colorado concern brough

<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div>===</div><div>shawn martini frack prop 97 colo rising?
</div><div>
</div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">HBW Resources
Senior Communications Director  Senior Communications Director
HBW Resources LLC HBW Resources LLC
2012 - 2016 · 4 yrs</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
Denver, CO Denver, CO
Shawn

successfully provided guidance to HBW and its clients on

communications, marketing, outreach and policy to help achieve their

goals in both the public and private arena. He worked to establish

organizational reputation and thought leadership to advocate for policy

and projects using a broad range of traditional and new media

strategies.  Shawn successfully provided guidance to HBW and its clients

on communications, marketing, outreach and policy to help achieve their

goals in both the public and private arena. He worked to establish

organizational reputation and thought leadership to advocate for policy

and projects using a broad range of traditional and new media

strategies.…see more</div></div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/signer-beware/">https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/signer-beware/</a>
</div><div>
</div><div><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 49px; margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.05; letter-spacing: -0.02em; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Signer beware</h1><p class="td-post-sub-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 13px 0px; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; padding: 5px 0px 8px; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(241, 241, 241); border-top: 1px dashed rgb(241, 241, 241); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Pro-oil-and-gas-industry Initiative #138 has a familiar pedigree<div class="meta-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 15px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; opacity: 1; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;"><div class="td-post-author-name" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-right: 3px;"><div class="td-author-by" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;">By</div> <a href="https://www.boulderweekly.com/author/joeldyer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none !important; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit;">Joel Dyer</a><div class="td-author-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline;"> -</div></div> <time class="entry-date updated td-module-date" datetime="2016-06-16T16:26:26+00:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">June 16, 2016</time></div></div><div>
</div><div><p class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">When

it comes to the ballot initiatives being put forward this election

cycle — at least the ones pertaining to oil and gas extraction — you

often hear them referred to with terms like “community rights” or “local

government authority.”<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">But

unlike in the past, those terms are being applied to a variety of

initiatives, including one that would actually prevent communities from

creating local ordinances to protect themselves from oil and gas

extraction in close proximity to their homes, schools and hospitals.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">As

a result, signing a petition in 2016 has become a rather confusing

exercise wherein “signer beware” seems an appropriate warning. Not

surprisingly to many observers of the ongoing and heated battle over

fracking in Colorado, this confusion due to the blurring of such terms

doesn’t appear to be an accident.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Over

the past five years, the terms “community rights” and “local authority ”

have become closely tied to the various citizen-driven initiatives

written to allow local communities or even counties the right to ban or

delay fracking or otherwise regulate oil and gas extraction within their

jurisdictions. This explains why these terms so often find their way

into the official or popular titles of such citizen efforts. This year’s

initiatives with that same intent are no exception.<p class="p4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">•  •  •<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Initiative

#40 is most often referred to as “The Colorado Community Rights

Amendment” or the “Local Governance Amendment.” It has been put forward

as a project of Coloradans for Community Rights.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Proponents

of Initiative #40 claim the amendment addresses the conflicts that

exist between the fundamental rights of communities, people and the

environment, and the excessive legal authority that politicians have wrongly granted to corporations.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">They

further claim #40 would not only allow local communities to ban or

otherwise regulate oil and gas extraction, but also allow local

governments to control all industrial activity as well as other things,

such as allowing communities to set their own minimum wage limits.   <p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Another

initiative designed to empower local authority to regulate oil and gas

extraction is also currently gathering signatures. Initiative #75,

titled “Local Government Authority to Regulate Oil and Gas Development,”

was put forward by Coloradans Resisting Extreme Energy Development (CREED).<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Proponents

of #75 say it would give local governments the ability to protect

citizens from the harmful industrial processes of oil and gas extraction

by allowing a community to ban them within city limits or otherwise

apply local regulations stricter than current state regulations.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">CREED is also gathering signatures for Initiative #78 titled “Mandatory Setbacks From Oil and Gas Development,” which,

if it makes the ballot and then passes, would force the oil and gas

industry to leave a 2,500-foot buffer or “setback” between oil and gas

drilling/production operations and homes, schools and hospitals. CREED

says the size of the buffer zone was determined based on health

studies. <p class="p4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">•  •  •<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">In

the past, anyone supporting the effort to put an initiative on the

ballot giving citizens and local governments more control over the oil

and gas industry simply had to listen for the code words “community

rights” or “local control” coming out of the signature gatherer’s mouth

and then sign the petition. But times have changed and so have the oil

and gas industry’s strategies.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">There is another ballot measure making the rounds this year, Initiative #138.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The popular title for #138 is “Local Regulation of Oil and Gas Development.” I know, sounds familiar right?<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">As

you can see, #138’s informal title is shockingly similar to Initiative

#75’s title of “Local Government Authority to Regulate Oil and Gas

Development.”<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">It

certainly seems bizarre and more than a little inappropriate for the

Secretary of State’s office, which oversees such matters, to have

allowed two initiatives collecting signatures at the exact same time to

be operating under virtually identical names.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">This name debacle is a recipe for a range of signature-gathering disasters from mere confusion to outright deception.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">So

just how similar are the two initiatives in what they are seeking to

accomplish? While the names may be virtually identical, they are, in

fact, opposites. <p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Initiative #138 says the following:<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">“Shall

there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution stating that local

governments may enact and enforce local laws and regulations concerning

oil and gas development or operations so long as the laws and

regulations are no more restrictive than, and do not conflict with,

state laws or regulations?”<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">At

first blush, it’s hard to understand the point of passing this

initiative. The Colorado Supreme Court pretty much just made this the

law of the land when it struck down both the fracking ban in Longmont

and Fort Collins’ moratorium. It is simply redundant to that ruling.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">And

