Politics
Amendment 41 was advanced by Colorado Common Cause with the financial support and endorsement of Democrat Jared Polis, then a member of the State Board of Education, and more importantly, one of the leading financial backers of Democrats and liberal causes in Colorado. Many have pointed out the irony of Polis's spending money to establish a public policy of prohibiting the use of money to influence public policy.
Democrats in Colorado have been divided by Amendment 41 before and after its enactment on the lines described above. Democratic members of the Colorado General Assembly have taken differing sides on how to implement the measure since it has been passed.
Some Colorado political observers have hypothesized that Jared Polis supported the measure in an effort to advance his fortunes in the upcoming open Congressional race in Congressional District 2 (Boulder) which incumbent Democrat Mark Udall is vacating to run for the U.S. Senate in 2008. Those observers see the battle over Amendment 41 as a proxy fight between Polis supporters and those who did not want Polis to have a major accomplishment going into the 2008 Congressional election. Other observers discount this political interpretation of the struggle and see this as a dispute over legal interpretation and process issues. Polis won a three-way primary battle over former Colorado Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and environmental activist Will Shafroth on August 12, 2008.
Since Amendment 41 was adopted, the Republican caucuses in the state house and state senate, both of which are controlled by Democrats, have largely taking a position embracing strict enforcement of Amendment 41, despite a history of opposing measures proposed by Common Cause. Republicans have generally argued that the Amendment 41 should be given the strict interpretation urged by Amendment 41 opponents, and that legislation to weaken this strict interpretation should not be adopted.
The Amendment 41 debate has aroused only limited interest for voters who are not governmental employees and do not follow politics in Colorado closely.
Read more about this topic: Colorado Amendment 41 (2006)
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“Man made one grave mistake: in answer to vaguely reformist and humanitarian agitation he admitted women to politics and the professions. The conservatives who saw this as the undermining of our civilization and the end of the state and marriage were right after all; it is time for the demolition to begin.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. Their measures are half measures and makeshifts merely. They put off the day of settlement, and meanwhile the debt accumulates.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The average Kentuckian may appear a bit confused in his knowledge of history, but he is firmly certain about current politics. Kentucky cannot claim first place in political importance, but it tops the list in its keen enjoyment of politics for its own sake. It takes the average Kentuckian only a matter of moments to dispose of the weather and personal helath, but he never tires of a political discussion.”
—For the State of Kentucky, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)