Rocky article about anti-affirmative action measure failed to fully identify Independence Institute operative

Summary: Reporting on complaints from a group called Colorado Unity that "signatures were fraudulently collected to get an anti-affirmative action measure" on the November ballot, the Rocky Mountain News quoted Jessica Peck Corry's defense of the ballot issue's backers. But in identifying her only as "a public policy analyst and Amendment 46 supporter," the News failed to disclose Corry's position with the "free market" Independence Institute and her past campaigning against affirmative action.

In an April 2 article regarding complaints that supporters of the anti-affirmative action ballot issue Initiative 31, now known as Amendment 46, fraudulently gathered petition signatures, the Rocky Mountain News quoted Jessica Peck Corry, who it identified as "a public policy analyst and Amendment 46 supporter," as defending the measure's backers. However, the newspaper omitted that Corry has been a public policy analyst for the "free market" Independence Institute since 2003.

The News article by David Montero also did not disclose that Corry supported a controversial anti-affirmative action bake sale held by College Republicans at the University of Colorado in Boulder that charged different prices for baked goods depending on the customer's skin color, as Colorado Media Matters has noted.

The April 2 article was the second recent instance in which the News cited Corry's support of the ballot measure without disclosing her background and employment by the Independence Institute. Colorado Media Matters pointed out that a March 4 column by editorial page editor Vincent Carroll about two proposed state ballot issues related to affirmative action stated that Corry is "a proponent of Initiative 31" but omitted her position with the Independence Institute and her history of public campaigning against affirmative action.

From the April 2 Rocky Mountain News article by David Montero, "Group calls for complaints about petitions":

A group claiming signatures were fraudulently collected to get an anti-affirmative action measure on the ballot urged people Tuesday to come forward and file complaints with the Colorado secretary of state.

Former state lawmaker Polly Baca, a member of Colorado Unity, said when signature collectors for Ward Connerly's Civil Rights Initiative approached people, they duped them into thinking they were signing something to end discrimination.

[...]

Amendment 46 earned a spot on November's ballot after Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared last week that a sampling of the 128,744 signatures submitted by supporters were valid.

The measure would prohibit the state from granting preferential treatment to minorities and women in employment, contracts and education.

Backers say they are harkening back to original language of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that bans discrimination entirely.

Jessica Corry, a public policy analyst and Amendment 46 supporter, said Colorado Unity is engaging in "tired" tactics to quash the measure, and said the initiative's supporters "followed the law exactly."

—B.J.M.