Secretary of State weighing complaint over anti-tax ballot measures

Protect Colorado's Communities, the issue committee fighting three anti-government measures proposed for the 2010 ballot, has filed a complaint with the Secretary of State over the proposals, saying that proponents violated the law in preparing and circulating petitions and failing to report donors behind the effort.

"You don't get three initiatives on the ballot without spending thousands of dollars -- or winking and nodding while someone else does it for you," said Mark Grueskin, attorney for Protect Colorado's Communities. "The law is clear: the public has a right to know who is funding these anti-government efforts. These complaints just ask what -- and who -- are these proponents hiding?"

The complaint says that proponents spent well over $200 to print and circulate the petitions and did not provide a list of donors. Colorado law requires that proponents register as an issue committee if more than $200 is spent in printing, circulating and gathering petitions. In registering, proponents also would be required to list donors.

A ruling on the complaint could come as early as this week.

"Proposition 101, Amendment 60 and Amendment 61, if passed, would initiate the most vague and reckless overhaul of state and local fiscal policy that Colorado has seen in almost 20 years," said Tyler Chafee of Protect Colorado's Communities. "These measures would certainly put an end to any hope that Colorado had of recovering the jobs we lost in the economic downturn. I think the people of Colorado
deserve to know who is really behind such a radical set of disastrous fiscal policies."

Click here for the Bell's analyses of Prop 101 and Amendment 61.