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Caldara: Vote no on retaining Colorado judges, all of them
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Caldara: Vote no on retaining Colorado judges, all of them

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado I urge people to vote against retaining judges in Colorado. Yes, all of them. We do not directly elect judges as other states do, where Republican and Democrat candidates face off. Instead, the governor appoints the state’s judges after a nominating committee brings him two or three to choose from. The only check and balance we meaningless citizens have is to vote thumbs up or down on their retention every so often. Every so often can be as long as a decade. The problem is seemingly 99.9% of the time the judges are all retained, usually with around a two-third vote in favor. It’s a rubber stamp, not accountability. I vote no on all judges in the hopes at some point these retention elections might become competitive, and judges must...
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Want to know how to vote? Here’s a collection of ballot guides for 2024 election
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Want to know how to vote? Here’s a collection of ballot guides for 2024 election

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado Don’t be surprised when you open your Colorado general election ballot to find fourteen statewide measures, both constitutional and statutory changes.  Add in as many as a dozen local measures (as is the case with the Denver ballot) and it may feel like you sat down to start a novel. Complete Colorado has compiled a list of ballot guides from a variety of libertarian and right-of-center sources, as well as Colorado Governor Jared Polis, to help you sort through it all. READ THE FULL STORY AT COMPLETE COLORADO
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Caldara: State power weaponized against out-of-favor gay group
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Caldara: State power weaponized against out-of-favor gay group

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Being gay but not holding a liberal opinion makes you a hate group. It’s fine to be part of the LGBTQIA+ crowd in Colorado. In fact, you’ll be celebrated, and, if you wish, officially honored with a flag that has flown over the Capitol. However, if you’re part of the LGBTQIA+ community but don’t believe small children should be indoctrinated into thinking they were born to the wrong gender, well then, you’re a hater and must be canceled. So says our state government. According to the state of Colorado, only straights can be against indoctrinating little children to want to mutilate their bodies. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COMPLETE COLORADO Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and...
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If you live in Denver, Larimer counties, you can expect marathon ballots to vote
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If you live in Denver, Larimer counties, you can expect marathon ballots to vote

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado Depending on where you live in Colorado, the 2024 election ballot may seem like you just sat down to start a new novel, with a storyline that hikes taxes and debt,  makes changes to city and county charters, bans “trophy” hunting of mountain lions when it’s already illegal, and allows government employees to collectively bargain, among myriad other things. Indeed, if 14 statewide ballot measures and a near like amount of judicial retention questions aren’t enough, many cities, towns, counties, school districts and other special taxing districts have piled on their own measures, making some ballots — such as Denver’s — as much as six pages long. Complete Colorado looked at a few of the local ballots around the state, incl...
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Gaines: Left-leaning Colorado Trust influencing Colorado journalism
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Gaines: Left-leaning Colorado Trust influencing Colorado journalism

By Cory Gaines | Complete Colorado In Stanley Kubrik’s The Shining, Jack Nicholson’s character says to the Overlook’s ghost bartender, “I’m the kind of man who likes to know who’s buying their drinks, Lloyd.” A sound policy, and not just in the bar of a haunted hotel.  I’m the kind of guy who likes to know who’s buying his news, and this seems to get more and more convoluted every year.  A recent (I hesitate to call it an article) story generated by the Colorado Trust, but appearing in the Colorado Sun, is emblematic of the problem. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COMPLETE COLORADO Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice,...
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Hillman: Colorado highways crumble under CDOT neglect
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Hillman: Colorado highways crumble under CDOT neglect

By Mark Hillman, Commentary | Complete Colorado Colorado highways are among the worst in the nation.  That’s hardly news to anyone who travels across our state. Only two states report a larger share of interstate highway in poorer condition than Colorado.  Less-traveled highways are even worse. In 2021, the Democrat-controlled legislature passed a $5.4 billion package of new “fees” – including an annual increase in fuel prices and that irritating 29 cents only Coloradans pay on every Amazon order – supposedly to boost the transportation budget. Despite that infusion of money, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) predicts the condition of every category of state-maintained highways will get even worse over the next seven years.  By 2031, just 25%...
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Caldara: Taxpayers subsidize Progressive war on affordable energy
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Caldara: Taxpayers subsidize Progressive war on affordable energy

By Jon Caldara | Complete Colorado “350 Colorado” is an anti-fossil fuels organization which lobbies to end the state’s oil and gas industry. They organize anti-energy zealots to march, protest and pressure lawmakers. Proud of their role in civil disobedience during Colorado Oil and Gas Commission hearings, they take credit for helping pass the “strictest anti-fracking regulations in the state.” Blah, blah, blah. One tiny little thing here: you are coerced through your taxes to fund their lobbying to make your energy bills skyrocket. In gambling there is a term, “playing with the house’s money.” In politics it’s “playing with your opponents’ money.” Your tax money is used to influence policy that hurts your own interests. READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COMPLETE COLORADO Edi...
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Ochsner: No on Arapahoe County 1A; keep taxpayer protections in place
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Ochsner: No on Arapahoe County 1A; keep taxpayer protections in place

By Brian Ochsner | Commentary, Complete Colorado As an Arapahoe County resident, I’ll  be voting no on Ballot Issue 1A, a measure to permanently remove taxpayer protections in place under Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Let me explain. TABOR is a constitutional amendment that, among other things, limits the growth of local government spending to a reasonable annual rate based on inflation and local economic growth. Overcollected revenue must be returned to taxpayers unless voters give permission to exceed those limits. Issue 1A would allow the county government to keep and spend revenue that would otherwise be refunded in perpetuity.  County officials wont say it, but that amounts to a tax hike. It’s how big government advocates try to spin the abili...
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Problems piling up for local ballot measure banning slaughterhouses in Denver
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Problems piling up for local ballot measure banning slaughterhouses in Denver

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado With just weeks left before ballots go out in the mail, opposition to the Denver slaughterhouse ban ballot question is getting a hefty boost with the Denver Democrats joining other unlikely opponents airing their concerns over the issue and the filing of a significant campaign finance complaint against proponents of the measure. The measure titled “Prohibition of Slaughterhouses” would outlaw “the construction, maintenance, or use of” any meat processing facilities in Denver beginning January 1, 2026, as well as “require the city to prioritize residents whose employment is affected by the ordinance in workforce training or employment assistance programs.” Proponents of the measure say they are seeking an increase in consumption of plant-bas...
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Caldara: Central planners disregard Coloradans’ true mobility needs
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Caldara: Central planners disregard Coloradans’ true mobility needs

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Tired of all the traffic? Tough. The central planners in charge command it only get worse at an exponential rate. The reason our roads suck is money that could fix and expand them goes to transit which relatively no one uses. U.S. Census data shows only 4% of Denver’s commuting population uses transit. Remember that number — 4%. Yet, in the Denver metro area, almost all “transportation” dollars go to transit. The Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) failed FasTracks scam spent more than $7 billion at a time when all the highway needs statewide were around $9 billion. We could have fulfilled nearly all of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) wish list for the entire state with what we spent on one choo-choo...
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