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Lawmakers admit the problem: One-time money built permanent government
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Lawmakers admit the problem: One-time money built permanent government

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Reporters talk about shared reality, some want it to be their reality. Over and over I have heard and read journalists discussing our "shared reality"--the need to operate from a basis of fact.I don't disagree.The problem is that many of those same journalists want to substitute their take on reality, they want to be the arbiters of fact.This is not their role.I wrote an op ed on this dynamic using some statements and "reporting" by 9News' Zelinger and Clark as an example.More on the topic in the link below.https://completecolorado.com/2026/01/08/colorado-journalists-shared-reality-deciders/ Were it not for TABOR (weakened as it is) … I wanted to share the Sun article below, but per...
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Red flag law expansion questioned as data shows wrongful gun seizures in Colorado
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Red flag law expansion questioned as data shows wrongful gun seizures in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Expanding red flag laws without fixing current problems I wanted to share David Kopel’s written testimony against the proposed expansion--the second time in two years for those keeping count--of Colorado’s Red Flag Law (aka Extreme Risk Protection Order Law). It’s linked first below.As he has done in the past, Mr. Kopel does a wonderful job of dispassionately laying out arguments against the gun control we’ve seen, often striking at the underpinnings and foundations of the law as well as the arguments made by legislators/others for it.I will leave it to you to read the op ed, but I will share a couple things that made it especially noteworthy to me.Besides the unproven (and probably unprovable) narrative tha...
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When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State

When “affordable housing” means government-funded housing in Colorado

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Volker Housing, Part 1 During one of my public notice crawls for Logan County/Sterling, there was a notice about a developer applying for a grant from the state to turn an empty parcel of land into an affordable housing development. That notice in full can be found in the first link below, but the pertinent bit is quoted here: “Volker Housing Partners, LLC will submit an application to the Colorado Division of Housing (DOH). The purpose of this application is to request up to $2,000,000 in funding to develop 54 rental homes at 777 N 4th Street in Sterling, CO. “ A reader sent me an email and suggested that I look in on this company a little, and I agreed. If they’re pulling down $2 million, wha...
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Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit
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American Thinker, Approved, Commentary, National

Stop the bleeding: Fraud, tariffs and the reality of a $1.8 trillion deficit

By Brian C. Joondeph | Commentary, American Thinker The U.S. federal government finished Fiscal Year 2025 with about $7 trillion in outlays and just over $5 trillion in revenues, leaving a deficit of roughly $1.8 trillion -- a gap that adds to the exploding national debt and threatens economic stability.  Under current trajectories, deficits are projected to remain near this scale for the foreseeable future, absent dramatic policy changes. What if, as some argue, the solution is staring us in the face: eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across government programs and pair that with stronger tariff revenues?  Could that alone balance the budget without cutting core programs or raising taxes? Is this wishful thinking or a real possibility? There...
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When caps don’t cap costs
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

When caps don’t cap costs

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice A familiar promise, a familiar frustration Voters are often told that a policy includes a built-in safeguard — a cap, a limit, a hard stop designed to keep costs under control. In Colorado, that promise came with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, approved by voters in 1992 as a constitutional amendment limiting how much revenue state and local governments can keep and spend without voter approval. Nationally, it appeared in the Affordable Care Act’s limits on how much of each insurance premium can be kept for administration and profit under the law’s medical loss ratio rules. The two systems regulate very different things. One governs government revenue, the other private insurance markets.  But cr...
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Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises
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Approved, Complete Colorado, State

Voters Misled on Colorado Ballot Measures LL and MM as Costs Outpace Promises

By: Nash Herman | Complete Colorado Were Colorado voters duped into passing Propositions LL and MM based on false information? It certainly looks that way based on a recent Joint Budget Committee (JBC) hearing on the Department of Education’s budget request for the coming fiscal year where some enlightening information was revealed about the Healthy School Meals for All (HSMA) program (the relevant discussion began at the 9:38 am mark).  Background on ‘free’ school lunch As I previously explained, HSMA, also known as the “free” school lunch program, was created via Proposition FF in 2022 and was quickly recognized as financially unsustainable in just its first year of operation.  The legislature responded by asking voters to save the program by de-TABORi...
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Insurers Made Billions Off Obamacare’s Secret Taxpayer Surplus
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Just The News, Approved, National

Insurers Made Billions Off Obamacare’s Secret Taxpayer Surplus

By Steven Richards | Just the News Subsidies were greatly expanded by the Biden administration during the COVID-19 pandemic as an emergency measure, but Democrats have fought to keep them permanent. Those subsidies went mostly to Democratic donors. The 42-day federal shutdown forced by Democrats thrust the economics of Obamacare into the limelight, and exposed an uncomfortable truth: An insurance industry whose executives are increasingly liberal donors has seen its earnings soar with the injection of taxpayer-funded subsidies that propped up Barack Obama's signature health program from collapse. The nation’s largest health insurance companies have seen good business since Obamacare was first passed in 2010 and fully implemented in 2014. This has come in no small part because of...
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The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The cost of obedience: How Colorado’s senators strengthened economic malfeasance

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice It is both sad and disappointing that Colorado’s two U.S. senators are incapable of independent thought. As the simple puppets of their overlords, they have selfishly voted fifteen times NOT to reopen the federal government—even though their “no” votes hurt the Coloradans they supposedly represent.  Colorado was already struggling economically before the federal shutdown.  Between January 2023, the start of the post-COVID economy in the U.S., and August 2025, job creation in Colorado had been growing at less than half the national rate and unemployment was growing at around twice the national rate.  How state unemployment changed since January 2023: Colorado up 58.5% vs U.S. 28.5%. How ...
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It’s YOUR Money – Not The Government’s
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

It’s YOUR Money – Not The Government’s

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other." – Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan was a Democrat with conservative values, unlike many in his party. So he switched parties and became a Republican, serving two terms as California governor (1967–1975). He went on to national office, serving two terms as president (1981–1989). Reagan is often credited with our nation’s swing toward conservatism and is generally remembered favorably. He had a great sense of humor, which he used to move his agenda forward with Democrats, Republicans, and most Americans. During the Reagan administration, however, our national debt grew threefold—from $971 billion to $2.97 tril...
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