One of Colorado's leading citizen advocates, Jon Caldara, wants to restore what he calls "a measure of peace to Colorado's political landscape." He left it up to Governor Ritter, referred to by one major newspaper as a union "bag man," to give peace a chance.

Caldara, chairman of the Independence Institute for Freedom and Justice, is the leading advocate for Amendment 49. The measure would forbid government from continuing its practice of bundling money from public employees' paychecks, in the form of union dues, in order to fund special interest groups. The money is typically used to lobby in favor of far left causes the government workers may or may not support.

Amendment 49 is an outstanding proposal that would restore the rights of government employees to control more of their own earnings, while forcing unions to collect their own fees. The Gazette enthusiastically endorsed the proposal last spring. Already, 12 Colorado counties - including El Paso, Douglas, Jefferson, Arapahoe, Larimer, Mesa and Weld - have established reforms to protect government employee paychecks from pillaging by union bosses.

The Gazette is far from alone in supporting the measure. Nearly every major newspaper in the state has endorsed it, in addition to former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, former Gov. Bill Owens, The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, Colorado Contractors Association, Colorado Health Care Association, Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Realtors Association Issue Committee, Colorado Homebuilders Association, and on, and on, and on.

Gov. Bill Ritter, an old-school pro-union Democrat who campaigned as a moderate, issued an executive order in November 2007 that introduced collective bargaining to state government. Even the politically moderate Denver Post expressed outrage, with a front-page editorial that called Gov. Ritter "a bag man for unions and special interests." It referred to Ritter as a new "Jimmy Hoffa," referring to the former boss of the Teamsters' Union, and "a toady to labor bosses and the old vestiges of his party."

With such broad based-support, Amendment 49 stands a good chance of passing in November. So Caldara has placed an offer on Ritter's desk. In a letter sent Monday, Caldara offered to remove Amendment 49 from the ballot "contingent on your repeal" of the collective bargaining executive order.

Ritter scoffed. Through a spokesman, he called the offer "a stunt," and summarily rejected it.

It appears Gov. Ritter doesn't favor a peaceful resolution to this conflict few in Colorado wanted to see. In November, voters will decide whether they want state government working as a collector of union dues. They would be wise to vote yes on Amendment 49, protecting government workers from paycheck extortion that funds Gov. Ritter's far left special interests.