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Elway ads promote amendment 71, oppose 69 & 70

By Mike McKibbin 10/25/2016 | updated 9 years ago

Likely the most recognizable and perhaps admired person in Colorado, John Elway has made what may be his first highly visible entry into the political world, appearing in TV ads for the campaign promoting passage of Amendment 71, the Raise the Bar effort to make it harder to change the state constitution.

The Hall of Fame Denver Broncos quarterback and now general manager of the team, Elway’s ads started airing statewide on TV stations and cable TV systems this week. One of his ads was aired during the Broncos-Texans game on Monday night, Oct. 24.

Protecting Colorado’s Environment, Economy, and Energy Independence, originally formed by the energy industry to oppose two oil-and-natural-gas-related measures that did not make the ballot, is the campaign committee behind Elway’s pro-71 commercials and spokeswoman Karen Crummy would not offer much comment.

“We’re just going to let the ads speak for themselves because, well, it’s John Elway,” she told The Colorado Statesman.

The ads – 30- and 60-second versions – will air statewide through Nov. 7, the day before the election, Crummy said. But she did not know how many total airings the ads are scheduled to receive.

In the ads, Elway supports Amendment 71, which would require petitions for proposed amendments to include two percent of their registered voter signatures from each of Colorado’s 35 state senate districts and at least 55 percent voter support to pass. He also mentions Amendment 69, the ColoradoCare statewide health care program, and Amendment 70, which would gradually raise the state minimum wage, as examples of why amending the constitution should be tougher.

In a news release, backers of ColoradoCare said Elway is promoting a ballot measure “that will ensure ballot access to only the wealthiest campaigns backed by multi-million-dollar contributions from the corporations whose only motive is to protect their profits. Their lobbyists and campaign contributions have kept issues like raising the minimum wage and providing health care to all Colorado residents from gaining traction in the legislature, and now they seek to silence the voice of the people who waged grassroots campaigns to get popular issues on the ballot and put them up for an honest vote.”

Dave Sabados, senior consultant to the ColoradoCareYES campaign, said while Elway was a great quarterback for the Broncos, “He’s proving to be a poor representative of the people.”

“While Mr. Elway doesn’t need to worry about affordable health care or making a living wage to feed his family, the rest of us do,” Sabados said in the release. “The ballot initiative process is in place so the people of Colorado have the chance to make real change to improve our lives, like passing amendments 69 … and 70 …”

Mike McKibbin

Reporter

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