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Denver’s Right of First Refusal Puts Government in the Middle of Private Property Sales
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Denver’s Right of First Refusal Puts Government in the Middle of Private Property Sales

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I saw a post by a reader on Twitter recently. It shows how Denver is proposing to implement a 2024 law passed by the state legislature. Let’s start with the 2024 bill. It’s linked first below. I took a screenshot of the bill’s fiscal note summary and attached those as screenshots 1 and 2. As you can see from the highlight in screenshot 2, it just wouldn’t be Colorado if we didn’t throw a bone or two to nonprofits. In summary, the bill allows local governments (for buildings of a certain size depending on whether your municipality qualifies as urban or rural/resort) either the right to purchase a property if it’s already listed as affordable housing for “an economically or substantially ...
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Polis Plan Relies On Keeping TABOR Refunds to Balance Budget
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Polis Plan Relies On Keeping TABOR Refunds to Balance Budget

By Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Should voters have a say in whether Colorado’s state government can keep and spend $289.1 million in taxpayer money because of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)?  House Bill 1419, titled “Refund of State Revenues,” fulfills one of Governor Polis’ primary budget requests to balance this year’s budget.  Background Polis’ office suggests that, due to immediate reductions in state tax collections upon passage of the federal OBBBA, the state is entitled to recoup Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) refunds accordingly.  However, as previously explained, Legislative Council Staff believed that the request was legally dubious and could exacerbate future fiscal challenges should the g...
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National Small Business Week: Signs of Rising Optimism in Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

National Small Business Week: Signs of Rising Optimism in Colorado

By Justin D. Everett | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice This National Small Business Week, May 3-9, we’re not just celebrating America’s entrepreneurs – we’re seeing the results of policies that are putting them back in the driver’s seat. Across Colorado and the country, small businesses are growing, hiring, and investing again – and they have the confidence to do it. That didn’t happen by accident. Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, we’ve ushered in a new era of economic strength focused on Main Street – making the Working Families Tax Cuts permanent, rolling back burdensome regulations, and restoring the conditions small businesses need to succeed; and the results are clear. Last year alone, the U.S. Small Business Administration delivered a record $45 billion i...
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From insider to critic: Ex-White House official questions public health orthodoxy
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All Better, Approved, Commentary, National

From insider to critic: Ex-White House official questions public health orthodoxy

By Katy Talento | AllBetter Substack I kept Robert F. Kennedy Jr. out of the West Wing. Now I owe him an apology. It was 2017. We had hauled the CEOs of a bunch of pharmaceutical companies into the Oval Office so that President Trump could berate them about their drug prices. (Always a good time.) Somehow, the word “vaccine” came up in the conversation. When that happens in the president’s presence, then, now, last month, and probably next week, like clockwork, he always starts telling the same story. A woman who worked for him at the Trump Organization back in the day. Her two-year-old son, who was “perfect, beautiful, magnificent, flawless.” Then he got a shot and he was “just gone. Gone. Never the same. Beautiful boy. Then, just gone.” The CEOs all shrank back and tu...
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SB26-147: A Great Idea Almost Certain to Be Vetoed
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

SB26-147: A Great Idea Almost Certain to Be Vetoed

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project     SB26-147: a great idea almost certain to be vetoed The CPR article linked first below was my first introduction to the bill SB26-147, which is linked second below. The focus of the article is on how the legislature is pushing back on Governor Polis’ micromanaging by requiring his staff to register and hold to the same rules as any other lobbyist would. Quoting from the article with link intact: “Currently, lobbyists are required to register a stance on any bills they’re trying to influence with the Secretary of State’s Office, which makes that information publicly available. Legislative liaisons doing the same type of work for state agencies or the governor’s office directly don’t have those dis...
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These are the times that try men’s souls
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

These are the times that try men’s souls

By Mark Salley | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Do all Democrats hate the country? Surely not. Do all Democrats hate Donald J. Trump? Of course not. But many — perhaps most — do! This hate has got to stop! What has Trump-hate led to? During the first administration, the hatred led to frivolous attempts to impeach him in 2019. Frivolous because the evidence being used to justify an impeachment was MANUFACTURED by leftist Democrats who hate Trump and wanted him to fail. This Trump-hate continues to lead numerous renegade judges to create needless injunctions to Trump-backed measures that would greatly benefit our country and our culture. As of April 21, lawfaremedia.org states there are 316 active cases challenging Trump administration actions…including the ridiculo...
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Colorado’s War On Natural Gas Could Cost Coloradans Dearly
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s War On Natural Gas Could Cost Coloradans Dearly

By Elizabeth Caven | Commentary, The Denver Gazette In a state where winter isn’t optional, you’d think reliable heat wouldn’t be either. Yet, Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission seems increasingly comfortable with discarding the very energy source that keeps the majority of households in the state warm: natural gas. Residents are not thinking about long-term regulatory frameworks when they go to turn up the heat in January. They are asking much simpler questions: Will their homes stay warm, and can they afford it? This is what makes Colorados current energy trajectory so puzzling and, increasingly, troubling. Natural gas continues to be the backbone of the states energy sphere even as lawmakers at the Capitol seem determined to ignore that fact. A recent report published ...
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The Confidence Weapon: Climb Again
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Confidence Weapon: Climb Again

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again…’~ John 3:7 ~ The last few weeks, we watched Jack and Jill go up the hill… and come tumbling down. It was a picture of humility and trust. A reminder that sometimes the first step toward God is the fall that wakes us up. But Jesus doesn’t just leave us at the bottom of the hill. He looks at us—like children—and says, “Now… begin again.” Because the goal is not just to fall and feel sorry…The goal is to become something new. That’s where a different childhood rhyme helps us see what Jesus is teaching: “The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.Down came the rain and washed the spider out.Out came the sun and dried up all the rain…And the itsy bitsy spider clim...
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Bipartisan Majority Opposes Animal Testing Yet Federal Funding Persists
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Washington Examiner, Approved, Commentary, National

Bipartisan Majority Opposes Animal Testing Yet Federal Funding Persists

By Meghan Miller | Commentary, Washington Examiner After years of court hearings, investigations, open rescues, and protests, the notorious beagle breeding and research facility Ridglan Farms has finally agreed to release 1,500 dogs to rescue organizations. This is certainly a win for animals, but the era of animal testing is far from over, particularly because the federal government enables it. While the Left and Right don’t align on much these days, over 85% of Republicans and Democrats do agree animal testing should be phased out. Notable voices across the political spectrum, including Lara Trump, Tomi Lahren, Dave Portnoy, Jennifer Welch, and groups such as Democracy Now! have spoken out against Ridglan, unequivocally demonstrating both that the public...
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Common Sense, Conservatism, Parties and Other Meaningless Words
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Common Sense, Conservatism, Parties and Other Meaningless Words

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” —Inigo Montoya, “The Princess Bride” People use words like common sense or conservatism. Here’s the problem: either words have precise meanings in certain contexts, or they mean precisely nothing. In this article, I’ll put some definitions around a few words – to create some objective truth for a dialogue among reasonable people. Good people can disagree, but so can bad people. First, common sense is a false premise. People often say, “Well, that’s just common sense!” But they can’t precisely define the term they just used. Thus, they provide no truth for what they suggest is truth which makes no sense. If common sense did exist, the majority of p...
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