A Smarter Colorado

Gov. Bill Ritter’s office stepped up the intensity of the Amendment 58 debate Thursday, sending out a signed e-mail touting A Smarter Colorado’s new television ad and asking voters to share it with friends in a bid to end the state’s “outdated tax subsidy for oil and gas companies.”

Even as a shadowy conservative group backed by oil and gas money works to reclaim a state Senate majority for Republicans in 2010, other issues committees are taking a much more direct approach to fighting off attempts to end tax subsidies for the industry in November.