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 just about any type 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 stop amending the state Constitution. To attain that goal, he’ll ironically first have to amend the law.

Appearing in a new commercial campaign, Suthers opines, ‘The Founding Fathers managed to make 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 tale.’

The campaign arises from the ‘Raise the Bar Protect Our Constitution’ coalition. Based on the combined group, the Colorado Constitution has been amended over 150 times, while the United States Constitution happens to be changed just 27 times.

‘Our state requires the initiative that is same 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 tv spot.

Suthers Sulking

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

The majority are small-scale gambling venues situated together in mountain towns like Black Hawk.

Suthers desires to keep it by doing this.

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

Current legislation to move a petition forward requires five percent of the vote that is previous secretary of state, but those signatures may be collected anywhere in Colorado.

Proponents for more stringent Constitution amendment laws 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 apparently be impossible. Gaining two per cent support in every part of hawaii, from the greatly conservative remote regions to the heavily liberal towns, might be the perfect recipe for inaction.

Weed Yay, Casinos Nay

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

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

The Arapahoe Park and off-track areas are owned by a team of investors based in Rhode Island.

‘East Coast casinos tried to create a gambling monopoly within our Constitution,’ Suthers concludes available. ‘It’s time and energy to make certain constitutional amendments have broad public support.’

Voters had been at the top of marijuana, but low on gambling.

The gaming amendment failed overwhelmingly as more than 70 percent of voters went contrary to the movement.