2008 Presedential Election and Colorado Issues

It's that time of year once again. The election is coming up soon and I want to take this opportunity to express my opinions to anyone who is interested.

First, the Colorado issues...

Amendments and Referendums

Amendment 46 – Vote No
Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Governments

This amendment seems aimed at undoing the Affirmative Action programs that were designed to level the playing field for women and minorities who have discriminated against for centuries. Although I believe major gains have been made in equality for all, I am not yet convinced that our society doesn’t still need incentives to be fair. Until women and minorities are equally represented in both pay and position in our society, I feel at least some of these programs need to stay in place.

Amendment 47 – Vote No
Prohibition on Mandatory Labor Union Membership and Dues

So...after further research, it turns out that this is part of a big war between labor and business. There is a pretty good resource at http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_Right_to_Work_Initiative_(2008) for reference. Make sure to read the section titled, "Business leaders join unions to oppose Amendment 47"

I am leaving my initial thinking on the issue below, but I have changed my initial vote due to the new information. It turns out that labor struck a deal with businesses in the area. Labor withdrew several amendments (labeled as withdrawn) below. They were withdrawn too late to be removed from the ballots, but any votes on the amendments labeled as withdrawn below will not count. In exchange for withdrawing the amendments, many businesses agreed to work to get Amendment 47 defeated. I will honor this behind-the-scenes work that has gone on...especially since I was ready to vote yes to several of the other amendments that were withdrawn. It seems pretty important to maintain the fragile balance that currently exists. I will vote NO on this amendment.

This amendment seeks to stop the practice of unions forcing all employees of a given company or in a given field to pay union dues, even if they don’t want to join the union. The argument is that the union negotiates for all employees, therefore, all employees should pay for the benefits received.

I disagree with this philosophy. If workers want a union and care enough about the work the union is doing, they will pay for it. If there are not enough employees willing to pay union dues, then that says to me that they do not want the union representing them.

Amendment 48 – Vote No
Definition of Person

This is a thinly disguised attempt to nullify Roe vs. Wade and ban all abortions. I’m a firm believer in choice and this goes completely against those beliefs.

Amendment 49 – Vote No
Allowable Government Paycheck Deductions

This amendment seeks to prohibit automatic payroll deductions, but only for public employees. This is inherently unfair to public employees. It also doesn’t make sense to me. Employees can opt out of automatic deductions in many cases, which allows the employees to choose. This amendment would no longer provide any public employee choice.

Amendment 50 – Vote No
Limited Gaming in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek

This one is almost a toss-up for me, but I’m not sure that I like the expansion of gambling and the increased gambling limits. Selfishly, I like going to Blackhawk and being able to play $5 Blackjack all night. Also, I disagree with the specificity of where the funds will be spent. I would prefer to allow the legislature some discretion of where to spend new revenues.

Amendment 51 – Vote Yes
State Sales Tax Increase for Services for People with Developmental Disabilities

It seems to me that this is much like Amendment 23 that passed a few years back. For too long, the legislature has ignored this high need area to provide more services for the developmentally disabled. This bill focuses money where money is desperately needed and helps out a segment of population often overlooked.

Amendment 52 – Vote No
Use of Severance Tax Revenue for Highways

Shifting money away from water projects, wildlife conservation, and low-income energy assistance and putting it towards highway maintenance doesn’t seem to add up to me. Aren’t we building lightrail along the I-70 corridor? Those concerned with traffic congestion will soon be able to ride public transportation to avoid it, right?

Amendment 53 – Vote No (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Criminal Accountability of Business Executives

I’m not sure about this one. However the wording concerns me. How will it be determined if an executive “[was] aware of their business's failure to perform a legal duty?” Any amendment that I’m unsure about I will lean towards voting no on.

Amendment 54 – Vote No
Campaign Contributions from Certain Government Contractors

To me, this issue comes down to the credibility of the candidate. If you don't trust your elected officials to be ethical and conduct business fairly, then why did you elect them?

