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AMENDMENT 49 POINT: Unethical, wasteful practice must end

By Bill Owens

Published October 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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The people of Colorado have a common-sense view that their government should focus on essential services.

Amendment 49 on this year's ballot protects and promotes that point of view. When endorsing 49, the Rocky Mountain News described the problem correctly, saying, "Government provides a free dues collection service for major lobbyists."

Our state and local governments should be focused on the jobs we pay them to do, whether it's keeping our neighborhoods safe, educating our children or fixing our roads. We shouldn't expect our governments to provide banking services for unions or any other membership organization or political group.

Besides being a nonessential service, the practice carries serious ethical problems. Currently, unions and other political groups collect contributions from government employees right through our taxpayer-funded payroll systems. Many of these groups use the money to lobby, and even give campaign contributions to, the same politicians who signed their bundled payroll checks.

Amendment 49 puts a stop to the free-flowing transfer of funds between government systems, lobbying groups and politicians. Both the Rocky and The Denver Post are right to call it a "good-government" measure.

But this problem hasn't always been the case, at least not at the state level. When I served as governor, I was amazed that the state of Colorado served as a bank, collecting union dues and other nonessentials from employees of the state.

So in 2001 I issued an executive order that stopped these collections and kept the state payroll system focused on essential matters. With a few exceptions, like United Way and some charitable deductions, we stopped using the state of Colorado as a collection agency for union dues.

My successor, Gov. Bill Ritter, changed that policy. Amendment 49 simply puts us back to where we were and expands the concept to include local governments as well.

It is simply wrong for government to be the banker, accountant and collection agent for any kind of political lobbying group. State and local governments should use our limited taxpayer resources to provide crucial public services, not to funnel cash.

Also following the simple lead of my executive order, Amendment 49 recognizes that it's perfectly fine if government workers want to belong to a union, a fraternal association or a political club. The initiative allows employees to set up convenient arrangements with their bank to do automatic withholding. In fact, for years the Colorado Association of Public Employees advertised the private credit-card dues option for members in its magazine and on its Web site.

What happens when these payments are set up and made privately, as so many groups already do? These groups have to prove their value to their members. They have to go out and make the sale. But if they sign up for the deduction once and it's automatic, many members simply will let it continue. That doesn't improve an organization's value or accountability for anyone, including its members.

Some opponents argue that Amendment 49 will reduce the overall level of contributions to some of these political associations. Again, I would bring you back to the point of essential services. Ask yourself, is it the government's job to make sure a select few groups (which not coincidentally provide huge funding to political campaigns) stay strong simply because they receive free collection and accounting services while other groups must perform these tasks for themselves?

Amendment 49 levels the political playing field.

Opponents of the good-government amendment go even further. Just as the unnecessary deductions distract government from its core functions, opponents try to distract from the real ethical issue by saying 49 will somehow make it harder for our public safety workers, educators and health professionals to do their jobs.

The Rocky rightly called the claim "nonsense." Even the liberal Boulder Daily Camera simply had to respond by saying: "We don't buy it."

This payroll reform is already working. County governments in Colorado large and small, along with a handful of municipalities, have taken my simple, common-sense executive order and put it into practice. But with an ethical loophole this large, our state can't wait for all 3,000 governments to step up and follow suit.

Amendment 49 makes one ethical standard for all Colorado.

Bill Owens was Colorado's 40th governor, from 1999 to 2007.

Comments

  • October 11, 2008

    5:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    roger44 writes:

    I will vote against 49, and a firefighter that gets on TV and says it hinders his ability to do his job is full of crap. I can go online and make recurring payments to anyone from my accounts. My union dues in California were made by me, I joined, not the state.

  • October 11, 2008

    8:09 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Ben_Arvada writes:

    roger44, If you are skeptical of the ads using the firefighter and believe you can make dues payment without the government, it sounds like you are FOR Amendment 49. A good point, though.

    This is an excellent piece by Gov. Owens.

  • October 11, 2008

    5:57 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    bhudda writes:

    Government should not be the bagman for special interest groups! Yes on 47, 49 and 54!

  • October 15, 2008

    3:51 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tallport writes:

    All the Governor did was to extend a lesser version of what every Federal employee has to State of Colorado employees and the Jon Calderas went nuts. Why? Because they feel their dying ideology is threatened and their party is hitting the skids. Collective bargaining is a RIGHT and serves only to establish representative democracy in the workplace. People who TRULY believe in checks and balances, due process of law and equal opportunity support workplace democracy, but those who oppose seek only to maintain power and privilege. Vote No on 47, 49 and 54. Employers rights are a common interest.

  • October 19, 2008

    7:23 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JeffWK writes:

    What's wrong with having union dues deducted? We can have all sorts of other things deducted. What is so special about union dues? Oh, that's right. The less money the union gets, the less it can fight for worker rights. And why would 95% of Americans want someone fighting for them against Big Business....then the CEO wont be able to afford that new Mercedes. How dare we take a shiny new import away from our boss when we are struggling to feed our kids and keep a roof over their heads.