obviously, despite its deceptive title, for all practical purposes, the

goal of #138 is to eliminate all rights of all local governments to

regulate oil and gas extraction in any way that is contrary to the

state’s oversight, which the industry largely controls due to its

outsized influence over our governor and state house. In short, pass

#138 and nothing changes.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">So what’s the point?<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Good question.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">According

to the Secretary of State’s office, the designated representatives of

Initiative #138 are Shawn Martini and Scott Prestidge. The lineage of these two “designated representatives” tells you all you need to know about Initiative #138.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Prestidge

is the energy industry director of the Denver Area Chamber of Commerce

where he works for political operative Kelly Brough. You may remember

Brough from Boulder Weekly’s

“Behind the curtain” investigation. She is the former Gov. Hickenlooper

staffer who is a member of Colorado Concern, the state’s most

influential organization when it comes to pushing for unfettered oil and

gas extraction.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">She

is, or was last year, also on the Advisory Committee for CRED, the

pro-oil-and-gas group funded by Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">CRED

pays for many of the pro-fracking commercials that inundate the

airwaves these days. CRED also paid for the pro-fracking “energy and

environment” section that previously ran in the Denver Post leading up to the 2012 elections in an effort to turn back the anti-fracking citizens initiatives that year.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Brough also sat on the board of Vital for Colorado, a

pro-oil-and-gas front group working to defeat citizen opposition to

unfettered oil and gas extraction in their communities, including

previous and current citizen initiatives such as #75, #78 and #40.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">As you may recall from previous Boulder Weekly investigations,

Vital for Colorado has strong ties to Josh Penry and his EIS Solutions

consulting firm as well as to Penry’s wife Kristin Strohm who runs the

controversial Common Sense Policy Roundtable (CSPR), which works with

both Vital and the Koch Brothers. Strohm runs CSPR through her position at Starboard

Group, one of the nation’s leading fundraising organizations for

conservative causes and Republican political campaigns. DeSmogBlog and Greenpeace have referred to Penry and Strohm as the nation’s “power couple of fracking.”<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">For

a more complete explanation of how the oil and gas industry runs the

state of Colorado and why establishment Democrats and Republicans alike

are working behind the scenes to defeat citizen initiatives like #78,

#75 and #40, please read Boulder Weekly’s two previous investigations, “<a href="http://www.boulderweekly.com/news/who-killed-the-vote-on-fracking/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none !important;">Who killed the vote on fracking?</a>” from Sept. 17, 2015 and “<a href="http://www.boulderweekly.com/news/behind-the-curtain/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; text-decoration: none !important;">Behind the curtain</a>” from Oct. 2, 2014.     <p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">This is the circle in which Prestidge operates.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">He

currently sits on the board of Vital for Colorado along with several

members of Colorado Concern, including its Executive Director Mike Kopp.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Chad

Vorthman, executive vice president of the Colorado Farm Bureau, is also

on the board of Vital for Colorado and the advisory Committee for CRED,

which brings us to Shawn Martini.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">A

few years back, Martini was director of communications at the Colorado

Farm Bureau. But he took a four-year hiatus to be the senior

communications director for an outfit called HBW Resources, LLC out of

Houston. At HBW, one of Martini’s tasks was to pen a fracking blog that

kept track of anti-fracking activism around the country for the benefit

of HBW’s oil industry clients. The blog rated states red, yellow or

green based on how much anti-fracking activity was occurring and how

much opposition there was to drilling tight shale formations via

fracking. Colorado was rated “red.”<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Martini

recently returned to Colorado and his old friend Chad Vorthman at the

Farm Bureau. Martini’s new title is vice president of advocacy and, of

course, designated representative of Initiative #138.<p class="p4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">•  •  •<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The

pedigree of Initiative #138 raises the question of whether or not it’s

just a coincidence that this oil-and-gas–industry friendly initiative

sells itself with a nearly identical name to the one already being used

by Initiative #75, a citizen effort that is attempting to accomplish the

exact opposite outcome as #138.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">And

does it seem a well thought out strategy for petition gatherers for

#138 to be, according to numerous citizen accounts, concentrating their

efforts in places like Boulder County and Denver? Places where support

for the oil and gas industry’s desire to restrict community rights so

fracking can be done in neighborhoods is at its absolute lowest?<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Wouldn’t

it make more sense to gather signatures in places like Weld and

Garfield counties or Pueblo and Colorado Springs where some people might

be more receptive to signing away their communities’ rights for the

benefit of oil and gas industry profits in exchange for the industry’s

promise of permanent jobs, a promise we now know was only temporary?   <p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">These

oil industry operatives’ choice of where to solicit signatures really

did seem odd until we started hearing from people who claim that after

signing a petition they thought would amend the constitution to allow

local fracking bans, they now fear they may have mistakenly signed

Initiative #138.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">It’s the kind of mistake that should rarely if ever happen with proper oversight from the Secretary of State’s office.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">At

the end of the day, it’s the responsibility of each of us to read and

make sure we know what we are signing. If you believe you signed the

wrong petition, then by all means take the time to sign the right one.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">The

stories floating around about $1,000 fines for signing more than one

“local regulation of oil and gas” petition are just more deception aimed

at Colorado citizens. If you feel like a petitioner has

intentionally deceived you, take their name and report them to the

Secretary of State’s office. There is always a very slim chance that

someone in that office might even write it down.<p class="p3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.72; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin-bottom: 1.4em; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">But for now, I’m afraid signer beware is your best strategy.  
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/the-intimidation-of-democracy/">https://www.boulderweekly.com/news/the-intimidation-of-democracy/</a></div>