As originally reported by Face the State this AM…

Amendment 54 (Clean Government Colorado) was attacked over the weekend by Jess Knox, spokesman for Protect Colorado’s Future, for accepting out-of-state money.  Here’s what Knox said in his Channel 7 interview with Tyler Lopez, “When you have these out-of-state, or narrow corporate interests trying to divide Coloradans, it’s bad for all Colorado,” said Jess Knox, wearing a pin that says, “No on 47, 49 and 54.”

That’s cute.  Really it is.  First I’d like to know what, exactly, this guy knows about us Coloradans.  According to Face the State’s investigation, he’s worked on campaigns in Maine for more than 10 years.  He also worked for Gore in the 2000 New Hampshire primary.  And furthermore, he worked for John Edwards for President until the campaign went bust in January and he moved here to fill the executive director position with Protect Colorado’s Future.  Swing states seem to attract the weirdest people in an election year.  This guy knows nothing about our interests as Coloradans. 

And that’s not Jess Knox’s only dirty little secret.  His organization receives more than 67% of their funding from out-of-state donors.  In fact, of the $3.3 MILLION dollars they’ve raised, over $630,000 has been contributed by the Service Employees’ International Union.  I know what you’re thinking.  Local chapter, right?  Uh uh… records show  –wait for it–  from Washington, DC!  Since you’re from out that direction Jess, maybe you can tell all of us Coloradans how Washington, DC knows what our interests are?  

So what exactly is this Jess Knox guy trying to pull over on us Coloradans?  Well, he’s trying to make Amendment 54 out to be a bad thing.  He’s right it is a bad idea… that is, if you’re a corrupt contractor who is awarded more than $100,000 in no-bid contracts from your favorite corrupt, dirty politician.  If you’re one of those scumbags who gets politicians to give you bags of money in no-bid contracts, then yeah, Amendment 54 sucks because it is going to prevent you (the scumbag corrupt contractor) from contributing to corrupt political campaigns – in Chicago, they call this bribery.  I also like that Amendment 54 would set up a database of no-bid contracts the government awards so that we Coloradans could see exactly which companies are given our tax dollars that we work hard to earn.  As a Colorado taxpayer, I want honest businesses to have the opportunity to compete for big government contracts that our taxes pay for and I want the government transparency to be able to see where our money goes.