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Government shouldn’t collect political money

Thursday, October 25 at 5:00 PM

This Speakout has not been edited.

By John Andrews

It was a proud day for many of us, back in September 2000, when the people of Centennial used a citizen petition to create Colorado’s newest city. This year, Centennial citizens have petitioned for Question 200, a proposed city ordinance supporting fairness and common sense. It deserves your support on our fall ballot.

At issue is whether unions and other dues-based organizations should be given access to city employees’ paychecks, or whether these groups should collect money directly from their members. Question 200 would take our city government out of the role as middleman and leave employees’ private decisions private.

Right now, there is nothing preventing any group, including political groups, from coming in and collecting automatic deductions from city employees’ paychecks. Some people might like the idea of the NRA raising extra money that way, and others the ACLU. But that shouldn’t be the role of government.

As long as the money that funnels through the city payroll system can come back to finance a candidate’s election or influence her vote on a specific issue, we citizens can lose confidence in our officials. Passing Question 200 prevents the problem.

The city would be safeguarded from making financial transactions for special interests, but would keep deducting the things it’s supposed to deduct. Our county commissioners had the foresight to approve this policy, and no harm has been done.

Like Arapahoe County, Centennial’s payroll system still will be required to withhold taxes, make payments for health insurance and deposit pension funds, and fill court-ordered obligations to collect alimony and child support.

As for city employees who wish to have deductions made for their favorite charities — be it the United Way, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, or the Humane Society — they will sign a form each year approving the transaction. It’s just a courtesy to make sure they’re asked first.

All this also means the city payroll department will stay focused on essential services, and only on charitable causes close to the heart of its employees.

Employees who want to give money to associations, dues organizations, or political groups will have the same right to do so. Personal checks and electronic deposits through banks or credit unions give them that right and give them that control, but will keep government out of it. Question 200 is just the right thing to do.

Former state Sen. John Andrews is a 34-year resident of the Centennial area, and chairman of the Ask First campaign supporting Question 200.

READER COMMENTS

Hey, sounds like a great idea for preventive legislation to keep private hands out of the till. If you are a union member you know and can pay dues. Same goes for charitable contributions. No need to wait until the unions and others are already in the payroll process and need to be removed.

Posted by momma y on October 29, 2007 03:05 PM

Question... How many Centennial city employees are members of a union? ZERO! This is a law that is unnecessary. This is a waste of taxpayer money. John Andrews and his special interest are just wasting our time and money with this. The city's HR department will have to spend extra time each year checking employee's charity forms. Wasteful!

Posted by commonsense on October 27, 2007 07:37 AM

Question 200: GOP code for we are angry that city workers give union donations, that eventually finance Democrats. Owens started this sleaze-ball apolitical retaliation , when he stripped state workers from having their union dues deducted, from their state payroll checks.

A much better read for me and my money would be Mayor's Pye's, "Sidewalks to Nowhere" program. "Pye in the Sky". This wunderkind needlesly ripped out huge chunks of sidewalks in the Piney Creek subdivision, for no good reason. His excuse is the sidewalks were damaged by homeowners "shovels" during last year's blizzards. Some of these sidewalks are less than 20 years old. The only damage that sidewalks get in this subdivision is from USPS employees' foot-prints. Folks don't "hoof it" in the burbs. I have relatives in Denver who have owned their homes for more than 40 years and their sidewalks have never been replaced or repaired.

The old GOP sulfur smell again. Fraud, waste, and abuse of scarce taxpayer funds (no fiscal oversight or stewardship). Until I'm shown other wise, Pye was creating busy construction work (home building downturn) for Brannan, Inc., and their under employed criminal illegal Mexican workers. Don't give me that "handicapped access" routine. Mutual exclusive events. Thanks for the eyesores.

Posted by draftdodgingisntafamilyvalue on October 26, 2007 09:20 AM