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...]
Good News for Amendment 46
If you're running a statewide ballot initiative campaign, these are the kind of numbers you want to see:A national survey conducted jointly by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post.com, and Quinnipiac University released Thursday shows that the majority of Colorado voters — Democrat and Republican alike — overwhelmingly support Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative. The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit government from considering race or gender in education, government employment, or public contracting. The poll, conducted last week, showed that 66 percent of all voters surveyed were supportive of the initiative's language, with just 15 percent saying they were opposed. Democrats were … [Read more...]
Colorado Civil Rights Initiative Seeks Fair Hearing in Traditional Media
Jessica Corry, the new executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, has a Speakout column in today's Rocky Mountain News that clears up many of the charges made against the effort to eliminate government-sponsored discrimination:In 2007, when we first proposed our initiative language, our opponents challenged us all the way up to the Colorado Supreme Court. We won. In February, our opponents attempted to get a competing amendment onto the ballot. We won again after the state's Initiative Title Setting Review Board struck down their misleading and confusing language. On April Fool's Day, our opponents staged a widely covered press conference where dozens of activists falsely alleged that our signature gatherers had … [Read more...]
Affirmative Action for Complaints Against Colorado Civil Rights Initiative?
Face The State is onto another big story, uncovering facts about complaints filed against the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative - which recently qualified for the November statewide ballot. Face The State's report has uncovered serious issues with two of the major complaints, issues neglected in the drive-by media coverage. Here's the first:On February 26, Chloe Johnson filed a complaint with Secretary of State Mike Coffman's office alleging that she was tricked into supporting Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot effort designed to end race and gender preferences in government hiring, education, and contracting. The complaint was formally dismissed by the state's Office of Administrative Courts … [Read more...]
Top Initiative on Colorado’s 2008 Ballot: Yes on Amendment 46
From the Rocky Mountain News today:The secretary of state certified a measure for the Nov. 4 ballot Monday that would ban race and gender-based hiring preferences in Colorado. Supporters of the the measure, Amendment 46, submitted 128,744 signatures March 10. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared that a random sampling showed that enough of them were valid. The measure is pushed by Ward Connerly, a black Republican who has been vilified by civil rights groups for supporting anti-affirmative action policies. Connerly has led similar successful initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan. Supporters say that the measure's language mirrors the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This should mean Connerly's Civil Rights … [Read more...]
Civil Rights Initiative Upheld
Good news yesterday for the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI). The Detroit News reports that a federal court has rejected legal attempts to undo the same sort of measure that was recently approved by Michigan voters:A federal judge Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a Michigan law that prohibits racial and gender preferences in government hiring and public university admissions. "To impugn the motives of 58 (percent) of Michigan's electorate, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances which do not exist here, simply is not warranted on this record," U.S. District Judge David Lawson wrote. Michigan voters approved the constitutional amendment known as Proposal 2 in November 2006. Several groups -- including the NAACP … [Read more...]
Good Reading Today from Corry and Kaminsky
Two of my prolific-writing Colorado friends have pieces published today that are well worth reading. Though I'm short on time to elaborate extensively, let me just point you in their direction: First, Jessica Corry highlights an underhanded liberal tactic to deceive voters about Ward Connerly's Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) by placing a contradictory copycat on the ballot. Here's a clip:The CCRI reads: "Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning a prohibition against discrimination by the state, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in … [Read more...]