Of all the questionable claims made during this year’s election campaign — admittedly, it’s hard to keep track — few surprised us more than former Boulder Congressman David Skaggs’ contention that the ballot initiative process is more susceptible to control by special interests than established political institutions.

If that were true, the oil and gas industry would no doubt oppose Amendment 71, the attempt to render it virtually impossible to amend the state constitution by petition. In fact, it is an ardent supporter. “Raise the bar,” the campaign to enhance the power of entrenched political and business interests by making citizen initiatives more difficult, just picked up a $1 million contribution from the oil and gas front established to fight citizen initiatives to regulate fracking.

Adoption of Amendment 71 would allow the oil and gas industry to checkmate Colorado environmental interests. It already controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government, the latter through the other two. As a result, it has won the right to override traditional land-use prerogatives of local communities and install fracking operations anywhere its friendly state regulators approve, including near residential subdivisions and schools, where heavy industry would normally be prohibited.

Aside from civil disobedience, the only remaining alternative for community and environmental groups is pursuing the initiative process to win back local control over land-use decisions.

It might seem contradictory that oil and gas interests would argue it is too easy to amend the state constitution after they prevented measures to regulate fracking from reaching the ballot for the second consecutive election cycle. Ask environmental organizations in Colorado how easy it is to overcome a campaign by well-heeled special interests to keep a proposed constitutional amendment from even making it to the voters. The best explanation for the oil and gas industry’s interest here is that it doesn’t want to have to spend so much to beat the fracking activists next time.

The argument that policies about fracking and most other subjects don’t belong in the constitution is appealing but ignores a rather salient fact: That horse left the barn 106 years ago, when the initiative process was implemented. Many policy decisions are already there. For that reason, comparing the Colorado Constitution to the pristine U.S. Constitution is pure sophistry. The TABOR amendment, for example, was added to the Colorado Constitution by ballot initiative. The minimum wage is in there. Medical marijuana and recreational marijuana are in there.

Why? Well, at least in part because an initiated statute takes just as much work and can be changed immediately by the Legislature if the political powers that be don’t like it. A better way to protect the constitution from the invasion of legislation would be to strengthen citizen-initiated statutes by requiring a super-majority of the Legislature to change them. That might make the initiated-statute route more attractive.

Unlikely bedfellows have united to oppose 71. On the left: Common Cause, Greenpeace and NARAL. On the right: the Independence Institute, Colorado Shooting Association and Colorado Right-to-Life. What these groups have in common is fear of government trampling the rights of the people.

A corrupt campaign finance system has rendered many politicians dependent on the contributions of special interests. If those interests manage to block the citizen initiative process as well, they will have consolidated control of Colorado’s future.

Amendment 71 wouldn’t just make it harder to amend the constitution. It would make it prohibitively expensive. The requirement to gather the signatures of at least 2 percent of registered voters — not active voters, the current standard — in 35 different state senate districts effectively gives any single state senate district veto power over a ballot issue. “Raise the bar” did not meet its own standard to reach the ballot.

Defending legal challenges from well-financed opponents to all 35 sets of signatures would rule out most public interest campaigns. Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute estimates the cost of getting an amendment on the ballot would rise at least 10-fold, from roughly half a million dollars, depending on the issue, to maybe $5 million.

If the backers of 71 had wanted to make it more difficult but not impossible to petition a constitutional amendment onto the ballot, they could have required signatures from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts, which is how U.S. Senate candidates petition their way onto a primary ballot. Instead, they chose a proposal that puts a constitutional amendment out of the reach of citizen groups.

Even if a citizen initiative did somehow survive the signature requirements in 35 districts and the legal challenges that followed, it would need 55 percent of the popular vote, not 50 percent plus one. The effect would be to lock into the constitution eternally a number of the things people complain shouldn’t be in there now — from the minimum wage to TABOR. The only way to alter such provisions now is to propose new constitutional amendments, as the group seeking a minimum wage increase is doing this year.

This is how we have addressed our state constitution for a century — allowing the people to change it by initiative, and to change it again later, if they choose. It is an imperfect system, but it’s better than handing over control of the constitution to the same interests that give government its marching orders now. We urge a “No” vote on Amendment 71.

—Dave Krieger, for the editorial board. Email: kriegerd@dailycamera.com. Twitter: @DaveKrieger

