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Author: Jen Schumann

When a remodel turns into a $60,000 lesson: One builder’s run-in with Colorado’s regulatory system
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

When a remodel turns into a $60,000 lesson: One builder’s run-in with Colorado’s regulatory system

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When Rob Treta started expanding a small home for his girlfriend in Arvada, he thought he was dealing with a familiar problem—delays. “I submitted the plans and I said, ‘Hey, tell me what I need to do,’” Treta said. “They told me three to four weeks. It took 22 weeks. Nobody ever mentioned asbestos.” Treta has been building in Colorado for 30 years. He has worked across multiple counties, pulled permits, remodeled homes and built from the ground up. What changed isn’t entirely clear—but Treta said what he ran into felt unlike anything he had seen in decades of building. “I’ve probably built 60, 70 projects in my 30 years,” he said. “And I’ve never run into this before. Never.” This wasn’t how his projects usually went. It star...
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She moved her company to Colorado: Seven months later she decided to leave
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

She moved her company to Colorado: Seven months later she decided to leave

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Heather Florio didn’t move her company to Colorado for a short stay. When she arrived in early 2025, she thought she was putting down roots. “We came here… at the beginning of January, 2025 with anticipation of this being our permanent home.” About seven months in, she said the company was having to leave. “We found out that some laws had changed here in the state of Colorado,” Florio said. “Specifically regarding tax thresholds. We’re looking at double the amount of taxes if we stay here. We are unfortunately having to leave my home state.” Florio described that decision in a video from the Southern Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce, which was shared with RMV by the Colorado Chamber. https://youtu.be/J0BkXb59iPs?si=du...
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He lost once. Now he’s back: Why David Willson jumped into Colorado’s AG race late
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He lost once. Now he’s back: Why David Willson jumped into Colorado’s AG race late

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice For ten years, David Willson stood in Colorado courtrooms defending parents accused of neglect—many of them homeless, addicted or on the verge of losing their children. He learned quickly the system doesn’t operate in clean lines. “I went into that work thinking people were just partying and getting high. It took me about six months to realize they’re trying to get high because their life is so miserable.” Now, his daughter is entering law enforcement. “She said, we arrest a lot of homeless people who have warrants.” For Willson, that isn’t a contradiction. It’s the reality he’s seen from both sides. “You have to understand what people are dealing with. But you also have to enforce the law.” He got in late. The Republica...
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From Kazakhstan to Colorado: Secretary of State candidate James Wiley’s plan to scrap electronic voting machines
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From Kazakhstan to Colorado: Secretary of State candidate James Wiley’s plan to scrap electronic voting machines

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice James Wiley was 7 on Election Night 2000. He remembers the decorations from his birthday staying up for two more weeks while the country waited to find out who had won. He didn’t understand hanging chads or voting machines. At the time, he was living in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where his missionary family had been since he was three months old. What stuck with him from those years wasn’t the mechanics of elections. It was how power operated. He’s 32 and running for Colorado Secretary of State as a Republican, after years working on election cases and a stint as executive director of the Libertarian Party.  What he’s saying on the campaign trail isn’t new for him. The push to get rid of electronic voting machines and move to hand-cou...
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A system under scrutiny: Colorado’s election system faces clash over how it’s verified
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A system under scrutiny: Colorado’s election system faces clash over how it’s verified

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice When President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to compile a nationwide citizenship list and share it with state election officials, it set off a debate in Colorado that hasn’t slowed. So what does that actually mean for Colorado? RMV asked two people on opposite sides of the issue—and got two very different answers. Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA), says Colorado’s system is strong, continuously maintained and already uses the federal tools referenced in the order. Bob Cooper, a director with the Colorado Institute for Fair Elections, argues the system cannot be independently audited for accuracy—and that’s the problem. The divide isn’t about whether the system w...
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The numbers didn’t add up: A judge says Colorado’s elections office didn’t either
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The numbers didn’t add up: A judge says Colorado’s elections office didn’t either

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Jonathan Ambler read the article more than once. Republicans in Pueblo County had reported tens of thousands in contributions. Democrats—who had controlled local politics for generations and operated out of their own headquarters—had reported barely a few thousand. It didn’t square. So he started digging. What he found led to two formal complaints, a dismissal by Colorado’s top elections office, and now, a Denver judge ordering that same office to go back and do the work again. A court steps in where the state stepped away On March 26, Denver District Court Judge Bruce Jones ruled that the Colorado Secretary of State’s office improperly dismissed Ambler’s campaign finance complaints against the Pueblo County Democratic Party. The...
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“Single most insecure person I’ve ever encountered”: Former Griswold aide breaks silence ahead of AG race
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“Single most insecure person I’ve ever encountered”: Former Griswold aide breaks silence ahead of AG race

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Reese Edwards didn’t plan to speak out. He spent less than a year inside Colorado’s Secretary of State’s office before leaving in 2020, frustrated and burned out enough to walk away. He wasn’t looking to revisit any of it. Now, with Jena Griswold running for attorney general, he’s speaking up—and doing it on the record. “I love democracy with an almost religious belief,” he told RMV. “The idea of people deciding for themselves how they will govern themselves. That’s why I took the job.” Edwards, who served as Director of Government and Public Affairs, is now going on record with a warning. He says what he witnessed inside the Secretary of State’s office—erratic leadership, blurred lines between political ambition and public duty ...
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Tina Peters convictions upheld, sentence thrown out and case sent back to Mesa County court
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Tina Peters convictions upheld, sentence thrown out and case sent back to Mesa County court

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Tina Peters remains convicted—but the case that made her a national figure isn’t over. A Colorado appeals court upheld every conviction against the former Mesa County clerk Thursday, while also throwing out her sentence and ordering resentencing after finding the trial judge improperly weighed her speech about election fraud. The court laid it out over 78 pages—and shut down almost every major argument Peters brought forward. Judges rejected her claim that a presidential pardon could wipe out state convictions. They also rejected her argument that she was acting under federal authority. The convictions stayed. But the sentence didn’t. The ruling leaves Peters’ criminal convictions fully intact while reopening one of the m...
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Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course
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Federal order puts Colorado’s mail ballot system on a collision course

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The way Colorado runs elections hasn’t changed—but a new federal order could force it to. The order would have federal agencies assemble a nationwide list of verified U.S. citizens and share it with state election officials. States could then choose to send their own voter lists to the U.S. Postal Service about 60 days before an election. If they do, ballots would be limited to the names on those lists. In Colorado, that framework could fundamentally change how elections work. Colorado’s system leaves very little room to miss your chance. Ballots go out to every active voter—even those who register just days before Election Day. And for anyone who doesn’t, same-day registration still allows them to walk in and vote right up until po...
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The record that removed a child: Allegations, filings and fallout
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The record that removed a child: Allegations, filings and fallout

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice In Part 1, Fitzke describes how things unraveled at home and led into court. From there, the case played out through filings, testimony and what was said in court. Court filings show the case against Heather Fitzke relied on letters, testimony and screenshots. In one letter, a Basalt parent described the teen as fearful of returning home and said Fitzke had made life harder by withholding identification, taking money and posting about the teen online. Another letter included allegations that Fitzke yelled, threw items in the teen’s room, restricted access to medication and expressed beliefs about gender identity that concerned other parents. Screenshots submitted to the court show a series of text messages attributed to Fitzke. ...
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