ENGLEWOOD, CO – A leading proponent of a good-government initiative on this November’s ballot has filed a complaint against a group registered to oppose a different amendment.

Jon Caldara today submitted a formal complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State against the issue committee Coloradans for Middle Class Relief (CMCR). CMCR is officially registered only “to oppose statewide Amendment 47,” yet has mailed out flyers (links to images below) that also specifically oppose Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards) and Amendment 54.

A pair of formal complaints now have been submitted in the past week regarding anti-Amendment 49 activities that violate election law. On October 22, Colorado Springs resident and former school board candidate Reginald Perry filed a formal complaint against Protect Colorado’s Future (PCF) and another issue committee for an illicit transfer of resources.

Numerous media outlets further have called out PCF for its blatantly deceptive advertising.

“What we have now are well-heeled union lobbyists not only deceiving the public, but also breaking the law to do it,” Caldara said.

PCF and CMCR have combined to spend more than $20 million in the 2008 election.

“Some special interests clearly think they are blessed with the dual privilege of receiving government collection services and campaigning above the law,” said Caldara. “That only helps to make the case for Ethical Standards.”

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.

“It’s unethical for government to be the banker, accountant, and collection agent for political special interests,” Caldara said. “Government should be using our tax dollars and our civil servants’ time to provide crucial public services, not to funnel money to political organizations.”

Major newspapers supporting Amendment 49 include the Wall Street Journal, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Boulder Daily Camera, Pueblo Chieftain, Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Colorado Springs Gazette, Longmont Times-Call, and Loveland Reporter-Herald.

Links to evidence of campaign finance violation
Flyer 1
Flyer 2: Side A & Side B

Read the press release here.

A couple key excerpts:

The foes of 49 haven’t taken a clean shot at it yet. They’ve run no ads attacking the measure on its own. Instead, they’ve lumped the three ballot issues together. Since each is different, the campaign against 49 has been especially misleading.

Ads opposing 49 claim it would muzzle government workers and endanger public safety. One ad from the labor-backed group Protect Colorado’s Future says 49 (and the other measures) would “silence the voices of firefighters, police officers, teachers and nurses” and “end up making what [they] do harder.”

In what way? The amendment doesn’t say unions can’t collect dues. It just says government can’t collect dues for them.

And:

A third ad makes the bizarre claim that the three measures would “silence small business,” when 49 has nothing to do with small business. The same ad states, correctly, that Amendment 49 would not apply to “multinational corporations,” including drug companies and defense contractors. Of course it wouldn’t, since the amendment would end free union dues collection by governments.

The implication of that ad is that 49 would give businesses an unfair advantage in lobbying the government; public-employee unions would face a new burden that would not apply to corporations. In fact, ending the practice of free dues collection would simply level the playing field among unions, business organizations and any other group that tries to influence public policy.

The moral of the story? Get the facts for yourself. Don’t be fooled by the multi-million dollar ad campaign paid for by (mostly union) lobbyists against ethical standards in government.

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

YES on Amendment 49 (stops government employers from collecting union dues with payroll deduction).

Other newspapers that have endorsed Amendment 49 include:

• Wall Street Journal
• Denver Post
• Rocky Mountain News
• Boulder Daily Camera
• Pueblo Chieftain
• Grand Junction Sentinel
• Longmont Times-Call
• Loveland Reporter-Herald
• Salida Mountain Mail
• Jefferson County Mile High Newspapers

Amendment 49 prevents state and local governments from bundling money from public employees’ paychecks and delivering the funds to special interests, like unions. The NCLA believes taxpayer dollars and civil servants’ time should not be used providing collection and bookkeeping services for these groups.

Additionally, the NCLA believes it is unethical for governments to collect money from their employees’ paychecks for special interests that spend their funds lobbying the same governments’ elected officials.

Former Gov. Owens signed an executive order accomplishing exactly what Amendment 49 sets out to do early in his tenure. The order was overturned, however, when Gov. Ritter took office.

Twelve counties throughout the state, representing over half of the population of Colorado, already have similar rules on their books.

…Amendment 49 will hold Colorado governments to higher ethical standards and remove a nonessential task from governments that should have never been implemented in the first place.

