January 05, 2010 03:30 AM UTC

Campaign Finance Complaint Filed Against "Dr. Evil" Initiatives

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• by: Colorado Pols

High-powered elections lawyer Mark Grueskin, representing the committee Protect Colorado’s Communities, today filed a complaint alleging significant violations of Colorado law by proponents of Amendments 60, 61 and Proposition 101–better known as the “Dr. Evil” initiatives. Release follows: says Grueskin, “You don’t get three initiatives on the ballot without spending thousands of dollars – or winking and nodding while someone else does it for you.”

We don’t have a good answer either–how does one collect hundreds of thousands of signatures without spending any money? That’s some real “sharks with frickin’ laser beams” for you. Who knows what they’ll actually accomplish with this complaint (we never get our hopes up about these), but the appearances are shady enough that opponents would be fools not to try.

Issue Committee Calls on Proponents of Anti-Government Measures to Disclose Donors

“Money was spent putting these measures on the ballot.  The public has a right to know who is footing the bill.”

DENVER, CO – Protect Colorado’s Communities-an issue committee filed with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office to oppose Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101-filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State’s office this afternoon alleging the proponents of the three anti-government ballot measures spent well more than $200 to print and circulate petitions to place the measures on the ballot and failed to report the donors who are behind their effort.

“You don’t get three initiatives on the ballot without spending thousands of dollars – or winking and nodding while someone else does it for you,” said Mark Grueskin, attorney for Protect Colorado’s Communities. “The law is clear: the public has a right to know who is funding these anti-government efforts.  These complaints just ask, what – and who – are these proponents hiding?”

“Proposition 101, Amendment 60 and Amendment 61, if passed, would initiate the most vague and reckless overhaul of state and local fiscal policy that Colorado has seen in almost 20 years”, said Tyler Chafee, the Registered Agent for Protect Colorado’s Communities.  “These measures would certainly put an end to any hope that Colorado had of recovering the jobs we lost in the economic downturn.  I think the people of Colorado deserve to know who is really behind such a radical set of disastrous fiscal policies.”