Amendment 49

Illegal Anti-49 Electioneering Yields New Complaint
Well-Heeled Issue Committee’s Attacks Overstep Legal Bounds
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 [...]

Sandra Hagen Solin, writing as the issues manager for the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance (NCLA), explains in today’s Fort Collins Coloradoan why her organization backs Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards initiative:

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 [...]

Former state treasurer Mark Hillman explains the simple logic that underlies the Ethical Standards initiative:

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, [...]

From today’s Delta County Independent:

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 [...]

Former U.S. Senator Hank Brown, who previously endorsed Amendment 49, explained his support in greater detail in a Sunday op-ed for the Denver Post:

Should taxpayers be forced to subsidize the collection of political contributions and payments to lobbyists?
All of us would defend a citizen’s right to lobby government or donate to a campaign. But forcing [...]

Today the editors of the Longmont Times-Call formally endorsed Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards Initiative, noting:
The accounting system of the government shouldn’t be used to send money to unions or special interests that use the funds to influence campaigns. Plain and simple.

The list of endorsements for Amendment 49 keeps growing.

From a piece in today’s Rocky Mountain News by longtime political columnist (and now retired) Peter Blake:

No doubt passage of [Amendment] No. 49 would make it more difficult for unions to collect dues. But Caldara said that in the age of automatic bank transfers, union members can easily arrange to have dues deducted if they [...]

Another letter to the editor appeared today in favor of Amendment 49, this time in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:

It’s kind of sad to see Colorado still has a problem with lobbyist ethics (or the lack thereof). But if the problem is there, we ought to plug the loophole. That’s why I think Amendment 49 [...]