NCLA is one of numerous business and civic organizations across Colorado that have publicly endorsed Amendment 49. Just a few of them are:

• Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
• Colorado Health Care Association
• Colorado Farm Bureau
• Colorado Contractors Association
• Colorado Home Builders Association
• National Federation of Independent Business
• Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce

I feel the editors of the Coloradoan have shortchanged their readers with their attempt to dismiss any serious constitutional proposal with the “just-say-no-to-everything” approach. They dismissed Amendment 49 as an anti-union attempt to manipulate the Constitution - which makes me wonder if they actually ever read the ballot language.

Amendment 49 restricts government but does not stop employees from organizing unions. The measure simply prevents government from using our public payroll system as a bank, collection agency and accountant for politically active lobbying organizations. These groups turn around and fund politicians’ campaigns.

Does this include unions? Of course. But the amendment also prohibits taxpayer-funded collections for professional organizations, fraternal associations and political parties, which makes it fair across the board. Employees will have the same rights to go to any of these groups and join and support them as much as they want. Amendment 49 just says it’s more ethical to get government out of the collection and bundling business for lobbyists, where it doesn’t need to be in the first place.

Most of Colorado’s 3,000 governments have no policy to stop the whole scheme. Because the politicians are all subject to the possible conflict of interest, it’s up to the people to amend the Constitution and fix the mess.

Vote yes on Amendment 49.

BJ Nikkel,
Loveland

Amendment 49 (”ethical standards”) prohibits state and local governments from intercepting a worker’s paycheck to collect dues or contributions for unions, lobbyists or any other special interest. It simply requires all interest groups to ask supporters directly for their contribution, rather than use government payroll systems as their collection agency.

Groups from the National Rifle Association to the Sierra Club rely on voluntary contributions, so why can’t labor unions and other special interests?

Amendment 49 is not only about ethics but also about basic fairness. That’s why so many major newspapers and organizations across Colorado have endorsed the measure.

Dear Editor:

A lot of us may be looking around and scratching our heads when our ballots arrived. There’s all these ballot amendments and referenda to decide. Some have received more attention than others. One you may not have heard of, but need to know about, is Amendment 49.

Amendment 49 is called the ethical standards initiative because it stops government payroll systems from collecting money and delivering it to private lobbying groups that try to influence our politicians.

Millions of dollars were funneled through this process last year in governments throughout Colorado. There are several local governments in Colorado that have tested the idea and found that it works. Delta County and Montrose County both adopted ethical standards earlier this year. We have helped to set the stage for the whole state to get behind this commonsense policy and make sure our elected officials are focused on vital services to taxpayers, not on collections and bookkeeping for special interests and lobbyists. [emphasis added]

I urge you to vote a hearty yes on Amendment 49.

Linda Sorenson
Delta

The other counties that have adopted Ethical Standards are: El Paso, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Douglas, Weld, Larimer, Mesa, Teller, Elbert, and Kit Carson.

Complaint: Amendment 49 Opponents Break Law
Issue Committees Illegally Transferred Campaign Resources

ENGLEWOOD, CO – Supporters of a good-government initiative on this November’s ballot say a citizen’s complaint against amendment opponents highlights the need for reform.

Today, Colorado Springs resident and former school board candidate Reginald Perry filed a formal complaint against the issue committee Protect Colorado’s Future (PCF) and a teachers union-run issue committee for a clear violation of existing campaign finance law. PCF has raised and spent nearly $8 million to fight Amendment 49 and two other statewide ballot measures.

Existing rules state that “An issue committee shall not contribute to, or accept contributions from, other issue committees that do not support or oppose issues supported or opposed by the issue committee making the contribution.” The Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) committee Teachers for Excellence in Education made nearly $2,800 in in-kind contributions to PCF, which was created to address statewide ballot issues. CSEA’s committee is designed to “promote ballot issues in School District 11.”

“I find it disturbing to see the teachers union funnel resources earmarked for local education issues into a fight against statewide political issues they don’t happen to like,” Perry said.

Amendment 49 proponents say the fault also lies with the committee accepting the contribution.

“It only helps to make our case when our opponents break the law just to raise a little more money to fight ethical government,” said Jon Caldara.

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.

“It’s unethical for government to be the banker, accountant, and collection agent for political special interests,” Caldara said. “Government should be using our tax dollars and our civil servants’ time to provide crucial public services, not to funnel money to political organizations.”

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. In addition to the editorial endorsements, numerous business and civic groups, along with former U.S. Senator Hank Brown and former Gov. Bill Owens, have lined up behind the amendment.