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Tag: Government transparency

Taxpayers on the Hook When Government Programs Cost More Than Promised
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Taxpayers on the Hook When Government Programs Cost More Than Promised

By: Nash Herman | Commentary, Complete Colorado Colorado’s state budget is structurally unsustainable, which majority Democrats say could be fixed by ending voter consent over new taxation or by increasing taxes on Colorado residents through a progressive income tax.  While those suggestions would certainly increase state revenue, they are unlikely to fix Colorado’s ongoing budget deficits.  Meanwhile, taxpayers often learn too late that programs are vastly exceeding costs; programs like Cover all Coloradans, Healthy School Meals for All, and the wolf reintroduction scheme were all revealed to be more expensive than initially advertised to voters.  Why do programs end up being so much more expensive than advertised?&n...
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When government defrauds the citizen, it forfeits its moral claim to tax him
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

When government defrauds the citizen, it forfeits its moral claim to tax him

By C. J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There comes a point at which taxation ceases to be civic contribution and becomes state extraction. That point is reached when citizen taxpayers are defrauded by their own government, when public money is lost, stolen, concealed, misdirected, or protected through official corruption, and when the same government that demands payment from the citizen refuses justice to the citizen. A government that takes from the people under color of law, then shields the corrupt from consequence, has not merely mismanaged funds. It has broken a covenant with the governed. The issue is deeper than waste. Waste is incompetence. Fraud is betrayal. Waste says the government failed. Fraud says the government used the public trust as a pri...
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Lakewood taxpayers face 30-year shelter obligation after city grant deal
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, Local

Lakewood taxpayers face 30-year shelter obligation after city grant deal

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project From a recent edition of the Lakewood Informer (copied here with links intact): “Lakewood purchased 8000 W Colfax Avenue to use as an emergency shelter and Navigation Center using a grant from the state to fund the property purchase and renovation. As a condition to getting the grant, Lakewood committed the property to shelter use for 30 years. No public discussion about this condition occurred when City Council authorized the purchase. At an annual operating cost of $3,000,000, that’s a $90,000,000 commitment that was not disclosed to the public. That makes the Center severely underfunded, with declining neighborhood support, and may be one reason for the proposed city sales tax hike.” This was startling to ...
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JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces
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Colorado Public Radio, Approved, Local

JeffCo Parents Demand Answers After Hidden School Safety Audit Surfaces

By Molly Cruse | CPR News Two weeks ago, Lindsay Datko filed a public records request for a school safety audit from JeffCo Public Schools. Datko — a parent of three children in the district and executive director of the parent advocacy group Jeffco Kids First — said she first learned about the audit through school committee meeting minutes. But when she requested the records through Colorado’s open records law, she said the district initially told her only hard copies existed and that they had been destroyed. Now, Jeffco Public Schools parents and advocates are demanding answers.  The unreleased audit was conducted by a student safety company called Gaggle. The report uncovered more than 150 “imminent threats” just weeks before the September 2025...
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He flagged the DEI language. He filed the report anyway. Colorado fired him for both.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

He flagged the DEI language. He filed the report anyway. Colorado fired him for both.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice "I don't think I'm surprised by their decision at all," Rich Guggenheim said three days after the Colorado Department of Agriculture fired him. "I expected this decision." On May 8, CDA Deputy Commissioner Jordan Beezley signed the termination letter, effective immediately. Guggenheim had been the plant health programs manager since 2021. https://twitter.com/5280BasedHomo/status/2052861817740017907 Guggenheim posted the termination letter on X the same day it was delivered, tagging Vice President JD Vance, Associate Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and the DOJ Civil Rights Division. As RMV first reported in December, the dispute started with a single chat comment during a November managers meeting and the whistleblower com...
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Transparency for All, Not Just Some
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Transparency for All, Not Just Some

By Dusty Johnson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor's update: SB26-147 is scheduled for third reading and final passage in the House today, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. The legislative day began at 11 a.m. Coloradans may listen live at sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00327/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20260506/74/18834#info_  Coloradans deserve a government that operates in the open. They deserve to know who is influencing their laws, how those decisions are being shaped, and how taxpayer dollars are being used in that process. That is exactly why I am proud to sponsor SB26-147.  At its core, this bill is simple. It applies the same transparency standards to everyone involved in lobbying, including those working inside government.  Right now, private ...
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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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Colorado Title Board Blocks The “Right to Know” Transparency Amendment From Ballot
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Title Board Blocks The “Right to Know” Transparency Amendment From Ballot

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — The Colorado Title Board has refused to give Coloradans the opportunity to vote on making government transparency a state constitutional right. The board voted 2-1 at an April 24 re-hearing that a proposed constitutional amendment, put together by a large stakeholder group from across the political spectrum, did not meet Colorado’s “single-subject” requirement, calling it too broad. The 3-member Title Board is made up of representatives of the secretary of state, attorney general, and office of legislative legal services (OLLS). Colorado’s single‑subject rule requires that every citizen-initiated ballot measure be only about one issue in an effort to keep non-related topics from being grouped together.  Ball...
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A missing email and a federal paper trail: Colorado weighs discipline in Guggenheim case
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

A missing email and a federal paper trail: Colorado weighs discipline in Guggenheim case

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Rich Guggenheim says an email exists that would end his case. The Colorado Department of Agriculture says it does not. The dispute centers on a message Guggenheim says was sent to him in early December by Gabriel Leverance, a grant accountant at CDA, instructing him to approve a USDA-funded Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey report—the report he had previously kicked back and now at the center of the discipline the department is weighing against him. Guggenheim says he requested records twice under CORA that he believes should have included the email. At an April 15 disciplinary hearing, he told the department’s deputy commissioner: “I know it exists, because I’m the recipient of that email, and I’m not getting it in a CORA reques...
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