Archive for Colorado
Recent Stories for Colorado
Ref O benefits from support of heavy hitters
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: Face The State
Dozens of state organizations and elected officials have endorsed Referendum O, a measure that proposes to transform Colorado's ballot initiative process. Under current state law, there is no difference in the process between putting a statutory measure or a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Ref O seeks to change this. According Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, special interests have no reason not to put something in the constitution. “If they’re going to the trouble of collecting signatures, spending money in the media to get a "yes" vote for their campaign, if there is no difference between statutory and constitutional, they’re going to go for a constitutional measure,” she said in a Face The State podcast. Ref O would alter the process between statutory and constitutional measures by changing signature-gathering requirements, mandating that campaigns gather signatures from each of the state’s seven Congressional districts. It would also increase the number of voter signatures needed for a constitutional change to 6 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, up from the current requirement 5 percent, or just over 76,000.
One less initiative on hefty Colorado ballot
Category: Affirmative Action · State: Colorado · Source: Rocky Mountain News
An initiative that would have preserved affirmative action programs in Colorado fell short of the required number of signatures to make November's crowded ballot, the secretary of state's office said Wednesday. Initiative 82 was nearly 8,000 signatures short following a line-by- line verification of the petitions, according to Secretary of State Mike Coffman. There are 18 statewide issues on the Nov. 4 ballot, in addition to local ballot questions and races, state legislative contests, and U.S. House, Senate and presidential races. "Don't throw away your blue book when you get it," said Rich Coolidge, Coffman's spokesman, of the official state voter guide mailed to voters.
Initiatives a Bright Spot for Colorado GOP
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Colorado · Source: New West Politics
While the decline of Republican dominance in Colorado has been the topic of endless media speculation, the GOP has one bright spot heading toward November: The initiative process. A report carried in this week’s LA Times falsely suggested otherwise. Titled “GOP suffering from a lack of (ballot) initiative,” reporters Dan Morain and Nicholas Riccardi eagerly proclaimed that “The strategy of pushing propositions likely to draw conservatives to the polls has faltered as Republicans face mishaps in drafting measures and a more aggressive opposition.” While Morain and Riccardi are right that Colorado initiatives are facing aggressive opposition from well-funded liberals, including multiple millionaire and labor-backed lawsuits, the fact remains that of the four initiatives certified for the November ballot, all represent conservative or free-market efforts. As of Wednesday, not a single liberal initiative had been approved. But Morain and Riccardi got this basic fact wrong as well, writing, “. . . Democrats have succeeded in qualifying measures of their own [in Colorado].”
Ritter says credit used to lure industries in 1970s
Category: Taxes · State: Colorado · Source: Grand Junction Sentinel
“Enough is enough.” That’s the message Gov. Bill Ritter brought to Grand Junction on Thursday in his pitch for eliminating a lucrative tax credit Colorado’s oil and gas companies receive. Ritter told The Daily Sentinel’s editorial board that abolishing Colorado’s “ad valorem” tax credit is a matter of “fairness.” Ritter said the tax credit, which allows energy companies to subtract 87.5 percent of their property tax bills from the severance taxes they owe, has its roots in the late 1970s when Colorado wanted to help the energy industry establish itself in the state. State economists have credited the subsidy with severely eating into the amount of money Colorado can use to confront the stresses energy development places on local governments and public infrastructure. Ritter said the need for the credit is gone, given the health of the energy industry in Colorado. “There is a time when a tax credit becomes obsolete as a matter of fiscal policy,” Ritter said.
Hot summer for Colorado initiatives
Category: Affirmative Action · State: Colorado · Source: The Hill
California’s crown as the king of the initiative is about to be snatched by Colorado. The Colorado secretary of State’s office is besieged by truckload after truckload of baled petitions being submitted by various groups seeking a spot on November’s ballot. It’s a crowded house these days. Seven initiatives have already been certified for the ballot (or their petitions await certification). Another eight to 10 measures are widely expected to submit petitions in coming days. And four referred measures are already on the statewide ballot. At the least, there will be 15 significant ballot measures before voters when they look at their ballots in a few months. What do I mean by significant? For starters, many of these initiatives are seriously moneyed measures. Several of the proposals will inspire campaigns that spend more on TV and other electioneering than either candidate for the U.S. Senate — Republican Bob Schaffer or Democrat Mark Udall — can possibly bring to his top-tier contest. Some initiative campaigns have already pre-paid for their entire multimillion-dollar TV budgets before their petitions are even certified. So much will be spent on these measures that it is feared that if you don’t buy your TV now, you’ll be frozen out at the end. There won’t be a minute of broadcast time available for initiative advertisers. But it’s more than money that makes this year special in Colorado.
Monthly Archives for Colorado
- September 2008 (2)
- August 2008 (2)
- July 2008 (3)
- June 2008 (5)
- May 2008 (2)
- April 2008 (3)
- November 2007 (12)