Sen. Ken Salazar Repeats Discredited Anti-Amendment 49 Talking Point

Colorado U.S. Senator Ken Salazar made the mistake of letting his name appear on a letter recently published in the Fort Morgan Times, a letter that repeats at least one special interest group lie:

Amendment 49 targets public employees, including law enforcement officials, fire fighters and teachers, who provide vital services for all of us. Amendment 49 will interfere with the personal choice of working Coloradans over how they want to spend their hard-earned paychecks.

This echoes the deceptive flyers distributed by the well-heeled committee Protect Colorado’s Culture of Corruption Future (the issue committee known for its perpetual deception), in which they falsely state that Amendment 49 dictates how firefighters and other public employees can spend their paychecks.

In his recent appearance on 850 KOA’s Mike Rosen Show, though, former U.S. Senator Hank Brown set the record straight:

Here’s the transcript:

I notice some of the negative ads that want a vote against 49 claimed that it somehow restricts various public employees. Not the case at all. Simply, absolutely wrong. I think as the Rocky Mountain News said in its editorial, “Such claims are nonsense”. And they are nonsense. There’s no restriction on employees here, only restrictions on government.

It’s not just Hank Brown and the Rocky Mountain News who have cleared the air with the truth. Similar observations have been made by editors at the Grand Junction Sentinel and Boulder Daily Camera, too. A look at the ballot language confirms that Amendment 49 provides only “restrictions on government,” and doesn’t in any way restrict how government workers can spend their money. (In some cases, it actually gives workers more freedom of choice in this regard.)

What a shame to see Senator Ken Salazar regurgitating a discredited talking point pushed by special interest groups that thrive off our taxpayer-funded government payroll systems. Just a little more reason why we need Amendment 49 to provide ethical standards for our state and local governments.