague and unusual provisions in the measure to keep an army of lawyers busy litigating for years.

The odds are that it will never come to that, because the State Senate is showing signs of having more sense and may be in a mood to kill this monster next week.

But, it is an election year ...

MARK POCAN ASKS: What can you expect from a plan introduced at bar time?