Amendment 49 has been lumped together with two other ballot measures being targeted by unions, and lots of money is being spent to convince voters its something it's not.

Don't be fooled. Amendment 49 is simply a straightforward "good government" measure.

It prevents state and local governments from collecting dues for labor unions or other groups that use such funds to elect or lobby the very public officials who hire them and set their salaries and benefits.

It's a modest but important ethical rule that will help keep partisan politics, with its echo of the 19th century "spoils system," out of the merit systems that regulate most state and local government jobs.

We usually don't agree with the Independence Institute's Jon Caldara, who's pushing this measure, on, well, anything. Let this be a first.

The state government doesn't — and shouldn't — deduct cash from employee paychecks and send it directly to the Republican or Democratic parties. But under an executive order signed by Gov. Bill Ritter, the state does collect union dues from employees — much of which is then funneled to candidates for the legislature and other political offices, almost always on behalf of Democrats.

Allowing state-collected funds to be channeled to such partisan ends is offensive enough. But the ethical stench from that practice is multiplied tenfold by a loophole in the 2002 Colorado campaign finance law known as Amendment 27. That measure allows labor unions to contribute up to $4,000 to candidates to the legislature.

Businesses and private citizens are limited to giving no more than $400. Passage of Amendment 49 won't change that unfair law. But it will stop politicians from directly collecting the dues that are then spent to re-elect those very same politicians.

There is absolutely no need for the government to act as a collection agency for labor unions. When we clicked on the website of SEIU/ CAPE, the largest state employee union, we found a handy form that would automatically charge the $15 monthly dues to a credit card. It could have been filled out in five minutes.

That's the way it should be done.

Under terms of Ritter's executive order authorizing limited collective bargaining for state employees, workers are free to join a union. But such membership should always be voluntary, without the pressure and implied coercion that accompanies the state collecting those dues.

Nothing in Amendment 49 will interfere with withholding taxes, judicial liens and garnishments, health benefits, insurance, pension and retirement funds and charitable contributions.

But Amendment 49 will stop the blatant conflict of interest that now allows politicians to collect dues that are used to elect and re-elect those very same politicians. Vote "yes" on Amendment 49.