Mandy Connell 2024 Voters Guide

FIRST OFF, HOLY COW THERE IS A LOT OF STUFF ON THIS BALLOT And depending on where you live there could be even more stuff. I'm covering as much stuff as I possibly can, but unlike Ross, I will not write a dissertation on each measure, just a pithy synopsis of my thoughts. If I don't cover a race or an issue it's because I don't have enough information on the candidate or issue to make an educated recommendation. Let's get started.

STATE BALLOT MEASURES:

MEASURE G: MODIFY PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR VETERANS WITH DISABILITIES- YES

This measure simply extends property tax relief to disabled veterans whose disability has made them unemployable. This would affect a very small number of veterans but would be very helpful for those that meet the standards.

MEASURE H: JUDICIAL DISCIPLINE PROCEDURES AND CONFIDENTIALITY - YES

This measure would create an independent panel made of citizens, lawyers, and judges to conduct judicial misconduct hearings and impose disciplinary actions and allows more information on those actions to be shared with the public. Our current system, where judges do this for themselves in private with no access to information about such actions for the public, has been abused by judges and is woefully inadequate.

MEASURE I: CONSTITUTIONAL BAIL EXCEPTION FOR FIRST DEGREE MURDER - YES

This would allow judges to deny bail for someone charged with First Degree murder if the case is strong enough. This replaces the denying of bail for Capital Offenses, which is really no longer a thing in our anti-death penalty state. I consider this housekeeping for the books.

MEASURE J: REPEALING THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE IN THE CONSTITUTION - YES

This, too, is housekeeping, as it removes the anti-gay marriage language in the Constitution which has been rendered moot by the Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage. Gay marriage is here to stay and we need to clean up the Constitution to show that.

MEASURE K: MODIFYING CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTION DEADLINES - NO

This measure seems to be no big deal but is a very big deal for citizens who want as much time as possible to gather signatures to get stuff on the ballot. This shortens the amount of time the people have to do that, which is why I am a firm no. The Clerks and Secretary of State can figure it out now, they don't need more time.

AMENDMENT 79: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO ABORTION - NO

This not only codifies abortion rights into the Constitution it also says taxpayers will pay for them which is why I am a no. I am relatively certain this will pass in Colorado but I'm voting no.

AMENDMENT 80: RIGHT TO SCHOOL CHOICE - YES

This amendment isn't perfect and I'm curious to see how the courts and school districts put the meat on the bones of this measure, which would codify the rights of parents to direct their children's education in Colorado. It would also define school choice to include public neighborhood and charter schools, private schools, home schools, open enrollment options, and “future innovations in education.”  I'm all for this, though I have concerns that the state will use this to try to interfere in the operation of charters, private and home schools. We shall see.

MEASURE JJ: RETAIN ADDITIONAL SPORTS BETTING TAX REVENUE - NO

This measure is another attack on TABOR and I'm not having it. The state has enough money, make them play by the rules, even if it is a casino getting some of their money back. The next time they will tax something YOU like, just watch.

MEASURE KK: FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION EXCISE TAX - NO

This is an anti-gun measure disguised as a tax bill. The Democrats hate anyone who owns a gun and they want to make it incredibly hard for poor people to be able to protect themselves so they put this garbage measure forth to make ammo and guns too expensive for some to afford. Except they can always buy them cheap on the streets, amiright? This is a horrible measure. Why does government say it needs the money? The Independence Institute nails it here:

Although Colorado state government spending is at a record high, the legislature cut funding for behavioral health support for veterans and youth, school safety and gun crime prevention programs, and services for victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes; the new tax would replace the funds the legislature cut.

Don't fall for their nonsense, just vote no until they start going after criminals with guns with the same vigor they go after law abiding gun owners.

MEASURE 127: PROHIBIT BOBCAT, LYNX, AND MOUNTAIN LION HUNTING - NO

This is an entirely unneeded ballot measure (much like the dumbass wolf reintroduction) that should be left to the wildlife biologists at Colorado Parks and Wildlife who have been using hunting tags to manage the predator population for literal decades. If the mountain lion population is allowed to grow unchecked, it creates an imbalance that isn't good for the cats or people or their pets. Let the professionals handle this, please.

