Election of state s next attorney general
After two years of politically motivated mismanagement under the current, unelected attorney general, the people of Colorado deserve a return to the strong and principled leadership in the attorney general’s office. Fern O’Brien will be such a leader. In contrast to her opponent’s career spent in the sheltered world of bureaucracy and politics, Fern will bring to the office a breadth and depth of legal expertise, as well as a wealth of real world experience.
Fern O’Brien will bring a thoughtful and pragmatic perspective to the attorney general’s office. She has demonstrated her ability and willingness to be nonpartisan and to resolve difficult problems by building consensus and finding common ground.
Lucky Vidmar, Denver
Amendment 41: ban on gifts to government
Re: “Amendment 41 is a blueprint for ethics,” Oct. 20 editorial.
Thanks to The Denver Post for supporting Amendment 41. Waiting for the legislature to place acceptable limits on “freebies” from lobbyists is an exercise in futility. It is scandalous that more than 1,000 paid lobbyists spend about $1.6 million a year and the legislature only reported $200,000. Those in power will only follow the letter of the law, and the citizens of Colorado need to set that bar to a higher standard.
Lobbyists do have an important role to play in our system of government, but let’s do more to ensure that they are not “paying” to be heard. If Amendment 41 passes, we can all rest assured that lobbyists will not disappear, but we can hope those to whom we give our public trust will have a more transparent level of accountability.
Mark Arnold, Arvada
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The League of Women Voters of Colorado strongly urges Colorado voters to carefully review the language of Amendment 41, a constitutional initiative on the November ballot.
Read it! This initiative creates a five-person appointed ethics commission which would be charged to hear and investigate complaints of possible ethics violations, determine findings and assess penalties. Each member would have subpoena power to carry this out. It creates a very powerful commission.
Read it! The range of oversight would include government officials, government employees and independent contractors, the legislature and other elected officials, and public higher education employees, from the highest level of government to the small statutory municipality. We believe that local communities already expect and require ethical behavior from their civil servants and should have the authority to enforce their own standards.
Read it! The included gift ban is so restrictive that it clouds the legality for private entities to donate anything of value to government employees or their families, even for educational assistance, for example.
This apparently well-intentioned proposal is, unfortunately, badly flawed in terms of its potentially devastating effects on towns and counties, public officials and employees, and our state. Vote “no” on Amendment 41.
Flodie Anderson, President, League of Women Voters of Colorado
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Power corrupts. How often have we either heard or said that 119- year-old truth from Lord Acton? Amendment 41 does absolutely nothing to reduce the power that causes corruption and instead focuses on the symptoms, primarily money. Removing power from the government will do more to end corruption than any “good-government” proposal, past, present or future. If the politicians have no power, there’s no reason to corrupt them.
David Aitken, Denver
Colorado secretary of state’s race
Re: “Sec. of state race: A time for change,” Oct. 17 editorial.
I am astounded that The Denver Post endorsed Mike Coffman for secretary of state without even mentioning the attributes, drive and integrity of Ken Gordon, whom I believe to be one of the most honest politicians in this state.
Gordon has not taken a dime of special-interest money. He has worked tirelessly, walking across the entire state in support of Referendum C, to restore sorely needed education and health care funding. He is largely responsible for its passage, which will benefit all state residents. He carried the bill requiring a paper audit trail in electronic voting machines, post-election audit of election results, and prohibiting the Colorado secretary of state from chairing political campaigns.
Ken Gordon is a man of his word whom I believe will work tirelessly in the office of secretary of state, just as he has done up to now, to promote the well-being and best interests of all Coloradans. He answers to no special interests – only to the citizens of our state, for whom he has always worked so unselfishly.
Dorie Furman, Denver
Tancredo town meeting
Rep. Tom Tancredo visited our neighborhood town meeting last week. Due to the snow, we had a sparse turnout: Only eight people showed up. We disregarded the podium and instead pulled a few chairs into a circle and had the best town meeting I’ve attended.
Tancredo fielded a wide range of questions – whatever the attendees asked. He talked at length about his visits to Colorado high schools and his concern for Colorado’s youth. He fielded questions concerning the federal gas tax. He spoke of Congress’ response to the Katrina disaster. And, of course, he covered the topic of illegal immigration.
In all, he spent nearly two hours discussing issues with a handful of constituents and responding at length and in detail. I am grateful for a congressional representative who is truly of and for the people.
I wish my best to his candidacy this November and wish that all politicians could take a lesson from Tancredo and listen more to the voice of the people.
Ben Terry, Littleton
Gasoline and taxes
Re: “Bush: Oil alternatives crucial,” Oct. 13 news story.
President Bush talks of his “enthusiasm for making sure we diversify away from oil.” The Post’s article makes no mention of any specific policy proposal that the president is supporting, however. So here’s a radical concept: Let’s sculpt a policy that engages the market and spurs American innovation and productivity.
For example, we could shift a good portion of the average $6,000 a year that an American household pays in FICA taxes on labor productivity over to gas and diesel. Replacing just half of the FICA tax with a fuel tax would result in an extra $60 a week in take-home pay for the average household, and would require about a $2 to $3 a gallon increase in gas tax to remain revenue neutral. Those who like their current lifestyle could simply give the $60 FICA cut back in fuel taxes. The rest of us, however, would drive market demand for alternatives, conservation and efficiency.
With so many people demanding and offering to pay for new technologies and choices, we wouldn’t need any big-government centralized policy planning to solve our oil dependency problem – the FICA-funded shift to higher gas taxes would drive a thousand solutions that no politician could ever dream of.
Bill Blomberg, Parker
Letting the market make school decisions
Re: “Hope tests school boundaries,” Oct. 22 news story.
The Post’s story about Hope Co-Op Online Learning Academy contained a gem of a quote that puts the subject of education into perfect focus. Founder Heather O’Mara explained the remarkable growth of her charter school by saying, “The location of the centers is driven by the needs of the community.” How simple! How logical! Why not end the government monopoly on primary and secondary education and allow private businesses to offer educational services to willing buyers, the same as we allow private grocery stores, dentists and lawyers to offer their services in a competitive market?
Jim Muhm, Englewood
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