Mad Voter: Initiatives a bright spot for Colo. GOP
By: Jessica Peck Corry

This column originally appeared at the Denver Post’s PoliticsWest.com on July 31, 2008.

While the decline of Republican dominance in Colorado has been the topic of endless media speculation, the GOP has one bright spot heading toward November: The initiative process.

A report carried in this week’s LA Times falsely suggested otherwise. Titled “GOP suffering from a lack of (ballot) initiative,” reporters Dan Morain and Nicholas Riccardi eagerly proclaimed that “The strategy of pushing propositions likely to draw conservatives to the polls has faltered as Republicans face mishaps in drafting measures and a more aggressive opposition.”

While Morain and Riccardi are right that Colorado initiatives are facing aggressive opposition from well-funded liberals, including multiple millionaire and labor-backed lawsuits, the fact remains that of the four initiatives certified for the November ballot, all represent conservative or free-market efforts. As of Wednesday, not a single liberal initiative had been approved. But Morain and Riccardi got this basic fact wrong as well, writing, “. . . Democrats have succeeded in qualifying measures of their own [in Colorado].”

Morain and Riccardi obviously didn’t do their homework. The four initiatives certified include the Amendment 46, the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (of which I am the executive director and which would ban racial and gender preferences or discrimination in public hiring, public contracting, and public education), Amendment 47, which would prohibit workers from being forced to join unions, Amendment 48, the personhood amendment referenced above, and Amendment 49, which would prohibit government from using public payroll systems to deduct union dues.

As it stands: 4-0 conservatives.

And it hasn’t been an easy battle, either. Liberals have challenged at least three of the four above initiatives at every step of the way, first fighting to shoot down ballot language before the Secretary of State’s title setting board and the state Supreme Court. When it became clear that this strategy wouldn’t work, they launched allegations in district court and before the office of administrative courts.

They’ve forced initiative campaigns to spending tens of thousands in legal bills, meanwhile racking up their own hefty legal expenses. While the Amendment 47 campaign has shelled out $556,000, the Rocky Mountain News reports that it has been faced with $4.3 million in union opposition-a hefty sum considering that only 8 percent of the Colorado workforce is unionized.

Currently, the Secretary of State is in the process of certifying three additional initiatives (campaigns must submit more than 76,000 valid signatures to be approved for the ballot). Of these, at least two are distinctly conservative. Initiative 120 is backed by leading Republican state legislators and would restructure the state’s severance tax system, allocating for greater funding of transportation. Initiative 121, also backed by Republicans, would allow casino towns to vote whether to increase bet limits, extend hours of operation, or add games. Initiative 128 would increase the state sales tax to fund services for the disabled.

Jessica Peck Corry is a public policy analyst with the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo.
If we assume for a moment that all three make it to the ballot, and that the only slightly liberal one of these is 128’s tax increase, conservatives maintain a 7-1 ballot advantage.

Finally, as unions scramble to play catch up, they are pledging to submit by Monday’s deadline signatures for four proposed initiatives collectively directed toward increasing regulations of Colorado business owners. Even if all four of these initiatives make it on to the ballot-hardly a certainty at this point-conservatives will still maintain a 7-5 advantage when it comes to the initiatives voters see on this November’s ballot. These facts aren’t exactly consistent with the polemic authored by Morain and Riccardi in the Times.

Should voters see 12 initiatives on this November’s ballot, opponents to the initiative process will predictably proclaim that this number is simply too great for voters to digest. Again, untrue. In 2006, voters were able to aptly manage 14 different ballot issues.

While Democrats now control both houses of the Colorado legislature and the Governor’s mansion, they are clearly behind when it comes to the initiative process. While the media may be eager to write off Republicans in the West, hundreds of thousands of Colorado voters who signed on in support of center-right initiatives beg to differ.