MEASURE 128: PAROLE ELIGIBILITY FOR CRIMES OF VIOLENCE - YES

This requires a person convicted of certain crimes of violence to serve at least 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole. It also says that someone convicted of one of these violent crimes three times would not be eligible for parole. I'm all for keeping violent people behind bars.

MEASURE 129: ESTABLISHING A VETERINARY PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATES - YES

We have a shortage of vets in Colorado, and this measure would create the veterinary equivalent of a Nurse Practitioner position for veterinary services. They would have at least a Master's Degree and could handle a lot of vet services short of surgery, which would free up actual vets for the big stuff. Vets don't like this because they view it as competition, but it would actually allow them to grow their practices considerably in my view.

MEASURE 130: FUNDING FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT - YES

After running cops out of the profession for years it's time to take action to support law enforcement and this bill would inject millions into the Colorado Department of Public Safety to shore up law enforcement. The CDPS would be tasked with distributing that money in grants to local law enforcement agencies to improve officer recruitment, training, and retention. It would also require the state to provide a one-time $1 million death benefit to the family of each state and local law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty. The state would be required to maintain the benefit even after the initial $350 million fund is depleted.  The money would have to come out of the General Fund so no tax increases are needed to fund this.

MEASURE 131: ESTABLISHING ALL CANDIDATE PRIMARY AND RANKED CHOICE VOTING GENERAL ELECTIONS - YES

After vacillating on this issue a lot I've come down on the side of shaking things up and changing the way we cast ballots. There is NOTHING in the Constitution about HOW we vote, only that states can decide for themselves. What we're doing now isn't working. This would put all candidates on the primary ballot. You pick one. The top four vote getters move on the General, where you will rank them 1, 2,3 and 4. You are NOT required to rank more than one, but you can have a say in who might be acceptable if your candidate doesn't come in first. I'm looking forward to see how this turns out.

DENVER BALLOT MEASURES

ISSUE 2Q: SALES TAX INCREASE FOR DENVER HEALTH - NEUTRAL

I am not inclined to give Denver politicians any more money because of the way they have burned through cash warehousing homeless people and giving free stuff to illegal immigrants, but Denver Health is the healthcare of last resort for people who don't have health insurance (I'm not sure how that's happened as Obamacare was supposed to make that never happen again). If I were in Denver I'd vote no on principle but if you want to give Denver Health more money you can raise your taxes and vote yes.

QUESTION 2R: SALES TAX INCREASE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING- NO

Government's role in affordable housing is to make sure that regulations and permitting aren't adding significant costs to price of housing. Neither of those things have been reformed to my knowledge. They have no business is building or providing affordable housing otherwise. Do not give this Mayor another dime until he shows some discipline spending taxpayer dollars.

QUESTION 2S: HUMAN RIGHTS BOARD ELEVATED TO CABINET LEVEL - NO

I'm not sure why we even have this office (it's been around since 1947 and yet we had riots in 2022 because of how racist we allegedly are), let alone why we should elevate them to a Cabinet level position. Referred Question 2S proposes to make the Denver Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships a cabinet-level agency. City Council referred the measure to the ballot. Every single thing that this agency purports to do could be done in another office that exists.

QUESTION 2T: REMOVING CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENT FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS - YES

Non-citizens can already serve in the military when they are authorized to legally work in this country, this seems like a natural extension of that. If someone wants to come here and serve the community that seems like someone I want on the force or in the department, doesn't it?

QUESTION 2U: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FOR MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES - NOT JUST NO, BUT HELL NO

When you deal with a government employee, do you think they are working in unsafe or unfair conditions? Then vote NO on allowing city workers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Even FDR knew that unionizing public workers was a bad idea and it still is.

QUESTION 2V: FIREFIGHTER ARBITRATION IN BARGAINING - YES

This would make a change to the collective bargaining process for Denver firefighters. If the measure is approved, bargaining disputes would be resolved through binding arbitration, rather than through an advisory fact-finding process as under current law. This would make them the same as the police and sheriff's department. The Denver Firefighters Union supports the measure, which was referred to the ballot by City Council.

QUESTION 2W: AUTOMATIC SALARY INCREASES FOR POLITICIANS - YES

This would make salary increases for Denver elected officials automatic, rather than requiring a city council vote to approve them. It wouldn’t change the formulas the city charter uses to calculate salary hikes every four years, but council members, who say the change would resolve any potential conflicts of interest, referred it to the ballot in April. This ends the charade that the City Council, who has NEVER voted against an increase, is using salary to hold elected officials accountable. It does not.

