Monthly Archive for Colorado
Colorado Stories Posted in July 2008
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.
Romanoff leads TABOR crusade
Category: TABOR · State: Colorado · Source: Denver Post
The man flagging down passersby outside the Colorado Convention Center wanted change — not quarters, but a controversial change to the state constitution that would undo part of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The petition-wielding House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, the state's third-most powerful politician, manned the walkway Saturday trying to find a pitch to stop DNC volunteers streaming by and convince them to support his ballot initiative. After Gov. Bill Ritter, the teachers union and fellow lawmakers stopped short of fully supporting his initiative, Romanoff launched his own quest for the ballot, personally collecting 1,500 signatures and speaking across the state. The campaign is underfunded and faces both a saturated ballot and a distracted public — but with 90,000 signatures collected and more than a week before the Aug. 4 deadline, analysts say voters will likely see the proposal on the November ballot.
Opinion: Guest Opinion: Time for the Truth On Affirmative Action
Category: Opinion · State: Colorado · Source: Daily Camera
As an overwhelming number of Coloradans say they support a ballot initiative to abolish race and gender preferences, an opposition campaign designed to confuse voters hinges on half-truths and deception. Don't be fooled. The Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which will appear on this November's ballot as Amendment 46 and reflects a decade long citizen-led effort, prohibits the government from giving preferential treatment or discriminating against any person based on his or her race or gender in public education, public hiring and public contracting. Under current law, government entities, including the University of Colorado, regularly divide candidates based on these characteristics.
Other Monthly Archives for Colorado
- July 2008 (3)