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Author: Jen Schumann

“I’m not a politician”: Montrose commissioner Sean Pond enters U.S. Senate race
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

“I’m not a politician”: Montrose commissioner Sean Pond enters U.S. Senate race

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “I’m not a politician,” Sean Pond said. “I’m just that guy that stood up and said no to federal overreach.”  Pond said that decision eventually led him beyond local fights. Appointed to the Montrose County Commission in February 2025, Pond said the conversations didn’t stop once he took office. A question sits at the center of Pond’s campaign launch video, released Sunday, and the conversations he said ultimately pushed him into the U.S. Senate race. “What keeps you up at night?” https://youtu.be/mV7iEAuX-fM Pond said the question at the center of his campaign launch video wasn’t new. He said he began asking it months earlier, including on social media, as a way to hear directly from Coloradans about what felt...
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If you’re not at the table: Why Matt Soper says counties need leverage now
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If you’re not at the table: Why Matt Soper says counties need leverage now

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Unfunded mandates have become a flashpoint between Denver and Colorado’s counties, with local governments warning they are being asked to do more with less. State Rep. Matt Soper has been vocal in support of counties banding together through the Fix It or Fund It coalition.  He represents Delta and Mesa counties in the Colorado House and is serving his fourth term, with term limits preventing another run. The Delta County commissioner seat he is pursuing is also opening due to term limits. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent Delta and Mesa Counties in the Colorado House of Representatives,” Soper said in a campaign announcement. “As the pressures from Denver spill over into Delta County, it is important t...
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State fires back at Peters’ jurisdiction challenge, rejects pardon and supremacy claims
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

State fires back at Peters’ jurisdiction challenge, rejects pardon and supremacy claims

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Fifteen months after Tina Peters was taken into custody at sentencing, and as she marks a second New Year behind bars, Colorado’s Attorney General moved to answer her latest court filing, pushing back on a motion that asks the Court of Appeals to decide whether it even has jurisdiction to proceed. Filed Monday afternoon on Jan. 5, the 23-page brief from Senior Assistant Attorneys General Nora Passamaneck and Lisa K. Michaels argues that President Trump's pardon holds no sway over Peters' state convictions—and that the Colorado Court of Appeals should press forward with her appeal without missing a beat. This latest filing comes on the heels of Peters' Dec. 23 motion, which RMV covered in detail. Citing the pardon and Suprem...
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After the rhetoric, Colorado secures $200 million for rural health care
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After the rhetoric, Colorado secures $200 million for rural health care

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice “People will die—tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year—as a result of the Republican assault on the health care of the American people.” That’s what House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on July 3, during the longest speech in House history, in an effort to delay passage of H.R. 1—a.k.a. the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB)—before it was sent to President Trump for signature. The eight-hour-plus speech set a tone, framing the bill as “a crime scene.” The 43-day shutdown fight came with its own healthcare messaging. “Republicans have tried to stick us with a partisan CR that fails to protect Americans’ healthcare,” the Democrat leader said on the Senate floor. With the performative politicking now in the re...
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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs
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Lawmakers demand Polis reverse electrification push after shutoffs

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado lawmakers are pressing Gov. Jared Polis to reverse course on electrification after recent power shutoffs raised fresh concerns about grid reliability and public safety. “We write to express grave concerns over your administration’s aggressive push for statewide unfunded electrification mandates,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 23 letter. “This agenda, driven by crony politics and excused by nonscience climate alarmism, favors select industries at the expense of Colorado families and businesses.” They warn the state’s energy agenda “is economically harmful and endangers lives by further straining an already fragile electric grid.” The letter was signed by Reps. Ken DeGraaf (HD-22), Brandi Bradley (HD-39), Scott Botto...
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From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose
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From question to confrontation: Peters’ legal team forces Colorado courts to choose

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice One day after the constitutional question facing Colorado courts came into focus, attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters moved to force an answer. Late Tuesday, Peters’ legal team filed an urgent motion asking the Colorado Court of Appeals to determine whether it still has jurisdiction to proceed at all, given a presidential pardon and what her attorneys argue are unresolved violations of federal election law. The filing marks a shift from explanation to escalation. Yesterday’s reporting centered on the unresolved authority question now hanging over the case. This motion is the defense’s attempt to compel the court to decide it. It follows a Dec. 8 federal court order that declined to resolve Peters’ constitutional cla...
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After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face
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After the pardon: The constitutional question Colorado courts now face

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice President Donald Trump’s pardon of Tina Peters did not end her case. It changed it. What now sits before Colorado’s courts is no longer a question of guilt or innocence, nor even whether Peters should remain imprisoned while her appeal moves forward. The unresolved issue is more fundamental than that: whether the state still has authority to proceed in light of a federal pardon. It is the question attorney Peter Ticktin says Colorado can no longer set aside. Federal pardon issued by President Donald Trump for Tina Peters A pardon that altered the legal landscape Ticktin, who represents Peters, said in an interview with RMV that the federal pardon fundamentally changed the legal posture of the case. ...
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Why two House bills on medical transition procedures produced different votes
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Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

Why two House bills on medical transition procedures produced different votes

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The U.S. House passed two bills this month aimed at restricting federal involvement in medical transition procedures for minors. They used different enforcement tools. And they produced different voting coalitions. One bill passed without a single Republican voting against it and drew limited Democratic support. The vote on the second bill was closer, with some crossover support and a number of members listed as not voting. Republican Rep. Gabe Evans (CD-8) backed the funding restriction but rejected the felony approach. The difference lies in how each bill was written to be enforced. Two bills, two approaches H.R. 498, the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act, is a funding bill tied to how Medicaid dollars are used. It bars M...
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The warning before SPEED: How an ongoing Colorado wolf dispute shaped the permitting debate
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The warning before SPEED: How an ongoing Colorado wolf dispute shaped the permitting debate

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Before Congress voted to overhaul the nation’s permitting process, a Colorado lawmaker had already issued a formal warning that federal law was being set aside in the rush to move forward. On December 13, 2024, Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a detailed letter to then–Interior Secretary Deb Haaland arguing that Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan triggered federal jurisdiction and could not legally proceed without updated federal Resource Management Plans and a proper National Environmental Policy Act review. She asked the Department of the Interior to press pause on any additional wolf imports until those federal duties were met. More than a year later, the House passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic De...
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