September 19, 2025 10:54 AM UTC

Republicans Unleash Friendly Fire While Spinning Latest "Crimenado"

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• by: Colorado Pols

This week, as CBS4 Denver’s Republican-friendly political correspondent Shaun Boyd reports, three out of the four Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis, accompanied by a Zoom press call last night, blasting Colorado Democrats for their supposed “soft on crime” policies, and calling for a second special session of the legislature to address a possible flaw in a sentencing reform law passed in 2024:

Republican members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation are calling for a special session in Colorado to reconsider several bills Gov. Jared Polis has signed into law. Representatives Gabe Evans, Lauren Boebert and Jeff Crank sent the governor a letter this week requesting the action, and it references recent reporting by CBS Colorado…

These three Republican lawmakers, from whom the Western Slope’s Rep. Jeff Hurd was conspicuously absent, were single-minded in blaming one side for the problem with House Bill 24-1034, which changed the process for dealing with accused offenders who are ruled incompetent to stand trial and has been blamed in two high-profile cases of forcing the release (or at least release into mental health treatment) of public safety risks:

“We know that this is a unique problem to Colorado and it ties directly back to policies, laws and procedures in the state of Colorado, specifically, that are being pushed and forced into law by the ruling majority party in the state of Colorado, that are incredibly detrimental to public safety,” said Evans, who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District.

“Unfortunately, the pro-crime policies that we have seen come out of the Democrat majority legislature in Colorado have not done anything to benefit Coloradans, remaining No. 2 in the nation for fentanyl overdoses and then even No. 1 in the nation for auto theft,” said Boebert, who represents the 4th Congressional District.

“Our law enforcement are frustrated. They’re frustrated by the lack of support from Colorado legislators — the majority of the Colorado legislature — they’re frustrated by the lack of support from this governor and the soft-on-crime policies that they have created here in our state,” said Crank, who represents the 5th Congressional District.

But in his letter responding to Reps. Lauren Boebert, Gabe Evans, and Jeff Crank, Gov. Polis pointed out a prison bus-sized hole in their argument:

We are actively working with and supporting District Attorneys, law enforcement, the Colorado Department of Human Services, and legislators who are working on a policy solution related to HB24-1034, bipartisan legislation that passed with veto-proof majorities, including the House 52-9 and the Senate unanimously [Pols emphasis], but has unfortunately led to unintended consequences…

And that’s correct! House Bill 24-1034 passed with a majority capable of overriding a veto, meaning with plenty of Republican support in both chambers. At first glance, this may appear to be the by-now usual pattern we’ve witnessed of Republicans blaming Democrats for their own actions, or at least in this case overwhelmingly bipartisan action–the best and most recent example of this being the failed attempts to redirect the blame for state budget cuts necessitated by the federal “We’re All Going To Die Act” budget bill that Evans and friends cast deciding votes to pass.

But in this particular case, there could be a bit more going on than meets the eye. Because one of those votes in the unanimous Colorado Senate to pass HB24-1034 was:

Although we haven’t yet seen him say her name, one of the loudest voices complaining about this legislation is Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, who coincidentally recently announced a run for county commissioner as his term as sheriff winds down. Politics in Weld County between Republicans are not always exactly what you’d call collegial, and Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer in particular is a divisive figure despite her long history of service that included support for a bid to secede from the rest of Colorado. While these congressional Republicans kept up their public game face of solely blaming Democrats, it’s not going to be hard for Republican gubernatorial primary voters to figure out that Kirkmeyer voted for the bill now taking the blame for “letting criminals out of jail.”

At least one of Kirkmeyer’s primary opponents, Rep. Scott “There Is No” Bottoms, was a no vote on this bill. Another overly online critic of this legislation, multiple electoral loser DA George Brauchler, may be about to jump into the governor’s race:

George Brauchler testing the waters for governor in a D+15 state that specifically rejects his brand of vile hateful politics is one of the most delusional things we can think of. Dude was the first Republican to lose the AG race in 20 years. We strongly encourage him to run. #copolitics

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— The Get More Smarter Podcast (@getmoresmarter.com) September 19, 2025 at 10:27 AM

Both of these candidates can be expected to feature this legislation in their message against Barb Kirkmeyer. That it was debuted this week by our federal Republicans is only going to make Kirkmeyer’s job explaining this vote to primary voters that much harder. We do expect there to be legislation to fix the unintended consequences that resulted from HB24-1034 in the next session, and politically that will be another chance for Kirkmeyer’s opponents to land rhetorical blows.

Were the primary implications of this stunt apparent to our Republican congresscritters before they went on the offensive?

We’d say it’s likely–and that’s the worst news for Kirkmeyer of all.