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Enos: Abortion, parental rights and gun grabs—Colorado’s radical trifecta
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Enos: Abortion, parental rights and gun grabs—Colorado’s radical trifecta

By Colleen Enos | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice While continuing to grapple with Colorado’s $1.2 billion dollar shortfall, the state will be losing $250 million in pandemic-related federal funding for healthcare from the American Rescue Plan Act. The federal government is implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Cost Efficiency Initiative. Coloradoans may believe that our Democrat-led state legislature will surely cut back on bills with a fiscal impact, but that would be an incorrect assumption; they just tweak the fiscal note. SB25-183, Coverage for Pregnancy Related Services, would be more appropriately named “Taxpayer-funded Abortion Coverage.” This bill adds abortion coverage to Colorado’s state Medicaid insurance. Howev...
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[UPDATED] Ganahl: Colorado GOP’s New Leadership Faces Rogue Holdouts as Williams’ Allies Cling to Power
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[UPDATED] Ganahl: Colorado GOP’s New Leadership Faces Rogue Holdouts as Williams’ Allies Cling to Power

By Heidi Ganahl | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Republican Party’s newly elected leadership, led by Chair Brita Horn, is battling a desperate power grab by ex-Chairman David Williams and his allies. They refuse to let go despite the Colorado Republican State Central Committee’s (SCC) move to dismiss a contentious lawsuit.  Horn, alongside allies Nancy Pallozzi and Todd Watkins, champions a fresh start, but Williams’ appointees—particularly the shadowy Colorado Republican State Party Controversy Investigative Committee (CRSPCIC) led by Matt Arnold—are digging in, in a legal standoff that seems more about ego than justice. The roots lie in 2024’s chaotic primaries, where Williams’ endorsed candidates didn’t fare well (14 of 18 lost). This sparked former Jefferso...
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Griswold sues against Trump’s executive order on elections but is a case study for it
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Griswold sues against Trump’s executive order on elections but is a case study for it

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board When Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that she was joining a multi-state lawsuit to block President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on election integrity, she declared the action a defense of democracy itself. “We will not wait on the sidelines while Donald Trump tries to legislate from the Oval Office and defies the Constitution,” Griswold said in an April 3 press release. But while Griswold accuses President Trump of federal overreach, her own record suggests a pattern of constitutional violations that have unfolded under the banner of election protection.  In fact, her treatment of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has become a case study in why federal oversight of elections—as President Trump’s EO proposes—may be more nec...
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95,000 petitions delivered to the Capitol, urging Polis to veto SB25-003
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95,000 petitions delivered to the Capitol, urging Polis to veto SB25-003

By Tori Ganahl | Rocky Mountain Voice A group of conservative leaders took a bold stand for gun rights today at the Colorado State Capitol. Between Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) and the Colorado State Shooting Association, nearly 95,000 petitions were delivered on Thursday calling on Governor Jared Polis to veto SB25-003, the controversial “safety training” bill that critics say imposes unconstitutional restrictions on the Second Amendment. The Capitol demonstration came just one day after Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation issued a formal letter to Governor Polis demanding a veto of SB25-003.  The letter—organized by U.S. Representative Jeff Crank and signed by Lauren Boebert, Jeff Hurd, and Gabe Evans—called the bill “one of the most restrictive gun ownership...
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AGNC: Democrats’ TABOR lawsuit a “legislative betrayal” against Colorado taxpayers
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AGNC: Democrats’ TABOR lawsuit a “legislative betrayal” against Colorado taxpayers

By Tori Ganahl | Rocky Mountain Voice Democrats in the Colorado legislature are pushing forward with a plan that would fundamentally alter the state's tax system—starting with a lawsuit aimed at dismantling the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR). At the heart of this effort is House Joint Resolution 25-1023, which directs the General Assembly’s Committee on Legal Services to file a lawsuit in state court challenging the constitutionality of TABOR.  Their argument? That allowing voters to decide on tax increases and imposing limits on government spending violates the “republican form of government” guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution​. Simply put: Colorado Democrats are claiming that the very act of asking taxpayers for permission to raise taxes is unconstitutional. This ...
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Rushed or responsive? Home rule proposal catches Douglas County off guard
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Rushed or responsive? Home rule proposal catches Douglas County off guard

