Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers (R) is reaching out statewide to voters urging them to aid a referendum that would make it drastically harder to amend the state’s constitution november.

If passed, the odds for any sort of future gambling expansion could be drastically reduced.

Suthers, who opposed the legalization of marijuana during his time as Colorado’s attorney general, is on a new crusade: to cease amending the state Constitution. To achieve that goal, he’ll ironically first need to amend the law.

Appearing in a new commercial campaign, Suthers opines, ‚The Founding Fathers made it hard to amend the United States Constitution, it set fourth fundamental rights that should be protected because they knew. The Colorado Constitution is a far different story.‘

The campaign arises from the ‚Raise the Bar Safeguard Our Constitution‘ coalition. In line with the team, the Colorado Constitution has been amended over 150 times, while the United States Constitution has been changed just 27 times.

‚Our state requires the exact same initiative process to amend our Constitution as our state laws,‘ the organization says on its website. ‚ This framework has made Colorado’s ballot and Constitution among the most easily changed in the national country.‘

Previous Colorado Springs Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace is also lending her support and appearing in a television spot.

Suthers Sulking

Colorado is certainly one of only five states that have legal charitable, pari-mutuel, commercial, tribal, and racetrack gambling, and a continuing state lottery. Tribes are permitted to work casinos on their sovereign land, and localities are allowed to accept casino gambling though only three did so.

The majority is small-scale gambling venues situated together in hill towns like Black Hawk.

Suthers wants to keep it like that.

Officially known as Amendment 71, improve the Bar wants to mandate that petitions to alter the continuing state Constitution receive signatures from at least two percent of voters in all 35 Senate districts. The general public would then need to vote in favor of the amendment by at least 55 percent.

Current law to go a petition ahead calls for five percent of the previous vote for secretary of state, but those signatures could be collected anywhere in Colorado.

Proponents for lots more Constitution that is stringent amendment argue groups presently get into Denver and Boulder to obtain the necessary John Hancocks, and those two cities doesn’t necessarily represent Coloradans as a whole.

If the Suthers coalition wins, amendments would become impossible seemingly. Gaining two per cent support in every part of hawaii, from the heavily conservative remote areas to the heavily liberal urban centers, might be the recipe that is perfect inaction.

Weed Yay, Casinos Nay

In 2014, voters in Colorado passed Amendment 64, the ‚personal use and legislation of marijuana,‘ by a margin of 55.3 in favor to 44.7 percent opposed. But during that election that is same rejected a motion to expand gambling.

The owners associated with Arapahoe Park horse track and 11 off-track betting parlors had desired permission from the general public to allow its facilities to include slots and table machines, with 34 per cent of total revenue going to support education.

The Arapahoe Park and off-track locations are owned by a group of investors located in Rhode Island.

‚East Coast casinos attempted to create a gambling monopoly in our Constitution,‘ Suthers concludes in the industry. ‚It’s time and energy to make sure constitutional amendments have actually broad public support.‘

Voters had been high on marijuana, but low on gambling.

The video gaming amendment failed overwhelmingly as a lot more than 70 percent of voters went against the motion.