Voters signal 'enough'

Amendment 38 would have made it easier to put measures on ballot

Kevin Flynn And April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Faced with a long ballot already thick with issues, Colorado voters overwhelmingly said "enough" and rejected Amendment 38, which would have made it easier to put more measures on more ballots.

"We have too many initiatives on the ballot," said George Sfirri, 56, a Denver artist who planned to vote at the Denver Botanic Gardens but rode a shuttle to another center to cast his ballot because of the long wait.

"We are electing representatives. If we want changes, it's better done through them. Some of the initiatives are not that well thought out."

Also known as the Petition Rights Amendment, 38 would have expanded citizens' ability to put proposed changes in state and local laws on the ballot. It would have extended the initiative process to 90 percent of the governments in Colorado including counties, school boards, fire districts, recreation districts and others.

"I don't think people want to govern themselves by voting on 100 issues at the ballot box," said Rick Reiter, spokesman for the No on 38 campaign and Citizens for Responsible Reform. That's the same group that beat back similar initiatives on expanding petitions in 1994 and 1996.

"Voting on 14 issues today was cumbersome enough," he said. "Why would you want to multiply that? I think the line here tonight is that Coloradans aren't going to let narrow interests crowd the ballot."

Dennis Polhill and Doug Campbell, authors of the lightning-rod measure, contended that elected officials and the Supreme Court have too much power to stop citizens from taking ballot measures to the voters.

Backers said they simply wanted to eliminate rules and procedures that have kept measures off the ballot or have made it difficult to get them on the ballot.

Voters who agreed with that said Tuesday that they don't mind leaving things up to the people.

"I voted yes," said unaffiliated voter Renee Koustas, who voted at the Denver Botanic Gardens. "People are often deterred from wanting to initiate change or express their desire for change because the process is too complicated."

"I think you should be able to" put issues on the ballot, said Carey Price, an unaffiliated voter from Lafayette.

But by a large majority, most voters said they already vote on enough things.

"I voted against Amendment 38 because I think it should be harder to get things on the ballot," said Ben Manthey, a Lafayette Republican who voted at the Bob L. Burger Recreation Center.

Opponents have called Amendment 38 disastrous, contending it weakens representative government. Coloradans for Responsible Reform argued that the proposal opened the door to more laws on the books that could not be fairly challenged or changed without another vote of the people.

It would have resulted in voters having to decide on an increasing number of complex policy issues, they argued, and language in the proposal invites abuse of the petition process by eliminating current safeguards.

Opponents disliked the fact that once a ballot issue's title had been approved, opponents would have had only five days to protest to the state Supreme Court. They also disliked the preventing of public employees from explaining an initiative to voters.

Ballot measures increased nationally

205 propositions will have been decided on Tuesday nationwide, up from 162 in 2004.

76 of those proposals are initiatives - new laws that are qualified by petition.

5 are referendums - proposals to repeal existing laws.

• Top five states with the most propositions in November

5 Oregon 10 propositions

4 South Dakota 11 propositions

3 California 13 propositions

2 Colorado 14 propositions

1 Arizona 19 propositions

• Top five states with the most initiatives

5 Colorado 7 initiatives

3 South Dakota 8 initiatives * tied for third

3 California 8 initiatives * tied for third

1 Oregon 10 initiatives * tied for first

1 Arizona 10 initiatives * tied for firstSource: Initiative And Referendum Institute

Amendment 38

Would have expanded ability of citizens to put proposed changes in state and local laws on the ballot.

• Losers: Tax-crusader Douglas Bruce (who authored the measure), Douglas Campbell of Arvada and Dennis Polhill, a scholar with the Independence Institute, a Golden-based think-tank.

The pro-38 campaign raised $802, according to campaign finance reports, but hadn't spent a penny of it by Oct. 25. The sole donors are Jerome Roach of Wheat Ridge, James Marvin of Colorado Springs and the Colorado Term Limits Coalition.

• Winners: Coloradans for Responsible Reform, who campaigned to defeat the constitutional amendment; Peter Meersman, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association; William Temby of Colorado Springs Vote No on 38; Adrian Miller of Bell Ballot Action in Denver; Mary Jean Collins of People for The American Way Voters Alliance in Washington, D.C.

The campaign raised $336,000 for TV ads.

Among the largest donors are National Education Association, Colorado Association of Home Builders, Car Issues Mobilization Committee. Each gave $50,000 to the effort.

Shea Homes donated $15,000 and Special District Association contributed $20,000.

• What's next: Amendment 38 does not specify the date it goes into effect. Gov. Bill Owens would have signed the ballot measure into law between mid-December and mid-January, when he leaves office.

Sources: Colorado Secretary of State and Legislative Legal Counsel.