Colorado
For the second time in as many weeks the Denver Post has highlighted the deep freeze
that has overtaken Colorado’s petition process. Colorado citizens are now caught up in a whirlwind of red tape, bad laws, and litigation that may spell the end of initiative rights in the state, but citizens are fighting back, and the media is starting to take notice.
From the Barroom Politics section of the Estes Park Trail Gazette in Colorado, a commentary on the state of citizen rights in Colorado:
According 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.
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.
Most restrictions on petitioning and initiative rights have some type of chilling effect on actual usage of the petition process. In Colorado, one provision of a malicious 2009 law, House Bill 1326, has resulted in such a deep freeze that it may put an end to the state’s citizen initiative process entirely. Already two victims of HB 1326 are faced with losing their homes to pay for their defense against false and ridiculous allegations of ”˜fraud.’
A state ballot initiative to raise taxes and create five income-tax brackets sustained a one-month delay Wednesday. Initiative 7 has been flying under the radar since a progressive group filed it in June. A Wednesday hearing of the three-member Title Board was its first big test. But the board threw out the initiative before it conducted a hearing on its merits because the sponsors made late changes.
Stapleton resident Kim Davis and her family have kept chickens in their back yard for about a year and a half. “They are like little friends,” Davis said. “They are like our little pets, our little pals. We come out the back door and they run up and say hello.”
A Vail salvage lot owner has filed a ballot proposal with the Colorado Legislature to reduce the terms of state Supreme Court justices from 10 years to just two years. Peter Coulter says the justices have abused their power by trying to circumvent term limits and he wants voters to review their performance every two years.
Come the end of April, Fort Collins voters could pass in a new voting system that could change how candidates and constituents treat elections. The option for ranked voting –– or Instant Runoff Voting –– has been petitioned as an initiative onto the April mayoral election ballot and will amend the city code to allow ranked voting in Fort Collins.
Some of the city’s staunchest advocates for affordable housing acknowledged Thursday there are significant challenges to asking voters next year to support a tax for the Yampa Valley Housing Authority. “I don’t believe that the community, in its heart of hearts, believes that there’s a need,” Bud Romberg said.
Denver voters decided not to roll out the red carpet for space aliens, soundly rejecting a ballot initiative that would have required the city to establish an Extra Terrestrial Affairs Committee. Even before the results came in, UFO buff Jeff Peckman, who ran the campaign for Initiative 300, was philosophical about the voters’ verdict on his plan for the city to study reports of UFOs and develop protocols for welcoming aliens to the Mile High City.
An El Paso County District Court ruling this week could set a precedent for municipalities to run ballot initiatives that would prohibit future and existing medical marijuana businesses, advocates fear. El Paso County District Court Judge Timothy Simmons ruled on Wednesday that the controversial ballot initiative can remain on the ballot, despite a lawsuit by 16 medical marijuana businesses seeking to have the initiative removed from the ballot. Advocates argued that the initiative violates the state constitution after voters legalized medical marijuana in 2000.
A status conference was held Thursday between El Paso County attorneys and attorneys for the group suing the county for the ballot initiative regarding medical marijuana. Attorneys for the plaintiff requested an injunction against the election, which the judge denied.
Eleventh Judicial District Attorney Thom LeDoux will ask voters to eliminate the term limit applicable on the office of district attorney by approving ballot issue 4A at the polls Nov. 2. LeDoux said Pueblo County waived the term limit about eight years ago. He said other judicial districts including Mesa County and Denver County voted to increase the term limit from two terms to three. Initiatives to waive the term limit have never been successful in a multi-county district, he said.
Backers of the “Personhood” amendment who attempted to force a change to the voter guide “Blue Book” were turned back in their efforts in Denver District Court last week. But despite the costs that it might incur, an appeal is planned, say Amendment 62 supporters. Judge Robert S. Hyatt accepted a motion from the defendants, the Colorado General Assembly’s Legislative Council, to dismiss a lawsuit filed Sept. 20 by Amendment 62 proponents Personhood Colorado.
A group of medical marijuana supporters is trying to knock a measure off the Nov. 2 ballot. A lawsuit filed in 4th Judicial District Court on Monday aims to stop an initiative that would ban medical marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas of El Paso County. The lawsuit admittedly caught officials off guard. Ballots for next month’s general election have been printed and are scheduled to be sent Tuesday to residents who requested to vote by mail.