At some point in the next several weeks, Colorado voters will again be told that there is something inherently dangerous in asking them to decide a large number of ballot issues this November. It will be said, as it has been in every recent election cycle, that it is too easy to get citizen initiatives on the Colorado ballot and that past initiatives have spoiled the prose in the state constitution and lessened the power of elected officials.
This year, especially, that claim is nonsense.
The national political stage is drenched in personality as a former war hero vies with the nation’s first black presidential nominee. These two men do discuss policy issues, but it’s anyone’s guess which policy position will survive the election.
This is all the more reason that Colorado voters should care about other choices on the ballot. This year, they offer a policy bonanza. Not only are the issues important, many of them are also timely and bear a direct relationship to national policy concerns.
Heading the list is an initiative that would bar the state and its subdivisions from “granting preferential treatment” on the “basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
Measures like this one have been passed by voters in California and Michigan and been upheld by the courts. In those states, as here, many voters might mistakenly believe that such a ban on race-based discrimination already existed. Not so. The state and its subdivisions have had a number of policies granting preference based on race, sex or ethnicity.
Barack Obama has said he opposes the measure. John McCain has said he favors it. These positions shouldn’t matter. Every citizen is free to decide whether Colorado should affirm the principle contained in the 14th Amendment, namely equal treatment under law.
Another ballot issue would prevent employers from requiring union membership or the payment of union dues as a condition of employment. This initiative was literally provoked by Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who upon taking office made it clear he would promote both private and public employee unionism. Now it is up to the voters to decide where the line should be drawn when it comes to promoting or advocating unionism for Colorado.
Another measure on the ballot, this one endorsed by Ritter, would boost the annual tax on the extraction of oil and gas in the state, allowing more than $300 million to be spent on select projects and groups such as college students. If there is a particularly bad idea on this year’s ballot, this is it. It will discourage development of oil and gas and is an example of taking money from a sector in disfavor and giving it to those currently in fashion.
This measure, however, is on the ballot only because the state constitution, previously amended, requires voter approval for tax increases.
Without that little provision, adopted in 1992, the tax very likely would already be in effect.
There is much more that might be said in describing this year’s ballot, but this central fact remains: Colorado residents should be proud that voters here are able to make important public policy choices. There is no need for regret, only celebration.
Al Knight of Buena Vista (alknight@mindspring.com) is a former member of The Post’s editorial-page staff. His column appears twice a month.
