Over the weekend, the Denver Post‘s John Frank exposed a new plan by Governor John Hickenlooper and his Democratic machine to address some of the state’s most controversial political issues to shove through several ballot initiatives that benefit Democrats, including an initiative to restrict future initiatives.  See how this is problematic?

Here’s a partial list of the weighty issues that this group will address: TABOR, redistricting, campaign finance, term limits of elected officials, tightening the ballot initiative process, and world peace.  Just kidding about the last one. We think….  This is a snippet from the pitch package sent around:

“Quite soon, we hope to talk with you about how we elect our leaders, how long we allow them to serve, how we consider amendments to our state constitution, how we align state revenues and expenses, and how we fund campaigns.”

Democratic backers of this plan are crowing about the bipartisan support for this plan. But, here’s the big nuance that Frank failed to notice (again). Yes, those on the committee may be Republican, but, no, they don’t speak for the Republican electorate. They are simply part of Hick’s Bipartisan Dog and Pony Show, a public display of “Republican” support to give Hick air cover as he makes the system work better (for Democrats).

Hick also got all of his friends to participate in the process.  See the chart below:

There are a lot of very important people involved, but what about the average Coloradan?  While the process purports to engage the public, the plan clearly says that the town halls are for civic leaders.  That’s code for “people we handpick to give us the feedback that we want to hear”. Oh, there’s a place where average folks can weigh in via internet. That’s for the little people. You know, the ones who will suffer from liberal policies this effort will help sweep in.

Stay tuned, PeakNation™, as we take a deeper dive into this effort – who is behind this, what they hope to accomplish, and how this will hurt Coloradans.