(D) J. Hickenlooper*
(D) Julie Gonzales
(R) Janak Joshi
80%
20%
10%
(D) Jena Griswold
(D) M. Dougherty
(D) Hetal Doshi
40%↓
30%
30%
(D) Jeff Bridges
(R) Kevin Grantham
80%↑
20%↓
(D) Diana DeGette*
(D) Milat Kiros
(D) Wanda James
70%↓
20%↑
10%↓
(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Jeff Hurd*
(D) Alex Kelloff
(R) H. Scheppelman
60%↓
30%↓
20%↑
(R) Lauren Boebert*
(D) E. Laubacher
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
30%↑
20%
(R) Jeff Crank*
(D) Jessica Killin
53%↓
48%↑
(D) Jason Crow*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(D) B. Pettersen*
(R) Somebody
90%
2%
(R) Gabe Evans*
(D) Shannon Bird
(D) Manny Rutinel
45%↓
30%
30%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
Setting the mood in a story last week from the Loveland Reporter-Herald: "The Democrats in the Legislature? Their three buzzwords were cooperation, collaboration and consensus," Gessler said. "Remember that? And what did we get? … They used to accuse Republicans of only caring about God, guns and gays. And what did the Democrats come up […]
TREASURER STAPLETON: THERE WAS NO "ACTUARIAL EMERGENCY" IN 2010 WHEN SB10-001 WAS ENACTED BY THE COLORADO LEGISLATURE. COMMENTS OF COLORADO PERA DIRECTOR WILLIAMS, PERA TRUSTEE CAROLE WRIGHT, PERA GENERAL COUNSEL SMITH, AND TREASURER STAPLETON. In 2010, the Colorado Legislature enacted legislation breaking Colorado PERA pension contracts. Members of the Colorado Legislature, generally, have little respect […]
An eventful week in Colorado politics began with the entry of a joke GOP candidate into the Colorado gubernatorial field, which if anything helped underscore the GOP's lack of candidates for this race–followed by that candidate's swift and unceremonious exit as two very well-known Republican political commodities filed to enter the race for the right […]
We received an announcement a short while ago from Steve Laffey, the Rhode Island transplant who briefly entertained the whimsical notion of running for governor of Colorado this week. On account of Laffey being ideologically in sync with Tom Tancredo—thanks for letting sane Colorado voters know this prior to running for anything else, Mr. Laffey–he'll […]
With a H/T to Kurtis Lee of the Denver Post, supporters of Senate President John Morse are circulating a new video, reportedly shot this week, of a paid circulator for the recall petition against Morse attempting to convince someone to sign it. Pretty much entirely by making stuff up.
UPDATE #3: The Denver Post's Lynn Bartels: Secretary of State Gessler filed paperwork to run for governor on Thursday, two days after reimbursing the state nearly $1,300 for a political trip to Florida last year. His political director, Rory McShane, said Gessler's decision to reimburse the money — which led to an ethics complaint against […]
CLEARLY LEGISLATIVE OVERREACH. Last year, the National Association of State Budget Officers published an Issue Brief that places public pension funding in a state budgetary perspective. The Issue Brief brings perspective to the Colorado General Assembly's breach of Colorado PERA public pension COLA contractual obligations in 2010. A lawsuit contesting this state taking of PERA […]
I caught a piece on NPR just recently by reporter Jackie Northram. She tells the story of a $15 billion expansion project at the Sabine Pass natural gas terminal. Phase one of the expansion will enable the facility to export (emphasis mine) U.S. natural gas worldwide. 5 LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) storage tanks, each containing 160,000 cubic meters […]
(Promoted by Colorado Pols) Jeff Crank works for Koch-Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity and doubles as a poster child for conservative talk-radio host, holding forth on KVOR in Colorado Springs. I offer Crank's comments below, from Saturday's show, to illustrate how the troubles at the IRS give echoers like Crank the perfect springboard to reach for […]
FOX 31's Eli Stokols: If Colorado Republicans are looking for a fresh face to take on Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper next year, one of them just appeared. Out of nowhere. Well, Rhode Island, really. Steve Laffey, a former mayor and GOP Senate candidate who moved to Colorado just three years ago, has filed papers to […]
(Eww – promoted by Colorado Pols) Lobbyist Corky Kyle, who runs the Kyle Group, hosts an internet radio show called “In the Lobby,” which promises to give “you a backstage pass to the heated industry of lobbying and politics.” Here’s the backstage view you got when Kyle had Tony Gagliardi, a lobbyist for the National […]
(The battle of Andrea Merida vs. everybody else rages on – promoted by Colorado Pols) It’s always good to see our elected officials take to the interwebs to engage in some good ol’ interaction with the people they are supposed to be representing. Of course, for most politicians, that might mean responding on twitter or […]
