New pro-Amendment 47 ads begin airing

Television ads supporting Amendment 47, the “right-to-work” ballot question, show still images of fire fighters and cops, while asking viewers to give workers in Colorado “more freedom.”

The spots are being funded by the political committee Defend Our Economy, which is supporting a “right-to-work” measure that would restrict the way labor unions organize and bargain in the state.

Here is the first version:

Here is the second version:

This is also the second time that public servants have been invoked by campaigns for and against the issue.

Protect Colorado’s Future, a labor-backed committee that’s opposing Amendment 47, has spent at least $457,000 on television spots and mailings that also feature police officers and fire fighters.

The difference between the two is that the Protect Colorado Future ads feature actual testimonials of real-life public servants:

The [Protect Colorado’s Future] mailer features photos of a disgruntled Deputy Sheriff Jeff Shaw from Commerce City with the words, “For officers like Jeff Shaw — our safety is his top priority. But at 2:00 am when he responds to a call — Officer Shaw shouldn’t worry whether or not his vest can take that bullet.”

The pro-47 spots, on the other hand, have only amounted to still images of the professions.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

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