From the Broomfiled Enterprise (Dylan Otto Krider):
There aren`t many issues that can unite unions, business groups, school boards, charter schools, the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado beef industry, but amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101 have done just that, bringing together the seemingly disparate groups in a stance against the ballot measures. They are among the groups that have joined a concerted effort to defeat the measures, which opponents say will cause massive layoffs and prevent future building at a time when schools budgets are shrinking…
Among those who have sent declarations of opposition to the measures to the Enterprise are Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, the Charter Institute, the State Board of Education, the Colorado Cattlemen`s Association and 36 Commuting Solutions. Broomfield City Council and the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce also are in opposition to the measures…
Steve Bobrick, former chairman of the Broomfield Economic Development Corp. board of directors, said the organization has come out against the measures, because building things such as water reservoirs are what lure facilities such as the new Conoco-Phillips training facility, slated to open in 2012 or 2013 at the former Storage Technology campus in Louisville. “You need government to do things most people will not do — take care of fire, police, water,” Bobrick said. Those core services could be in jeopardy if taxes are raised on government enterprises, a move Bobrick called “unprecedented.” Enterprises are cooperative efforts between government and private enterprise, such as universities…
In an investigation of a complaint for campaign finance violations, a Denver judge fingered anti-tax crusader Douglas Bruce, a former El Paso County commissioner and state representative, as being behind the effort to collect the more than 400,000 signatures needed to get the initiatives on the ballot. Despite the fact Bruce avoided dozens of attempts to compel him to testify in a deposition, the judge saw enough evidence to conclude Bruce coached petition collectors. Secretary of State records show eight professional signature collectors lived in a Colorado Springs rental house owned by Bruce while they collected 26,000 signatures. The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Bruce was found to have communicated with the petitioners using the e-mail address info@cotaxreform.com. Menten said she only became the spokesperson in March or April, and can`t comment on anything that happened before. She characterized the group as “grassroots” and said the language had been crafted by a number of different people.
Meanwhile, Ed Quillen takes a look at some of this year’s ballot amendments in his column in today’s Denver Post. From the article:
Which brings us to the ballot issues this year, which are making me a big fan of the quaint system of having a republic, where we elect people to make laws after hearings and thoughtful deliberation, rather than all this direct democracy.
We can start with Amendment 62, the “personhood amendment,” which would grant full legal rights to fertilized eggs. It’s almost identical to Amendment 48, which was soundly defeated two years ago. Apparently the zygote zealots plan to circulate petitions every two years until we get sick of voting it down and they manage to slip it through. You can have a small, frugal government, or you can have one that monitors every woman of child- bearing age to be sure she’s protecting the legal rights of any fertilized egg she may be carrying. But you can’t have both.
Then, we get to this year’s “Evil Three”: Amendments 60 and 61, along with Proposition 101. They’re assaults on self-government.
For instance, local residents can currently vote to “de-Bruce” their local governments, allowing them to keep tax revenue that would otherwise have to be refunded. It’s hard to see what’s wrong with that — people making decisions about taxes — but Amendment 60 would pretty well put an end to it.
Amendment 61 limits government borrowing. If I’m buying a house, I can decide whether a mortgage of 10, 20 or 30 years would work best. But if I’m a voter, then Amendment 61 says I’m too stupid to make such decisions.
Proposition 101 would roll back auto-license taxes that the legislature increased by calling them “fees” and avoiding a public vote. The honest course would have been to fund highway maintenance by seeking a fuel-tax increase in a referendum. But roads and bridges don’t fix themselves, and the state had to do something.
More 2010 Colorado elections coverage here.