Amendment 49

A letter issued today from Jon Caldara to Gov. Bill Ritter (quoted in full):

September 22, 2008

The Honorable Bill Ritter
Governor, State of Colorado
136 State Capitol
Denver, CO 80203-1792

Governor Ritter:

Since you took office, we often have found ourselves on the opposite sides of issues important to the people of Colorado. But now we have the opportunity to forge a truce and avoid a costly political battle. You have urged business and labor leaders to come together and “holster their weapons,” to use your words, and rescind their respective ballot measures that if passed could result—as some have put it—in “mutually assured destruction.”

For some reason you have lumped Amendment 49 – Ethical Standards for Public Payroll Systems – in with the labor/anti-business initiatives even though 49 doesn’t restrict business or labor. It places an ethical restriction on government only.

But in the spirit of goodwill I am prepared as the leading proponent of the Ethical Standards Initiative to make a substantial offer. Amendment 49 is designed to stop governments from using the people’s payroll systems to bundle and deliver money to special interest groups that turn around and lobby the government. As former Senator Hank Brown has said in endorsing the initiative, “It’s just plain wrong for our Government to be a bagman for special interests.”

But well-heeled opponents of Amendment 49, including powerful labor union leaders, feel threatened by this simple, ethical proposal to clean up government. These same opponents have been champions of your Executive Order D 028 07, which drastically reshaped labor relations by introducing collective bargaining to state government.

I therefore propose withdrawing Amendment 49 from the statewide ballot, contingent upon your repeal of Executive Order D 028 07 and your word to oppose any effort to bring it forward via legislation. Such a move could help restore a measure of peace to Colorado’s political landscape.

It is my hope that you will consider the offer carefully and seriously. Please contact me before October 1 so we might be able to make arrangements to withdraw the proposals in a timely manner.

Sincerely,

Jon C. Caldara