Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Governor Jared Polis

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine
Approved, completecolorado.com, State, Top Stories

Polis’ ‘libertarian’ label faces reality check from Reason Magazine

By Sherrie Peif | Complete Colorado DENVER — Amidst ongoing battles within his own party, and despite recently vetoing a pair of bills that concentrated more authority in Colorado state government, Jared Polis’ carefully scripted reputation as a libertarian-leaning governor appears to be fading. Even Reason Magazine, the national media outlet that has for years has hung its hat on the idea that Polis is more liberty-minded than progressive, is now questioning whether Polis’ moderate temperament is real, with editor-at-large Nick Gillepsie tugging back on Polis’ libertarian card in an April 14 article asking if the “small government Democrat is beefing up state power.” Reason has long been considered the standard-bearer for libertarian though...
Green: Report card for Colorado’s collapse under one-party rule—straight F’s across the board
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Green: Report card for Colorado’s collapse under one-party rule—straight F’s across the board

By Stephen Green | PJ Media Colorado's economic report card is in, and my beloved home state — formerly a solid A and B student — just flunked every subject.  Once upon a time, Colorado was a devilishly weird purple state — home to moderate-to-conservative Republicans like Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Tom Tancredo, idiosyncratic Democrats like Gary Hart and Richard Lamm, and (outside the Denver-Boulder Axis) a healthy libertarian streak. It was such a swirl that one of those famous Republicans, Campbell, was originally a Democrat. That all began to change around 2008 when my purple state went deep blue for Barack Obama. By 2018, the hope'n'change was locked in. The last Republican to win statewide office was in 2016, when Heidi Ganahl was elected to the University of Colora...
DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’
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DOJ sues Colorado and Denver over sanctuary policies ‘tying hands of law enforcement’

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Colorado and the city of Denver for laws and statutes the federal government says are “sanctuary laws.” The federal government alleges in its lawsuit, filed in Colorado District Court on Friday, that the laws are designed to “interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law.” The lawsuit specifically mentions the troubled Aurora apartment complexes that went viral after a video showing armed men in a stairwell was first reported on by FOX31’s Vicente Arenas. The men in the video were later connected to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that’s been publicized during recent immigration efforts under President Donald Trump. The laws...
Trump issues national flag-lowering order to honor fallen firefighters, Polis follows suit
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Trump issues national flag-lowering order to honor fallen firefighters, Polis follows suit

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Flags in Colorado will fly at half-staff on Sunday to honor firefighters who risked their lives to protect fellow citizens as part of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. The annual event is held in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and commemorates the lives of volunteer and professional firefighters who have died in the line of duty over the past year and beyond. “Across the country, brave men and women demonstrate heroism each day, willingly placing themselves in harm’s way for the benefit of others,” reads a proclamation made by President Donald Trump on May 1. “We are indebted to every American who chooses this noble profession — this solemn calling — in spite of the inherent risks.” The proclamation went on to note the heroic e...
The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days
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The COvid Chronicles April 16–30: From tattletales to tyranny in just 14 days

By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board This second installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles runs longer than usual – for good reason. In just two weeks, civic trust collapsed, state control deepened and neighbors turned on each other. The details matter—because memory fades, because memory fades, but the impact endures. If the first two weeks of April 2020 made it clear to Coloradans their state was forever changed and would not be going back to the way it was any time soon, the later part of the month crystalized just how difficult earning back any God-given constitutional rights and freedoms would prove to be. Much of that had to do with the heavy-handedness of Gov. Jared Polis, elected officials and unelected bureaucrats who weren't keen on relinquishing their newfound regal powe...
Bill to require CBI employees to report wrongful actions heads to Colorado governor
Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Bill to require CBI employees to report wrongful actions heads to Colorado governor

By Marianne Goodland | Denver Gazette Employees at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation who observe misconduct and don't report it could be in for problems of their own under a bill now heading to the governor's desk. House Bill 1275 creates "a duty to report" wrongful actions committed by crime lab employees. It also requires the crime lab director to investigate those actions, and creates a process for individuals to seek post-conviction relief if their case is impacted.  The bill is yet another outgrowth of the misconduct allegations tied to Yvonne Woods, a nearly 30-year employee of the CBI accused of deleting data and manipulating DNA evidence in more than 1,000 instances. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure
Approved, National, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado braces for special session over bloated Medicaid spending amid federal pressure

By John Ingold | Colorado Sun There are now only seven days left in Colorado’s legislative session. But lawmakers and other state officials have for weeks been bracing for the possibility of coming back to the Capitol later this year to deal with potential federal cuts to Medicaid likely to be included in Congressional Republicans’ still-being-written budget proposal. “There certainly are a lot of indicators that would suggest that we might end up having to come back in the event that there’s a dramatic cut to Medicaid,” state Sen. Judy Amabile, a Boulder Democrat and member of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, said last month, as first reported in The Colorado Sun’s politics newsletter, The Unaffiliated. Speaking to a group of health care leaders earlier this mo...
Clock runs out on social media bill: lawmakers shield themselves and Polis from historic override
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Clock runs out on social media bill: lawmakers shield themselves and Polis from historic override

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The Senate overrode the governor’s veto. The House never even had to say no. In Colorado politics, sometimes the clock matters more than the votes. Without casting a single "no" vote, Colorado lawmakers on April 28 killed a bipartisan attempt to override Governor Jared Polis’ veto of a social media regulation bill. Just days earlier, the Senate had voted 29–6 to override the veto of Senate Bill 25-086, marking the state's first successful chamber override of a policy bill in more than a decade.  But when the bill reached the House, members voted 51–13 to lay over the override until after the legislative session ended. As reported by The Colorado Sun, the maneuver guaranteed the bill’s death without a formal vote, allowing lawmakers to av...
Ganahl: From Superior Elementary to sex camps — Colorado parental rights under attack
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Ganahl: From Superior Elementary to sex camps — Colorado parental rights under attack

By Heidi Ganahl | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In 2018, as a mom of four with three of my children in first and third grade at Superior Elementary, I was shocked to learn that our young students were being exposed to confusing gender identity discussions without parental knowledge.  This was done through a program called Queer Endeavor at CU Boulder, which trained thousands of teachers in the metro area to integrate “queering the curriculum” around “problematic parents.” As a statewide elected University of Colorado Regent at the time, I felt a responsibility to speak out, warning that this was the start of a dangerous trend.  I was called a fearmonger and mocked.  But today, that warning has become a chilling reality. Colorado schools and universiti...