Don Marostica, the freshman legislator representing Colorado's House District 51, is taking bold steps to prove correct those of us who argued he was unfit to be in government.

As reported in the Loveland Reporter-Herald, Marostica's first or second bill that he will introduce in his legislative career will be "to require dealers who sell miniature ATVs to service and repair them."

(I think the product in question is something like this:
http://qianjiang.en.alibaba.com/offerdetail/52759481/Sell_Mini_Pocket_ATV.html?

Quoting from the article:

Marostica said he recently bought one of the child-sized machines, which rarely top 20 mph, for his business partner’s child.

“I got it, and it wouldn’t start, so I opened the package, and it said to box it up and send it to Korea,” Marostica said. “I thought, ‘This is idiotic.’”

No, Don, what is idiotic is your thinking that it is your job to force a business to perform a service. Where is your commitment to limited government now? The store would already have to take back a product that didn't work. And when you buy something at Toys 'R' Us, for example, do you believe they have a repair department? Of course not.

And who do you want to bet is backing Marostica on this? Probably motorcycle dealers and other toy sellers who have repair facilities, trying to use government to kill their competition. This is just the sort of thing that Democrats love, so it will probably pass.

Marosticas self-serving and corrupt approach to government is already shining through, just as those of us who opposed him in the primary argued it would. Unfortunately for Loveland residents, Marostica had enough of his own money available to buy the election. Too bad they didn't see him for what he was.

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Here is the version I sent to the Reporter-Herald:

To those of us who supported Don Marostica's opponent in the Republican Primary, it was clear that Mr. Marostica wanted to get into the state legislature for all the wrong reasons. His history in Loveland government smelled suspiciously of self-dealing, and wreaks of a disdain for limited government and liberty which he claimed to value.

Now, at his earliest opportunity, Marostica is proving us right, trying to use one of his first bills to force dealers of children's mini-ATVs to repair them. The idea that the state legislature should force a retail store to provide a repair service is, to put it bluntly, insane...at least coming from a Republican. Retail shops already have a responsibility to take back or exchange a defective product. But forcing them to create a repair department (particularly for products with electronics and engines) is a jaw-dropping misuse of government power, and a frightening demonstration of how Marostica's brain works....frighteningly like a Democrat or any other opponent of free markets. On the bright side, this is such a massive abuse of power that even the Democrats probably will not support it.

It is fascinating how Marostica's self-declared motivation, namely that he felt inconvenienced with the terms of a warranty, is typical of a man who seemed to use his position in Loveland government for his own benefit. It is exactly the sort of self-serving misuse of government power which caused me to oppose Marostica's election. Sadly for the people of Colorado and for its small business owners, Marostica is proving our fears correct. The Don Marostica motto apparently is "Ask not what Marostica can do for Colorado, ask what Colorado can do for Marostica."