In Colorado, today is the last day initiative proponents can hand over their signatures to the Secretary of State to certify measures on November's statewide ballot. By the end of the day, we should have a fairly clear idea of how crowded the ballot will be -- though we have to await the roughly two-week certification process. Currently, the ballot contains: Amendment 46, the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative Amendment 47, the Right-to-Work Amendment Amendment 48, the Personhood Amendment Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards Initiative Another measure to clean up the government contracting process turned in more than 120,000 signatures a few days ago, and figures to make the ballot, too - likely as Amendment 50. Last week we … [Read more...]
Despite Ambiguities, Plan to Clean Up No-Bid Contracts Merits Support
The Rocky Mountain News reports about another citizens' initiative that may be on its way for Colorado voters to decide this November:Backers of a proposal to bar no-bid government contractors from contributing to political candidates submitted more than 125,000 signatures to the state Wednesday.... Colorado state government granted more than $386 million in contracts without taking competitive bids over the past year, said Tom Lucero, campaign chairman of Clean Government Colorado. This practice drives up the price of services, and current law that lets these contractors pad the campaign accounts of officials who may award the contracts creates tremendous cynicism among voters, said Lucero, a University of Colorado regent. Like … [Read more...]