This column originally appeared in Human Events on July 28, 2008DNCC Gets Caught in Green Energy Scam by Jessica Peck CorryFor an East Coast liberal hoping to make it to Denver for next month’s Democratic National Convention, air or car travel can create quite the carbon-foot printed nightmare. While the DNCC has attempted to help limit the number of guilty consciences by offering to sell delegates carbon credits alleged to help offset damage to mother earth, it turns out that a primary source of these credits is a sham.As FaceTheState.com, a center-right news site (to which I contribute) reports, an eastern Colorado wind turbine “tapped for the [DNC’s] carbon-offset problem has one problem: It doesn’t generate any electricity.”Face The State went public with its discovery after a glowing feature in Saturday’s Rocky Mountain News described the turbine “at the heart of the DNC’s carbon-credit program” as “a windmill that toils day and night producing clean energy.”In truth, the turbine doesn’t work correctly and it never has. While it is turned on occasionally, the gesture appears largely for public relations reasons. After a February 15 ribbon cutting ceremony, Wray School RD-2 officials discovered that the turbine was incapable of producing much of anything. “We flipped it back off and on about ten times since then,” Superintendent Ron Howard told Face The State. “It has run, it will run, but it won’t run itself up to full capacity.”The DNC’s “Green Challenge” carbon offsets program, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, promises special rewards for the state delegation most willing to “demonstrate the highest level of commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint from attending the Convention.”Through a partnership with Vermont-based Native Energy, delegates can purchase credits from four “clean energy projects” around the U.S., with the Wray turbine at the top of the list. A carbon offset, as described by the Pelosi pack, is a “carbon emission reduction that helps decrease the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that otherwise would be in our atmosphere. . . To help solve the global climate crisis, you should first reduce your energy use whenever and wherever possible, utilize renewable energy sources and be as efficient as possible with the energy you have to use.”Oh, and of course, to clear your conscience entirely, your carbon offsets must be purchased through the DNCC’s partners. The reward for the best performing delegation is a “limited edition ‘green’ prize.” For any delegate purchasing credits, he or she will receive a “unique wearable ‘green item’ for Convention week, available only to these delegates, and be recognized individually on DemConvention.com.”One unit of a “DNCC Special Blend” carbon offset will set you back $12. According to the DNCC, this will help offset the two tons of CO2 released on an East Coast to Denver flight for each passenger, with the revenue generated invested into new clean energy projects across the country.But still, the DNCC warns, this isn’t enough. The average American creates a carbon footprint of 20 tons of CO2 per year. To offset this entire amount, delegates will need to pony up an additional $108. This money, according to the DNCC Web site, will go toward “helping to build a new renewable energy project that will displace energy that would otherwise come from burning fossil fuels.” The ultimate goal: To become “carbon neutral.”Despite the turbine’s flaws, Gov. Bill Ritter’s continues to tout it as an example of government innovation in clean energy. He is a man on a mission, putting out four press releases in the last month to demonstrate his commitment to a “new energy economy”; he started an advertising campaign reminding people to turn off their TVs, and has announced $150,000 in grants geared toward wind energy.So will the turbine ever work? Maybe. According to Howard, the turbine requires replacement equipment, scheduled to be installed soon. “It’s a new technology, so they don’t have the bugs out of it,” he told Face The State. “Since there’s so many people watching [the turbine], they might be better served to go to a more reliable model.”In the meantime, the school district is cashing checks from America’s Wind Energy, Inc., a firm that built the turbine. Howard declined to say how much the school is making off the turbine. Face The State’s feisty managing editor Brad Jones has responded by filing an open records act request.

Denver Post Affirmative Action Debate Coverage

Affirmative action’s dividing lineBoth sides are heard on Amendment 46, which would ban the state’s minority preferences.

By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post
07/16/2008

Supporters and opponents of a ballot initiative that would end state- sponsored affirmative action programs made their cases to hundreds of minority-owned-business leaders in Denver on Wednesday morning.

The presentations on Amendment 46, which voters will consider in November, were made during the 14th annual minority-owned business breakfast organized by ColoradoBiz magazine.

Amendment 46 would ban race and gender preferences in state contracting, hiring and education. California businessman and affirmative action foe Ward Connerly is backing the initiative and similar measures in other states.

Jessica Peck Corry, executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative — the campaign behind Amendment 46 — told the crowd that the ballot measure would create a “color- blind” system for hiring and awarding contracts and financial aid.

She said racial classifications are becoming outmoded in a society where interracial marriage is becoming more common.”

Colorado is too diverse racially to simply put people in these stagnant race boxes,” said Corry (who contributes to “Diary of a Mad Voter” on the Denver Post’s political blog, Politics West.com).