ORDINANCE 308: DENVER FUR BAN - NO

I choose not to wear fur. However I am opposed to animal rights activists dictating choices to anyone who does. Convince people not to wear fur instead.

ORDINANCE 309: DENVER SLAUGHTERHOUSE BAN - NO

This is an attempt by animal rights activists to force the price of lamb up so fewer people can afford it while putting a bunch of people out of work in the process. Their end game is stop us all from eating meat. If they don't want to eat meat, fine but this is goes way too far.

BALLOT ISSUE 4A: DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOND ISSUE - YES

II know this is shocking but this is a bond issue I can get behind. It should be enough to bring the buildings that Denver Public Schools uses into the 21st century by making sure they are all air conditioned and upgraded for safety measures. If this were for anything else other than capital improvements I would be a no, but those school buildings are OLD in some places and kids deserve to be comfortable while they aren't learning how to read and write on grade level. That was sarcasm but I still mean the yes.

BALLOT ISSUE 6A: CREATION OF A BALLPARK IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT - NEUTRAL

This is part of the Mayor's plant to revitalize downtown using a special taxing district to raise money for improvements around Coors Field. It expands the district that was used to finance Union Station's renovations and upgrades. Only a couple thousand people are even voting on this so I'm not weighing in.

BALLOT ISSUE 7A: DE TABORING THE RTD TAX DISTRICT - NOT JUST NO, HELL NO

This allows RTD to keep ALL the money it collects regardless of TABOR limits. There are not enough ways for me to say no to this. RTD is a failing enterprise and needs to be completely overhauled with new priorities before I give them another dime.

DOUGLAS COUNTY SPECIFIC ISSUES

As a Douglas County resident I am up to speed on all of these and here's what I think:

DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOLS BALLOT ISSUE 5A - YES

Not only do I trust Erin Kane to run the district with as little waste as possible, I've seen the numbers on how lean the district runs. This bond issue would raise $490 million for much needed capital improvements in the district and to allow for schools to be built in fast growing areas of Douglas County. This is money well spent and I challenge the people who don't want this to pass to do a deep dive into the budget and find the areas of waste, fraud, and abuse to be exploited to pay for this stuff. Oh, and it creates an oversight board to make sure the money is spent correctly.

DOUGLAS COUNTY COMMISSION

DISTRICT 2: This is on the only race I'm commenting on. If you want better government, vote for better candidates. In this race, I would not be voting for George Teal. I'm not saying I'd vote for his Democratic opponent, but he would not be getting my vote. He is mean spirited and uses his position to bully people he doesn't like publicly (recently evidenced by his very unfair treatment of Meghann Silverthorne), plus he is hellbent on getting this dumbass RWR water project done even though water managers in the county say they don't need it. Simply put, I do not trust him to make decisions in the best interest of Douglas County.

BROOMFIELD INITIATIVES

Thanks to the listener who sent me info on some power grabs initiatives in Broomfield.

This question would change the way recalls are done in Broomfield and give the City Council outsize power to limit them while also allowing them to choose a replacement if a recall is successful. Just say no. They don't need more power.

QUESTION 2B- NO

This increases the number of terms a City Council member can spend on the City Council from eight to twelve years, or three terms. No politician ever got better the longer they served. Period.

QUESTION 2G - NO

This increased the number of terms the Mayor can serve from two to three, which would extend a Mayor's reign to twelve years. See above and vote no, as both of these measures are a power grab imo.

FEDERAL RACES:

I'm going to keep this very simple and say that I would be happy if every Republican running in the Congressional races won. It won't happen, but that's what I'm recommending.

STATE RACES:

If we don't get some balance back in Colorado's Legislature this state is done for so when you can vote for a Republican, please do. Note how many races on your ballot don't even have a Republican option thanks to the unbridled incompetence of Herr Dave Williams.

JUDGES - NO!

I'm sure there will be a great judge or two that gets bounced out, but there is some rot in our judiciary that needs to be dealt with so I'm voting NO on all of them. Dan Maes wrote a great column about it here.

IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS Please email them to Mandyconnell@iheartmedia.com and I will do my best to answer them. Very specific local issues will likely not be addressed by me because of lack of specific knowledge but I will do my best to respond if you email me!


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content