Mission Aborted for Denver's UFO Initiative

(Nov. 3) -- Denver voters may have put the kibosh on a proposed initiative that, if passed, would have required the mayor to set up an E.T. affairs commission, but Jeff Peckman, the man who authored the measure, remains UFO -- Undeterred and Firmly Optimistic -- about its effect on future efforts of this sort.

"We are very happy with the voter-education campaign component," Peckman told AOL News. "We are confident the city will set up a similar commission in the coming months. Commissions can get formed in a variety of ways, but getting the public discussion was key."

Although 84 percent of Denver voters rejected "Initiative 300," Peckman is convinced that it was a matter of losing the battle but winning the war.

"It's one more milestone on the road to disclosure," he said.

Had it passed, the Denver mayor would have had to select seven volunteers for a commission to meet twice a year and gather the most compelling evidence regarding the existence of extraterrestrials and UFOs and put it on the city's website.

In addition, Peckman said the commission would have been a place where citizens could report sightings and where the risks and benefits of assess the risks and benefits of dealing with the E.T.s. could be assessed.

But Peckman is hinting the measure may not be over yet.

"We had some obstacles. For instance, the Denver budget management director gave our opponents a grossly exaggerated budget -- by 1,000 percent," he said, adding that his measure stated the commission would be privately funded.

Another problem, he says, came from the state's Democratic Party.

"The party asked people to vote no on all numbered initiatives, but that directive was supposed to be only for statewide issues.," he added. "They were local on this."

But Bryan Bonner, who, as a member of the Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society, opposed the measure on the grounds that there still is no concrete evidence that aliens even exist, hopes Initiative 300's failure to win voters was because of its own merits -- or lack thereof.

"Hopefully, it's failure means voters used common sense and actually read the initiative," Bonner said.

Although his organization was front and center for opposing the measure, he doesn't think that its opposition will brand it as a traitor in the paranormal community.

"We do investigate claims of the paranormal, but the people who listen to us tend to have more of a critical thinking nature," he said.

Despite the overwhelming rejection, Bonner admit he was a little worried for a while.

"If you look at the over/unders, there were a lot of people who simply didn't vote on this issue," Bonner said. "We figured this would happen and we feared that it might give them an advantage."

Still, UFO disclosure advocates like Stephen Bassett, a registered lobbyist for the Paradigm Research Group, which wants Washington politicians to fully disclose as much as possible about UFOs and E.T. visits, still thinks Peckman's measure did have some success.

"It generated a lot of news," he said. "Plus, I think everyone understands that disclosure is really a matter for the national government. So why do the initiative? To bring attention to the issue."

But a moral victory is still a loss and Bassett concedes that opponents can use the defeat as a marker.

"No question that if the initiative had passed, activists like me would have used it as a marker," he said. "I expect detractors to do the same thing with its defeat."

Despite the defeat, Michael Luckman, who is trying to get a similar measure on the New York City ballot, will continue his efforts and says Big Apple voters may be more open to the idea of an E.T. affairs commission.

"New York is much bigger and more diverse," he said. "I think, from what I can gauge, New Yorkers will be more open to it."

Not if Bonner can help it.

"We're contacting people in New York and Los Angeles -- where they are also trying to do a measure -- and trying to help them educate the public against this," he said.