January 04, 2021 03:46 PM UTC

What you can do to fight for progress this week (January 4)

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• by: ProgressNow Colorado

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Congratulations on making it through one of the most difficult and tumultuous years in American history. 2020 was full of moments to forget, but even in these worst of times Coloradans showed that the common ground that unites us is stronger than those who seek to divide us.

The passage of landmark police accountability legislation in 2020 again showed our state’s ability to answer the historic challenges confronting our society. And last November, Colorado voters resoundingly elected progressive leaders by historic margins to plot the next stage of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. Cory Gardner, who became the focal point of resistance in Colorado to the rightward lurch in Washington under Donald Trump, is now a one-term footnote in our state’s history.

But today, a new challenge looms. In Colorado’s Third Congressional District, newly elected far-right Trump loyalist and QAnon-curious Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has emerged as the new de facto leader of the post-Trump Colorado Republican Party. In a state that defeated Trump by almost 14 points, Boebert is recklessly inciting her hundreds of thousands of new social media followers to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and hand Trump another term in office–the same election responsible for her own seat in Congress. At the same time, Boebert is manufacturing a major attention-seeking controversy over her demands to carry a gun inside the U.S. Capitol complex, possibly in open defiance of Washington D.C.’s strict gun laws. [1]

Lauren Boebert’s dead-ender campaign to overturn the will of the voters in the 2020 elections could not be more out of step with Colorado values, or our state’s overwhelmingly progressive electorate. Colorado voters who have relied on mail ballots counted on Dominion Voting Systems hardware for years know Boebert isn’t telling the truth about how elections work. I wrote about the threat Boebert represents in my latest Denver Post column published this weekend:

Sedition describes the congresswoman-elect from Colorado’s Third Congressional District who says she will “object to the Electoral College results on January 6th”, when she told her hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers that “we need THE PEOPLE to put pressure on Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania state legislatures to rescind their certifications…”

The “pressure” Lauren Boebert is referring to has in recent months been delivered by individuals carrying assault rifles and sending violent and horrific death threats to local and statewide elections officials, many of them fellow Republicans.

That’s not how we do things in Colorado. And as surely we showed Cory Gardner what accountability looks like in 2020, Rep. Lauren Boebert is not going to get away with disgracing Colorado in Congress over the next two years. In fact, we can help her join the One-Term Club along with former Senator Cory Gardner.

Thanks once again for everything you’ve done to help progressives triumph over adversity in Colorado. We wouldn’t be a national model for “red to blue” metamorphosis without your efforts. Here are a few more great ways to make a difference in the first week in 2021!

Colorado Rising: Oppose the Ivey Wells in Adams County

The Adams County Board of County Commissioners has an obligation to ensure that Colorado’s new oil and gas regulations are applied to Great Western’s Ivey drilling site. These new regulations set the strictest standards to protect public health, safety, and welfare. If these new standards are not enforced, particularly the new setbacks of 2000′ from homes, our communities will be at risk of toxic and dangerous industrial drilling.

Click here to sign up for public comments.

Free Speech TV: Happy Hour with Hightower & Zephyr Teachout

When: Tuesday, January 5 at 5:00pm

Click here to RSVP.

Outrageous Open Records Fees – and what to do about them!

Why are governmental “research and retrieval fees” so expensive, and what can journalists and truthseekers do about them? Hosted by Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and The Denver Press Club.

When: Thursday, January 7 at 12:00pm

Click here to RSVP.

One Colorado: Meet & Greet with Rep-Elect Judy Amabile

Meet your new pro-equality state representative, Judy Amabile! Register here to attend our virtual Zoom event. You can submit questions ahead of time, or come as you are and ask them at the event! Let your new representative know what your concerns are for the 2021 legislative session!

When: Thursday, January 7 at 5:30pm

Click here to RSVP.

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition: UndocuMonologues: Stories from our Undocumented Neighbors

In collaboration with Alejandro G. Iñarritu’s award-winning virtual reality experience, CARNE y ARENA, Motus Theater presents: UndocuMonologues: Stories from our Undocumented Neighbors. Motus Theater’s undocumented monologists invite you, via Zoom, into their homes to share personal stories about their lives, fears, and dreams. One story will be read aloud by special guest readers, CO Congressional Representatives Joe Neguse and Jason Crow, who will then reflect, alongside the monologists, about the impact of reading the story. Each monologue is followed by a powerful musical response from Uruguayan musician Elisa Garcia.

When: Thursday, January 7 at 6:00pm

Click here to RSVP.

History Colorado: Hecho en Colorado: Cafecitos

History Colorado is delighted to announce an inventive and special series of “Cafecitos” to welcome our newest exhibit Hecho en Colorado. Join us on one of these carefully curated intimate tours for groups of ten or less twice a month on Friday mornings beginning July. Meet us in our lobby for some coffee and socialization and then experience a guided tour by the founder of the Latino Cultural Arts Center and exhibit curator, Adrianna Abarca. The brand new exhibit will feature art from Chicano, Mexican, and Native artists from across the state. Cafecitos are ideal for community, family and small groups seeking intimate ways to learn and share experiences together. Singles are welcome to sign-up as well and join on one of these tours.

When: Friday, January 8 at 9:00am

Click here to RSVP.

History Colorado: Anthony Grimes: The Future of Making America a True Democracy

With an activist’s background and an artist’s insight, filmmaker and founder of Denver Freedom Riders Anthony Grimes examines the historic year that was 2020, our local and broader democracy, where we might be going in the near future, and where we should be going in the 365 days to come.

When: Thursday, January 14 at 7:00pm

Click here to RSVP.