But Patricia Barela Rivera, district director for the U.S. Small Business Administration and an Amendment 46 opponent, garnered applause when she took the podium and urged those in the room to fight the measure.

“It’s Colorado’s anti-equal opportunity amendment,” Rivera said of the measure.

The proposal would result in huge setbacks for minorities and women in contracting and public education, she said.”

If it wouldn’t have been for affirmative action, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Rivera said.

Opponents are pushing a counterproposal to Amendment 46 that has similar wording but which critics say would allow most forms of affirmative action.

Proponents of that measure have until Aug. 4 to submit the 76,047 valid signatures of registered voters to get the measure on the November ballot.Rivera urged those attending the breakfast to sign petitions to put in on the ballot. Petition circulators were in the audience to collect signatures.

Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com

Time for the truth on affirmative action
By Jessica Peck Corry

This column originally appeared in the Boulder Daily Camera on Thursday, July 17, 2008

As an overwhelming number of Coloradans say they support a ballot initiative to abolish race and gender preferences, an opposition campaign designed to confuse voters hinges on half-truths and deception. Don’t be fooled.

The Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which will appear on this November’s ballot as Amendment 46 and reflects a decade long citizen-led effort, prohibits the government from giving preferential treatment or discriminating against any person based on his or her race or gender in public education, public hiring and public contracting. Under current law, government entities, including the University of Colorado, regularly divide candidates based on these characteristics.

Petition circulators for a competing initiative, Initiative 82, are now taking to the streets, spreading outrageous lies; they say our initiative will bring quotas to Colorado and end important outreach programs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Amendment 46 will make sure that every person — regardless of race or gender — has equal access to such programs. It’s also important to note that our initiative applies only to public programs; if a private organization wants to create a race or gender-specific program, it can do so. And finally, despite what our opposition may tell you, our initiative maintains important sex-based exceptions. An example: If our initiative passes, our state’s current practice of only hiring women to search female prison inmates would be maintained.

The bottom line: Preference programs, advertised as a way to address past discrimination or enhance diversity, are in practice, discriminatory, divisive, and ineffective. In Colorado, disadvantage is clearly tied to geography and economics. We have a serious class-based problem and using race and gender to define disadvantage only distracts us from the larger inequities we face.

We simply cannot define race without getting it wrong. Over the last four decades, we’ve seen a twenty-fold increase in the number of interracial marriages. How do we define the race of children born to these unions? We cannot define race when an increasing number of students and workers decline to be defined by a single race–now up to about 10 percent–either describing themselves as “other,” “multicultural,” or as multiple races on government forms. Still more people, about 5 percent, decline to state a race at all.

In Colorado today, we are graduating high school seniors who cannot read or write basic term papers. Nationally, we’re losing our competitive edge when it comes to the hard sciences. And most concerning to me, we have college freshmen at CU embarrassingly ignorant about their nation’s history and its basic constitutional foundations. It becomes nearly impossible to muster a basic public conversation about rights and equality when too many of us aren’t given the tools necessary to understand how we got to where we are today.

When we talk about education reform and leveling the playing field after decades of past discrimination, we must take a progressive new approach — one that does not discriminate in the name of ending discrimination. It was wrong 50 years ago to segregate lunch counters and drinking fountains, just as today it is wrong to segregate people in admissions, hiring, and contracting.

That’s before we get to the fact that when women and minorities are granted admission or awarded jobs based on anything other than our merit, we are inevitably saddled with the false notion that we can’t make it on our own. We can and we are.

I first became involved in the effort to bring a ballot initiative like Amendment 46 to Colorado nearly a decade ago. I was a CU student at the time, and as the youngest of four children from a single-parent family, I’ve always passionately believed that oppression in today’s America is almost always a choice. Women have more opportunities than ever — and in many cases — more opportunities than men. We don’t need the government to spoon feed us equality. We’ve taken it for ourselves.

Jessica Peck Corry serves as the executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (www.ColoradoCRI.org) and as a policy analyst at the Independence Institute, a Golden-based free market think tank.

As Face The State is reporting today, a paid petition circulator for Initiative #82, a last ditch effort designed to confuse voters, was caught on audio lying to voters. Don’t be confused. Initiative #82 will do nothing to fight racial or gender discrimination in public hiring, contracting, and education. The Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, Amendment #46 is the only initiative on this November’s ballot that will abolish preferences.