(Promoted by Colorado Pols) Recently Kevin McCarney was quoted, first in the Denver Post and later in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, in stories about how the IRS went after conservative groups and how Western Slope Conservative Alliance (WSCA) was hassled by the IRS and still does not have its not-for-profit status. These days WSCA […]
"Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" ~Henry Ford The United States Senate will have the opportunity to make history this week […]
STATE LAWYERS ARGUE THAT COLORADO CANNOT MEET ITS OWN CONTRACTUAL PENSION OBLIGATIONS. IF THIS IS TRUE, HOW HAS THE STATE MANAGED TO PAY $700 MILLION FOR PENSIONS THAT ARE NOT ITS CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION? Three years ago, a mob of statehouse lobbyists (paid by self-interested parties) set their sights on breaking Colorado state and local government […]
As CBS News reported last night, a story that could dramatically change the narrative of Republican attacks on the Obama administration over handling of the attack on a consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last September. The Benghazi attack is a political controversy. Republicans claim the administration watered down the facts in talking points given to U.N. […]
It's one of the last remaining questions from this year's legislative session, reports FOX 31's Eli Stokols: On Tuesday, Hickenlooper met with both Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer that has several facilities in Colorado and supports the measure, and with Tri-States Generation and Transmission, which provides electricity to 18 state energy co-ops and […]
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Interestingly, the first national pickup for this story is from the conservative Daily Caller, which makes little attempt to defend Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman–and includes a conciliatory quote from House Minority Leader Mark Waller, the other Republican legislator present at yesterday's forum. While Tom Sullivan spoke, Cadman fidgeted with a notebook and […]
As the Durango Herald's Stephanie Dazio reports: The U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act by a 69-27 vote last week. The bill generally would subject online shopping to state sales taxes. The taxes would be sent to the state where the purchaser lives. Current law says states can force retailers to collect sales taxes only […]
The Denver Post's opinion board released their list of winners and losers of the 2013 Colorado legislative session late Thursday. Without getting too far into the weeds criticizing yet another bizarrely skewed perspective on this year's legislative session, in which apparently recording devices only worked when Democrats said something stupid–we've already promised a more comprehensive […]
UPDATE: Washington Post's Greg Sargent: As Reid Wilson recently put it, the Colorado measure is “the Democratic comeback to voter ID.” Reform advocates who have been briefed on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s plans tell me they expect him to sign the legislation tomorrow. The measure, which has cleared both houses in Colorado, contains a number […]
The afterparties ran late into the night after adjournment sine die yesterday afternoon of the first regular session of the 69th Colorado General Assembly. Both sides agree that this was the most momentous legislative session in many years, reaching beyond the memory of just about everybody working in or around the state capitol today. That's where […]
(Here come the recaps – Promoted by Colorado Pols) This year's session of the Colorado General Assembly was truly historic. After two years of divided control and stagnation in the legislature, a large backlog of high-priority, common-sense reforms awaited lawmakers in January. Working tirelessly in the face of right-wing obstruction, smear campaigns, and even threats […]
On Monday, Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the Job Protection and Civil Rights Enforcement Act, House Bill 1136. This bill's purpose is well-explained in its summary: While federal employment antidiscrimination laws allow such damages in cases where intentional discrimination is found, and allows an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs, only employers who employ 15 […]
Perhaps the biggest reason why Colorado Pols is the most read and discussed blog in Colorado politics is our astute community of readers. We have always placed a high value on providing a forum for political debate for our readers, many of whom are themselves political insiders. That's why our reader account and community blog system has […]
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