Denver, Colo. – A proposed ballot initiative to reform the Public Employee’s Retirement Association (PERA) was withdrawn by its sponsors today. Initiative sponsors Christine Burtt and Dr. Barry Poulson said that they had notified The Colorado Secretary of State that they would not go forward with the initiative.

“The Legislature passed SB253 in negotiation with Governor Owens,” said Christine Burtt, field director for Americans for Prosperity Foundation. “Even though we still see many problems with SB253, the political steam has been taken out of the issue for the short term. Now we will see if PERA can fulfill the promises it has made to the legislature and the people of Colorado about getting its fiscal house in order. In the meantime, Americans for Prosperity will continue to fight on behalf of Colorado’s hard-working taxpayers. ”

Burtt said that the initiative effort and the awareness campaign, fixPERA.org, conducted as a project of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, has made significant strides in creating focus on the issue. “First and foremost, she said, “PERA finally admitted that is has a problem.”

    “Also instructive,” she said, “was the fanatic zeal with which PERA and some of its members defended their conflicted Board of Trustees. The addition of five non-PERA members to the Board will at least create the potential for informed surveillance and credible critique of their governance,” she said.

Dr. Barry Poulson, also a sponsor of the initiative and Distinguished Scholar for the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, said that the worst problems remain untouched. “All they have done is put a Band-Aid on this problem for short-term political expediency,” he said. “Future generations of public employees, agencies and taxpayers are still looking at an unrealistic level of retiree benefits, higher taxes and an eventually bankrupt system,” he said. “The sooner PERA adopts a responsible attitude toward its members and the state and moves toward a defined contribution plan, the sooner we can be assured that public employee pensions are secure and future generations of taxpayers are not held hostage to pay for unrealistic benefits,” he said.