Estes Park Trail Gazette
A ccording to Jon Caldara, initiative rights in Colorado are now dead. As voters, many of us find state-wide citizen initiatives to be wanting, at least if election results matter. Caldara, of the Independence Institute, was a petition proponent for Amendment 63, the health care initiative that appeared on last November`s ballot. That ballot measure failed. Now Caldara is being sued personally for fraud supposedly committed by petition circulators. “It doesn`t matter if you love or hate my initiative,” says Caldera. State law killing is your initiative rights.
A citizen’s initiative to abolish the current Estes Park Urban Renewal Authority and require voter approval to create another authority took another step forward Wednesday as organizers submitted petitions with more than 360 names to the town clerk. The clerk’s office will proceed to verify the petition before issuing a statement indicating if a sufficient number of valid voter signatures were present. The petition organizers need 226 valid signatures. The statement of sufficiency will be issued no later than 30 days from July 8.
Bill Van Horn of Estes Park Citizens for Responsible Government announced this week that their citizen’s initiative petition drive is nearing the finish line. “With the help of good volunteers, we’ve gathered more than the minimum required to reach the ballot,” said Van Horn. “We want to continue gathering more signatures than required to ensure that the town does not again reject our right to access the ballot.”