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Grand Junction City Council issues on April ballot
from the Daily Sentinel
January 22, 2025

By SAM KLOMHAUS

Sam.Klomhaus@gjsentinel.com

The City of Grand Junction is poised to refer two items to the ballot for the April 8 municipal election: one moving city elections to November and another giving City Council raises.

Both measures were approved on first reading by City Council last week. Second reading and public hearing for each is scheduled for Feb. 5.

Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross has requested the city move its elections to November from April.

Should the measure pass, it would extend the terms of current City Council members Anna Stout, Jason Nguyen and Scott Beilfuss, and would shift council terms from starting in May to starting in January.

Council Member Dennis Simpson voted against the measure, disagreeing with the provision that council members would take office in January instead of December to avoid brand new council members voting on a budget they had no input in.

The item giving City Council raises ties City Council’s salary to Mesa County’s area median income. Council members would be paid 15% of the area median income and the mayor would be paid 22%.

Council Member Cody Kennedy said he liked that provision because it ties council’s salaries to the local economy. “I think that that should be done at a lot of levels throughout our government,” Kennedy said.

Council Member Scott Beilfuss worried the provision would be too complicated for voters to understand.

Simpson, who has said he will not run for reelection, also disagreed with that provision, saying it should be tied to inflation instead, and not go on in perpetuity.

The raise would not go into effect until 2027 and therefore would not apply to current City Council members unless they win reelection.

“This is purely a forward-looking for future councils to hopefully increase the pool of candidates to make council more representative of the community as a whole,” Herman said.

Herman is not running for reelection in April and therefore would not be eligible for the raise.

Herman noted City Council hasn’t received a raise in 25 years. City Council members are currently paid $500 per month and the mayor is paid $750 per month.

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Progressive Turnout Project is the largest voter contact organization in the country. Our mission: Rally Democrats to vote. We design, test, and execute specialized voter turnout programs targeting inconsistent Democratic voters in the most competitive elections up and down the ballot. ~ Shared by Volunteer Peg MacQueen

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Some folks in Mesa County participated in this postcard campaign for the last election and found it to be fairly simple and easy. You're provided postcards and sample scripts but must purchase your own postage (rates to increase in July). You have until a date in October before mailing and many people filled out 200-500 over the Summer at their convenience.

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Click the logo above to order postcards.

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Initiative 89 protecting women's right to choose will go on November ballot

Reprinted from CPR News article, May 17 2024

          Colorado voters will decide this fall whether to enshrine the right to legal abortion in the state constitution. 

The Secretary of State's office said today that reproductive rights groups had collected enough signatures to put a measure known as Initiative 89 on the ballot for this November’s election.

          Colorado law already protects legal access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, but advocates said they want to make that policy more permanent. This year’s measure would amend the state’s constitution, ensuring the current policy could not be changed by a future legislature. The state constitution can only be amended by a vote of the people.

          Because this measure is adding text to the constitution, it will need at least 55-percent support to pass.

Supporters had to submit nearly 125,000 valid signatures from voters. The Secretary of State's office said they turned in 159,930 valid signatures.

          Colorado is the second state, after Florida, to definitely have an abortion-related constitutional amendment on its ballot for the fall election. Similar efforts are currently underway in a number of other states, including Nebraska, Arizona and Nevada.

          The abortion amendment is just one of numerous questions Colorado voters will be asked to decide this fall. State lawmakers referred eight measures to the ballot, including one that would remove a ban on same sex marriage from the constitution. Advocacy groups are still gathering signatures on a wide range of other issue that could also end up in front of voters.

Colorado Abortion Rights Ballot Measure Turns in Nearly Double

the Signature Requirement as Abortion Ban Measure Fails to Qualify

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DENVER — On April 18, Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom, the Colorado-led coalition working to enshrine abortion rights in the Colorado constitution through what is currently Proposed Initiative 89, turned in over 232,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office—almost double the amount needed. As one of the biggest signature turn-ins in the state’s history, Coloradans demonstrated overwhelming support for abortion accessibility and affordability for all. Hours later, a potential abortion ban ballot measure failed to qualify for the Colorado ballot due to reportedly not collecting enough signatures.

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“Today is the result of an incredible team effort led by our amazing volunteers and coalition, and it’s a day to be celebrated. This morning we turned in hundreds of thousands of signatures to the Secretary of State’s office, proving Coloradans across party lines are with us in support of abortion rights and access,” said Cobalt President Karen Middleton, Co-Chair of Coloradans for Protecting Reproductive Freedom. “The fall of Roe showed us that laws aren't enough. Coloradans deserve the freedom to make personal, private health care decisions—and that right should not depend on the source of their health insurance or who is in office. A right without access is a right in name only. That is what this measure will do: Ensure rights and access by removing a discriminatory cost barrier.”

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“Today is a major win for the reproductive justice movement. The immense show of support by the more than 230,000 Coloradans who have signed on to support this measure makes clear Coloradans from every corner of the state want abortion rights to be protected, respected, and accessible for all,” shared Dusti Gurule, President and CEO of the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) and Campaign Co-Chair. “Now that we’ve achieved this huge milestone on the path to enacting a constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion rights in Colorado, we can set our sights on November, when voters will get the chance to protect that freedom from political overreach once and for all.”

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The ballot measure for Initiative 89 reads: “A change to the Colorado constitution recognizing the right to abortion, and, in connection therewith, prohibiting the state and local governments from denying, impeding, or discriminating against the exercise of that right, allowing abortion to be a covered service under health insurance plans for Colorado state and local government employees and enrollees in state and local governmental insurance programs.”

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