Organizers for the Clean Government Colorado initiative, a proposed constitutional amendment titled Amendment 54 for this November's ballot, on Thursday challenged union opponents to a series of public debates.
According to CGC director Tom Lucero, he challenged Jess Knox, executive director of Protect Colorado's Future, a union coalition opposed to the effort, to debate after he was contacted by several campaign supporters complaining about a misleading and unclear mailer sent out by PCF.
PCF, a labor coalition active in several campaigns this fall, is opposing Amendment 54 because its members say Amendment 54 would “handcuff working Coloradans and increase the power of the few over the many by taking away the rights of people, like teachers, firefighters and nurses, to participate in the political process.”
Amendment 54 is being marketed as an effort to clean up government by prohibiting political donations from government contractors who are awarded non-competitive, no-bid contracts by politicians they may have help get elected. Backers say they hope to clean up the "culture of corruption in government contracting" and "save millions of dollars for Coloradans."
According to Lucero, the controversial mail piece (PDF) appears to have targeted registered unaffiliated and Democratic voters. The calls he received expressed concern and confusion about the mailer’s message about how Amendment 54 “will handcuff public safety officials.”
Lucero said that when he first saw the mailer he was so shocked that he personally challenged Knox to a debate to answer for the mailer’s misinformation.
“It’s a lie, an outright lie,” said Lucero. “[Amendment 54] doesn’t prevent individual nurses, teachers, firefighters or any other individual member of a union from making contributions to a candidate, an elected official, or ballot initiative.”
Knox, who worked for John Edwards for President until the campaign dissolved in January, moved to Colorado to work for PCF. He has consistently complained to reporters how bad Amendment 54 would be for hardworking Coloradans. The mail piece sent out by his organization also claims that the proposed measure would block police officers from joining together to advocate for better body armor and modern equipment.
“To suggest that Amendment 54 would prevent law enforcement from advocating for the equipment that they need is absolutely shameful," Lucero added. “Our opponents need to explain why they’re lying.”
When contacted by Face the State about the opportunity to debate the issue, Knox said, “We’re considering the offer.”