Bill Ritter

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has been a strong critic of direct democracy. But he vetoed a bill that would have stepped up regulation of paid signature gatherers, arguing that it was unconstitutional because it would have treated paid gatherers different than volunteers.

Get used to it. Most of the country's blockbuster democracy news is coming from the Centennial State. A bit of news from California and elsewhere appears at the bottom of this post.

 COLORADO PEACE: It appears that there's been a cooling on one front of the all-out initiative war in Colorado. The trial lawyers and the sponsor of an initiative to limit contigency fees are putting their swords away. The contigency fee initiative -- and 9 counter initiatives filed by the lawyers -- have been dropped. Hat tip: Point of Law.  according to the Point of Law legal blog.

DENVER ET COMMISSION GETS A HEARING: Its sponsor says there's evidence that aliens -- and he doesn't mean Mexicans, Mr. Tancredo -- are already among us. At the hearing, concern is expressed about the commission's cost -- $75,000 -- and how easy it is to qualify the measure (only 3,900 signatures) and of course, about what late night comics might say. Learn more about the Extra campaign as its new web site.

OREGON GAMING MEASURE DROPPED: Backers of an initiative to establish Oregon's first non-tribal private casino say they've decided not to go forward. They could revive the proposals, but want to see how proposals for two tribal casinos fare first.

IMMIGRATION COPS: The Arizona legislator who wants to allow police officers to enforce immigration laws is pursuing dual tracks -- a ballot initiative and legislation at the same time. The initiative is back-up, he explains.

COLORADO GOV RAIN ON SPEAKER's INITIATIVE: Gov. Bill RItter, a Democrat, questions the political strategy behind an effort by the Democratic House speaker in his state to qualify a measure lifting some of the state's spending limits. Ritter has been trying to reduce the number of measures on the November ballot.

ONE CENT SALES TAX TO FUND TRANSPORTATION: Arizonans, including Gov. Janet Napolitano, have launched an initiative to pay for $42 billion in transporation spending with a one-cent sales tax. The full plan for how they would spend the money is due next month.