Amendment 49

Sheriffs Shoot Down Lies Against Amendment 49
“Deception” called “insulting”; Officers still get their body armor

DENVER – Six elected sheriffs from major Front Range counties today publicly refuted the deception in the campaign against Amendment 49.

Five of the six counties represented by the sheriffs have enacted an Ethical Standards policy very similar to what Amendment 49 proposes. The issue committee Protect Colorado’s Future has run a multi-million dollar campaign with flyers and television ads falsely claiming that 49 will deprive law enforcement of needed safety equipment.

“There’s a lot of deception going on stating that police officers, deputy sheriffs are not going to receive their body armor, aren’t going to receive their vests,” said Douglas County Sheriff David Weaver. “That is totally inaccurate.” He noted that Douglas County, which passed Ethical Standards in October 2007, just today received notification of grant funding to obtain more body armor for the sheriff’s department.

Weld County, which adopted the policy in August 2007, has had a similar experience. “I think it’s ludicrous and insulting on some of these ads that say we can’t do as good a job if 49 passes,” said Sheriff John Cooke.

Cooke decried the ads saying that Amendment 49 would restrict how public safety employees can spend their money. “That is not true,” Cooke said. “Weld County stopped this practice. What the people did is they just set up a private account with a bank.”

Weaver and Cooke were joined by Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle, and El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa in writing an open letter to refute the deceptive campaign against Amendment 49. The six sheriffs include five Republicans and one Democrat.

“Many of our counties already have a policy like 49 in place, and our departments remain equipped to keep themselves safe while ready and able to serve the people of our communities,” the letter states.

Also known as the Ethical Standards initiative, Amendment 49 will prohibit governments from bundling money from public employees’ paychecks and delivering the funds to special interest groups. These special interests use the money to lobby the same politicians who just delivered the cash to them. Major Colorado newspapers supporting Amendment 49 include the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boulder Daily Camera, Pueblo Chieftain, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Colorado Springs Gazette, Longmont Times-Call, and Loveland Reporter-Herald.

The twelve Colorado counties that have adopted Ethical Standards are: El Paso, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Larimer, Douglas, Weld, Mesa, Montrose, Delta, Elbert, Teller, a Kit Carson.

Listen to audio from
Sheriff John Cooke 1, 2, 3
Sheriff David Weaver 1, 2