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Romanoff launches petition drive

By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 25, 2008 at 9:09 p.m.
Updated June 26, 2008 at 12:25 a.m.

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Here's a breakdown of House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's summer vacation plans:

1. Gather signatures.

2. Gather more signatures.

3. Just to be safe, get a few more signatures.

While the rest of Colorado is hiking, rafting, barbecuing or putting in some serious hammock time, Romanoff, D-Denver, and a group of volunteers will hit the streets attempting to gather about 120,000 signatures from registered voters.

Romanoff figures he needs about that many to ensure he gets 76,000 valid signatures by Aug. 4 for the citizen's ballot initiative he's backing.

The proposal aims to unsnarl the fiscal knot of conflicting spending mandates and limits embedded in the state's constitution.

Called SAFE (Savings Account for Education), the effort would seek to extend the fiscal relief that voters provided when they approved a 5-year timeout from the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights. That timeout is set to expire in 2010.

The measure seeks to invest future surplus revenue during good economic times into the state education fund, with a share of the money going to a long-term savings account for public education.

"Some advisers have cautioned us to wait - wait for the timeout to expire, wait for a crisis to arise, wait for a less crowded ballot," Romanoff wrote in an e-newsletter sent to constituents on Thursday.

"But leadership is not about waiting," he added. "It's about recognizing a problem and crafting a solution. It's about forging consensus, not just wishing for it."

Opponents of the measure predict Romanoff is facing an uphill battle.

"If he couldn't convince his Democratic colleagues and the governor of doing this through the (legislative-referred) referendum process, the question is how is he going to convince the rest of Colorado to give up their tax refunds," said Jon Caldera, executive director of the Independence Institute.

"I'm not going to worry about it until he gets on the ballot," Caldara added.

Romanoff, however, is confident the measure will make the ballot, noting that volunteer petition gatherers have signed up since supporters launched a Web site for the initiative at: www.coloradosafe.org.

ensslinj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5291