October 20, 2008 10:47 PM UTC

No On Everything But A-59, Yes On All Referenda

• 6 Comments
• by: redstateblues

When you go to the polls to vote over the next 2 weeks, or fill out your mail-in ballot, I hope you’ll join me in voting “No” on Amendments 46-58. I also hope you’ll vote “Yes” on Amendment 59, Referenda L, M and N, and most importantly “Yes” on Referendum O.

The key reason why I will be voting “No” on all of these except for Amendment 59 is that nearly all of them benefit various special interest groups, and not the state as a whole. Many of them (Amendments 50, 51, 52, and 58, most notably) have noble causes they are trying to fight for. Everybody believes that community colleges, helping those with developmental disabilities, improving our roads, and giving scholarships so that college is an option for everybody, are important causes. They all deserve to be funded. Unfortunately, amending the constitution is not the way we should go about doing that.

Amendment 59 is the lone exception to this. K-12 education is not a special interest. It is a fundamental right for every child born in America to have a first-class public education. Amendment 59 makes sure that, in the future, when we have a strong economy (along with the tax dollars that go along with it) we can fund our schools properly. Everybody has seen the test scores in math and science compared to students around the world, and we all know how low we rank on that list. If we properly fund our school system, we can ensure that children who grow up here are learning the basic skills that they need to succeed in a global marketplace. Colorado should be a leader in education, not last in the country in funding it.

All of the Referenda are good measures, none more so than Referendum O. O would encourage people to try to make statutory changes to Colorado law, rather than changing the constitution. That way, if times change and circumstances require a change in the law, the state legislature can react quickly and make the changes instead of waiting for an election–or doing a costly special election.

One of the best things about Referendum O is that it makes it so citizens have to get signatures from fellow Coloradoans in each of Colorado’s Congressional districts. That way signature gatherers in Denver can’t get an amendment on the ballot that would affect the entire state with only Denver area signatures. It gets people from all different areas involved in the process.

The most important reason for passing Referendum O is to make it so that when Coloradoans vote in election as important as this one, they are not inundated with initiatives that cater to special interests–presented by both sides of the aisle.