By Rocky Mountain Voice Staff On March 25, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to initiate a nine-step process to become a home rule county. If approved, Douglas would join Weld and Pitkin as the only counties in Colorado with a home rule charter.  The vote, however, surprised many residents. A source reported to the Rocky Mountain Voice that the discussion of home rule barely met the 24-hour state meeting notice requirement before it was added to a Special Business Meeting agenda.  No town halls were held in advance, and no community survey was conducted.  Instead, residents learned about the plan the day before the vote. Douglas County announced the decision, stating, “Without Home Rule, the Colorado legislature determines both the...
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Phil Weiser puts politics over Constitution in legal war against President Trump
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Phil Weiser puts politics over Constitution in legal war against President Trump

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is once again putting his progressive ideology ahead of the Constitution, launching a string of lawsuits aimed at blocking President Donald Trump’s executive orders—orders designed to restore law and order, secure the border, and protect minors from irreversible medical harm. In a recent feature by Yellow Scene Magazine, Weiser is portrayed as the liberal hero "fighting back" against Trump’s return to the White House. But to conservatives, Weiser’s efforts represent a dangerous misuse of taxpayer resources, with the AG acting more like a political activist than the state’s top law enforcement officer. Targeting Trump’s Common-Sense Policies From gender-neutral bathrooms in public schools to sanctuary ...
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Gaines: Colorado Democrats blew the budget and now they want your TABOR refunds
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Gaines: Colorado Democrats blew the budget and now they want your TABOR refunds

By Cory Gaines | Colorado Accountability Project Colorado Democrats made a hash of the state's finances, but they want YOU to pay to fix it. In this post I want to flesh out some of the many assaults on TABOR and fiscal responsibility the Democrats are cooking up for this legislative session. The previous two posts were all about financial problems in this state. Problems that arose from mismanagement of state rules and money. Problems that arose from out of control spending. Problems that arose from politicians not being willing to do what families are forced to do every single day: adjust their spending to their income and choose among priorities. In this final post of the series, I want to outline some of the ways in which Colorado Democrats--the party that has completely ru...
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Hancock: SB25-086 tramples the Constitution in the name of control
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Hancock: SB25-086 tramples the Constitution in the name of control

By Michael A. Hancock | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice How SB25-086 tramples the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments in the name of “user protection” In our political age where virtue signaling often masquerades as policymaking, Colorado Senate Bill 25-086, charmingly titled Protections for Users of Social Media, stands as a masterclass in misdirection. Behind its disarming language and so-called concern for user safety lies a deeply troubling expansion of government power—one that threatens to obliterate the digital boundary between individual freedom and state surveillance. Let me be frank: SB25-086 is not about protection—it’s about control. At the heart of the bill is a brazen and unconstitutional attempt to enlist private companies into a pseudo-judicial surveillan...
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Rewriting the rules: Wolves, federal reform and a lawsuit from rural Colorado
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Rewriting the rules: Wolves, federal reform and a lawsuit from rural Colorado

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Late last year, five wolves were airlifted from Oregon to Colorado under a plan voters narrowly approved—but few knew one of them came from a pack with a history of livestock attacks.  Fewer still knew the move may have violated federal law. At the center of the controversy is a growing belief that Colorado’s wolf reintroduction bypassed environmental law and public transparency.  And a federal lawsuit now threatens to unravel the entire plan. The lawsuit that could reset the rules The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, is one of the country’s cornerstone environmental laws — meant to ensure that federal actions don’t proceed without full environmental review and public input.  But when...
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