{"id":3508,"date":"2002-11-05T13:38:50","date_gmt":"2002-11-05T18:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2002-11-05T13:38:50","modified_gmt":"2002-11-05T18:38:50","slug":"ive_got_issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/05\/ive_got_issues.html","title":{"rendered":"I’ve got issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fortunately, today they’re on the ballot<\/a>, here in beeyooteeful Colorado.<\/p>\n

Referendum A – Exempt District Attorneys from Term Limits<\/b>. Term limits are stupid. I understand the sentiment behind them, but all they mean is that qualified people get fired from their jobs. That’s annoying enough with representatives — why limit who I can vote for, if I want Joe-Bob as my elected rep again? — but it’s downright dumb when it comes to professional positions like DA. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

Referendum B – Public Ownership of Health Facilities <\/b>– This one has been below everyone’s radar. It would allow local governments to partner with private firms to provide health care services, presumably to address deficiencies in such services in rural area. My first inclination is, since I haven’t heard a compelling reason for it, to vote against it. Then I read this jolly editorial <\/a>against it, which makes me think I should vote for <\/i>it (on the principle that anything that Douglas Bruce is against, I’m for). I’m leaning toward YES, but I’m going to ping Margie as to what she hears about this.<\/p>\n

Referendum C – Coroner Qualifications <\/b>– This lets the Assembly set professional requirements for the role of county coroner. Well, duh. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

Referendum D – Obsolete Constitutional Provisions <\/b> – Deletes some old, unused, or overturned crap from the state constitution. I believe in keeping things tidy. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

Referendum E – Cesar Chavez Legal Holiday<\/b> – Creates a legal state holiday in March for Cesar Chavez’ birthday. Chavez might have been a great guy, but (a) I don’t see this being worth the cost, and (b) there are a lot of other great guys (and gals) I’d like to see honored, too. Heck, give Lincoln and Washington their own birthdays again, and then we’ll talk. I’m voting NO. <\/p>\n

Amendment 27 – Campaign Finance <\/b>– Trying to control campaign finance is like the Grand Moff Tarkin trying to tighten his grasp on star systems. It’s a failed approach, as the never-ending litany of finance reform measures, and ever-increasing campaign costs, demonstrate. Screw it. Take off the caps, force full disclosure of all contributions, and let the People decide for themselves. I’m voting NO.<\/p>\n

Amendment 28 – Mail Ballot Elections <\/b>– This would make most Colorado elections mail-in. Boy, is that tempting. I’d love to sit in my living room and vote by mail. Oh, wait, I already can, via absentee ballots. So why do we need this? And, frankly, I’m concerned that this basically associates a name with every vote — so much for secret ballots. And I’m also concerned that there could be family\/household coersion of votes (“Okay, everyone sit down and vote the way Daddy says”). Or coersion at the workplace, or in other groupings. Frankly, I don’t see the need, and I’m not comfortable with the potential risks.<\/p>\n

If you can’t get off your fat ass and make the time to get to your voting place in the twelve hours <\/i>its open, I don’t think you’re likely to remember to mail in your vote. And since you can absentee ballot already, what the hey?<\/p>\n

Now, if only we could have secure, anonymous voting by Internet <\/i>— that one I might go for. But on this one, I’m voting NO.<\/p>\n

Amendment 29 – Selecting Candidates for Primary Elections<\/b> – Colorado allows folks to get into the primaries either through petition or through caucuses. Frankly, the caucus system seems primarily designed to let goofball cliques nominate their favorite loons. I think this amendment, which restricts things to petition, is just fine. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

Amendment 30 – Election Day Voter Registration<\/b> – This would allow just what it says. This one I don’t worry about all that much, honestly, and I don’t mind the added convenience in return for a slight possibility of fraud. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

Amendment 31 – English Language Education<\/b> – Educational programs should not be dictated in detail by the state constitution. Teachers and administrators should not be liable to law suit years after they grant a family a request for a waiver. I’ve got problems with how bilingal ed is handled, but this is not the answer. I’m voting NO.<\/p>\n

Issue 3A – Littleton School District 6<\/b> – Spend more money on our school district. Yup. I’m voting YES.<\/p>\n

US Senate <\/b>– I’d rather vote for one of my cats than either of the mudslingers running for office, but I like having a Democratic Senate as a brake on the GOP House and Presidency, so I’m voting for Tom Strickland over Wayne Allard.<\/p>\n

US House<\/b> – Tom Tancredo (GOP) is a nut<\/a>. We’ve just been redistricted into his area. I have no idea who the Dem candidate is, but he’s got to be better than Tancredo.<\/p>\n

Governor <\/b>– Bill Owens (GOP) hasn’t gored too many of my oxen. I’m still tempted to vote for Rolly Heath (Dem) if only because (a) his commercials have been straightforward presentations of his positions, not a paean to his saintliness, and (b) I got the world’s most vitriolic ad through the mail from the state GOP about what a low-life Heath is. I’ll probably go with Heath, just to keep Owens honest (since there’s little chance of his losing).<\/p>\n

I’ll probably vote the Democratic party ticket for everything else, which means I’ll lose most of the races, but, hey, what the heck. The exception will be voting for Libertarian Margaret Denny against ought-to-resign-but-lets-fire-him-anyway <\/a>Tracy Baker as Arapahoe County Clerk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fortunately, today they’re on the ballot, here in beeyooteeful Colorado. Referendum A – Exempt District Attorneys from Term Limits. Term limits are stupid. I understand the sentiment behind them, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1262,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/02\/04\/setting_limits.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":0},"title":"Setting limits","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 4-Feb-02 10:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The state legislature of Idaho has overridden its local term limits law, placed there by popular referendum. I say, huzzah. Term limits have always rubbed me the wrong way. They...","rel":"","context":"In "Fourth Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Fourth Estate","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/fourth-estate"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3503,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/06\/i_still_have_is.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":1},"title":"I still have issues …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Nov-02 6:22am","format":false,"excerpt":"Unfortunately, they're with the voters of beeyooteeful Colorado. Referendum A - Exempt District Attorneys from Term Limits. I voted YES. The voters disagreed. Referendum B - Public Investment in Health...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":151347,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2020\/09\/24\/looking-at-the-2020-colorado-ballot-propositions.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":2},"title":"Looking at the 2020 Colorado ballot propositions","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Sep-20 11:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a long list, but here are my initial judgments and inclinations.","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2020"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2020","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2020"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Colorado-voting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Colorado-voting.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Colorado-voting.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Colorado-voting.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13602,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/05\/colorado_ballot_propositi-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":3},"title":"Colorado Ballot Propositions – Recap","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Nov-08 12:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"For the most part, my vote \"No\" was echoed by most Colorado voters. My vote [State vote]\u00a0 * AMENDMENT 46 -\u00a0Colorado Civil Rights Initiative\u00a0- Would prohibit the state from granting...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9912,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/11\/ballot_propositions_for_c.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":4},"title":"Ballot propositions for Colorado","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Oct-06 9:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"Got my Colorado ballot proposal book the other day. Here's what I think. Your mileage may (will almost certainly) vary. Amendment 38: Petitions: The thrust of this amendment is to...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2006"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2006","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2006"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12851,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/17\/colorado_ballot_initiativ.html","url_meta":{"origin":3508,"position":5},"title":"Colorado ballot initiatives","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Sep-08 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"BD notes the current array of ballot initiatives coming up here in Colorado this fall. 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