Colorado Spending Transparency

Colorado’s Future, a group that wants to make the citizens’ initiative process more difficult, provided testimony yesterday on its manufactured “consensus” in support of SJR10-003, a measure that if approved by voters will curb Coloradans’ ability to amend the constitution.

At a hearing in the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee meeting, Brenda Morrison of Colorado’s Future bragged that the results of its community meetings show a “remarkable consensus” to limit citizens’ initiative rights.

The problem is how they achieved the “remarkable consensus.” The meetings were by invitation only and not open to the public.  In Greeley, the host committee had a preconceived outcome. COST reported last fall:

Colorado’s Future, a group that wants to make the citizen’s initiative process more difficult, will be hosting a meeting in Greeley on December 1.  According to Chairman Bob Tointon, some 500 community leaders and elected officials from the Greeley area have been invited to participate in the 3 hour meeting, which he hopes will lead to a “consensus” about constitutional reform.

According to a Greeley Tribune article, the group hopes to appeal to the grassroots in order to win voter approval for a ballot measure possibly as early as next fall.

There’s one problem.  The grassroots aren’t invited.  This is an invitation only event.  The Tribune writes: “Because it is by invitation only, the meeting is not open to the public.”

Colorado’s Future sent invitations to “key civic leaders” with the following subjective “characteristics”:

• Being trusted and respected in the community.
• Demonstrating a commitment to working with others to solve problems. Demonstrating a commitment to giving back to their community.
• Being well-known in the community.
• Demonstrating a willingness to roll up their sleeves and make positive change happen within the community.
• Collectively, the group represented much of the diversity of the community in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and profession.

Transparency Czarina Amy Oliver Cooke crashed the Greeley meeting since she didn’t get an invitation.

According to Cooke the meeting lacked diversity of thought and wasn’t an honest representation of Greeley’s political philosophy. Even though Republicans significantly outnumber Democrats in Weld County, they did not in the meeting. The political breakdown showed 44 percent Democrat and 38 percent Republican, hardly reflective of the community. (NOTE: Colorado’s Future’s Statewide Summary transposed the political breakdown numbers in Greeley.)

Also, many of “civic leaders” at the meeting supported and were actively involved in 3A, the Greeley Evans School District 6 mill levy override.  While almost no openly active opponents received an invitation. Yet, the District 6 community overwhelming rejected the massive tax increase. Again, the meeting was not reflective of the community.

According to Cooke and other attendees the questions were designed to manufacture a “consensus” and when those hosting the meeting didn’t get the answers they wanted, they simply ignored the response and went on to the next question.

Also, complete information was not presented.  When discussing the number of signatures required to get a measure on the ballot the hosts kept saying petitioners only need 74,000 signatures.  What presenters failed to mention is that those signatures must be valid.  Those who gather signatures know they need at least double the required amount to ensure enough valid ones.

In Greeley at least, the “remarkable consensus” was the result of the invitation list, the questions and how they were presented.

According to citizen activist Natalie Menten who testified against SJR 003, neither she nor Colorado Union of Taxapyers president Marty Nielson, who also testified in opposition, had ever heard of Colorado’s Future despite claims from the group that it conducted public meetings with over 1000 “key civic leaders.” Although supporter and Committee Chairman Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) had.

None of this is surprising.  It was all part of the “unimaginative failure” that was the Long Term Fiscal Stability Commission on which Mrs. Cooke and Mrs. Nielson served and Senator Heath was the chairman.

The resolution boasting ginned-up “remarkable consensus” passed out of the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs committee.