July 18, 2009 03:34 AM UTC

Amendment 54 Dead(ish)

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• by: ThillyWabbit

The Denver Business Journal reporting:

Denver District Judge Catherine Lemon issued a preliminary injunction late Friday suspending enforcement of Amendment 54, the so-called Clean Government Initiative.

The amendment, passed by voters last November, prohibits most election campaign contributions by individuals and organizations doing business with the government under sole-source contracts.

But in a 32-page ruling, Lemon said the amendment may well be unconstitutional and that its opponents had met the burden of proof for the granting of a preliminary injunction.

The dearly-departed Rocky characterized it as “the gag amendment.” The Colorado Independent noted the so-called “clean government amendment” wasn’t so clean.

Colorado Independent resident wonk John Tomasic dives into the ruling:

Denver District Judge Catherine Lemon delivered her written preliminary injunction of Amendment 54 this afternoon. The judge decided in favor of plaintiff’s at a hearing June 23 to enjoin, or suspend, the law made by the amendment, which came as the result of a controversial ballot initiative that supporters said was aimed at limiting or preventing pay-to-play corruption in Colorado.

The Judge ruled, however, that the aims were too muddled to pass as law. She said that the sloppy language of the amendment placed too high a burden on people it sought to govern. She also described the way the amendment targeted unions as “curious and problematic.”

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