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Amendment 54 or Fight!

by | 6:15 pm, October 25, 2008 | 3 Comments

Influence peddling is a pricey hobby.  Just ask the anti Amendment 54 thugs at Colorado Concern. 

Colorado Concern, a collective of self-important VIPs who are doing just fine under the current system of corrupt no-bid awards and lack of transparency, is the source of an e-mail desperately trying to coerce $3 million from its membership – with a $10,000 minimum contribution and a helpful suggestion that members could throw up to $100,000 of their company’s money at protecting entrenched interests.  $3 million, by the by, is the price tag the business community paid for bribing Unions to remove their latest round of vile ballot offerings.  It somehow doesn’t seem that Colorado Concern is tremendously concerned about the voice of the little guy. 

But why would they be?  Their own website describes them as, “an exclusive alliance of top executives” and brags about its “unprecedented access to opinion leaders and elected officials” as well as its “impressive ability to financially support issues and candidates”.

Wow, it must be nice to be part of the rarefied ranks of the Concerned.

But they hardly represent the concerns of real Coloradans.  On their site, they’ve published an annual poll of their own members, where they are downright proud to admit that 50% of them think TABOR is the “principle cause of the state’s budget problem”, 87% support a 5-yr extension of Ref C and 76% support an “indefinite” extension for C.

So, what exactly is Colorado Concerned so darn concerned about?  For one, they’re all uppity that Amendment 54, for Clean Government Colorado, will adversely effect non-profits who hold no-bid contracts.  But if these non-profits are doing such great work and are so gosh darned wonderful for the community, why do they need the protection of no-bid guarantees?  To be very clear, 54 won’t deny anyone the right to bid on a contract.  It will strengthen that very right by opening up the bidding process and preventing the most politically entrenched businesses from improperly leveraging that influence to buy contracts.

Devolving further into the ‘spurious and furious’ category, the e-mail frets that rural areas will be decimated.  Apparently, the smaller communities in the state just don’t have enough businesses that are “able/equipped” to bid on contracts.  According to Colorado Concern, this makes no-bid contracts not just unavoidable but a good thing for rural Colorado.  Hmmm…why do I have a sneaking suspicion that Colorado Concern would like to write the standards by which companies and their bids are judged?  In fact, suggesting that smaller businesses, particularly in rural areas, just can’t handle the bidding process, let alone the actual contract, is a deeply offensive and patronizing idea.  In an open, competitive bidding system, a company that can’t handle the work isn’t going to win the contract.  Compare that to what we have now, a system where vital services are provided not by the most competent but by the best connected.

The bottom line is that Colorado Concern is an alliance of business owners who stand to lose if competition, transparency, and honest bidding comes to Colorado government contracts.  They aren’t interested in supporting any business growth other than their own.  In fact, they’re gladly willing to mortgage our economic future to finance a narrow set of illicit special interests.  They’ve even gotten in bed with Union thugs to protect their no-bid goodies.

PPC says make good use of one thing Colorado Concern an Unions can’t buy – your vote.

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Category: Colorado, Colorado Amendment 54, PPC

Comments

  1.   Former Teamster
      October 28th, 2008 @ 10:00 am

    Great job Eileen, you said it all. I just hope that people aren’t fooled by the lies. Vote YES on 54.

  2.   andigirl
      October 28th, 2008 @ 7:22 pm

    I am so glad to see this article. The commercials against 54 are just full of lies and I am so afraid the Colorado people are going to buy into them. This amendment should be supported by all tax payers! We need to stop the corruption in our government!

    YES on 54!!!

  3.   lane_not_lang
      October 28th, 2008 @ 7:25 pm

    I will be voting YES on 54! I really like that it would create a website where I can see where and how my tax dollars are being spent. It just makes sense. YES on 54

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