Ballot measures often are
inherently confusing, with proponents and opponents making simplistic and exaggerated
claims about extremely complicated issues. To sift through some of those complexities,
many voters will want to spend some quality time with Colorado's election guide,
known as the Blue Book.
It will be available by the end of September, now that the politicians are done
polluting it.
The Blue Book is a compendium
of ballot initiatives and referenda sent to voters at least 30 days before the
election. The guide is largely written by legislative staff, including lawyers,
who spend all summer before an election sorting out the pros and cons of the
various ballot measures. They present arguments for and against the issues and
a general summary.
By their very nature, the
issues can be controversial and confusing, and matters are never made simpler
by partisan lawmakers, as evidenced by the recent flap over Amendment 35, the
proposal to cover health care costs for cancer patients and poor people with
an increase in the state cigarette tax from 20 cents a pack to 84 cents. Colorado
has the lowest cigarette tax in the nation. Raising it to 84 cents would still
leave it below the national average of 98 cents.
Members of the legislature
have granted themselves the authority to rewrite the staff's work, and last
week Democrats and Republicans clashed over the wording that voters should see
in the guide.
Republicans inserted language
in the argument against the ballot measure that proponents of the measure and
local government experts say is questionable.
The new language, by Republican
Sen. Mark Hillman, says that raising the tobacco tax would reduce revenues to
local governments that depend on the money to fund services such as police and
fire protection.
Sam Mamet, a lobbyist for
the Colorado Municipal League, says that "the impact on municipal finances
is probably minimal at best." Edie Sonn, representing initiative proponents,
says Hillman's language is "misleading" because the initiative will
set aside 3 percent of the new revenues - about $1.4 million a year - to make
up any shortfall in local revenues. Democratic Sen. Ken Gordon calls the language
a "scare tactic."
Hillman says both sides
deserve the opportunity "to make sure they're putting forth their best
arguments." He says the staff tries too hard to be "evenhanded and
uninflammatory" and ends up watering down the arguments "to the point
where they are not effective."
We disagree. The council
staff are the experts, and they are politically neutral. Legislators are the
ones who serve special interests and the ones with the partisan bones to pick.
We also agree with those who plan to introduce legislation next session returning
the Blue Book duties to the staff, where it was historically.
For 2004, the promise of
an objective guide has been compromised at least a bit. Yet despite the intrusion
by lawmakers, most of the Blue Book material is the work of legislative staff.
We urge voters to read the guide carefully, but don't think for a minute that
every word is non-partisan gospel.
