In this year's election, Colorado business, nonprofit and community leaders aligned in opposition to Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101. These dangerous ballot issues threatened tens of thousands of jobs, would have led to drastic reductions in education funding, and could have crippled Colorado's economy.

In response, more than 600 organizations formed a bipartisan coalition aimed at defeating these measures. The opposition campaign raised more than $6.8 million for this important fight, and that number doesn't capture the thousands of hours and in-kind contributions that nonprofits and community groups donated, as well.
This battle had to be fought, and the cost of defeating three statewide proposals is high but necessary. However, it's a shame that so many resources and so much energy were being devoted to simply maintaining the status quo in Colorado.


Rather than moving our state forward, millions of dollars and hours were spent just to ensure that things didn't get worse.

This situation is not simply the fault of the 60, 61 and 101 proponents, but also lies with the very organizations and associations that fought these measures. This broad coalition of business and community groups has so far been unable to coalesce to the same extent and with the same energy around something that would actually move our state forward. 

Read more: Moving beyond Colorado's ballot issue battles - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_16536126#ixzz15HDjsHgo