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Trial lawyers stare down homebuilders

By Chris Bragg
     In the game of chicken being played with this November’s ballot initiatives, trial lawyers and a group of Colorado Springs homebuilders have been first to slam on the brakes.
     In a deal reached late Tuesday, the trial lawyers agreed not to put any of their nine proposed initiatives on the ballot if, in exchange, the homebuilders would pull an initiative attacking attorneys.
     “We believed that the political consultants and the media advertisers are rich enough,” said Colorado Trial Lawyers Association executive director John Sadwith, explaining why his group had agreed to drop its ballot initiatives.
     “We’re setting down our arms. Hopefully, our example will be helpful to the labor and business communities,” Sadwith added, referring to other tit-for-tat ballot initiatives recently filed by Colorado business and labor groups whose differences remain unresolved.
     “Maybe those $3 million or $4 million each side is going to spend can go to starving children that need help,” he said.
     Although feeding starving ...
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The Colorado Statesman
The Colorado Statesman is a locally owned nonpartisan publication. Founded in 1898, the weekly newspaper is one of the oldest in the state and has a history and tradition dating back more than a century ago.

The Colorado Statesman focuses its in-depth coverage on local and statewide politics, including the Colorado Legislature, state government, public policy issues, campaigns and elections, the state’s political parties, and the people and personalities behind them.
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Extra! Extra!
May 9, 2008

 


News, Notes & Views

Sine Die at the Legislature — a full
   wrap-up of the session
• National parties ignoring Colorado’s
   congressional races
‘Those Were The Days’ with Sen.
   Lloyd Bentsen and Pearl Alperstein
• Charter-schools group honors
   Sen. Peter Groff as a champion
• Kopel: Pet massage therapists have
   just struck gold
• Retiring Sen. Ken Gordon offers
   guide for future legislators
• Opponents of “personhood”
   amendment launch campaign
• Senator John McCain visits Denver,
   hosts town hall meeting
• CD 6 Democrats nominate Hank Eng
   for Congress, no primary!
• Colorado community leaders gather
   to honor self-sufficiency
• Green Party of Colorado nominates
   Bob Kinsey for U.S. Senate
Politi-Flix’s Doug Young: Genres collide
   at high speed this week
• Celebrating the life of Bill Comer...

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Get the scoop on politics and Hollywood inside PolitiFlix.


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Severance hike battle impending

By John Schroyer
     Democrats, environmentalists and other stakeholders finally have agreed on the terms of a ballot measure designed to increase the state’s revenue from energy operations. At one point, various backers of higher severance taxes had filed 13 different measures with the Department of State. Then they met, reached a compromise, hammered out the terms for Initiative 113 and agreed to pull back the other 12 measures and join forces behind that one.
     The chosen initiative, pushed hard by Gov. Bill Ritter, would eliminate the longstanding ad valorem (“according to value”) property tax credit, which gives energy operations an 87.5 percent discount on their property taxes. The severance tax itself, which currently stands at 5 percent, will not be raised. If adopted by voters, the measure would raise an estimated $300 million in 2009 and likely more each year after that.
     The other 12 ballot measures had differed mainly on how the added money would be spent. Ritter said he pushed hard for the final version, which dedicates 60 percent of the new revenue to scholarships for students at state colleges and universities.
     The remainder would be divvied up among various interests, with 15 percent going to open space and wildlife, 15 percent to local communities burdened by energy ...
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Jay Fox eats for The Colorado Statesman. Read this not-so-Mr. Nice Guy's dining reviews online. You might not agree with him, but at least you won't go hungry!
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