| By Richard Myers - Oct 29th, 2008 at 9:55 am EDT |
Categories: Civil Liberties / Privacy, Effective & Ethical Government, Electoral Reform
Amendment 54 is a free speech issue. Free speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There's a reason it is the first amendment. Without freedom of speech, you cannot protect any of the provisions of the Bill Of Rights.
Here are commentaries from Colorado newspapers.
The Rocky Mountain News
The ban applies not just to the agency the contractor is doing business with but to any state or local candidate or party. We can't fathom why, say, a paving contractor in Weld County would be considered corrupt if he and his partners donated to a state House candidate on the Western Slope, or the Democratic Party.
It gets worse. The amendment applies not only to the contractor, but also to "immediate family members," including spouses, children, siblings, grandparents, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and domestic partners.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/01/the-gag-amendment/
(continued)
The Denver Post
Amendment 54 not what it says
Grand Junction Sentinel
Amendment 54 includes “collective bargaining” in the definition of a sole-source contract. That is aimed directly at labor organizations...
No one should lose the right to participate in the political process...
The Boulder Weekly
the amendment may make government contracting a more inflexible practice, since different levels of government have different needs and access to contracting. Rural communities in particular may not have as many options if Amendment 54 were to pass.
The proponents of this measure say they want to clean up government, but we think this is a way for them to exclude certain interests from the political processhttp://www.boulderweekly.com/20081009/statewideamendments.html
The Cortez Journal
Amendment 54 is inappropriate for the Constitution
http://cortezjournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=5&SubSectionID=5&ArticleID=2349&TM=56549.56
The Durango Telegraph
this seems to take a disproportionate shot at unions, while having very little effect on businesses. To reduce the influence of money in politics, such limitations should be made across the board and not just leveraged against one group...
http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/08-10-16/localnews.htm
The Steamboat Pilot
Amendment 54 doesn’t deserve voter approval. Not only does Amendment 54 fail to live up to the high standard that should be required of amendments to our constitution, it attempts to fix a problem we’re not convinced exists.
http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/oct/26/our_view_right_work_doesnt_work/
I don't think i need to say any more.
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