[1]Dear Neighbor, Who is behind the Bad 3?
They are trying very hard to make sure you don’t know. And they’re trying very hard to make sure you don’t know what damage 60, 61, and 101 would do to Colorado.
Reporting this week in the Denver Post opened a window on the backers of these intentionally misleading, job killing measures as they attack the process of creating the “Blue Book,” the state-prepeared voter guide. The only backer of these initiatives who will speak refuses to do so publicly. In fact, she will only communicate with the state by e-mail. The Post says this is because “proponents were not interested in meeting in person.”
But the e-mails are instructive. In one, the backer likens the nonpartisan analysts in charge of developing the Blue Book to Joseph Goebbels, one of Adolph Hitler’s top lieutenants. Seriously! Pledge to vote NO on the Bad 3.
The name on the e-mails is Natalie Menten, who bills herself as a champion of transparency. In 2009 when running for Lakewood City Council, she told the Denver Post that all workings of government “should be disclosed early on by using every method of notification available. Lack of information is misinformation.” If transparency is so important to her, why won’t she even show her face?
The Denver Post notes that the phrasing and use of capitalization in e-mails from Menten looks highly similar to two other e-mails the state received directly from Doug Bruce. That suggests Doug Bruce is just hiding behind Natalie Menten.
Good governance depends on transparency, so Colorado voters ought to ask themselves why proponents of a trio of tax-slashing measures are so stridently arguing to keep a fact-based analysis of them out of view.
—Denver Post Editorial (9/1)
Bruce is accused of violating the state Constitution for failing to disclose who has financially backed the Bad 3. He’s spent months making a mockery of our campaign finance laws—and the courts—by dodging process servers after repeatedly failing to appear in court.
The right wing is hell-bent on wiping out our campaign finance disclosure laws. Doug Bruce is their poster child. Who is backing the Bad 3? Is it out of state business interests trying to damage our economy to eliminate competition? Is it ultra-rich government haters like the Koch brothers who own land in Colorado and don’t want to pay property taxes? Thanks to the devious behavior of people like Doug Bruce, we don’t know.
What we do know is that Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 are opposed by Democrats, and they’re opposed by Republicans. They’re opposed by Colorado business, as well as labor. Liberals and conservatives. Rich and poor. The people pushing these attacks won’t show themselves, and they are counting on voters who are angry about the economy not looking any deeper than having taxes cut during a recession. That’s exactly what happened the last time Doug Bruce hornswoggled Coloradans into voting for one of his crackpot ideas—TABOR during the Bush recession of 1992. We have to put a stop to this. Pledge to vote against these destructive initiatives.
Best regards,
Mike Ditto
ProgressNow Colorado
Editorial – Blue Book should explain effect of ballot measures
http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_15954419 [2]
News – Proponents of tax-slashing ballot measures claim Blue Book biased:
http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15936267 [3]