Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Erik Holt

The bonds that cannot be dissolved
Rocky Mountain Voice, National, Top Stories

The bonds that cannot be dissolved

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board The Declaration of Independence opens by taking something apart. Before it reaches life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it lays out why one people must "dissolve the political bands" that tie them to another. The founding act is a break. The signers put a tie of their own in its place. The last line is a pledge they made to each other, "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Two hundred fifty years later, that pledge still holds. We asked readers on the Fourth to show us how they were marking America's 250th birthday and Colorado's 150th. The answers came from Washington, the California coast, a Delta County parade, festivities in Thornton, family fun in a backyard, a Castle Rock-to-Westminster flag drive and a smoke-dimme...
He reported election irregularities. Weeks later he was fired: Now a Colorado fire chief appeals in federal court
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

He reported election irregularities. Weeks later he was fired: Now a Colorado fire chief appeals in federal court

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Erik Holt says he didn’t expect reviewing surveillance footage from a polling location inside the Florissant fire station would cost him his career. Holt says the fallout came quickly. Within weeks of providing investigators the footage he believed showed election rule violations, he was out of a job. The dispute that began inside the Florissant fire station is now before the federal appeals court. Judges will review whether reporting suspected wrongdoing can cost a public employee his job. Holt is no longer fighting the appeal alone. Mountain States Legal Foundation has joined the case and is now representing him. “Public employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they take a government job,” said Grad...