Do as I say, not as I do. This should be the campaign slogan for Common Cause and Ken Gordon's fool's errand ballot initiative aimed at encouraging our congressional delegation to oppose the Citizens United decision.
Common Cause and Gordon hate having their ideals challenged, which is why the Citizen's United decision is such a threat to their existence. In fact, Common Cause lamented, “This wrong-headed ruling doesn't just disrupt the way elections work. It poses a direct and immediate threat to our democracy.” Hyperbole aside, they literally mean “their” democracy, not “our” democracy.
Let's start at the top. Common Cause accepts tax-deductible donations to pursue “their” democracy. In 2002, Common Cause pushed its will on Colorado by crippling candidate campaigns, bolstering union fundraising power and producing campaign finance fines that would make the IRS blush. All this in the name of getting “Big Money” out of politics.
In 2004 we saw the overwhelming power of the Left's “Big Money” when Gill, Stryker, Polis and Bridges bought the state legislature. By funneling money through unions, non-profits and other shells, the GOP was rocked from all directions. While some would expect Common Cause to wail about “Big Money” that year, we later learned it actually had a seat at the table (see The Blueprint).
Now, its back for more peddling its “getting Big Money our of politics” meme. Common Cause has another ballot initiative, which for all intents and purposes, is a resolution aimed at our Congressional delegation to simply encourage them to overturn Citizens United.
Common Cause talks about limiting “Big Money” and making our campaign finance system transparent for everyone else, but not for them. Case in point, the fundraising committees pushing this asinine idea have spent almost a half million dollars collecting signatures. Common Cause, which donated almost $100,000 without disclosing a single donor, teamed with Fair Share Alliance to get the measure on the ballot. Fair Share Alliance is some other obscure Washington DC group that spent $360,000 collecting signatures from Coloradans. Each group collects tax deductible donations from secret donors to push their will on voters. Sounds remarkably like what they rail against, doesn't it?
We've seen the same from Gordon. According to the Durango Herald, Gordon gave $70,000 to his own Super PAC that aims to support candidates who don't accept special interest PAC money. Gordon doesn't want any elected officials to be beholden to anyone…except him.
What these self-proclaimed purists don't realize is that they're special interests. They have the media fooled that they're not out to attack Republicans, just to remove their ability to compete. It's time for Coloradans to wise up to the ruse.