Amendment 55 – Vote No(Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Allowable Reasons for Employee Discharge or Suspension

Having been a public school teacher, I am very aware of the problems with a "just-cause" workplace like this amendment proposes. Although it sounds good, in practice it makes it extremely difficult to fire anyone, even if they are truly bad employees.

Amendment 56 – Vote No (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Employer Responsibility for Health Insurance

If I interview for a job, and they don't offer health insurance, then I'm not going to take that job. I believe this would severely cripple smaller businesses who will not be able to afford to stay in business if required to pay health care costs. Besides, it seems to me that the real issue here is the exorbitant cost of health care. This is not the employers' fault, this issue needs to be addressed with the health care community.

Amendment 57 – Vote Yes (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Additional Remedies for Injured Employees

Despite the potential costs for the state, and the potential lost business, I believe this is the right thing to do. If an employer is unethical and ignores safety concerns, they should penalized more, then a company who is concerned about safety, but has an honest accident.

Amendment 58 – Vote Yes
Severance Taxes on the Oil and Natural Gas Industry

Although I can see both sides of this issue, I think eliminating rebates to oil and gas companies makes the most sense.

Amendment 59 – Vote No
Education Funding and TABOR Rebates

I am all for providing proper funding for education. However, we passed Amendment 23 several years ago to ensure that P-12 education will always receive the funding it deserves. This amendment undoes the guarantees in Amendment 23 while at the same time taking away all Tabor rebates in the future. I don't think that's the right way to go.

Referendum L - Vote Yes
Qualifications for Serving in the State Legislature

Colorado is one of 3 states with a 25 year old age limit for the state House of Representatives. All other states have a lower minimum age...some as low as 18. I think lowering the legal age to serve is a good idea and is consistent with the tapered responsibility approach set up in the U.S. Constitution. In the U.S. Constitution, to be a senator (and serve a 6-year term), you must be 30. To be a representative (and serve a 2-year term), you must be 25. It seems like a U.S. House of representatives member would have more responsibility and pressure than a state House member, so I think the age threshold should be lower.

Referendum M - Vote Yes
Obsolete Constitutional Provision Relating to Land Value Increases

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the law is invalid.

Referendum N - Vote Yes
Obsolete Constitutional Provisions Relating to Alcohol Beverages

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the laws are outdated.

Referendum O - Vote Yes
Citizen-Initiated State Laws

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the laws are outdated.

Denver - Referred Issue 3A - Vote Yes
DPS School Funding

All of the projects supported by this measure are desperately needed and there were no arguments filed against this.

The Candidates and Races

President - Barack Obama

This one isn't even close (Although I was tempted to vote for the candidates of the Boston Tea Party because of their creativity). After 8 years of a Republican White House, our economy is in shambles, we're in a war without an end in sight and we are definitely not better off than we were 8 years ago.

If the Dems had put up a lame candidate like they did 4 years ago, I probably still would have voted Dem. However, Barack Obama is a strong candidate with clear ideas that I support. When John McCain began his run, I was hopeful that I would really be okay with either candidate in the White House. As I have watched the campaigns however, I have become more and more disillusioned with McCain's negativity and his further right leaning on the issues. I thought John McCain was a more moderate republican, but he has not come across that way at all. Is Barack Obama more left than middle, absolutely. We need someone more to the left to repair all of the damage done in the last 8 years.

State Senator - Mark Udall

I have always been a supporter of Udall's, and this is a fantastic opportunity to replace one of Colorado's most conservative senators, Wayne Allard, with a forward thinking Dem. After hearing Bob Schaffer speak in the debate, it became even more clear to me that Mark Udall is the only choice for senate.

Other Races

I don't always do this, but for the reasons mentioned above, I will be voting straight Democrat in all races in my district this year. There aren't any Republicans who have impressed me and none of the Dems (in my district) seem bad for the country/state.