Proponents of Oregon’s GMO labeling ballot initiative have everything a campaign could hope for – from six-figure donations to a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor. But in Colorado – campaigners are so cash-strapped they fear spending any of their coins on even one television ad.
Oregon and Colorado hope to become the first and second states in the country, in November, to pass ballot initiatives that require the labeling of foods that contain genetically modified organisms. But their campaigns are working with entirely different-sized budgets. While the ‘Yes on 92’ campaign in Oregon has raised $4.85 million, supporters of ‘Right to Know Colorado,’ initiative 105, have banked just $581,696.
‘We really need one state to pass via ballot initiative in order to maintain attention on this issue,” explained Rebecca Spector, West Coast director for the Center for Food Safety, which has spent $1.1 million in Oregon, but nothing in Colorado, according to campaign financing records. ‘Splitting the limited resources between two states and not giving either enough money to put up a good fight wouldn’t have done either side justice … Definitely it’s unfortunate that the decision had to be made.’
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